22 nov 2019
Ali Harb – Middle East Eye
The Israeli army’s mistreatment of Palestinian children is “completely preventable”, a United States congresswoman said, as she urged other lawmakers to support a bill that would prevent American military aid to Israel from being used to abuse Palestinian minors.
“The Israeli system of military detention of Palestinian children is immoral, and not a single dollar of U.S. taxpayer funds should be allowed to support what’s in explicit violation of international humanitarian law,” said Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, at an event on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.
McCollum introduced the legislation, HR 2407 [pdf], in late April, and since then it has gained 22 co-sponsors – mostly progressive members of the House of Representatives.
Several Christian faith leaders, on Wednesday, called on other lawmakers to back the bill. Reverend Aundreia Alexander, associate general secretary for action and advocacy at the National Council of Churches, a Washington-based, cross-denominational Christian group, recalled a recent visit to a family in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
There, she said she observed an 11-year-old boy who had been detained and injured by Israeli forces, doing his homework in the background of the meeting, as the adults spoke about the challenges of life under Israel’s occupation.
Alexander said the suffering of Palestinian children must be taken “out of the background. The intimidation and terrorizing of children is immoral and unconscionable,” she said.
“Children are being used as pawns to pressure the parents, and those fighting for the liberation of the Palestinian people, and it’s also a means of conditioning these children to believe that they are not worthy of respect, that they are not entitled to basic human rights.”
Widespread Arrests
The proposed legislation aims to prevent U.S. assistance to Israel, which receives about $3.8 billion in U.S. aid annually, from supporting “the military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment” of Palestinian children.
The Israeli military arrests as many as 700 Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 17 every year, and prosecutes them in military courts that lack “fundamental guarantees of due process in violation of international standards,” the bill states.
The legislation also points to the different legal systems that Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank are subjected to, a disparity that critics say amounts to apartheid.
“In the Israeli occupied West Bank, there are two separate legal systems, with Israeli military law imposed on Palestinians and Israeli civilian law applied to Israeli settlers,” the proposal notes.
Although supporters of the bill say calling for an end to the abuse of children is an intuitive, apolitical issue, critics say the legislation singles out Israel and does not serve peace.
In September, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, withdrew her support for the legislation, calling the bill “ultimately counterproductive to a peaceful, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Last month, leading Democratic presidential candidates, including senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, said they are open to using U.S. assistance to Israel to pressure the Israeli government to respect the human rights of Palestinians.
‘Simple’ Bill
Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker advocacy group, said opponents of the bill have politicized it because it’s difficult to argue against protecting the rights of children.
“That’s not the courageous leadership that we’re looking for,” Ajlouny told Middle East Eye, of the U.S. lawmakers who “can’t take the heat” and come out in favor of HR 2407. “We need courageous leaders who put morals and principles above all else,” she said.
Earlier this week, 26 faith leaders, including the speakers at Wednesday’s event in Washington, wrote a letter to Congress urging legislators to back McCollum’s bill. “Our faith commitments call us to pay particular attention to the rights of those most vulnerable, including children,” the letter read.
“Wherever children are languishing in detention camps whether in our U.S. context or in Israeli military prisons, we pray that leaders do their utmost to protect the humanity and dignity of all, and prevent the violation of children’s rights.”
On Wednesday, McCollum said the legislation is about basic human decency. “The bill is simple; it says we value the lives of Palestinian children living under occupation, and therefore U.S. military aid to Israel must be prohibited from supporting the military detention, interrogation and abuse of Palestinian children,” McCollum said. “This bill is about our values as Americans.”
The Israeli army’s mistreatment of Palestinian children is “completely preventable”, a United States congresswoman said, as she urged other lawmakers to support a bill that would prevent American military aid to Israel from being used to abuse Palestinian minors.
“The Israeli system of military detention of Palestinian children is immoral, and not a single dollar of U.S. taxpayer funds should be allowed to support what’s in explicit violation of international humanitarian law,” said Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, at an event on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.
McCollum introduced the legislation, HR 2407 [pdf], in late April, and since then it has gained 22 co-sponsors – mostly progressive members of the House of Representatives.
Several Christian faith leaders, on Wednesday, called on other lawmakers to back the bill. Reverend Aundreia Alexander, associate general secretary for action and advocacy at the National Council of Churches, a Washington-based, cross-denominational Christian group, recalled a recent visit to a family in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
There, she said she observed an 11-year-old boy who had been detained and injured by Israeli forces, doing his homework in the background of the meeting, as the adults spoke about the challenges of life under Israel’s occupation.
Alexander said the suffering of Palestinian children must be taken “out of the background. The intimidation and terrorizing of children is immoral and unconscionable,” she said.
“Children are being used as pawns to pressure the parents, and those fighting for the liberation of the Palestinian people, and it’s also a means of conditioning these children to believe that they are not worthy of respect, that they are not entitled to basic human rights.”
Widespread Arrests
The proposed legislation aims to prevent U.S. assistance to Israel, which receives about $3.8 billion in U.S. aid annually, from supporting “the military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment” of Palestinian children.
The Israeli military arrests as many as 700 Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 17 every year, and prosecutes them in military courts that lack “fundamental guarantees of due process in violation of international standards,” the bill states.
The legislation also points to the different legal systems that Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank are subjected to, a disparity that critics say amounts to apartheid.
“In the Israeli occupied West Bank, there are two separate legal systems, with Israeli military law imposed on Palestinians and Israeli civilian law applied to Israeli settlers,” the proposal notes.
Although supporters of the bill say calling for an end to the abuse of children is an intuitive, apolitical issue, critics say the legislation singles out Israel and does not serve peace.
In September, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, withdrew her support for the legislation, calling the bill “ultimately counterproductive to a peaceful, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Last month, leading Democratic presidential candidates, including senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, said they are open to using U.S. assistance to Israel to pressure the Israeli government to respect the human rights of Palestinians.
‘Simple’ Bill
Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker advocacy group, said opponents of the bill have politicized it because it’s difficult to argue against protecting the rights of children.
“That’s not the courageous leadership that we’re looking for,” Ajlouny told Middle East Eye, of the U.S. lawmakers who “can’t take the heat” and come out in favor of HR 2407. “We need courageous leaders who put morals and principles above all else,” she said.
Earlier this week, 26 faith leaders, including the speakers at Wednesday’s event in Washington, wrote a letter to Congress urging legislators to back McCollum’s bill. “Our faith commitments call us to pay particular attention to the rights of those most vulnerable, including children,” the letter read.
“Wherever children are languishing in detention camps whether in our U.S. context or in Israeli military prisons, we pray that leaders do their utmost to protect the humanity and dignity of all, and prevent the violation of children’s rights.”
On Wednesday, McCollum said the legislation is about basic human decency. “The bill is simple; it says we value the lives of Palestinian children living under occupation, and therefore U.S. military aid to Israel must be prohibited from supporting the military detention, interrogation and abuse of Palestinian children,” McCollum said. “This bill is about our values as Americans.”
19 nov 2019
US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders appears to have struck a nerve with Israeli officials after proposing to put the annual $4 billion handout the Zionist state gets from the US to better use.
The veteran politician who spent several months during his early 20s living on an Israeli kibbutz, appeared to suggest that giving Tel Aviv aid unconditionally made the US complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Referring to the ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Israel negotiated by former President Barack Obama, he said: “My solution is to say to Israel: you get $3.8 billion every year; if you want military aid you’re going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza, in fact, I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid.”
The remarks stirred strong feelings in Israel. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein attacked Sanders, saying that the Vermont senator should “stop talking nonsense”. Israel views the aid it receives from the US, totalling hundreds of billions over the decades, as untouchable. Attempts by US presidents, such as former President George H W Bush, to make aid conditional on change in Israeli behaviour by discontinuing its sprawling settlement construction, has been fatal to his re-election.
In ugly rhetoric that appears to mirror the ongoing assault on British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who, like his ideological counterpart in the sates is a strong critic of Israel, Sanders is being gunned down by Israeli officials at every opportunity.
Speaking at a gala event held by the Zionist Organisation of America in New York City yesterday evening, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon mocked Sanders. “Mr. Sanders, a few months on a kibbutz in 1963 can only teach you so much,” taunted Danon.
Repeating the common Israeli propaganda line that the Palestinians have turned Gaza into a haven for terrorism following Israel’s withdrawal in 2005, Danon said: “Perhaps Mr. Sanders didn’t hear about Israel leaving Gaza in 2005,” the ambassador said. “Maybe he hasn’t had the chance to visit the Kerem Shalom crossing, where hundreds of trucks pass daily to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Maybe he doesn’t know about the terror tunnels.”
Although Sanders did not say that US aid should go to Hamas, Danon went on to distort the senator’s comments. “He [Sanders] is suggesting to give less military assistance to the United States’ most important ally in the Middle East in order to give it to Hamas, a terrorist organisation that celebrated the tragedy of 9/11. Let me assure you my friends, we will never let that happen,” Danon told the audience. “We will fight against these radical voices.”
It’s been suggested that the Democrats are becoming split on the issue of Israel with a number of candidates seeking to take a harder line. Sanders’ running mate Elizabeth Warren has also said that she would halt aid to Israel if it did not stop building settlements.
A number of commentators have suggested that this reflects a growing trend amongst America’s new generation, including young Jewish voters, who see a yawning chasm between their progressive liberal values and policies of a country that has denied 12 million people their universally recognised right to self-determination by illegally entrenching its occupation.
The veteran politician who spent several months during his early 20s living on an Israeli kibbutz, appeared to suggest that giving Tel Aviv aid unconditionally made the US complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Referring to the ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Israel negotiated by former President Barack Obama, he said: “My solution is to say to Israel: you get $3.8 billion every year; if you want military aid you’re going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza, in fact, I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid.”
The remarks stirred strong feelings in Israel. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein attacked Sanders, saying that the Vermont senator should “stop talking nonsense”. Israel views the aid it receives from the US, totalling hundreds of billions over the decades, as untouchable. Attempts by US presidents, such as former President George H W Bush, to make aid conditional on change in Israeli behaviour by discontinuing its sprawling settlement construction, has been fatal to his re-election.
In ugly rhetoric that appears to mirror the ongoing assault on British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who, like his ideological counterpart in the sates is a strong critic of Israel, Sanders is being gunned down by Israeli officials at every opportunity.
Speaking at a gala event held by the Zionist Organisation of America in New York City yesterday evening, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon mocked Sanders. “Mr. Sanders, a few months on a kibbutz in 1963 can only teach you so much,” taunted Danon.
Repeating the common Israeli propaganda line that the Palestinians have turned Gaza into a haven for terrorism following Israel’s withdrawal in 2005, Danon said: “Perhaps Mr. Sanders didn’t hear about Israel leaving Gaza in 2005,” the ambassador said. “Maybe he hasn’t had the chance to visit the Kerem Shalom crossing, where hundreds of trucks pass daily to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Maybe he doesn’t know about the terror tunnels.”
Although Sanders did not say that US aid should go to Hamas, Danon went on to distort the senator’s comments. “He [Sanders] is suggesting to give less military assistance to the United States’ most important ally in the Middle East in order to give it to Hamas, a terrorist organisation that celebrated the tragedy of 9/11. Let me assure you my friends, we will never let that happen,” Danon told the audience. “We will fight against these radical voices.”
It’s been suggested that the Democrats are becoming split on the issue of Israel with a number of candidates seeking to take a harder line. Sanders’ running mate Elizabeth Warren has also said that she would halt aid to Israel if it did not stop building settlements.
A number of commentators have suggested that this reflects a growing trend amongst America’s new generation, including young Jewish voters, who see a yawning chasm between their progressive liberal values and policies of a country that has denied 12 million people their universally recognised right to self-determination by illegally entrenching its occupation.
4 oct 2019
photo: Apartment building in Gaza after bombing by Israeli aircraft.
IAI, which services 80% of Amazon’s cargo planes, also provides aircraft, missiles, and other weapons to the Israeli government.
On September 22nd, Amazon quietly launched its operations in Israel, offering local delivery from a number of Israeli brands, with a Hebrew-language version of its Israel platform coming soon.
Consumers in Israel now have faster and broader access to the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace, yet questions remained unanswered about Amazon’s ties with Israeli military, financial, and technology companies involved in the Occupation of Palestine as well as accusations of anti-Palestinian bias against the platform and its founder Jeff Bezos.
Though Amazon Israel was launched barely two weeks ago, Amazon’s business operations with Israel go back much further. As early as 2015, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) began servicing Amazon’s fleet of cargo planes, and now services 80% of Amazon’s aircraft.
IAI is a wholly Israeli state owned aerospace and weapons manufacturer which supplies the Israeli army with aircraft, drones, missiles, armored vehicles, spy satellites and more.
Its weapons have been used in assassinations and military invasions of Gaza. In the 1970s, IAI sold weapons to the Shah of Iran, and more recently, a UN report in August this year found IAI had sold weapons to Myanmar’s military after it began its genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority.
IAI subsidiary Elta North America was recently commissioned to build a prototype of Donald Trump’s wall on the US-Mexico border. Amazon also works with Israeli technology firm NSLComm, which receives funding from the Israeli government, and builds network satellites “that will be used for… military applications”, according to Haaretz.
While Amazon’s ties with IAI and NSLComm are rarely reported in the media, its multi-million dollar contracts with another security firm has attracted widespread condemnation and protest.
Amazon makes millions off providing web servers and database storage for Palantir, a private US data analysis firm which aids Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in identifying and deporting migrants.
A petition this summer for Amazon to cut ties with Palantir and ICE gained over 270,000 signatures. Palantir also provides the Israeli government with so-called “predictive systems”, which analyze social media posts to identify Palestinians deemed a “threat”.
The result of Palantir’s racially profiled analytics systems is that Palestinians are arrested and face long prison sentences for simply posting photos of family members killed by Israeli forces or in prison, citing Quranic verses, or calling for protests.
In the financial sector, Amazon signed agreements this year with Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi, two major Israeli banking institutions, to provide discounts to Amazon customers using Leumi and Hapoalim bank accounts.
A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch found both banks guilty of financing construction and expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, while Bank Leumi also funds academic institutions in illegal settlements and programs for IDF recruits, even sponsoring gift packages and additional vacation days for Israeli soldiers during the 2014 invasion of Gaza, in which over 2,200 Palestinians, including more than 550 children, were killed.
Pension funds and banks in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK have divested from Bank Leumi and Hapoalim due to their human rights violations, while Amazon signs new cooperation agreements with them.
Amazon’s dealings with Israeli companies supporting and profiting from the Occupation aside, many more questions remain. The most troubling of these questions surround t how Amazon Israel will deal with realities on the ground in its operations.
Will Amazon deliver to customers in illegal settlements? Will Amazon sell products manufactured or grown on Palestinian land seized by armed settlers and considered illegal by the UN and the international community? Will Amazon give Palestinian and Israeli sellers equal access to its platform?
A quick look at Amazon’s policies on its global site, amazon.com, give some indication as to how it might run its Israeli site.
IAI, which services 80% of Amazon’s cargo planes, also provides aircraft, missiles, and other weapons to the Israeli government.
On September 22nd, Amazon quietly launched its operations in Israel, offering local delivery from a number of Israeli brands, with a Hebrew-language version of its Israel platform coming soon.
Consumers in Israel now have faster and broader access to the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace, yet questions remained unanswered about Amazon’s ties with Israeli military, financial, and technology companies involved in the Occupation of Palestine as well as accusations of anti-Palestinian bias against the platform and its founder Jeff Bezos.
Though Amazon Israel was launched barely two weeks ago, Amazon’s business operations with Israel go back much further. As early as 2015, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) began servicing Amazon’s fleet of cargo planes, and now services 80% of Amazon’s aircraft.
IAI is a wholly Israeli state owned aerospace and weapons manufacturer which supplies the Israeli army with aircraft, drones, missiles, armored vehicles, spy satellites and more.
Its weapons have been used in assassinations and military invasions of Gaza. In the 1970s, IAI sold weapons to the Shah of Iran, and more recently, a UN report in August this year found IAI had sold weapons to Myanmar’s military after it began its genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority.
IAI subsidiary Elta North America was recently commissioned to build a prototype of Donald Trump’s wall on the US-Mexico border. Amazon also works with Israeli technology firm NSLComm, which receives funding from the Israeli government, and builds network satellites “that will be used for… military applications”, according to Haaretz.
While Amazon’s ties with IAI and NSLComm are rarely reported in the media, its multi-million dollar contracts with another security firm has attracted widespread condemnation and protest.
Amazon makes millions off providing web servers and database storage for Palantir, a private US data analysis firm which aids Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in identifying and deporting migrants.
A petition this summer for Amazon to cut ties with Palantir and ICE gained over 270,000 signatures. Palantir also provides the Israeli government with so-called “predictive systems”, which analyze social media posts to identify Palestinians deemed a “threat”.
The result of Palantir’s racially profiled analytics systems is that Palestinians are arrested and face long prison sentences for simply posting photos of family members killed by Israeli forces or in prison, citing Quranic verses, or calling for protests.
In the financial sector, Amazon signed agreements this year with Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi, two major Israeli banking institutions, to provide discounts to Amazon customers using Leumi and Hapoalim bank accounts.
A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch found both banks guilty of financing construction and expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, while Bank Leumi also funds academic institutions in illegal settlements and programs for IDF recruits, even sponsoring gift packages and additional vacation days for Israeli soldiers during the 2014 invasion of Gaza, in which over 2,200 Palestinians, including more than 550 children, were killed.
Pension funds and banks in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK have divested from Bank Leumi and Hapoalim due to their human rights violations, while Amazon signs new cooperation agreements with them.
Amazon’s dealings with Israeli companies supporting and profiting from the Occupation aside, many more questions remain. The most troubling of these questions surround t how Amazon Israel will deal with realities on the ground in its operations.
Will Amazon deliver to customers in illegal settlements? Will Amazon sell products manufactured or grown on Palestinian land seized by armed settlers and considered illegal by the UN and the international community? Will Amazon give Palestinian and Israeli sellers equal access to its platform?
A quick look at Amazon’s policies on its global site, amazon.com, give some indication as to how it might run its Israeli site.
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The IDF Logo
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Last year, Amazon removed a top-selling T-shirt that reads “Make Israel Palestine Again”, on the grounds that it did not fulfill Amazon’s content policy.
Amazon’s content policy prohibits the sale of “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.” Amazon seems to have no problem, however, with selling “IDF” merchandise; at the time of writing this article, IDF T shirts, dresses, Halloween costumes, and even baby clothes were available on its global site. |
The occupation army has been accused of racism, sexism, religious intolerance, and countless acts of violence, torture, and human rights violations, not only by Palestinians but also by Israeli soldiers.
Amazon president, CEO, and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world since 2017 (and according to Forbes, the richest man in history) has yet to speak publicly about Palestine or Israel; he rarely gives public comments on any political issues.
But indications of the Amazon founder’s political stances can be seen in the Washington Post. Jeff Bezos purchased the US paper for $250 million USD and has been its sole owner since October 2013.
The Washington Post has published a wide range of articles on Israel and Palestine, and a quick look at their articles and editorials since Bezo’s takeover in October 2013 shows where its editorial staff and leadership stand.
It describes the shooting of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli snipers as “clashes”, and Netanyahu as a “prudent, even cautious, statesman” who “quietly restrained the building of Jewish settlements”, even though during his last 10 years in office over 20,000 settlement units were built in the Occupied West Bank.
Amazon president, CEO, and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world since 2017 (and according to Forbes, the richest man in history) has yet to speak publicly about Palestine or Israel; he rarely gives public comments on any political issues.
But indications of the Amazon founder’s political stances can be seen in the Washington Post. Jeff Bezos purchased the US paper for $250 million USD and has been its sole owner since October 2013.
The Washington Post has published a wide range of articles on Israel and Palestine, and a quick look at their articles and editorials since Bezo’s takeover in October 2013 shows where its editorial staff and leadership stand.
It describes the shooting of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli snipers as “clashes”, and Netanyahu as a “prudent, even cautious, statesman” who “quietly restrained the building of Jewish settlements”, even though during his last 10 years in office over 20,000 settlement units were built in the Occupied West Bank.
From the Washington Post (of which Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the sole owner) on May 6, 2019. Israelis are killed, but Palestinians just “die”.
One Washington Post article, titled “Palestinians Kill 3 Israelis as Violence Mounts in ‘Day of Rage’”, acknowledges only in the 6th paragraph that “28 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis.”
Israelis are routinely described as “killed”, but Palestinians merely “die”.
Another article on electricity cuts in Gaza makes sure to inform the readers in the headline that “it’s not all Israel’s fault”. Last year, the Washington Post ran a full page advert calling New Zealand artist Lorde a “bigot” for canceling a concert in Israel.
Jennifer Rubin, a journalist for the Washington post, once retweeted an article describing Palestinians as “death-worshiping, innocent-butchering, child-sacrificing savages”, “devils spawn”, and “unmanned animals” who should be thrown “into the sea, to float there, food for sharks”.
Her writing in the Washington Post declared that endorsements of the one-state solution “amount to calls for genocide”, and called then–Secretary of State John Kerry “intentionally obtuse”–or a liar–for not denouncing the Palestinian right of return. The Washington Post has rejected calls to remove Rubin for promoting racism and Islamophobia.
Given Amazon’s record of involvement with corporations deeply entrenched in the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, there is a high possibility of Amazon Israel failing to comply with international and human rights law in its Israeli operations.
Should it fail to respect international law and engage in operations directly normalizing, supporting, and profiting from violations of Palestinian rights, Amazon may face boycott calls similar to those taken by BDS against companies like HSBC, SodaStream, Airbnb, Caterpillar, and Hewlett Packard.
It remains to be seen what kind of corporate values Amazon Israel will deliver.
Originally posted by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
One Washington Post article, titled “Palestinians Kill 3 Israelis as Violence Mounts in ‘Day of Rage’”, acknowledges only in the 6th paragraph that “28 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis.”
Israelis are routinely described as “killed”, but Palestinians merely “die”.
Another article on electricity cuts in Gaza makes sure to inform the readers in the headline that “it’s not all Israel’s fault”. Last year, the Washington Post ran a full page advert calling New Zealand artist Lorde a “bigot” for canceling a concert in Israel.
Jennifer Rubin, a journalist for the Washington post, once retweeted an article describing Palestinians as “death-worshiping, innocent-butchering, child-sacrificing savages”, “devils spawn”, and “unmanned animals” who should be thrown “into the sea, to float there, food for sharks”.
Her writing in the Washington Post declared that endorsements of the one-state solution “amount to calls for genocide”, and called then–Secretary of State John Kerry “intentionally obtuse”–or a liar–for not denouncing the Palestinian right of return. The Washington Post has rejected calls to remove Rubin for promoting racism and Islamophobia.
Given Amazon’s record of involvement with corporations deeply entrenched in the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, there is a high possibility of Amazon Israel failing to comply with international and human rights law in its Israeli operations.
Should it fail to respect international law and engage in operations directly normalizing, supporting, and profiting from violations of Palestinian rights, Amazon may face boycott calls similar to those taken by BDS against companies like HSBC, SodaStream, Airbnb, Caterpillar, and Hewlett Packard.
It remains to be seen what kind of corporate values Amazon Israel will deliver.
Originally posted by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
