18 aug 2020
By The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC):
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement strongly slammed in a statement the recent normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, calling on Emiratis to boycott any Israeli activity in the country.
“Palestinian civil society stands with the silenced majority in the United Arab Emirates and the Arab world in strongly condemning the agreement reached between the despotic rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Israel, with support from the Trump White House,” the statement said.
“This is the UAE regime’s gravest betrayal of the struggle for Palestinian liberation and self-determination.”
The deal was announced as Israel was once again bombing the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip and attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, signaling that it would do nothing to diminish Israel’s brutal assaults on the Palestinian people, said BDS.
“The UAE regime’s claim that the price for its violation of the central principle among Arab peoples of commitment to the Palestinian cause was Israel’s freeze of its plans to formally annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territory is a lie.
After the agreement had been reached, (Israeli Premier Benjamin) Netanyahu announced that the annexation plan is still alive but has been temporarily delayed to allow him to reach an agreement with Trump on how best to implement it.”
BDS said the UAE claim is a sham. “Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and its illegal settlement enterprise are continuing unabated, entrenching its de facto annexation and apartheid regime.”
Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is celebrating this latest diplomatic breakthrough as badly needed cover for its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Indigenous people of Palestine.
These include massacres; ethnic cleansing, especially in Jerusalem, the Naqab and the Jordan Valley; the siege of Gaza; home demolitions; destruction of ancient olive groves; destruction or appropriation of cultural and archeological heritage; and denial of fundamental rights protected in international law, it said.
“The Palestinian people, supported by the absolute majority in the Arab world and by people of conscience globally, will continue to resist Israeli oppression and insist on our inalienable right to liberation, self-determination, freedom and dignity in our homeland.
We call on people across the globe to escalate boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel’s ongoing annexation and apartheid,” said BDS, calling on Emiratis “to boycott any Israeli presence or activity in the country or elsewhere and to refuse to engage with the Israeli embassy or with entities partnering with them and with all complicit Israeli institutions.”
It also called on Arabs in general to continue to actively resist this abject normalization by:
Boycotting all activities, festivals and projects sponsored by the UAE regime, including the Dubai EXPO, the Dubai Shopping Festival, as well as sports, cultural and economic/financial festivals and conferences.
Boycotting and divesting from any Emirati or other corporation that becomes complicit in implementing this normalization agreement with Israel.
Refraining from travel to present-day Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, under this unethical agreement, and from participating in faith washing initiatives that underpin this so-called “Abraham Accord.”
Also read: Israeli minister: Annexation plan will happen despite UAE deal
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement strongly slammed in a statement the recent normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, calling on Emiratis to boycott any Israeli activity in the country.
“Palestinian civil society stands with the silenced majority in the United Arab Emirates and the Arab world in strongly condemning the agreement reached between the despotic rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Israel, with support from the Trump White House,” the statement said.
“This is the UAE regime’s gravest betrayal of the struggle for Palestinian liberation and self-determination.”
The deal was announced as Israel was once again bombing the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip and attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, signaling that it would do nothing to diminish Israel’s brutal assaults on the Palestinian people, said BDS.
“The UAE regime’s claim that the price for its violation of the central principle among Arab peoples of commitment to the Palestinian cause was Israel’s freeze of its plans to formally annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territory is a lie.
After the agreement had been reached, (Israeli Premier Benjamin) Netanyahu announced that the annexation plan is still alive but has been temporarily delayed to allow him to reach an agreement with Trump on how best to implement it.”
BDS said the UAE claim is a sham. “Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and its illegal settlement enterprise are continuing unabated, entrenching its de facto annexation and apartheid regime.”
Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid is celebrating this latest diplomatic breakthrough as badly needed cover for its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Indigenous people of Palestine.
These include massacres; ethnic cleansing, especially in Jerusalem, the Naqab and the Jordan Valley; the siege of Gaza; home demolitions; destruction of ancient olive groves; destruction or appropriation of cultural and archeological heritage; and denial of fundamental rights protected in international law, it said.
“The Palestinian people, supported by the absolute majority in the Arab world and by people of conscience globally, will continue to resist Israeli oppression and insist on our inalienable right to liberation, self-determination, freedom and dignity in our homeland.
We call on people across the globe to escalate boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel’s ongoing annexation and apartheid,” said BDS, calling on Emiratis “to boycott any Israeli presence or activity in the country or elsewhere and to refuse to engage with the Israeli embassy or with entities partnering with them and with all complicit Israeli institutions.”
It also called on Arabs in general to continue to actively resist this abject normalization by:
Boycotting all activities, festivals and projects sponsored by the UAE regime, including the Dubai EXPO, the Dubai Shopping Festival, as well as sports, cultural and economic/financial festivals and conferences.
Boycotting and divesting from any Emirati or other corporation that becomes complicit in implementing this normalization agreement with Israel.
Refraining from travel to present-day Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, under this unethical agreement, and from participating in faith washing initiatives that underpin this so-called “Abraham Accord.”
Also read: Israeli minister: Annexation plan will happen despite UAE deal
3 aug 2020
Massive aircraft carrying U.S. military freight trucks touches ground and will transport defense system from Israel to defend American troops stationed in battlefields abroad video
The world’s largest cargo plane landed in Ben Gurion Airport, carrying U.S. military ‘Osh Kosh’ trucks that were fitted with Iron Dome missile defense system batteries purchased by the U.S. Army before leaving Israel, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
In August 2019, The ministry had signed a $373 million deal with the U.S. Defense Department to sell two off-the-shelf Iron Dome batteries to the American Army from Rafael which include 12 launchers, two sensors, two battlement management centers, and 240 interceptors.
Washington wanted to have the batteries delivered by 2020.
The system, developed by the ministry and prime contractor Rafael “will be used to defend U.S. military troops against a wide range of ballistic and aerial threats,” a Defense Ministry statement said.
The unloading of the Russian-made Antonov cargo plane was closed to the press.
This is the mammoth aircraft's second trip to Israel after it touched ground on the Holy Land in 2008.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya was created in the 1980s in Soviet Ukraine and is the heaviest aircraft ever built.
The AN-225 has over 30 wheels, six engines and a wingspan of 290ft. The aircraft has a range of 15,400 km when unloaded and 4,500 when fully loaded.
The aircraft had taken off from Maine and is expected to make refueling stops in Scotland and France.
The world’s largest cargo plane landed in Ben Gurion Airport, carrying U.S. military ‘Osh Kosh’ trucks that were fitted with Iron Dome missile defense system batteries purchased by the U.S. Army before leaving Israel, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
In August 2019, The ministry had signed a $373 million deal with the U.S. Defense Department to sell two off-the-shelf Iron Dome batteries to the American Army from Rafael which include 12 launchers, two sensors, two battlement management centers, and 240 interceptors.
Washington wanted to have the batteries delivered by 2020.
The system, developed by the ministry and prime contractor Rafael “will be used to defend U.S. military troops against a wide range of ballistic and aerial threats,” a Defense Ministry statement said.
The unloading of the Russian-made Antonov cargo plane was closed to the press.
This is the mammoth aircraft's second trip to Israel after it touched ground on the Holy Land in 2008.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya was created in the 1980s in Soviet Ukraine and is the heaviest aircraft ever built.
The AN-225 has over 30 wheels, six engines and a wingspan of 290ft. The aircraft has a range of 15,400 km when unloaded and 4,500 when fully loaded.
The aircraft had taken off from Maine and is expected to make refueling stops in Scotland and France.
26 july 2020
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden
The aid package comes as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, despite opposition by some who say the package should be used to pressure Israel to nix annexation plans
The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) praised U.S. lawmakers after a bill including $3.8 billion in defense assistance for Israel cleared both chambers of Congress, Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Friday.
The funding comes as part of the National Defense Authorization Act: In the House of Representatives the bill was approved 295 to 125, Tuesday - while the Senate cast its votes, 86 in support and 14 against the bill, Thursday.
AIPAC praised both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who cast their vote in favor of the defense budget, saying it “will help Israel protect itself against continuing security threats."
Earlier this year, the aid for Israel emerged as one of the points of contention on the left wing of the US political scene.
A number of Democratic presidential candidates, including, most notably, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, said they were willing to use the funding to pressure Israel not annex parts of the West Bank.
However, Joe Biden, the presumptive challenger to U.S. President Donald Trump, said on multiple occasions that he would not make the aid conditional on any policies by Israel.
The aid package comes as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, despite opposition by some who say the package should be used to pressure Israel to nix annexation plans
The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) praised U.S. lawmakers after a bill including $3.8 billion in defense assistance for Israel cleared both chambers of Congress, Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Friday.
The funding comes as part of the National Defense Authorization Act: In the House of Representatives the bill was approved 295 to 125, Tuesday - while the Senate cast its votes, 86 in support and 14 against the bill, Thursday.
AIPAC praised both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who cast their vote in favor of the defense budget, saying it “will help Israel protect itself against continuing security threats."
Earlier this year, the aid for Israel emerged as one of the points of contention on the left wing of the US political scene.
A number of Democratic presidential candidates, including, most notably, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, said they were willing to use the funding to pressure Israel not annex parts of the West Bank.
However, Joe Biden, the presumptive challenger to U.S. President Donald Trump, said on multiple occasions that he would not make the aid conditional on any policies by Israel.
22 july 2020
PM's office says extra funding needed for 'routine IDF activities, Gaza border barrier, and other critical issues that cannot be delayed'; call could face resistance from Treasury officials expected to demand that increase come from existing army budget
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the Finance Ministry to earmark NIS 3.3 billion for an increase in the defense budget, despite the economic crisis besetting Israel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the extra money is for "funding routine IDF activities, [construction of the] Gaza border barrier, and other critical issues that cannot be delayed."
Netanyahu's directive came following a meeting with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and other senior government officials.
During the meeting, Netanyahu stressed the importance of allowing the defense establishment to maintain its stability given the many security challenges surrounding Israel.
In late 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic began, the IDF sought an additional NIS 2 billion to its annual budget, to compensate for a series of wide cuts made at the time across all government ministries.
The cuts did not spare the Defense Ministry, and as a result external funding was found to implement various government decisions, such as a pay raise and pensions worth billions of shekels for police officers and prison wardens.
According to the IDF, the extra funding does not constitute an increase in its budget, but rather is the amount stipulated in a 2016 agreement between the then-defense and finance ministers.
It also abides by the provisions laid out in the IDF's multi-year Gideon Plan, developed in 2015 by then-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot and now in its final year, which calls for NIS 32 billion from the overall defense budget.
Netanyahu's directive is set to be met with stiff resistance from Finance Ministry officials, who are expected to demand that the increase come from the existing army budget, given that the national budget deficit had already increased by NIS 20 billion before the virus struck.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the Finance Ministry to earmark NIS 3.3 billion for an increase in the defense budget, despite the economic crisis besetting Israel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the extra money is for "funding routine IDF activities, [construction of the] Gaza border barrier, and other critical issues that cannot be delayed."
Netanyahu's directive came following a meeting with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and other senior government officials.
During the meeting, Netanyahu stressed the importance of allowing the defense establishment to maintain its stability given the many security challenges surrounding Israel.
In late 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic began, the IDF sought an additional NIS 2 billion to its annual budget, to compensate for a series of wide cuts made at the time across all government ministries.
The cuts did not spare the Defense Ministry, and as a result external funding was found to implement various government decisions, such as a pay raise and pensions worth billions of shekels for police officers and prison wardens.
According to the IDF, the extra funding does not constitute an increase in its budget, but rather is the amount stipulated in a 2016 agreement between the then-defense and finance ministers.
It also abides by the provisions laid out in the IDF's multi-year Gideon Plan, developed in 2015 by then-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot and now in its final year, which calls for NIS 32 billion from the overall defense budget.
Netanyahu's directive is set to be met with stiff resistance from Finance Ministry officials, who are expected to demand that the increase come from the existing army budget, given that the national budget deficit had already increased by NIS 20 billion before the virus struck.
