Skip to content

BDS

Laws Targeting Israel Boycotts Fail First Legal Test

January 31, 2018 By Vera Eidelman, Aclu.org , ,
Issuing the first decision of its kind, a federal judge today blocked enforcement of a Kansas law targeting boycotts of Israel, ruling in an ACLU lawsuit that the First Amendment protects the right to engage in political boycotts. The Kansas law requires that any person or company that contracts with the state sign a statement that they are “not currently engaged in a boycott of Israel.” The ACLU brought the lawsuit in October on behalf of Esther Koontz, a schoolteacher who refused to sign the certification. Today’s decision, an important victory for political speech, will allow her to resume her work. Thanks to the order, Kansas is prohibited from enforcing its law while the case proceeds. This is the first ruling to address a recent wave of laws nationwide aiming to punish people who boycott Israel, and it should serve as a warning to other states with similar provisions, including one we are challenging in Arizona.

Resistance Within The World Economic Forum

January 27, 2018 Mazin Qumsiyeh, Popular Resistance. , , , ,
The World Economics Forum (WEF) brings thousands of world political and business leaders to Davos to exchange information. Over 1000 private jets land in this ski resort polluting the air and bringing in the CEOs of the largest companies, presidents, kings, and prime ministers to plot how to get richer at the expense of the poor. Thousands attend. In the 2006 Davos meeting I managed to get an article titled "Boycott Israel" in the official magazine distributed to all delegates. After complaints from some who do not believe in free speech (because the truth is to their disadvantage), Klaus Schwab Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF swiftly interrupted the meetings to issue a public apology...

I Am American, Jewish And Banned From Israel For Activism

January 18, 2018 Medea Benjamin, The Guardian. , , ,
This month, the Israeli government announced that activists affiliated with 20 organizations, including my organization Codepink, would be banned from entering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories because of our support for the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights. As a Jew, this causes me tremendous sadness because I have a lifetime attachment to Israel and Palestine. It also deepens my commitment to working for peace and equality for all the peoples of the region.

Ensuring Justice In The Era Of Transformation

January 1, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, popularesistance.org     , , ,
In our last article, we predicted that the 2020’s will be an era of transformation. We focused on the development of the movement since the “Take-Off” phase of the 2011 Occupy encampments, followed by Black Lives Matter, Fight for $15, Idle No More, carbon infrastructure protests, debt resistance, immigration protests and more. The 2020s will be a decade when the impacts of years of mismanagement of crisis situations, such as climate change, inequality and US militarism, become unavoidable requiring major transformations. What we do now to prepare will help determine the result.

What Were The Top BDS Victories Of 2017?

January 1, 2018 Nora Barrows-Friedman, electronicintifada.net , ,
It took just four days for a world famous singer to cancel her Tel Aviv show in response to her fans’ urging her to respect the international picket line. Lorde’s decision on Christmas Eve to pull the Tel Aviv show from her world tour – remarking that booking the gig in the first place “wasn’t the right call” – completed a successful year for the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. 2017 saw artists, performers, athletes, politicians, cultural workers, faith-based organizations, students, academics, unions and activists grow the movement for Palestinian rights. Israel has been taking notice, of course. Early on in the year, key Israel lobby groups admitted in a secret report – obtained and published in full by The Electronic Intifada – that they had failed to counter the Palestine solidarity movement, despite vastly increasing their spending.

Law Blocks Maryland From Giving Contracts To Businesses Backing BDS

November 2, 2017 Bill Hughes, baltimorepostexaminer.com , , ,
By Bill Hughes for Baltimore POst-Examiner - Larry Hogan was elected in 2014 as governor of Maryland. It was no easy task, as Republicans are a minority in the state. Bob Ehrlich, another Republican, also had served one term from 2003-2007. But before Ehrlich, you have to go back to 1967, when Spiro T. Agnew won and served from 1967-69. In his early days in office, Hogan came off as a reasonable, reflective politico. He had unusually high numbers in the polls. Hogan, despite being a Republican, even signed a bill banning fracking in the state. Voters also admired him for the way he fought back against a cancer that threatened his life. But, like Donald Trump, Hogan, is now playing fast and loose with Executive Orders. On October 23, 2017, surrounded in the State House by members of the Israel Lobby, he signed an Executive Order blocking Maryland from awarding contracts to businesses that support boycotts of Israel. Michael Brown, writing for “Popular Resistance,” on Oct. 26: “Activists in Maryland have twice beaten back efforts to pass such an anti-BDS measure through the state legislature.” Is Hogan trying to do an end run around the legislature by using the powers of his office? Keep in mind, he is acting on behalf of the interest of a foreign power – Israel – which he didn’t mention in his remarks.

Newsletter – Racism, Propaganda And Wars

October 29, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. This week, the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which promoted giving Palestine to the Jewish people, will be celebrated in London. Around the world, there will be protests against it calling for Britain to apologize for the damage it inflicted. Students from the West Bank and Gaza will send letters to the British government describing the negative impacts that the Balfour Declaration, and the Nakba in 1948, continue to have on their lives today. As Dan Freeman-Maloy describes, the Balfour Declaration is also relevant today because of the propaganda co-existing with it that justified white supremacy, racism and empire. British imperialists believed that democracy only applied to "civilized and conquering peoples," and that "Africans, Asians, Indigenous peoples the world over – all were ... 'subject races,' unfit for self-government."

‘A Legal Shield For The Palestine Movement In The U.S.’

October 27, 2017 Amjad Iraqi, www.972mag.com , ,
By Amjad Iraqi for +974 Magazine - Pro-Israel organizations are increasingly using the law to target Palestinian solidarity groups in the United States. Dima Khalidi, head of Palestine Legal, speaks with +972 Magazine about the ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech, and what her organization is doing to fight back. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit last week on behalf of a Kansas public school teacher who, as a condition for taking her job, was required under a new state law to declare that she would not engage in boycotts of Israel. The law is just one in a growing list of measures in recent years aiming to counter the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States. Political boycotts in the U.S. are meant to be stringently protected under the First Amendment. “The state should not be telling people what causes they can or can’t support,” Esther Koontz, the Kansas teacher, said about her lawsuit. That’s not necessarily the reality these days, however. “It’s clear that when it comes to talking about Palestine, there’s a suspension of the notion that the government has no authority to interfere in that right,” says Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal.

Media Still Excluding Palestinian Voices In Reports On BDS

October 26, 2017 Michael F. Brown, www.electronicintifada.net , , ,
By Michael F. Brown for The Electronic Antifada - What the AP says is important because its reports typically appear in hundreds of publications around the world. Witte described BDS as “founded in 2005 to protest Israel’s actions toward Palestinians by boycotting Israeli products and companies.” He did not provide any detail about what specific Israeli actions BDS supporters are protesting. Consequently, readers did not hear that the nonviolent movement is calling for an end to Israeli military occupation and settlement building that is against international law, equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel who face systematic discrimination and implementing the internationally recognized right of return for Palestinian refugees. Instead, Hogan, a Republican, was allowed to misrepresent the movement, saying, “Boycotts based on religion, national origin, ethnicity or place of residence are discriminatory, and contracting with businesses that practice discrimination would make the state a passive participant in private sector commercial discrimination.” Witte’s report failed to mention that the BDS National Committee – the campaign’s Palestine-based steering group – is very explicit about rejecting all forms of racism and religious bigotry, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Texas City: No Harvey Relief If Applicants Boycott Israel

October 21, 2017 Emma Fiala, www.mintpressnews.com , , , ,
By Emma Fiala for Mint Press News - DICKINSON, TX — The town of Dickinson, Texas is home to just over 20,000 people, an annual crawfish festival, and one of the most absurd requirements for disaster relief imaginable. The town recently made non-support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign a condition for receiving hurricane aid. How can a small town like Dickinson put forth such a gratuitous disaster relief requirement? In this case, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — Dickinson is simply following in the footsteps of the entire state of Texas. Recently, Texas banned any contractor who supports the BDS campaign from receiving state funds. In the opinion of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies. Despite the head-scratching nature of that claim, at least to many critics in- and out-of-state, House Bill 89 was signed into law in July. The bill specifies that the state may enter into a contract with a business only if that business does not boycott Israel. The bill also takes the extra step of specifying that businesses must “not boycott Israel during the term of the contract” either. The legislation also prohibits the state from entering into a contract with a business that refuses to buy products made in Israeli settlements — settlements that are illegally located on Palestinian land.

BDS – Expressing Solidarity While Conducting Trade With Israel Is Hypocrisy

September 13, 2017 Miko Peled, www.ahtribune.com , ,
By Miko Peled for American Herold Tribune - Israel is all geared up for war against the call for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and the de-legitimization of the Zionist state. The ministry of strategic affairs headed by Gil’ad Erdan - which is charged with this task - is now equipped with a budget, a former Israeli army general, retired Brig. General Sima Vakini-Gil who acts as the ministry’s General Director and a new assistant to the General Director, Tsahi Gavrieli who has brought a new wind to the sails of the anti-BDS ship. Gavrieli brought in a team that includes legal experts, economists and media people and according to a story recently published in Hebrew on Ynet they call on the Israeli public to take part in the campaign. According to the story, some parts of the campaign are overt and some covert, and the ministry will no longer be on the defensive but take an active, offensive position. Israelis are now encouraged to join this campaign with apps like ACT.IL which shows how to take the fight on social media and combat the “slurs” against Israel. According to Gavrieli the BDS movement is losing ground in the US, and he brings as examples recent laws passed by over twenty states that criminalize the call to boycott Israel.

The Arab American Radicals Who Paved Way For BDS

September 12, 2017 Rod Such, www.electronicintifada.net , , , ,
By Rod Such for The Electronic Antifada - One of the earliest boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, victories in the United States came in 1973 when United Auto Workers Local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan, voted to divest its Israeli bonds after a campaign waged by the Arab Workers Caucus and the American Arab Coordinating Committee. The campaign drew comparisons with apartheid South Africa and won the support of many Black autoworkers in Michigan. Was it just an oddity that decades before Palestinian civil society called for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel in 2005, industrial workers in the US heartland were already waging a BDS struggle? Or, far from being a rogue wave, was it an integral part of the oceanic upheavals among workers, students, immigrants and people of color during the heady maelstroms of the 1960s and ’70s? The Rise of the Arab American Left makes it clear this was no oddity, although it did have certain characteristics unique to the Arab American experience. Given the relative paucity of scholarship on the history of the Arab American left, this book is a must-read for those who wish to learn more about that community’s activism during this period of radical upheaval.

Artists WIthdraw From Israeli Sponsored Cultural Event

August 26, 2017 Staff, www.bdsmovement.net , ,
By Staff of BDS - Following a popular campaign across several countries in a matter of days, nine acts have withdrawn from the Pop-Kultur festival in Berlin due to sponsorship by the Israeli embassy. Send a letter of thanks to these principled artists for standing in solidarity with Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. Young Fathers were among the latest to withdraw, recalling their “long history of opposing any form of hatred including racism and anti-Semitism” and their support for “a peaceful solution that allows Palestinians the right to return to a safe homeland and that allows Israelis and Palestinians of all faiths (and none) to live together in peace.” Sleaford Mods announced their manager Steve Underwood would withdraw from a panel discussion at the festival. They join Syrian artists Mohammad Abu Hajar of Mazzaj Rap and DJ Hello Psychaleppo, Islam Chipsy from Egypt, Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi, UK artists Annie Goh and Iklan feat. Law Holt and the Finnish band Oranssi Pazuzu. Thurston Moore, who performed at Pop-Kultur last year, tweeted in support of these principled artists and urged the festival to withdraw “Israeli embassy sponsorship in solidarity with Palestinian call for cultural boycott.”

Newsletter: Policies For The People

August 6, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Political economist C. J. Polychroniou recently interviewed David M. Kotz, author of "The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism," about the transition in the US from a regulated capitalism instituted under FDR that protected workers and the vulnerable to some extent to a financialized global neoliberal capitalism that started in the 1970s. Under neoliberalism, the rich got richer while protections for workers in the form of unions and and the vulnerable in the form of a social safety net were dismantled. In addition, the environmental impacts of industry and fossil fuels are barely considered despite the reality of climate change. Neoliberalism crashed in 2008 and has remained in a crisis state ever since with a stagnating economy, growing wealth divide and political turmoil. Crises are turning points.

BDS Movement Turns 12, Marks Anniversary With List Of 12 Wins In 2017

August 5, 2017 Staff, www.bdsmovement.net ,
By Staff of Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee - July 9, 2017 marks 12 years since the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was born. It’s been 12 years since an impressively large and diverse coalition across Palestinian civil society surmounted incredible odds to unify around three basic Palestinian rights and a nonviolent, inclusive, anti-racist path of struggle to achieve them. Despite the fragmentation, military occupation, segregation and dispossession, we came together to assert our people’s right to freedom, justice, equality and dignity. The 2005 BDS Call embodies overwhelming Palestinian support for demanding an end to Israel’s military occupation and the dismantling of its illegal wall, an end to its institutionalized and legalized system of racial discrimination which meets the UN definition of apartheid, and the right of refugees to return to their homeland as stipulated in international law. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement and the American Civil Rights Movement, entities representing Palestinians everywhere called on people of conscience worldwide to adopt pressure tactics in support of our struggle for rights. BDS calls for boycott and divestment initiatives in the academic, cultural, economic and sports fields and for pressuring states to implement meaningful sanctions against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.
«12345678910»

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.