Human Rights

June 25, 2012December 11, 2020

Samah Sabawi : Boycott Israel on Both Sides of the Green Line

TRANSCRIPT

Leading Liberal Zionists have come out in impressive numbers calling for the boycott of settlements, but I have to warn you there is something to dread; they want you to buy Israeli products instead! They say they want to save Israel from a dangerous extremist threat. Namely, the Israeli gov’t and the BDS! Yes, they have lumped us together as two extreme versions calling for one state. Both? Extreme?

In this absurd reality BDS’s call for equality is apparently as extreme as ethnic cleansing. In what world is this convincing?

In their grand hypocrisy they want us to fortify the Green line that supposedly separates a Jewish state from a future Palestine but without ever supporting Palestinian resistance. Is it then a matter of a state of mind? If we think it, the settlements will go? What tools can we use and where are these liberal Zionists when nonviolent protestors are shot in the face with gas canisters?

They want us to be as delusional as they are. They want us to be docile. They want us
to exonerate Israel of all its past crime or God forbid, we would be accused of clinging to victimhood.

They want us to march along side the spin doctors and bleeding hearts ‘The settlers are to blame for the erosion of Israel’s democracy!’, ‘The settlers are to blame!’. ‘The settlers are to blame for the erosion of Israel’s democracy’. ‘The settlers are to blame!’.

For the destruction of a Zionist fantasy!

As if settlers exist in a vacuum. As if settlers have come from some far away planet. landed on a hill in the West Bank and without any help from congress, the Knesset or the senate, they began to build their colonies on our land.

‘The settlers are to blame!’ As if Israel was not built on the ruins of Palestinian villages long before the settlers came to the West Bank. Long before the checkpoints and the wall, long before it all, long before there was an occupation, there was a total devastation, a ruthless destruction of an entire nation.

‘The settlers are to blame!’ But as far back as 1948 villages were erased, Palestinians were massacred, to make way for the establishment of this state.

‘The settlers are to blame!’ But go on and ask this soil you tread whose ancestral flesh
has fed this earth for centuries? Whose blood runs in the sap of the olive trees? Whose stories are written between the cracks of these old stones?

‘The settlers are to blame!’ Close your eyes and search your soul. Dig deep. Those nightmares in your sleep are the voices that once filled this Arab home you have occupied with laughter. Look beneath your bed. Did they leave their slippers when they ran barefoot down the street and into exile? Did they leave behind the tea-kettle warm on the kitchen table? Before they wore an eternal label ‘refugees’!

‘The settlers are to blame.’ But who shoots the gas canisters and live bullets at the protestors in the West Bank? Who enables these settlers to steal Palestinian land?

‘The settlers are to blame.’ Who is responsible for the death of thousands in Gaza?
Was it settlers riding on their F16 fighter jets who dropped the phosphorus bombs on schools, houses and mosques? Or was it a state army, your army, wearing a uniform that supposedly represents all of Israel that killed and maimed at will?

The best part is when Liberal Zionists like Beinart suggest calling the West Bank ‘undemocratic Israel’. ‘Undemocratic’ as opposed to what? The democratic Israel on the other side of the Green line where Palestinians who survived the Nakba and hold Israeli citizenships have dozens of laws that single them out and discriminate against them?

‘The settlers are to blame!’ But how are the settlers alone responsible for the systematic racism of a state that defines all non-Jews as second-class citizens?

And pray tell, who set the Eritrean migrants’ house on fire in Jerusalem and demanded the deportation of Africans seeking asylum?

If we boycott settlements and buy Israeli goods will the Jews in Israel become more accepting of non-Jews in their neighborhoods?

Let’s put an end to this grand deviation. Settlers wouldn’t exist if not for the support of an ethnocentric nation, dedicated by any means necessary to driving out the indigenous population.

Yes, Boycott the settlements. But don’t stop at the green line because they did not.
Boycott the settlements but also boycott ethnic superiority. Boycott discrimination against Palestinians who are second-class citizens in their own country. Boycott Israel’s academic institutions for their complicity. Boycott Israel’s culture for its duplicity. Boycott Israeli industries. Boycott Israeli institutions for supporting war crimes. Boycott Israel’s apartheid policies on both sides of the green line until all of this changes and we are all free, living together Palestinians and Jews in equality.

Boycott Israel and I promise you, this day will come.

Related Links

Omar Barghouti explains why BDS targets ‘trade with companies that profit from the illegal settlement enterprise, as well as other Israeli violations of human rights and international law’
Hit apartheid Israel where it hurts – trade

June 20, 2012December 11, 2020

Barrington Levy, Please Boycott Israel, Say No to Racism and Apartheid

You can contact Barrington Levy and let him know that breaking the boycott against apartheid Israel is unacceptable from the contact link on his web site.

Gangsters - BARRINGTON LEVY Dear Barrington Levy,

We have discovered you are scheduled to play in Israel on ~~22 June~~ the 28 August.

The fact that there is a cultural boycott of Israel is not something of which all musical artists are aware when they schedule to play Israel. After becoming aware, many cancel. (See http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1788)

We are writing to let you know more about this global movement, and we hope you will decide to be a part of it.

Israel has claimed authority over the lives and land of millions of Palestinian people. What began in 1948 in Palestine has now escalated into what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many others call apartheid. Racism runs deep in the streets of Tel Aviv, Africans seeking asylum and living as refugees are filled with fear as Israelis demonstrate on the streets against their presence. Last May brought fear to Africans in Israel as a series of fire bombings of apartments and a day nursery were set off in an area where African migrants live. Shops run by or serving migrants were smashed up and looted in violent demonstrations in which several Africans were attacked. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated:

“We’ll start by ejecting the infiltrators from South Sudan…and then move on to other groups.”

Israel’s Minister of the Interior, Eli Yishai said chillingly:

“The infiltrators [African immigrants] along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream…we don’t need to import more problems from Africa…[they] think the country doesn’t belong to us, the white man”.

A heinous series of walls, checkpoints, and sniper towers dot the landscape for millions of Palestinians. Brutal military might is flaunted daily and children in Gaza are regularly targeted to demonstrate the “effectiveness” of new weapons. Armed soldiers raid homes, fire into schoolyards, maiming and killing children.

While some liberal “peacenik” Israelis will tell you they want you to play because they will be your audience, please know that the most effective tool to end the oppression is an unequivocal stand against the injustice by saying no. Instead listen to the brave Israelis from “Boycott From Within” who have asked many artists to stay away from the failing Zionist state. (See http://boycottisrael.info/ )

Artists who do play for apartheid are being used to promote Israel as a false democracy. The Israeli government has an official twitter and uses its position to let the world know which artists lend their name to promote Israel’s false image. Just three of many examples are Bobby McFerrin, Gun N Roses and Sister Bliss.

Please don’t allow your name to be used to whitewash racism, apartheid, and the horrible illegal annexation wall (pictured here in this recent video).

Join the boycott for justice, equality, freedom and human rights.

Yours truly,

DPAI
Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI) seeks to inform musicians of the Palestinian call to boycott Israel, and the extent to which their decision to play in the apartheid state will be instrumentalized – against their will – as propaganda for the maintenance of a horrifying status quo in Israel/Palestine: that is a brutal, decades-long occupation, ongoing ethnic cleansing, continual land theft, passing of over 20 racist laws within Israel/’48, and the crackdown on human rights groups. We represent over 900 members from around the globe who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel.

For more information:
http://972mag.com/israeli-coalition-members-speak-about-refugees/47455/

SOURCE

June 2, 2012December 11, 2020

Jennifer Lopez, Please Respect the Palestinian Call to Boycott Israel

Dear Jennifer Lopez,

We are a group of over 850 people from all over the world who are united together in support of democracy, human rights, justice, and freedom for the Palestinian people.

We ask you to respect the call of Palestinian civil society, and refrain from scheduling a concert in Israel. Please stay true to the words that your management wrote on your behalf in June of 2010:

“Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse.” [1]

You refused to play in Turkish-controlled Cyprus, as your appearance would have made a political statement in favor of human rights violations. Similarly, if you perform in Israel, you will be making a political statement affirming support for human rights violations by Israel. Your appearance will be used to whitewash Israel’s crimes against humanity since Israel uses all culture as propaganda and makes no distinction between the two. Music cannot bind people across the walls of apartheid where segregation, discrimination and brutality remain after the last song ends.

You produced and played the role of “Lauren Adrian” in the film Bordertown, calling needed attention to the plight of women in Juárez, Mexico. Your statement [2] during your award ceremony by Amnesty International 2007 shows your compassion for the oppressed:

“Since first hearing of these atrocities in 1998, when Gregory Nava came to me with this project, I desperately wanted to tell this story. I began working to ensure we made this film in order to bring the attention of the world to this tragedy and to pressure the Mexican government to bring to justice those responsible for these horrible crimes.”

You don’t need us to tell you how mainstream media in the USA has been in denial of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, starting from the Nakba in 1948, through the current apartheid and racism. In fact, people are often led to believe that it is important to meet the needs of suffering Israelis, while ignoring the much greater sufferings imposed by Israel, which forces millions of Palestinians into living as refugees and in destitution. The pain Israel inflicts on Palestinian women and children is well represented in children’s artwork and in the piece of artwork entitled “Torment” by Najah.

Torment by Najah

See http://boycott-israel-harp-contest.posterous.com/palestinian-art-depicts-womans-childrens-suff

Some artists objecting to the Israeli regime’s actions have justified their booked performances in Israel as acts of support for the Israeli “peaceniks.” Another performing musician, Natacha Atlas, wrote:

“I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and support my fans’ opposition to the current government’s actions and policies. I would have personally asked my Israeli fans face-to-face to fight this apartheid with peace in their hearts…”

Natacha Atlas then confirmed that she decided to cancel, explaining:

“after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all. Therefore I publicly retract my well-intentioned decision to go and perform in Israel…” [3]

Please read about Israel’s apartheid in the letter that was written to French philosopher and prominent intellectual, Jacques Rancière (Professor emeritus, University Paris 8) by the PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel). Jacques Rancière subsequently chose to cancel his planned lecture at the Minerva Humanities Center at Tel Aviv University earlier this year. (See http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1793)

Already this year prominent artists Cassandra Wilson, tUnE-yArDs and Cat Power have chosen to respect the boycott and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice. Also among the growing list of artists that have cancelled concerts and events in Israel are the late Gil Scott-Heron, Elvis Costello, the Pixies, Mike Leigh, Klaxons, Gorillaz Sound System and many more.[4]

We are hoping that you will choose to respect the boycott.

Sincerely,
Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI)

Notes

[1]http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=jennifer-lopez-scraps-cyprus-concert-after-pressure-report-2010-07-09
[2] USA/Germany: Jennifer Lopez to receive Amnesty International award for producing “Bordertown”
http://amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17258
[3] International Star Natacha Atlas announces Israel boycott http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/international-star-natacha-atlas-announces-israel-boycott
[4] 2011 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1788

SOURCE

June 1, 2012December 11, 2020

Palestinians Can’t Get to the Madonna Concert for “Peace”

The Amira brothers from Ni’lin village in the West Bank try to reach the Madonna concert in Israel. They explain they are living in a very big jail. courtesy of Israel.

Boycott, divest and sanction from apartheid Israel! No normalisation with Israel until its disgusting brutal oppression and denial of human rights to Palestinians ends.

Madonna with Nutanyahoo and wife — After wrapping herself in the flag of Israel on stage, Madonna poses with Nutanyahoo and wife. This photo illustrates Madonna's propaganda value to Israel's politicians.

Madonna reportedly donated 580 tickets to her show to members of both the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps, but not all of them were accepted

Madonna Brings Peace to the Middle East with Additional Concert Dubbed “Dirty Laundry”

The performance for “peace” sounds gruesome:

For “Gang Bang,” Madonna wrestled with armed intruders whom she then dispatched with a pistol – their “blood” spattering across an enormous video backdrop. In a routine for “Revolver”, she wielded a Kalashnikov rifle, used by many modern-day insurgents, while one of her dancers favored an Israeli Uzi.

Nauseating: “During that show, she wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and called Israel the “energy centre of the world.”

Madonna invites leftist groups to concert, Anarchists refuse

A tale of two Independents, reporting on Palestine and BDS

Israel is new South Africa as boycott calls increase

May 25, 2012December 11, 2020

South African Artists Against Apartheid Ask the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Respect Boycott of Israel

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
c/o Warner Music
75 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10019
USA

23 May 2012

Dear Red Hot Chili Peppers,

South African Artists to Red Hot Chili Peppers: Don’t Entertain Apartheid, Choose the Right Side of History!

We are South Africans artists who have recently learned that in the course of your upcoming international tour (which will include Bulgaria, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey) the Red Hot Chili Peppers are also planning to perform in Israel in September.

We appeal to you to heed the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel. As you may know, the boycott enjoys the support of the overwhelming amount of Palestinian civil society (including artists and artist groups) and an increasing number of progressive Israelis.

You might wonder what purpose refusing to perform in Israel might serve? As a people whose parents and grandparents suffered under (and resisted) Apartheid in South Africa, our history is testament to the value and legitimacy that the international boycott had in bringing an end to the Apartheid regime in our country. When artists and sportspeople began refusing to perform in South Africa, the world’s eyes turned to the injustices that were happening here. This then created a wave of pressure on politicians and world leaders representing their constituencies, to insist on a regime-change – this contributed to a free, democratic and non-racial South Africa. The same is not only possible for Palestine-Israel, but inevitable. The question is: on which side of history do you want to be? Performing in Apartheid South Africa during the 80s, or in Israel today, is choosing to be on the wrong side of history.

As South Africans, we recognise the role that internationally-recognised artists like yourselves played in helping us to end apartheid in our country. It is this recognition, along with our belief in you, that leads us to join the many others around the world who are calling on you to cancel this part of your tour.

We understand how difficult it would be for you to reject an opportunity to share your enthusiasm and skills with others. Bands like you are the reason artists want to exist. Your music motivates beyond concert stages, penetrating into the intimate personal spaces of individual human lives and transforming them forever, the way only true art can.

Unhappily, matters are not so simple in this context. Art does not simply take place in a vacuum. The belief that cultural activities are “apolitical” (or that you are simply performing music, not getting involved in politics) is a myth. You performing in Israel will be a slap in the face of Palestinians (who have, since 2005, asked international artists not to perform there) but it will also be tacit support for the Israeli regime and its practices of apartheid.

The audiences before whom you would perform at Haryakon Park in Tel Aviv will not include your Palestinian fans from Gaza or the West Bank – they are barred from traveling to Tel Aviv. They are excluded, like how Blacks were excluded under Apartheid in South Africa, by laws which shut them out of places in a land which, historically, is as much their own as those who are permitted to attend.

These are laws which the International Court of Justice (the highest court on this earth) has declared to be illegal and in violation of international human rights law, just as apartheid was declared to be illegal in our country. The Court found that the fundamental rights of people who would otherwise be enjoying your performances have been violated and their rights to a cultural life and to self-determination denied. By agreeing to perform before segregated audiences – whether in Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank – the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be used by those responsible to claim legitimacy (with or without your consent) for the injustices and humiliations they are inflicting on Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza as well as those living anywhere else in Israel.

From our own experience of the cultural boycott of South Africa which we ourselves called for, we had no sense of being its unwilling victims and isolated from the rest of the world. In fact, our experience was precisely to the contrary – we were strengthened by a powerful sense of world-wide solidarity with us and support in our struggle for freedom.

As Palestinians (and an increasing numbers of progressive Israelis) have themselves called for the boycott, we have no doubt that they will feel as heartened and encouraged in their struggle as we were.
We urge to you to stand by them, to exclude Israel from your tour, and be on the right side of history.

Joni Barnard, Mpho Madi, Aslam Bulbulia and the rest of the SA Artists Against Apartheid collective

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

SOURCE

Yousef Munayyer in the NY Times “Not All Israeli Citizens are Equal” :

‘Tragically for Palestinians, Zionism requires the state to empower and maintain a Jewish majority even at the expense of its non-Jewish citizens, and the occupation of the West Bank is only one part of it. What exists today between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is therefore essentially one state, under Israeli control, where Palestinians have varying degrees of limited rights: 1.5 million are second-class citizens, and four million more are not citizens at all. If this is not apartheid, then whatever it is, it’s certainly not democracy. ‘

U.S. report criticizes Israel’s treatment of African migrants

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton presented on Thursday the State Department’s 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that criticizes Israel for its treatment of African migrants, an issue vigorously debated in Israeli public discourse lately.

The report states that Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers, which are about 85 percent of African migrants in Israel “were not allowed access to asylum procedures but were given renewable ‘conditional release’ documents that deferred deportation and had to be renewed every few months.”

The report quotes statistics provided by the UNHCR, showing that during the year out of 4,603 new asylum applications 3,692 were rejected. Only one was approved. 6,412 cases remained pending at year’s end.

The report also critically mentioned that the Israeli government officials “often negatively referred to asylum seekers as ‘infiltrators’ and periodically characterized asylum seekers as directly associated with rises in crime, disease, and terrorism.”
The report specifically mentions December 2011 interview of the Minister of Interior Eli Yishai with the IDF radio, in which he promised to “ensure that the last of the Sudanese, and the Eritreans, and all of the infiltrators, to the last of them, will return to their countries.”

Thoughts on an attack by a Jewish mob
UK student union to support campus boycott initiatives
Ilan Pappé: the boycott will work, an Israeli perspective