Category: Israel

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Australian Rightwing Zionists Take Shonky Aim at BDS

How to tell boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) against apartheid Israel are working? Rightwing zionists in Australia are making a stringent attack on politicians and trade unionists who support human rights and justice for Palestinians and have the temerity to back BDS and oppose Israeli apartheid.

Opposition senator Eric Abetz successfully moved a motion raising concerns about the Greens, Labor and union support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel after Marrickville council’s brief adoption of the policy. “The Senate condemned those in the Labor Party, the Greens and unions who are supporting the BDS campaign against Israel,” Senator Abetz said.
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NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff slammed Ms Rhiannon’s involvement with the [Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine] forum, which he described as “an activist conference lacking any hint of balance or academic integrity on a divisive and complex issue”.

Rightwing zionists and supporters have already shown their colours by organising against Marrickville Council’s resolution on BDS, marshalling Christian zionists and rightwing Jewish zionists to combine forces in the Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance, which ran a phone push poll and other PR endeavours prior to the NSW State Election in Marrickville.

On March 3 a request from the group was accidentally published on the Jewish news website J-Wire and a blog, requesting $12,000 in public donations for activities ”to research what local people really think … carefully targeted media coverage and advertising in relation to the election … Please also pass this information on quietly to like-minded friends”. It was quickly deleted.

Eleven days later Marrickville Council said it was investigating four complaints from residents about a survey ”asking residents to comment on the GBDS against Israel”. At least one resident complained the interviewer had claimed to be from the council.
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Vic Alhadeff, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said his organisation had no knowledge of the poster campaign, or the phone survey, until afterwards.

However, Alhadeff’s comment was disingenuous – the cached blog post of the Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance says:

Also, we have among our own numbers people who are deeply involved in the Jewish community, and we are in frequent communication with Vic Alhadeff and Yair Miller from the Jewish Board of Deputies as well as Peter Wertheim from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

A few days ago, an unprincipled slur against Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon of the Greens was proliferated by The Australian, which has unswervingly offered slanted opinion on BDS, Israel and Palestine, notably failing to publish any stories by Palestinian advocates prior to the NSW State Election and Marrickville Council vote on BDS.

Ant Loewenstein annotates the Senate motion by Abetz and Private Members motion by Julie Bishop in his blog post ‘Palestinian rights barely exist for Australian politicians’. The vote in the Senate was 32 – 30, with the independents voting with the coalition.

In view of the call by the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) for solidarity from trade unions around the world, the motion by Senator Abetz to apply political pressure to the ACTU is way out of order. Since when has the Liberal party’s ambit been Australian trade unions and workers? – as ever, Israel is a special case for these sycophantic supporters of the rogue zionist entity. As Australian citizens, we should be extremely concerned that the zionist lobby buys off our politicians’ and Australia’s stance for justice and rights for oppressed people.

Please contact Senator Abetz and Julie Bishop below and tell them Israel, in contravention of more than two score UN Security Council resolutions, should butt out of Australian politics, that they should clarify any lurks and perks provided by zionists to their political campaigns, and remind them that boycotts, divestments and sanctions are the legitimate non-violent tactic called for by oppressed Palestinian civil society for long overdue justice and rights.

Senator Eric Abetz
GPO Box 1675. HOBART TAS 7001
Email:
Web: http://abetz.com.au/contact
Electorate Office Numbers:
Telephone: (03) 6224 3707
Facsimile: (03) 6224 3709
Toll Free: 1300 132 493

Canberra Office Numbers:
Telephone: (02) 6277 3019
Facsimile: (02) 6277 5707

The Hon Julie Bishop, MP
414 Rokeby Road
Subiaco, WA 6008
PO Box 2010
Subiaco, WA 6904
Email:
Phone: (08) 9388 0288
Fax: (08) 9388 0299
Web & Blog: http://www.juliebishop.com.au/

For information on how to address an Australian politician, see here.

Palestine / Israel Links

OCHA Report on Key Humanitarian Concerns in East Jerusalem [.pdf]
Palestinian unity is not for sale- You keep our tax..we keep our struggle”
Enrique Iglesias, don’t sing for the Israeli apartheid!
Deep Purple: Only ‘wimps’ cancel concerts in Israel
Great Songs of Indifference?: Bob Geldof, do not Ignore the Call
Lupe Fiasco raps about Gaza, discusses Obama and the War on Terror on the Colbert Report
Activists preparing for “third intifada”
For 40 years Israel practiced deceit in its purported plans for Palestinian autonomy (and that deceit required a partner)
AHAVA promotional campaign on Twitter jammed with BDS messaging
An Essay I wrote for English: Palestine remembered
This Is Why The Israeli Occupation of Palestine Must END! (Part 1: Mothers of Palestine)
This Is Why The Israeli Occupation of Palestine Must END! (Part 2: Children of Palestine)
How the ‘temporary weave’ of Zionism is starting to fray at the edges

Other Links

Poll-driven middle-class welfare for families earning over $150 000 a year is a bad thing, says The Australian—until Tony Abbott’s talking points decide otherwise.
Electronic Surveillance: America’s Secret Domestic Spying Apparatus
Senators Introduce Bill to Make Guantánamo Permanent Prison for Terror Suspects

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Samah Sabawi on BDS at Marrickville Council

Palestine / Israel Links

Koenig Memorandum
For 40 years Israel practiced deceit in its purported plans for Palestinian autonomy (and that deceit required a partner)
Palestinian Community Leader Hatem Abudayyeh and Supporters Claim Victory
Breaking the Gaza Embargo and Israeli Piracy Threatening to hijack boats in international waters and kill or kidnap passengers is, of course, a serious crime. But Israel’s threats and actual uses of force are nothing new. For decades, Israel has been hijacking international vessels throughout the Mediterranean and kidnapping or killing passengers.
Unrecognized village residents fight demolition plans
James Longley’s brilliant documentary “Gaza Strip” now free online
We call on all people of conscience to boycott Sabra and all other products manufactured by Israeli corporations that support the State of Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing and occupation of the Palestinian people. It’s time to pressure Israel to comply with international law. Let’s boycott!

Other Links

US prisoners refused all books except Bible

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Israel and Palestinian Unity

Palestine / Israel Links

The Government Declares in Court a New Policy: Legalizing New Settlements
Former Mossad chief: Israel air strike on Iran ‘stupidest thing I have ever heard’
Media outlets are today reporting on the successful BDS campaign against Israel’s illegal A1 train project.
Is BDS strong at American universities?
In Reversal, City University Trustees Approve Honorary Degree for Tony Kushner
Green Fear: staying out of the ‘no-go zone’ of Australia-US-Israel relations
Ayoon Wa Azan (“A Great Victory for Israeli Terrorism”)
Settlers attack a school in northern West Bank
Deutsche Bahn pulls out of Israel project
Oppressing West Bank Palestinian Children
Tomgram: Ira Chernus, The Great Israeli Security Scam
Report: Bin Laden warned U.S. over security of Palestine in final tape

Other Links

Australian government migrant data
The Un-Shock Doctrine : Zizek

U.S. policy is thus definitively approaching a stage of madness, and not only in terms of domestic policy (as the Tea Party proposes to fight the national debt by lowering taxes, i.e., by raising the debt—one cannot but recall here Stalin’s well-known thesis that, in the Soviet Union, the state was withering away through the strengthening of its organs, especially its organs of police repression). In foreign policy also, the spread of Western Judeo-Christian values is organized by creating conditions which lead to the expulsion of Christians (who, maybe, could move to Iran…). This is definitely not a clash of civilizations, but a true dialogue and cooperation between the U.S. and the Muslim fundamentalists

Corporate Rule of Cyberspace
The thorny roots of the Arab spring
Pakistan Isn’t The Only Terrorist Safe Haven
Australia Incited Timor Unrest: Wikileaks
The unimportance of bin Laden

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The Potential for Neoliberalism in a Hypothetical Palestinian State

Further to the existent and potential neoliberalism (formalisation of bantustan economy) in any incipient Palestinian state is the role that state of bantustans would play in the predatory US regional strategic plan as it counters the ‘arab spring’. Since Nutanyahoo doesn’t have the political capital or intention to offer a viable sovereign Palestinian state, the possibility for such is strictly hypothetical.

As more countries recognise a Palestinian state prior to another proposed declaration of same in September, Israeli politicians have moved to counter it with plans for annexation. However, if the OPT or parts thereof are annexed, Israel will have institutionalised apartheid systemically, highlighting the existing Palestinian bantustans and the two tiered racist zionist entity where non-jews are discriminated against by more than 20 laws. At that point, Israel will become unsustainable to the point of complete self-delegitimisation. The struggle will then be firmly focussed on equal rights for all, and the ethical nature of and necessity for BDS, boycotts, divestments and sanctions will be affirmed even more strongly.

Related Links

The PA and the privatization of Palestine : Ali Abunimah
Ehud Barak acknowledges the impact of BDS
Palestine in the Middle East: Opposing Neoliberalism and US Power
Leila Khaled : ‘“We shouldn’t believe the imperialists that they can make a better world. It’s only the working class that can make the world much more possible to live in without injustice and having our freedom. When the working class gets its freedom in any country, it means that it is building a better future for the generations to come.”
Neoliberalism as Liberation
Awakening: Liberal American rabbinical students are turning away from Zionism, sometimes with disgust
Right-wing group to teachers: Say no to doves
Hollow ‘reconciliation’ in Palestine Ali Abunimah :

Hamas has long signalled its desire to move away from armed struggle toward purely political means – this is the essence of its proposed hudna, or long-term truce, with Israel. It is of course possible to defend the legitimate and universal right to armed resistance against occupation, while choosing not to exercise it. “Where there is occupation and settlement, there is a right to resistance. Israel is the aggressor,” Meshaal told The New York Times on May 5, “But resistance is a means, not an end.”

Yet to choose different means, a movement has to have a viable political strategy and a clear definition of its ends. Hamas has failed to articulate, or to rally the Palestinian people around either. Instead its strategy appears to be simply to sign on to the inherently unjust, and infeasible “two-state solution” – and hope for admission to “the peace process”.

Richard Falk calls for listing Palestine as LDC under UN framework

Other Links

Nir Rosen’s excellent discussion of state terrorism: Who Cares About Osama
Osama bin Laden mission agreed in secret 10 years ago by US and Pakistan

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BDS will win over Israeli oppression

In this interview, Omar Barghouti highlights the principled support from musicians and writers for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel and spells out the reason why BDS will defeat Israeli oppression:

‘When celebrities of this caliber cancel events in Israel over its human rights record they help to reveal Israel’s true face as a state practicing occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid and contribute to challenging Israel’s impunity and infringement of international law.
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Besides, I think the foundational principle of international solidarity is to listen to the oppressed themselves, their needs and aspirations, not to think on their behalf, as if we cannot think straight or do not understand what is in our best interest. The latter attitude is colonial and patronizing, par excellence.
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Israel and its well-oiled lobby groups in the West have tried every trick in their book of vilification, intimidation, bullying and intellectual terror to deter or smear BDS activists and leaders everywhere. So far, they have miserably failed, however, as they themselves sometimes admit. Given its morally consistent, non-violent, human rights based agenda that upholds the rule of international law, full equality for all humans and a categorical rejection of all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, the global BDS movement has dragged Israel into a “battlefield,” where we maintain decisive ethical superiority and neutralize Israel’s daunting arsenal of weapons, including nuclear weapons.’

Barghouti also outlines the justification for academic and cultural boycott of Israel:

‘The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is a key part of the BDS campaign, due to the entrenched and persistent collusion of Israel’s academic and cultural institutions in maintaining and whitewashing Israel’s occupation and apartheid. It is important to emphasize that our campaign targets Israel’s academic and cultural institutions, not individuals, so the claim that our boycott would prevent Israeli academics or artists from interacting with their counterparts worldwide is simply false and intentionally misleading. Regardless, those who oppose the boycott because they erroneously think it infringes Israelis’ freedom of speech seem to forget that Palestinians, too, deserve that right. The fact that Israel’s decades-long system of colonial oppression denies Palestinians all our fundamental rights, including the right to free speech and often the right to education, appears to be less worthy of those critics’ interest. When Israel criminalized Palestinian education and shut down all Palestinian universities (some for four consecutive years), schools and even kindergartens during the first intifada, which was overwhelmingly peaceful, we did not hear much protest from many of those who are currently attacking the academic boycott because of its alleged impact on Israeli academic freedom. It is this hypocrisy that makes us wonder whether those people truly believe that all humans deserve equal rights, regardless of their identity.’

Palestine / Israel Links

Pro-Palestine Protestors form human wall as CRH involvement with Israel’s illegal wall again a major issue
AFP PRESS RELEASE 28: Palestinian unity, statehood and the importance of BDS
Israel’s future
The demolition nation is at it again, destroying the Palestinian village of Amniyr situated on private Palestinian land which Israel has usurped as ‘state land’, for the third time.

Other Links

Noam Chomsky: My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death