Politics

February 22, 2012December 11, 2020

Cassandra Wilson Identifies With the Cultural Boycott of Israel

In a stunning act of solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement [BDS], Cassandra Wilson has cancelled her gig at the Holon International Women’s Festival in apartheid Israel from February 22 – 25 saying

“As a human rights activist I identify with the cultural boycott of Israel”.

The Festival says it will sue – yet instead it could direct its ire toward the apartheid Israeli regime against which BDS is the tactic chosen by Palestinian civil society with the international grassroots community in solidarity, since the international political community has failed to enforce 35 UN Security Council resolutions against Israel or prosecute it for its horrendous contraventions of the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity of apartheid, colonialism and collective punishment.

Ynet reports on the Festival’s promoter’s reaction to the cancellation (translation from Hebrew):

During the conversation, there was no time to be angry because we were in a state of crisis management and had only a few hours until Cassandra was supposed to board a train to the airport. These were hours of decision and the conversation was pertinent. She sent me examples of emails she received and my impression was that it was just a vocal minority.
I told her that in recent years the rate of tours of A-list artists in Israel is only increasing, and I gave as an example among others, Madonna, who will open her national tour and Guns N’ Roses announced their arrival. Everyone who was and will be here exercises deliberation and beyond that her decision is puzzling, because the subject never came up in the past and she is not a girl but an active artist who chose enter a contract with us and has already received full payment.
…
“The festival is not less good without Cassandra Wilson.”

Cassandra is a highly celebrated performer who was to frontline at the Holon Festival:

The 56- year-old, two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist has delved into numerous musical areas over the last three decades, including jazz, blues, pop, country music and folk. She has released over 20 albums under her own name and recorded and performed with a wide range of artists, including celebrated jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pop crooner Elvis Costello and R&B and soul singer Luther Vandross.

You can express your appreciation of Cassandra’s act of solidarity by tweeting her at @reallycassandra or send a message here.

Cassandra was contacted by BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within and many tweeters to alert her to the nature of and need for the BDS campaign for justice and rights for Palestinians.

With Cassandra’s cancellation, there’s now been four acts which have pulled out from their gigs already this year, the others being tUnE-yArDs, Cat Power and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

2012 is shaping up to be a great year for BDS cultural boycott wins – BDS is snowballing!

UPDATE 22/2/12

Israeli racists are now tweeting threatening, abusing messages to Cassandra Wilson.

@reallycassandra replies to one apartheidist tweeter: “you are sadly mistaken, ill-informed, and ignorant. I am closer to being a Semite than you will ever be. Racist? Impossible.” #

Another tweeter invokes the flawed and discredited EUMC working definition of antisemitism.

Other tweeters slam the cancellation as being one at Palestinian request, ludicrously and hypocritically calling for a boycott against her even whilst condemning the legitimate BDS call.

Haaretz profiles Cassandra’s cancellation:

Grammy-winning jazz singer Cassandra Wilson has called off her scheduled concert in Holon tonight, after receiving requests from pro-Palestinian activists asking that she join an artistic boycott of Israel.
…
Tuesday morning’s surprising last-minute cancelation comes months after Wilson signed a contract to perform in Israel ? but only one day after she received full payment for her scheduled appearance, according to the director of the Holon Theater, Guy Telem.

Telem says he spoke with Wilson at length on Tuesday in an attempt to convince her not to cancel the appearance.

“Her first explanation was that she read recently about Israel’s intention to attack Iran and she feared for her safety and the safety of her people,” said Telem. He recommended she speak with official agencies in Israel and the United States to inquire about whether there were any official travel warnings, rather than relying on media reports. He also said such warnings have been in the media for months, including well before she signed the contract to travel to Israel.

Wilson later admitted that her decision stemmed from a desire to support Palestinians’ civil rights, Telem said.

Telem said he asked Wilson whether she actively supported the Palestinian cause before pro-Palestinian activists approached her about canceling tonight’s concert; Wilson had no answer, he said.

For legal reasons, Wilson refused to disclose the names of the groups that approached her, said Telem.

Haaretz then interprets and insinuates rather than reports:

It seems that she pulled a fast one and the singer’s manager has agreed to refund only part of the money as of now, he said. But the damage done to the festival is much greater than just her appearance fee and the damage to the theater’s reputation; there is also the matter of compensating the public and other large expenses related to the appearance.
…
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart canceled a performance in Israel in recent months, citing political reasons, and took on a more profitable deal in Malaysia instead.

The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee met at the beginning of the month to discuss the boycott. It establisheded a special subcommittee to look into how to compensate Israeli promoters in the cases of politically motivated cancelations. The subcommittee is supposed to present its recommendations within 90 days, but no progress has yet been made.

While many artists have canceled appearances in Israel over the past few years for political reasons, it seems that many only develop their political awareness on the matter after they sign the contracts to perform. Promoters are now introducing clauses to protect against such cancelations, stipulating that the artist is aware of possible political pressure to cancel their appearance.

The promoters might also make the performers aware of the highly developed and well-funded duplicitous Israeli propaganda campaigns which attempt to convince artists to perform regardless of the global boycott movement, along with a full kit explaining why Israel is an apartheid, racist, settler colonial entity and why so many artists of conscience have decided to support the boycott.

… a coalition of artists — Artists Against Apartheid — called for a comprehensive boycott against CCFP, which they categorized as a “complicit propaganda institution seeking to normalize Israeli apartheid and strongarm entertainers into its service.”

CCFP is also closely linked to StandWithUs (SWU), a US-based pro-Israel and anti-boycott organization devoted to expanding Israeli propaganda on US college campuses and crushing Palestine solidarity activism in local communities. As The Electronic Intifada reported, SWU has tight ties with the Israeli government to combat BDS.
…
As much money and effort that Israeli lobby groups are pouring into these propaganda ventures to battle the expanding BDS movement, it is a clear indication that they’re feeling the heat. With groups such as CCFP, AIEF, the Jewish Federations of North America and their public relations wing, the Jewish Community Relations Council, pouring millions of dollars into desperate attempts to stifle and censor Palestinian voices and the BDS movement, the BDS activism community will continue to hold Israel and its enablers accountable, from Tel Aviv to Hollywood.

Tweets of Support for Cassandra’s Cancellation

Please click to enlarge

DOUBLE HAPPINESS

Khader Adnan ends his steadfast 66 day hunger strike against Israeli arbitrary military detention without charge or trial. There are currently 309 Palestinians held illegally by Israel in this manner.

February 20, 2012December 11, 2020

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Cancel Apartheid Israel

In a move in support of human rights and justice, the New York Indie band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announced they will not play Israel. Israel’s “Walla” press reports the cancellation was political.[1]

If you’ve not yet enjoyed their music, watch their video “Heart in Your Heartbreak”:

The group was contacted by pro-justice activists.

Bandmembers Peggy Wang, Kip Berman, Kurt Feldman and Alex Naidus join other artists such as Roger Waters and Maxi Jaxx of Faithless who have chosen to respect and or advocate for the boycott. This year has already seen cancellations by afro-beat musicians the Tuneyards, blues rocker Cat Power aka Chan Marshall, as well as the highly respected French intellectual Jacques Ranciére, who cancelled his visit to Israel, in which he was scheduled to give public lectures in Tel Aviv university.[2]

The cultural boycott continues to grow among artists of conscience, as the PACBI [3] continues to gain support for its peaceful non-violent approach. The end of South African apartheid was fueled by a similar but tactically different movement led by some high profile musicians in the UK and elsewhere.

[1] The Pains of Being Pure At Heart dismissed for political reasons
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&langpair=auto%7Cen&rurl=translate.google.com&tbb=1&u=http://e.walla.co.il/%3Fw%3D%252F6%252F2509963&usg=ALkJrhg9BlEd4I6ePpoln6_co901s_K56Q
[2] Jacques Ranciére cancelled his visit to Israel http://thesip.org/2012/01/ranciere-cancellatio/
[3] PACBI http://www.pacbi.org/

SOURCE

February 20, 2012December 11, 2020

You Can’t Break a Man Who Won’t Be Broken

Day 65 of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike against the totalitarian, ruthless Israeli regime and its criminal system of arbitrary military detentions without trial or charge which contravene the Geneva Conventions. After 64 years of Israeli land theft, brutalisation and racism, Palestinian people remain steadfast – they will NOT be broken by Israel and in the end justice and humanity will triumph.

Khader Adnan, Bobby Sands

by David Rovics

Khader Adnan grew up near Jenin City
You could say he was a product of his time
Ever since he was a kid he’d get arrested
Though he was never charged with any crime
Spending half his life in prison
A life lived like so many of his friends
Arbitrary and indefinite detention
Never knowing if your jail time would end
Khader Adnan was arrested last December
Again he wasn’t told the reason why
He was shackled, he was beaten, he was tortured
There beneath the Middle Eastern sky
Perhaps there was a moment when he realized
That right then, with his body, he’d say no
But from then on he refused to eat another meal
Like in Belfast not many years ago

Khader Adnan grew up in a war zone
But all the tanks and planes were only on one side
It was a type of war that they call occupation
Settlement, removal, fratricide
And anyone who talked about resistance
Who thought they did not deserve to be a slave
Would be looking down the barrel of a gun
And often find themselves inside an early grave
Khader Adnan loves his wife and daughters
And he likes to eat his daily bread
But in prison he can’t see his children
Or live life with the lady that he wed
So on behalf of all the children without fathers
He decided he had to strike a blow
He said I will have dignity or death
Like in Belfast not many years ago

Each time Khader Adnan was arrested
In prison he would learn a little more
And soon he became the teacher
And he’d talk about the times that came before
They talked about civil disobedience
They talked about the ballot and the gun
They talked about the Occupied Six Counties
And the H Blocks in 1981
Khader Adnan talked of perseverance
And how someday their people might be free
How someday they might hear their children laughing
Unafraid, how someday things could be
And then at 3:30 on one morning
The soldiers came, their rifles pointed low
And they took Khader Adnan from his family
Like in Belfast not many years ago

They say Khader Adnan is a terrorist
Just like they said of Bobby Sands
Because he dares speak out against injustice
Because he dares to make a stand
Because he dares believe that he is human
And he does not deserve to live this way
Because he dares to consider an alternative
Because he dares imagine a new day
Khader Adnan lost his liberty before he was born
To fight for life it’s death he must embrace
But just like others come before him
There are others waiting to take his place
And even the great powers can lose interest
In supporting such a vicious status quo
Because you can’t break a man who won’t be broken
Like in Belfast not many years ago.

Related Links

Randa Adnan: “I still have hope”.
Saving Khader Adnan’s Life Saves Our Own Soul
‘Mr Adnan’s wife, Randa, who is six months pregnant with their third child, denied her husband was involved in any violent activities. She said despite previous arrests, Israel has never produced evidence he was a senior figure within the Islamic Jihad.’
The BBC can’t spell “Physicians”.
Israel’s totalitarian prison expertise and usual service to empire where it doesn’t want to be seen to be involved : Palestinian Prisoner #KhaderAdnan & the Honduras Prison
‘Meanwhile the Israeli High Court has announced it will hear an appeal from Khader Adnan’s lawyers on 23 February at 11.30 AM, according to a joint statement from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.’
TIKKUN: Israel’s Repressive System of Military Justice Is No Longer Invisible
Palestinian’s Trial Shines Light on Military Justice

Palestine / Israel Links

Iran, Israel and the west: some home truths

February 19, 2012December 11, 2020

Israelis Call on Cassandra Wilson to Cancel and Support Justice

From Israeli citizens – Cassandra Wilson, please do not support selective empowerment of women under Israeli apartheid

(PDF version here)

Dear Cassandra Wilson,

We are citizens of Israel who support the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel’s policies of colonialism, occupation and apartheid towards the Palestinian people. We have recently learned of your planned concert in Israel, and therefore write in order to urge you not to come. Please hear us out.

Israel’s attempts to mask systematic human-rights abuses and decades-long oppression against the Palestinians, relies on its ability to maintain a progressive and democratic image in the eyes of the international community. Israel often goes as far as promoting itself as “the only Democracy in the Middle East”. Israel’s apartheid policies, however, are inherent even to something as seemingly light-hearted and joyous as a concert: Palestinian fans of your music living under the brutal military occupation of the West Bank or the hermetic siege of the Gaza Strip will be prohibited from coming to Holon and enjoy your performance. These 4 millions who are being denied their most fundamental rights include many Palestinian women, whom the Isha festival will certainly not empower.

Palestinian Freedom Riders have recently challenged Israeli segregated buses which they are not allowed to travel on. These buses carry instead Israeli settlers to and from their homes, illegaly built on stolen land.[1][2][3] The ethnic-supremacist state of mind does not end there, unfortunately, as we have learned only yesterday of the Tel-Aviv city councilman who appealed to the state to allocate segregated buses for African refugees and migrant workers in the city[4].

Prominent figures, including many musicians and artists, have come here to witness for themselves the treatment of Palestinians living under Israeli rule, and have vowed not to lend their legitimacy to these crimes.

Alice Walker made the following comments on her visit to Palestine: “Going through Israeli checkpoints is like going back in time to American Civil Rights struggle…I am a big supporter of BDS. I frankly think that it is the best, absolutely the best way.”[5]

“One of the things so painful to remember about the segregated south is that no matter what white people did to them black people were not allowed to fight back, not even with a word or a glance, hence the expression “reckless eye-balling” which led many a black person to be beaten or killed. The idea that the people of Palestine are not even supposed to fight back… To collectively punish them (by bombing and starvation) for electing their own government in a democratic election acknowledged by most observers to have been fair, is sadistic as well as internationally condemned as illegal.”[6]

Professor Robin Kelley offers this analysis: “My last book was about [the jazz musician] Thelonious Monk. … And so for people of my generation, the Israel-South Africa nexus, dispossession of Palestinians … these were the key questions for anyone politically active in the 1980s. … witnessed a level of racist violence that I hadn’t even seen growing up as a black person here in the States (laughs), I have to say, and I’ve been beat by the cops. The level of racist violence from the settlers is kind of astounding. … The key thing was the kind of engagement that helped us better understand why the boycott is central… And part of what the boycott does is it delegitimizes the claim that this is a normal situation. It’s not a normal situation, it’s a settler-colonial situation, a situation of oppression.”[7]

The Palestinian people are being denied some elementary freedoms: the freedom of movement, the freedom to access their stolen lands and the freedom to protest injustice without facing brutal repression.[8] Those living in the Gaza strip (56% of whom are children) live under a debilitating siege, limiting their access to water, medical supplies, and construction material.[9] This unimaginable situation takes place only an hour away from your scheduled performance. In the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, 40 minutes away from the scheduled venue, kids are being abducted from their homes, in violation of international law, and taken into violent police interrogations with no access to their parents or a lawyer.[10]

Representatives of Palestinian civil society, including over 170 different organizations such as women, academic and workers organizations, have called for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel’s policies. International artists are asked not to perform in Israel until it abides by its obligations under international law and reverses these policies.[11] The call is all the more relevant for a concert such as yours, which is scheduled to take place at a state-owned venue, as part of a state-sponsored event, sponsored by the municipality of Holon as well as the Israeli army radio station (Galei Tzahal).

Many artists have come to perform here with the good will and intention to use their art as a means of changing Israeli public opinion and spreading the message of peace. One such example would be that of Roger Waters. These artists have later come to realize that their performance, as well-meaning as it was, has been hijacked and used to send a green light to the ongoing Israeli policies of oppression.

We have therefore learned that not performing is important to the promotion of justice in this region, as Israeli policy makers are coming to understand that the international community does not approve of their brutal policies towards the people of Palestine. Some prominent artists have stated:

Roger Waters: “In my view, the abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), coupled with its denial of the rights of refugees to return to their homes in Israel, demands that fair minded people around the world support the Palestinians in their civil, nonviolent resistance. For me it means declaring my intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine, but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their governments racist and colonial policies, by joining a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until it satisfies three basic human rights demanded in international law.”[12]

Faithless: “We’ve been asked to do some shows this summer in your country and, with the heaviest of hearts, I have regretfully declined the invitation. While human beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their needs for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that this is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’.”

Macy Gray: “I had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”[13]

Understanding that the picket line has clearly been marked and that you cannot avoid taking a political stand on this matter, we are now asking you to take a moral stand. We ask that you reconsider your participation in whitewashing Israeli apartheid, please stand against oppression and for liberation, against deep rooted racism and in favor of justice and equality for all.

Sincerely,

Ronnie Barkan
Naama Farjoun
Yael Kahn
Ofer Neiman

on behalf of
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within
[encode_email email=””]

SOURCE

February 18, 2012December 11, 2020

Netanyahu Called For Mass Expulsions of Palestinians in 1989

The Jerusalem Post of 19 November 1989 reported Netanyahu’s address to students at Bar-Ilan University in reference to the June 1989 Tiananmen Square crisis:

HIGHLIGHT: Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called for Israel to exploit political opportunities in order to expel large numbers of Palestinians from the territories. Netanyahu made the remark in a speech to Bar-Ilan University students on Thursday. In a tape recording of a portion of Netanyahu’s address obtained by The Jerusalem Post last night, the deputy foreign minister clearly states that “five, 50 or 500” inciters should have been expelled at various times since the start of the intifada.

…

Netanyahu told the students that the government had failed to exploit politically favourable situations in order to carry out “large-scale” expulsions at times when “the damage would have been relatively small.

“I still believe that there are opportunities to expel many people,” Netanyahu said.

Then on November 21, 1989, the Jerusalem Post reports Netanyahu attempting to mitigate his previous, unambiguous comments:

EVERYONE KNEW WHAT I MEANT,’ SAYS NETANYAHU ABOUT EXPULSIONS

HIGHLIGHT: Deputy Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday denied that he had called for large-scale expulsions of Palestinians from the territories. Replying in the Knesset to a motion for the agenda by Tewfik Toubi, (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) which was struck off by a large majority, Netanyahu said that in his speech to students at Bar-Ilan University last Thursday he had referred to inciters and not to the general population.

The Jerusalem Post documents cannot be reproduced without permission, but “are available on LexisNexis if you have access. They can also be purchased from the ProQuest Archiver (here and here).”

Is Netanyahu attempting to create and exploit favourable conditions by agitating for a war with Iran in order to begin mass expulsions of Palestinians now, “when the damage might be relatively small”?

Is Israel’s expulsion of thousands of Sudanese refugees a practice run?

Ethnic cleansing has notable political support in Israel – Tzipi Livni and Avigdor Lieberman have also raised the spectre of mass expulsions from Israel more recently.

Livni, often misrepresented as a “dovish” figure, has been consistent in her desire to get rid of Palestinian citizens of Israel in order to maintain Jewish ethnic purity, so much so, that even former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was shocked by Livni’s extreme views.

During Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in 2008, the Palestine Papers revealed, Livni was one of the foremost proponents of transferring areas populated by Palestinians from within Israel to the putative Palestinian state.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other Israeli politicians openly advocate various kinds of “transfer” schemes.

Whether Netanyahu is contemplating a critical scenario enabling mass expulsions, he is already facilitating mass dispossession and displacement of Palestinians by inexorable stealth.

Professor Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing said this month:

“From the Galilee and the Negev to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli authorities promote a territorial development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.” The Rapporteur also added that “Throughout my visit I received repeated complaints regarding lack of housing, threats of demolitions and evictions, overcrowding, the disproportional number of demolitions affecting Palestinian communities side by side with the accelerated development of predominantly Jewish settlements”.

…

According to Prof. Rolnik, in East Jerusalem she witnessed the inadequate housing conditions and deficiencies in basic infrastructure faced by Palestinian neighbourhoods and villages. “The policies adopted by Israeli authorities severely restrict Palestinians from building legally through various means. Among others, Israel has not provided Palestinians with the necessary planning framework to ensure that their basic housing and infrastructure needs are met.” she said. Moreover, the number of permits issued is grossly inadequate to housing needs leading many Palestinians to build without obtaining a permit. As a result, numerous Palestinians homes or extensions to these are considered illegal so that the inhabitants are subjected to eviction orders and the demolition of their houses. “Currently tens of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to be at risk of their homes being demolished due to unregulated building. The mere threat of demolition has a profound impact on families and particularly on children, psychological and otherwise.” explained the Rapporteur.

In the West Bank the territorial fragmentation and the severe deterioration of Palestinian standards of living are furthered by decades of accelerated expansion of Israeli settlement units that expropriate land and natural resources. “To a certain extent, these territorial and demographic changes promoted in the West Bank, mirror changes occurred within the Israeli territory after 1948, where Palestinian presence was progressively limited in parallel to a disproportional support to the expansion of Jewish communities.” said Rolnik.Following a visit to the Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, UN Special Rapporteur Rolink said: “This community, among others in the area of “Greater Jerusalem”, has been informed by the Civil Administration that a master plan has been approved which would lead to their expulsion from the area where they currently live for the expansion of the Ma’ale Adumin settlement. The only school in the area, which was built by the community, is under a demolition order. The community is in great uncertainty regarding its future.”

Prof. Rolnik concluded that after the Oslo agreements, Israel retained official temporary control over the vast majority of the occupied West Bank (Area C). At present, more than half a million Israeli-Jews, have settled in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. “Throughout my visit, I was able to witness a land development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities in Israel which is being replicated in the occupied territory, affecting Palestinian communities. The Bedouins in the Negev – inside Israel – as well as the new Jewish settlements in area C of the West Bank and inside Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem – are the new frontiers of dispossession of the traditional inhabitants, and the implementation of a strategy of Judaization and control of the territory.

Related Links

Bernard Avishai says in his book “The Hebrew Republic” a 2007 poll showed 60% of Israeli Palestinians feared mass expulsions, while 68% of Israeli Jews feared civil uprising by Israeli Palestinians.
Jewish settlements in the rulings of the European Court of Justice

Day 63 of Khader Adnan’s Hunger Strike For Palestinian Justice & Dignity

CNN picks up the story: Palestinian’s hunger strike puts spotlight on Israeli detentions
Khader Adnan: Hungry for dignity
The people of Bil’in, who continue to struggle for the return of their lands still sequestered behind Israel’s wall, marked seven years of resistance this Friday. The demonstration was devoted to express solidarity with Khader Adnan, the administrative detainee who has been on hunger strike for the past 62 days and is currently on the verge of death.
Addameer profile of KHADER ADNAN MOHAMMAD MUSA
Khader Adnan at Electronic Intifada
Khader Adnan at Risk of Death on 60th Day of Hunger Strike
“We are all Khader Adnan” : Thousands of Palestinian people demonstrate for #KhaderAdnan in West Bank & Gaza
Write a letter of support and solidarity to Khader Adnan and his family
More weasily words from Ashton: EU’s Ashton ‘concerned’ for Palestinian hunger striker

Palestine / Israel Links

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (09 – 15 Feb. 2012)
The Seacret Debate: Conflict over the Conflict

Seacret is an Israeli company that sells cosmetics made from minerals extracted from the Dead Sea.

Its products are labelled, “Made In Israel”.

The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) is an Adelaide-based activist group formed in 2003, which campaigns against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people.

AFOPA accuses Seacret of stealing Palestinian resources to make its products.

Since October 2010, members of AFOPA having been regularly protesting on Friday nights outside the Seacret store in Rundle Mall.

They wear green shirts, carry Palestinian flags and hand out flyers.

“Firstly, we hope that the effects of the boycott will encourage the owners of Seacret to put pressure on the Israeli government to change their inhumane policies to the Palestinians,” AFOPA member Margaret Cassar says.

“Secondly, Seacret is an Israeli company that profits from the illegal military occupation of Palestine.

“Its use of Dead Sea minerals in its products is in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention which forbids exploitation of resources in land held by an occupying power.”

Israeli Extremists On Facebook Celebrate Death of Palestinian Children Killed In Traffic Accident

Israel divestment campaign picks up steam among Presbyterians
Book identifies pressure points for boycott actions
Israel teaches American police how to treat Occupy Wall Street protesters like Palestinians