international law

October 2, 2012December 11, 2020

Shedding a Light on US and UN Complicity with Israel’s Crimes at the Russell Tribunal

Roger Waters: ‘Bertrand Russell believed that there was a logical connection between the rule of law and a natural law of human kindness.’

‘The Russell Tribunal is about shedding a light about what is going on in the Occupied Territories in order that we can lend weight to the argument that the Palestinian people should be treated with respect.’

After the Russell Tribunal sessions in Barcelona, focusing on EU complicity, London on Corporate Complicity, and Cape Town, on the crime of Apartheid, the New York Tribunal will examine UN and US responsibility in the denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination.

As the US is currently blackmailing the EU in the UN to prevent Palestinians obtaining a higher ‘non-member’ status in the UN, the Russell Tribunal hearings in New York have contemporary relevance. Neither the US nor Israel wish for Palestinian statehood – the US stymies Palestinians at every turn enabling Israel to pretend to be pursuing two states even as it makes this outcome impossible through its ongoing rapacious, criminal land and resource theft. The status quo of ongoing Israeli appropriation of Palestinian land and resources is the preferred option of both the exploitative neoliberal empire and its racist crony which poses duplicitously as an oxymoronic ‘Jewish democracy’ surrounded by hostile hordes.

Watch the New York Russell Tribunal hearings live on October 6th and 7th, 2012.

“I respect Barcelona’s invitation, but I have to avoid angering the Palestinian people and their supporters as well as all those who supported me during my hunger strike. ‘
Love for Palestinian footballer and hunger striker Mahmoud Sarsak
Kudos to Palestinian footballer and hunger striker hero, Mahmoud Sarsak for refusing to normalise Israeli oppression
Infected with zionist lies, the BBC displays brazen contempt for international law.
Support amongst British adults for BDS by British artists of apartheid Israel at 27% in the UK, with 36% don’t knows. BDS has room to grow 🙂
Palestinian Authority: Running Israel’s Guantanamo

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is calling for nations to consider reviewing diplomatic ties with Israel and boycotting its products in solidarity with Palestine.

Marty acknowledged that the situation in the occupied territories had gro
wn unfavorable following unilateral Israeli moves.

“There is an unbalanced situation and Israel should bear responsibility for the failure of peace negotiations,” Marty said on the sidelines of the 67th UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

The foreign minister was commenting on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s pessimistic assessment of the peace process. “The door may be closing, for good, on a two-state solution,” Ban said in his speech to the assembly.’

All harpists from all nations are being asked to boycott the International Harp Contest in Israel.

Israeli harpists are also being asked to boycott the contest.

Many other harp competitions exist. We believe it is not considered an ho
nor to participate or to place in the Israeli contest. It is an indication that the harpist ignored the call to boycott, and chose to stand instead on the side of the oppressor. The level of the music may be sublime, and that is all the more reason not to validate Israel’s cruel apartheid government by participating. Such beautiful music should be used to promote justice, not to enable and legitimize occupation and segregation.

For the Zionists, the failure to organise resistance grew out of the political history of their movement. Their focus had never been on the fight against anti-Semitism.

Lessons from South Africa : ‘One of the most diabolical aspects of racist repression was the regime’s ability to outsource that repression to puppet regimes like those of Matanzima, Oupa Gqozo and other “homeland leaders”.’ This is a terrific article covering sexism, racism and the ongoing role of capitalism/neoliberalism.

One of my favourite political scientists, and expert on fascism, Prof Robert Paxton, comments on the CHE subcommittee decision
CAIRO HELD its first official boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) event in Egypt at the independent media center Mosireen on August 27, a critical first step in challenging the government’s continuing economic relations with Israel and building solidarity with Palestine.

The rate of asylum seekers receiving refugee status in Israel IS THE LOWEST IN THE WORLD.
Australian activist workshops discussed the four national BDS campaigns: Bin Veolia (referring to the French multinational that provides discriminatory transport services to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank); boycotting Dead Sea minerals (this includes Israeli companies such as Seacret, which steal Palestinian resources); academic boycotts; and truth in labelling.

‘In his presentation at this weekend’s conference, Miko Peled, the Israeli-born anti-Zionist and advocate of equal rights and decolonization in a single state, made the observation that every cause of social justice in history that has been worth fighting for was divisive in its time

Inshallah: a virtual tour of the Gaza Strip

Scenes from yesterday’s demo at the Tower of London

where De Beers put on display a Forevermark Steinmetz diamond in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Steinmetz Foundation funded and supported the war criminals of the Givati Brigade
, responsible for the massacre of the Samouni family in Gaza during the Israeli assault in the winter of 2008/2009.

The trade in Israeli blood diamonds goes on unseen and unnoticed on the high streets of every city. Jewellers must be asked to end the trade in Israeli diamonds which are funding the proliferation of nuclear arms and war crimes in the Middle East.

“Right and wrong, justice and injustice, do not wear ethnic badges or wave national flags.”

Australia Links

Victory in Queensland against the neolib machine! Queensland construction workers win!
Jones only has an audience because Australian society is a cesspit of racism, bigotry and violence. Jones distills and spouts what is already there. In a just society he would not have a job because he wouldn’t have an audience. But to rise up against him because he’s offended a pollies’ propriety? this is hypocrisy of the highest order.

September 26, 2012September 26, 2012

Which Side Are You On?

Phil Monsour sings at an Adelaide Seacret protest on the 21st September, 2012 prior to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) weekend seminar.

September 14, 2012December 11, 2020

Alice Walker and Desmond Tutu on the Forthcoming New York Russell Tribunal Hearings

The next session of the Russell Tribunal will be on Oct. 6-7, 2012.

Following the sessions in Barcelona (which focused on EU complicity), London (on Corporate Complicity) and Cape Town (on the crime of Apartheid), the New York Tribunal will go back to the root of the conflict and focus on UN and US responsibility in the denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Alice Walker, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others tell you why you should support this historical initiative to bring Israel to account for its brutal crimes against the Palestinian people under the aegis of international law.

Read the findings of the previous Capetown Sessions of the Russell Tribunal, where Israel’s crimes against humanity are clearly defined:

‘The Tribunal finds that Israel subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalised regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law. This discriminatory regime manifests in varying intensity and forms against different categories of Palestinians depending on their location. The Palestinians living under colonial military rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are subject to a particularly aggravated form of apartheid. Palestinian citizens of Israel, while entitled to vote, are not part of the Jewish nation as defined by Israeli law and are therefore excluded from the benefits of Jewish nationality and subject to systematic discrimination across the broad spectrum of recognised human rights. Irrespective of such differences, the Tribunal concludes that Israel’s rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid.’

September 14, 2012December 11, 2020

Israel’s Cultural Hasbara Exports

Music industry figure in Israel, Jeremy Hulsh of Oleh! Records, is encouraging the Israeli government to invest in up-and-coming musicians as soft sell ambassadors for state propaganda. From Oleh! Records’ business plan, the company has a broad interest in utilising culture as hasbara:

contributing to the overall Government’s desired long term outcome for the areas of Culture, Economic Development, Regional Cooperation, Public Diplomacy (branding), and Diaspora Relations – ‘A right to culture’ the right to create a culture and the right to consume culture’ as laid out particularly by the Ministry of Culture and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
…
Defining Israeli industry “characterized by groundbreaking entrepreneurship, Israel yields pioneering technologies, profitable business opportunities and high investment returns” – as claimed by the Ministry of Trade & Labor. Likewise- the explicit national agenda to “make it possible for every Israeli to participate in improving Israel’s image in the world, and thereby contribute to its political and economic strength as well as its international standing.” – as promoted by the Ministry of Public Diplomacy.
…
While Israeli music industry and culture professionals have long been aware that independent musicians and Israeli music sector-at large make significant contributions not only to local culture and the economy, Israeli music culture significantly improves relations with the Diaspora community and foreign populations as a measure of soft power.

Oleh! presently obtains funding from “philanthropic support outside the State of Israel including Australia and United States based foundations” and envisages that “Israeli Music will benefit from a synchronized brand identity which must be coordinated and marketed by a non governmental Israeli body with an apolitical association“.

In 2005, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit of Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated: “We see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between propaganda and culture.”

Concrete examples of Israel’s cultural hard sell hasbara include the sites Size Doesn’t Matter and the Creative Community for Peace, where quotations are collected opportunistically of artists who have flaunted the cultural boycott called by Palestinians.

This new story in The Jewish Week highlights potential for Israel’s cultural music-washing exports:

Overcoming Israel’s unflattering image in the international media — especially in Europe — is another challenge. Malcolm Haynes, a music programmer for the U.K’s Glastonbury Festival, said he came to Israel to learn about the music scene and a little bit about the politics.

While Israel remains an obscure music scene, booking Israeli acts runs the risk of triggering boycotts, he said. Despite that, Haynes said he had been impressed by the musicians at the conference, and expected some might get invitations to play at Glastonberry. “I’m about building bridges.”

Despite the potential for boycott, Oleh Record’s Hulsh says that Israel’s government should invest more in helping fledgling artists reach concerts abroad as a way to boosting Israel’s image in an organic way rather than with heavy-handed propaganda.

“Each of them is an authentic cultural ambassador,” he said. “When they get on stage and tell their story, they change a narrative.”

All Israelis performing abroad who obtain Israeli government funding to do so are required to sign a contract which converts them into a marketing emissary for apartheid:

“The service provider undertakes to act faithfully, responsibly and tirelessly to provide the Ministry with the highest professional services. The service provider is aware that the purpose of ordering services from him is to promote the policy interests of the State of Israel via culture and art, including contributing to creating a positive image for Israel.”

No promotion of the state, no funding. Who can trust the stage ‘narrative’ of artists beholden to an apartheid government for favours?

Music cannot cross apartheid walls and it is an obscenity to pretend otherwise when oppressed Palestinians have requested global solidarity for boycott, divestment and sanctions in order to obtain their just rights.

Say no to musicwashing Israel’s continuing oppression of Indigenous Palestinian people and refuse to entertain musical hasbara agents who are complicit with apartheid. Palestinians do not have a massive, well-funded state apparatus to broadcast their plight, and they deserve support from conscientious people around the world. Boycott!

The latest target of the Tourism Ministry is the foodie world, specifically food bloggers, who are brought on paid trips to Israel where their senses are dulled by stolen hummus and they go home and gush appropriately about what they have seen. Indeed, “David Lebovitz, an American writer and pastry chef living in Paris whose food-centric personal website receives nearly 2 million unique visitors per month, wrote seven posts about the trip, all of which presented Israel (and its cuisine ) in a positive light.” How’jya like them apples BDSers?

Brand Israel – Palestine activists picket Israeli film fest:

In 2009, then spokesperson of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Arye Mekel said the initiative to “re-brand” Israel involved sending “well-known novelists and writers overseas, theatre companies, exhibits … [to] show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.”

Likewise, current deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has said: “Branding Israel is a way to bring who we are, without the prisms of political agendas, to the masses.”

Syncretism of food culture and freebie hasbara trips for food bloggers to pad out Brand Apartheid Israel

BDS: Growing out of the fringe
Why a boycott of Israeli academics is fully justified
New Al Haq report says governments within their rights to sanction Israel over settlement enterprise

Protesting the Batsheva Brand Israel dance export in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Rebranding Israel: History out, creativity and innovation in

“We understood that it wasn’t enough to say we have creative energy – we actually had to be that way,” says Friedman. “This is the essence of Israelihood – everyone does what they want to do. It’s not refined, but dynamic and varied.”

Natanzon says that the Foreign Ministry considered adopting the values from the “Start-Up Nation” book, by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, when branding Israel.

“But we didn’t want to do that,” he says. “It would only reference one sector of the population, and exclude the others. We wanted to take it to the next level, to showcase the variety and creativity there is throughout the whole country.”

Out: Jewish heritage

It’s impossible not to notice that the new branding excludes central characteristics associated with Israel, such as Jewish culture and heritage and the country’s holy sites – all of which appear in countless official adverts.

“The branding looks at something broader,” Natanzon explains. “The aim was to create a new range of conversations for the country’s brand. The historical components are already part and parcel of its image.”

September 10, 2012December 11, 2020

London Protests for Palestinian Hunger Strikers

Report from Yael Kahn, on the London protest to support Palestinian hunger strikers, Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi, who are engaged in the longest hunger strikes in history. These courageous people are highlighting Israel’s Kafkesque abuse of Palestinian prisoners, who are detained without charge or trial:

‘London protest: The tens of thousands of people walking between Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, many of whom were involved in the final day of the Paralympics, in central London could not miss the large banners and around 40 protesters demanding the immediate release of the hunger strikers.

Amazing support for the Palestinians in general and to the hunger strikers in particular among the public, many of whom were involved in the Paralympics at Trafalgar Square. We leafleted and engaged with well over 1,000 people, with many more thousands reading our messages pinned to our clothes and posters.

Clearly among the general public and the tourists in London the support for the Palestinians is tremendous.
Even an Israeli who was sent to join the Olympics agreed the conditions of the prisoners and their incarceration without charge were unacceptable.

Another passerby got involved because his teenage daughters were very interested. He was surprised and extremely pleased to find out that the Muslims and Jews at the protest had the same aim to support the hunger strikers.

It really feels that at last people are coming together in response to the plight of the hunger strikers.’

Israel has failed to honour its previous agreements in regard to Palestinian detainees. In the light of this, Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-IL urge the international community to immediately intervene on their behalf and demand:

That the agreements reached on 14 and 15 May 2012 be respected, including the release of administrative detainees who were promised release at the end of their current orders;

Unrestricted access for independent physicians to all hunger strikers;

The immediate transfer of Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi, as well as all other hunger strikers, to public hospitals;

That no hunger striker be shackled while hospitalized;

That all hunger strikers be allowed family visits, while they are still lucid;

That Hassan Safadi and Samer Al-Barq, along with all other administrative detainees, in addition to Ayman Sharawna and other detainees that were released as part of the prisoner exchange deal in October 2011 be immediately and unconditionally released.