Brian Jonestown Massacre Mutiny

Another show in apartheid Tel Aviv which has been cancelled since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge attack of the captive people of Gaza commenced on July 8 is Brian Jonestown Massacre.

The band’s performance was due yesterday, 15 July. They cancelled at the very last minute on Monday, 14 July.

The group was split right in the middle, described as:
“…group pulled a mutiny at the last moment “

“Joel rob and Matt decided to bail on it today at the last minute and stick me with the hassles and blame like fake friends do”

Clearly Anton Newcombe attempts to obscure the cancellation, saying:
“…like I said by going on about it you just give free attention to sneaky cowards that fuck their so called friends”

“…it’s kind of like the more I talk about it just now the more publicity I throw on the self righteous.”
Which suggests the cancellation was at least partially implicitly in protest against the Israeli actions against the people of Gaza.

Anton Newcombe blames his his band members:
“…I didn’t cancel it, members of my group said they were not going at the last minute like pussies so get your facts straight”

According to band member, Matt Hollywood:
“We expressed concerns, were ignored. Felt it was inappropriate to go.”
https://twitter.com/Matt_Hollywood1/status/489352348784160768

It should be noted that even Neil Young probably cancelled partially at least because of the boycott, as the stage and fencing were not built, which suggests he had no intention to play but allowed Israel to manipulate the reasons.

Since Israel initiated its current belligerence against the people of Gaza, business is not booming in the Zionist state. Acccording to Haaretz, “Manufacturing, retail, advertising and tourism have all been hit hard.” Retail sales are down by 70%, and travel agents are reporting drops of 30-60% in reservations. One Israeli citizen has been killed.

As at July 15, Israel has slaughtered 195 people of Gaza, including 111 civilians, 38 children and 45 undetermined non-civilians, according to OCHA.

The most recent murders of Palestinians perpetrated by Israel are four Palestinian children from the same family as they played on the beach in Gaza. The children are Ahed Bakr, 10, Zakaria Bakr, 10, Mohd Bakr, 11, and Ismail Bakr, 9.

Gazan civil society has issued an urgent call to the international community to intensify the boycott against Israel at this time.

We insist on international action:

– Severance of diplomatic ties with Israel

– Trials for war crimes

– Immediate International protection of the civilians of Gaza

We call on you to join the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign to hold this rogue state to account that is proving once again to be so violent and yet so unchallenged. Join the growing critical mass around the world with a commitment to the day when Palestinians do not have to grow up amidst this relentless murder and destruction by the Israeli regime. When we can move freely, when the siege is lifted, the occupation is over and the world’s Palestinian refugees are finally granted justice.

Co-authored with Yael Kahn

Talib Kweli – Solidarity with those who live it is a stronger statement

Talib KweliAfter investigating the Palestinian-led call to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, US rapper artist Talib Kweli announced on twitter that he would respect BDS. Kweli was supposed to appear in an international hip-hop, funk and groove festival planned for mid-August at Hadera.

“As much as I want to play Israel, I have decided not to in solidarity with Palestinians who will not have access to my show. After days of discussions with many, I’ve decided to try & visit Israel & Palestine with those who fight to end the state of apartheid rather than use my art to force the issue on those who would rather not deal with it.”

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157171332960257
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157612817010688
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484157780257828864

Further, Kweli added:

“at the end of the day, whether I agree with boycott or not, it is my duty to respect it as a tactic. Hopefully it works…”

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484384292793896961

Kweli, who is well-known for the political content of his work, proved unresponsive to the usual calls from Israel’s propagandists that ‘music isn’t political’ and that ‘music is above politics’.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484372093883015168

Other Israeli hasbara agents wondered why Talib would support the Palestinian-led boycott but not boycott Russia or the US.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484356303980998656

Talib identified three main reasons why he decided to support BDS:

(1) Discussions with members of DAM, Palestinian Israeli rap group.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484383577610539008

(2) ‘the responses on twitter from BDS supporters were compassionate, measured, informed an respectful for the most part’
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484383811149365248

(3) ‘reading abt Paul Simon recording Graceland in SA in defiance of boycott & how he thought Mandela was a terrorist back then…’
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484384012828278784

Ultimately, Kweli decided “being in solidarity with those who live it would be a stronger statement…

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484351043308748800

Talib Kweli’s thoughtful, principled solidarity with Palestinians and their call for boycott of Israel is deeply appreciated, particularly at this time when Israel is engaged in a racist rampage of collective punishment against Palestinians, incited by Israeli leaders.

https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/484367953526153217

Related Links

Le rappeur américain Talib Kweli Greene annule son concert en apartheid Israël

Senator Nick Xenophon on Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinian Territories

In the Australian Parliament, Senator Nick Xenophon describes in detail why the Palestinian Territories are indeed occupied according to international law, also highlighting that Israel’s own highest court stated in 2004 Israel holds the Territories in belligerent occupation.

Related Links

Xenophon Smashes Brandis-Abbott Spin On Occupied Palestine
Senator Nick Xenophon’s speech to the Australian Senate on Palestine: Abbott government spin on Palestine is “factually untrue, legally ignorant and most unhelpful”

Mariza Plays at the Mediterranean Festival in Apartheid Israel

Palestinians expelled in the Nakba
Palestinians flee invading Israeli forces in 1948
Today, May 27th 2014, Portugese fadista Mariza played at the Mediterranean festival in Ashdod despite a petition and letters from supporters of the BDS movement asking her to respect the Palestinian-led boycott of Israel. Sadly, Mariza’s performance will be utilised as propaganda to obscure Israel’s abuses of Palestinian people and colonisation of their lands. Israel unashamedly uses all culture as propaganda to represent itself and its torment of Palestinians as ‘normal’, operating a sophisticated global network controlled by the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel. This Hasbara Apparatus strenuously attempts to prevent the attainment of basic rights, freedom and justice for Palestinians and sabotage actions which support these such as BDS.

Mariza sang in Ashdod, which before all its Palestinian inhabitants were expelled to Gaza by invading Israelis in 1948, was called Isdud or Asdoud. Israeli forces surrounded the town during Operation Pleshet, shelling and bombing it from the air. For three nights from the 18th October, the Israeli Air Force bombed Isdud. With the exception of its two schools, its crumbling mosque, and one of its shrines, Isdud was obliterated when Israel occupied it in on the 28th October, 1948. Most of the Palestinians who were driven from their homes then are corralled by Israel’s apartheid fence in Gaza now, only 40 kms (25 miles) south of their homes in Isdud. Along with their descendants, they are besieged and subjected to ongoing collective punishment by Israel.

The Mediterranean festival illustrates the disingenuous sanitization of Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against Palestinians, through the appropriation of Mediterranean culture and music. Similarly, Israel subsumes Palestinian and Mediterranean food like falafel, hummus and couscous.

When on Saturday 25th May, Mariza appeared in Lisboa as the musician headlining the UEFA Champions League opening ceremony, she later celebrated having a photo with Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps she will have another opportunity to learn from him why Ronaldo has expressed his support for Palestinians, such as raising money from the sale of sports shoes by his club’s charity foundation for schools in Gaza through auction, and though belated she will realise she should have not performed in Israel and will refrain from returning.

Co-authored by Yael Kahn

Fado of the Gazan Fishermen

Gazan fisherman hounded by the Israeli Navy

For Mariza

From Almina Port, Gazan fishermen
sail captive over turbulent ocean of loss
harvest shrinking shoals in three mile noose
run gauntlet of Israeli gunboats

For you I sing of exiled torment
and people of Gaza in 1948 expelled
from Ashdod which was Asdoud then,
where you are to play for expeller
who warps music to tighten ruthless grip
against return from prison to home shore

Waves pound Israel’s aggravation
Gazan women struggle to survive
enmeshed by colonial occupation
this cruel siege is strangulation,
humanity’s humiliation, starvation
of this ‘small, poor city which resists’
within pitiless apartheid fence
steadfast Palestinians subsist

Cast the net with us, with them, for BDS
prepare feast of freedom, rights and justice
when fishermen may trawl the coast
free as seagulls to seek sustenance

Sylvia Posadas, May 2014

As part of the ceasefire agreement of November, 2012, Israel agreed to allow the Palestinians to fish within six nautical miles, but unilaterally decreased the allotted area to three miles.

Last May, Israel decided to allow the fishermen to fish within six nautical miles, but the Israeli navy continued to attack them, even within the three nautical miles.
http://www.imemc.org/article/67725

“To go over six miles is death,” says Abu Nayim. Ideally he would be out at around 11 miles, in early November, with the last flush of the sardine season on. But Israel has not permitted any Gazan boat beyond six miles since 2006. Once, when he may have drifted over, an Israeli gunboat tossed a live grenade on to the nets. In the past month the fishing boats of Gaza have come under fire 10 times.
http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/dec/08/fishing-under-fire-in-gaza

There are some 4,000 fishermen in Gaza. According to a 2011 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, 90 percent are poor, a 40 percent increase from 2008 resulting
from Israeli limits on the fishing industry.

http://fishingunderfire.blogspot.com.au/

The fisherman said that since 2010, Israel has not returned any of the small fishing boats it has confiscated.

Jihad has two young children and has been a fisherman since he was ten. His family is a family of fishermen. Thirty-one people from Jihad and Shabaan’s families depended on the confiscated fishing boat. It was their only source of livelihood. Jihad’s family owns another small boat, without a motor and slightly damaged.

“Neither of them worked,” Shabaan’s father said. “There is no hope for them.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/03/soldiers-opened-fire-at-our-boat-and-engine-we-were-about-to-sink/

“Silence for Gaza” – Mahmoud Darwish

Related Links

Letter from O Comité de Solidariedade com a Palestina:
“Mariza, não participe no branqueamento público dos crimes de Israel!”

Petition: Cancele o seu concerto em Israel/Cancel your concert in Israel