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BDS Movement

Lobby Firm APCO Drops Elbit Systems After Palestine Action Campaign

After a campaign of disruptive direct action against their London premises by Palestine Action, lobby firm ‘APCO Worldwide’, have ceased their business relationship with Israel’s largest arms firm, Elbit Systems. On September 3rd, 2024, the first action against APCO’s premises saw three activists locked-on in front of their 40 Strand, London offices, having first drenched the site in red paint, with a banner reading “Stop lobbying for Genocide. APCO Drop Elbit” [1]. Videos of the action reached millions of people across the world on social media.

US Restaurant Chains See Profits Collapse As Israel Boycott Bites

Americana Restaurants, West Asia's largest fast-food operator, reported a 48.2 percent decline in profits on 31 October, as consumers boycott US and Israel-linked brands in response to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The Kuwaiti firm announced its profits had fallen to $117.4 million over a nine-month period, while revenues had fallen 15.3 percent to $1.61 billion. "Topline growth continued to be impacted by lower like-for-like sales due to the evolving regional geopolitical situation and slowness in consumer demand observed in some markets, despite support from new store openings," the company said in a statement.

Barclays Divest From Elbit Systems After Direct Action Campaign

After a year-long campaign against its premises by Palestine Action and local community groups, Barclays PLC has sold all of its shareholdings in Elbit Systems Ltd (ELST). Until recently, Barclays owned over 16,000 shares in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company. Starting just over one year ago, Palestine Action’s campaign saw activists undertake 54 actions against Barclays premises nation-wide. Smashing branch windows, spraying them in blood-red paint, many of these actions put Barclays sites out of operation for weeks, actions which sought to raise the costs associated with dealing with Elbit.

Public Employees Pass Strong Resolution To Divest From Apartheid Israel

St. Paul, MN – MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, is an independent union representing approximately 15,000 employees of the State of Minnesota. At their October 26 delegate assembly, MAPE approved a resolution titled “Supporting a Ceasefire and Divestment in Israel-Palestine.” It included strong steps towards divesting both MAPE and Minnesota’s State Board of Investments (SBI) from apartheid Israel. The MAPE Ceasefire Caucus organizing team had conversations with nearly every delegate over the last six weeks in preparation for the vote, which ended up with 82 for, 49 against, with 17 abstaining.

Hundreds Of Authors Pledge To Boycott Israeli Cultural Institutions

Hundreds of prominent authors have signed an open letter pledging not to work with “Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.” The letter represents perhaps the most forceful statement of condemnation—and largest commitment to cultural boycott—ever made by the American literary community with regard to the Israeli cultural sector: This is a genocide, as leading expert scholars and institutions have been saying for months. Israeli officials speak plainly of their motivations to eliminate the population of Gaza, to make Palestinian statehood impossible, and to seize Palestinian land. This follows 75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.

Lessons From The Tulane And Loyola Encampments For Gaza

Baton Rouge, LA – On October 9, Louisiana State University’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a panel on the Tulane and Loyola University encampments for Gaza as part of their October 7 Week of Rage. LSU SDS invited members of Tulane and Loyola SDS and a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) from New Orleans. They highlighted their wins and explored lessons learned from planning and implementing the encampment. Last spring, the National Students for a Democratic Society put out a call for campuses across the country to enact encampments for Gaza on their universities’ lawns to escalate the fight for divestment.

The BDS Movement Renews Its Campaign Against Chevron

In January, the BDS National Committee (BNC) renewed its call for a boycott of the fossil fuel company Chevron. The organization had originally called for a boycott of Chevron in 2020 after it became the main operator of fossil gas claimed by Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, the new call has expanded the boycott to Chevron gas stations and the company’s affiliates, which include Texaco and Caltex. “During the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, a movement to boycott Shell oil for its complicity in apartheid gained worldwide momentum, with supporters taking part in gas/petrol station pickets and major divestment campaigns from the fossil fuel company.

Utah Students Win Victory Against Israeli Study Abroad Program

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 3, 50 students and community members gathered on the campus of the University of Utah to demand an end to the school’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa, an Israeli military college that practices discrimination against its Arab and Muslim students. Organizers also called for the University of Utah’s full divestment from companies involved in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, reinvestment in student resources, and for the University of Utah to respect students’ right to protest for Palestine. The rally also celebrated the Palestinian resistance. Chris Loera-Peña of Mecha de U of U said, “It’s been a year of genocide, but also a year of non-stop resistance and fighting from the Palestinian people and the entire world.”

MIT Divests From Israeli Arms Firm Funded Program

The MISTI-"Israel" Lockheed Martin fund has been shut down after continuous pressure from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) staff and faculty, the MIT Coalition for Palestine announced on Friday, marking a major divestment win for the university's Scientists Against Genocide (SAGE) movement. "Under pressure from students and scientists of conscience at this Institute, the MIT administration has discontinued MISTI-Israel's Lockheed Martin Seed Fund and will not renew its contract," the organization said in a statement. "This was a major target of our divestment action. The program ends after months of protest against it last fall, including letter deliveries, sit-ins, and public information campaigns," it highlighted.

Cal State Professors Targeted For Exposing School’s Ties To Genocide

Last month, in a tangible victory for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, San Francisco State University (SFSU) agreed to pull its investment from four companies tied to weapons manufacturing and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The four include Lockheed Martin, aerospace company Leonardo, military contractor Palantir, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been tearing up Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The success was four years in the making, as SFSU students successfully passed a divestment resolution in 2020.

Portland Votes To Divest From Companies Doing Business With Israel

Portland’s city council adopted a resolution Wednesday night urging the city to divest from companies doing business with Israel in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The city council unanimously approved the resolution — put forth by councilor April Fournier and sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Palestine and Maine’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace — in a packed chamber following more than three hours of public comment. Councilors also said individually that they’d received thousands of emails from constituents regarding the resolution. More than 80 companies are included in the divestment list, including the major corporations Volvo, Boeing, Chevron and Intel, which the resolution calls complicit in Israel’s violation of international law.

BDS Win: AXA Divests From Israeli Banks And Elbit Systems

In a resounding victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the French multinational insurance company AXA has sold its investments in all major Israeli banks and divested from Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. The news was confirmed by a new report published by the corporate accountability group Ekō, which is part of the coalition that’s been pressuring AXA to divest for nearly a decade. “BDS pressure works. The confirmation of AXA’s divestment from all Israeli banks and Elbit Systems is a major milestone for the movement that follows years of strategic BDS campaigning,” said BDS Movement Europe Coordinator Fiona Ben Chekroun in a statement.

Israel Faces Collapse ‘In Less Than A Year’ If War Of Attrition Continues

The former ombudsman of the Israeli army, reserve General Yitzhak Brik, says his country “faces collapse in less than a year” if the war against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the Lebanese resistance in the north continues at its current pace. In an opinion column published by Haaretz on 21 August, Brik claims Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has begun to “sober up,” pointing to Gallant’s recent comments in which he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promises of “total victory” in Gaza “gibberish.” “[Gallant] has started to understand that if a regional war breaks out due to failure to reach a [ceasefire deal], Israel will be in danger,” Brik says, adding that “Gallant already understands that the war has lost its purpose.

The Quiet, Local Success Of The Israel Divestment Movement

The United States has historically provided hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to Israel. The flow of taxpayer funds to Israel’s military has only increased since Israeli forces launched an attack on Gaza in October 2023, in which as many as 186,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to an estimate published in The Lancet in July 2024. Beyond the federal dollars funding the ongoing attack on Gaza, there are also investments made on the state and municipal levels to support Israel’s violence against Palestinians. “The ethnic cleansing and horrors that we’re witnessing being carried out by the Israeli government are deeply entangled in material support from the United States, and that happens on multiple levels,” says Jay Saper, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in New York City.

Thou Shalt Not Commit Genocide

There is only one way to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It is not through bilateral negotiations. Israel has amply demonstrated, including with the assassination of the lead Hamas negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, that it has no interest in a permanent ceasefire. The only way for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians to be halted is for the U.S. to end all weapons shipments to Israel. And the only way this will take place is if enough Americans make clear they have no intention of supporting any presidential ticket or any political party that fuels this genocide. The arguments against a boycott of the two ruling parties are familiar: It will ensure the election of Donald Trump. Kamala Harris has rhetorically shown more compassion than Joe Biden.
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