In the U.K.: "Lecturers voted overwhelmingly to boycott Israeli universities and colleges"

"Lecturers vote to boycott Israeli universities:

"Protest vote immediately declared void by university union"

by Jessica Shepherd

THE GUARDIAN (U.K.)

27 May 2009, on the Web at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/27/lecturers-vote-boycott

Lecturers voted overwhelmingly to boycott Israeli universities and colleges today. Delegates said Israeli academics were complicit in their government's acts against Palestinians.

But as soon as the vote was carried, the leadership of the University and College Union declared it void. Lawyers had advised the union to rule the vote null and void if passed, to avoid legal action against the union.

The union's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said she "formally and personally commended" having the debate.

The lecturers voted for a "boycott, disinvestment and sanctions campaign" against Israeli institutions in protest against Israel's policies in the occupied territories and January's incursion into Gaza.

The vote was carried at UCU's annual congress in Bournemouth. It is the ninth time the deeply contentious issue of Israel and Palestine has surfaced.

This year feelings ran particularly deep as the vote came after a wave of student protests at 35 universities across the UK.

Tom Hickey, from the University of Brighton, put forward one of two motions calling for lecturers to "reflect on the moral and political appropriateness of collaboration with Israeli educational institutions".

Martin Ralph, from the University of Liverpool, called for a boycott, disinvestment and sanctions campaign. He also called for a separate conference to decide how to legally implement a boycott.

But Camilla Bassi, from Sheffield Hallam University, said a boycott would "not help anyone" and would be "part of an anti-Jewish movement". She said: "It is a recipe against all Israelis when we need links between Israeli and Palestinian workers."

Jeremy Newmark, joint head of Stop the Boycott, said: "Whether you are a trade unionist wanting a powerful union or whether you are a longstanding campaigner for peace, it is clear that the UCU has taken leave of its senses. There is the potential for this union to play a remarkable role at this hugely crucial time. If the UCU was a serious union representing their members they would be working to involve Israelis and Palestinians in each other's destiny."

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Video: "Boycott Israel at Whole Foods Market"

This video shows you what Whole Foods really stands for, despite its claims to "compassion"--


Video:

"Boycott Israel at Whole Foods Market"


The video is on YouTube, at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhpppAWMJ9g

Boycott Israel at Whole Foo...

Why does Whole Foods Market sell Israeli Couscous-- even as Israel massa... more
"Why does Whole Foods Market sell Israeli Couscous-- even as Israel massacres and starves Gaza?

"Ask them to join the humanitarian boycott against all Israeli goods."


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For more background on Whole Food Market's sales of Zionist products, see their ex-employee's Blog:

Israeli Products at Whole Foods Market

"Since, I used to work for, and still have email contacts for, Whole Foods, I emailed them this letter. You can also email them from this website:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/contact_submit.php


" 'As a customer, and ex-team member, I would like to see Whole Foods pull its Israeli products until the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) stops the occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The products I can immediately think of include: Israeli Couscous, Tahina, Oils, etc....' "


The entire article is on the Web at:

http://recognizingprivilege.blogspot.com/2009/01/israeli-products-at-whole-foods-market.html

--Also see:

"Union Busting in Hippie Clothing?

"Something Stinks at Whole Foods"


on CounterPunch at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/sharon05082009.html


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For another campaign to Boycott Israeli Goods, now entering its 3rd year, see this video:

"Boycott Israel at People's Food Co-op"


Video on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRZv34-Vac



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRZv34-Vac


"The movement to boycott Apartheid Israel has entered its 18th month, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Zionists use very bloody language to oppose the boycott. They openly encourage "more death" of Palestinian children, right at the Co-op, as you will see."

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* This election-- turning on whether the Co-op should boycott all Israeli goods-- is being hotly debated now, at:


http://arborupdate.com/article/1802/peoples-food-coop-elections


(141 comments so far).


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Big union confederation says:Boycott Israel until "the occupation of the Palestinian Territories is lifted."

"Norwegian trade union calls to renew Israel boycott"

Published in "Ha'aretz"
May 16, 2009

On the Web at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085865.html



Norway's largest labor union called on Saturday to boycott Israel until "the occupation of the Palestinian Territories is lifted."

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, whose members constitute more than a third of the country's employees, said in a statement that "both Israel and the Palestinians deserve to live in peace and security, and as long as this is not achieved, the Israeli government is to be held accountable."

The organization urged Israel to put an end to the "illegal occupation," respect the 1967 borders, halt the expansion of the settlements and remove the security barrier.

"The UN should play a proactive role to this end, and if these efforts fail, the Norwegian government should pioneer an international campaign against the occupation," the statement further read.


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Zionist concert boycotted, due to:"Decades of zionist occupation of Palestinian lands" & "holocaustic genocide of the Palestinian people."

"Chicano Music Group Boycotts Israel Consulate Concert"

By Will

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

On KABOBFEST, at:

http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/05/chicano-music-group-boycotts-israel.html

Quetzal, an East Los Angeles-based group, turned down an invitation to perform at a May 17 concert ("Fiesta Shalom" - seriously) designed to improve Latino-Jewish relations because it was sponsored by the Israeli consulate. The band issued the following statement.

To Whom It May Concern:

Quetzal will not be performing at the Fiesta Shalom on May 17th. When first presented with this performance, it was presented as “an opportunity to improve Jewish and Chicano relations”, which we are certainly in accordance with. When we received the contract, we noticed it was sponsored by the Israeli Consulate. For Quetzal to perform for the Israeli Consulate would mean that we ignore the following:

• Decades of zionist occupation of Palestinian lands and the historically ironic holocaustic genocide of the Palestinian people

• The Israeli/US relationship that has permitted the creation of “permanent” war against people throughout the world.

• Decades of Chican@ solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for Self-determination.

• Decades of solidarity with the non-zionist, non-imperialist peace-loving Jewish community.

• Over 500 years of genocide, enslavement, and abandonment of all people of color as well as poor whites including all the victims of the Jewish holocaust.

Quetzal is but a small part of a massive community of artists that is committed to using art as a tool to redefine and reconstruct our neighborhoods. We hope that elected officials (barrio pimps) such as Jose Huizar begin to see the light of accountability.

The letter included a link to their song, 'Intifada' (which is also on their MySpace page).

It seems the event organizers got the message after designing their tacky, extremely unhip poster.


The lyrics from the beautiful song are contained below.


INTIFADA

Intifada like my mother

Intifada like my brother

Blue Stars come crashing down

Refugees martyr bound

Zionist Marauders move in for the slaughter

Savage Holocaust of a starving Shanti-Gaza

Voices from below billow

Through clouds and desert echoes

Chorus

Palestine

We refuse to be blind

Memory will not let us

Savage Holocaust only strengthens Intifada

People ‘round the world gonna join this peace armada

Singing freedom’s song

Rise, Rise, Rise

Below and to the left

Chorus


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Twenty-one staff members of the University of Tromsø have signed a call for boycott of all Israeli academic institutions.

"BDS reaches the northernmost university in the world!"

Posted by OPGAI on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 07:40

On the Web at:

http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/396

PACBI, 5 May 2009 - Twenty-one staff members of the University of Tromsø (www2.uit.no/www/inenglish) have signed a call for boycott of all Israeli academic institutions.

The initiative calls for the University to "establish an academic boycott of Israel", of Israel‘s "institutions of education, research and culture, and the institutions‘ representatives, regardless of religion and nationality."

The University of Tromsø has 9000 students and is known in Norway as the "peace university." Mordechai Vanunu and Desmond Tutu were both granted honorary doctorates by the university. The University was a leading force in Norway during the massive boycott of the Apartheid regime in former South Africa.

The call follows the outline of the PACBI call. See Norwegian text:

http://www.nordlys.no/debatt/ytring/article4305622.ece

The city of Tromsø also has a twinning relationship with the city of Gaza, and the people of Tromsø mobilized in good numbers for the Gaza demonstrations in January. One of the Norwegian physicians who worked in Gaza at Shifa Hospital, Mads Gilbert, is also a part of the Palestine movement in Tromsø.

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"Academic institutions are defying the Israel lobby's attempts to silence criticism of Israel on campuses."

"Conference for Palestine in Boston"

By Khury Petersen-Smith | May 7, 2009

On the Web at:

http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/07/conference-for-palestine-in-boston

BOSTON--Over 100 student and community activists came together for a Palestine solidarity strategy conference on April 25.

The event came at the end of months of protests, panel discussion and organizing on and off campus in Boston, which was sparked by Israel's brutal assault on Gaza in December and January. The purpose of the conference was to deepen activists' understanding of Zionism and the Palestinian struggle, strengthen new Palestine solidarity groups in New England, and facilitate the kind of discussions that can help sustain organizing beyond the recent crisis.

The meeting, which was held at University of Massachusetts Boston, involved students from at least eight college campuses and three high schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Hampshire College--the first college in the U.S. to divest from Israel.

The tone was set in an opening panel featuring writer Sarah Roche-Mahdi, fresh from a recent Code Pink peace delegation to Gaza, and Layla Hijab Cable, a Palestinian activist who argued why the whole Zionist project--and U.S. support for it--should be opposed.

The mood of the conference was one of hope and inspiration from the outpouring of solidarity around the world in response to Israel's U.S.-supported war.

Conference attendees were riveted as Jess Chilton McConnell, a student organizer at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, recounted the movement of campus occupations across the UK during the bombing, including one that she led at her own campus.

Palestinian activist Omar Baddar laid out the opportunities for building a movement in the U.S. by noting how much has changed in the past 10 years:

A former U.S. president has written a book condemning Israel's apartheid regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Mainstream political scientists [John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt] at leading academic institutions have written a book describing the adverse effects of the Israel lobby on U.S. policy. The leading CBS show 60 Minutes ran an excellent piece exposition the extremism in Israel's occupation and settlement expansion. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ridiculed the endorsement of U.S. officials of Israel's assault on Gaza. Academic institutions are defying the Israel lobby's attempts to silence criticism of Israel on campuses.

These are all signs of a progressive shift in U.S. public discourse on Israel/Palestine.

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Protest the Israeli Genocide against Palestine, with Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends--

Reminder: Protest Genocide at the Jewish Community Center

The bullhorns have fresh batteries installed. The signs are cleaned up. The announcement of this action has been posted on the Michigan Peace Network website, and so far has been supported by Traverse City's MidEast Just Peace and the Newaygo County People for Peace. Activists have pledged to come from Ohio and the north suburbs of Detroit. Join us!

What: Protest Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide. Protest " Celebrate [Apartheid] Israel" Day at the Jewish Community Center

When: Sunday, May 17, 2009

Time: 10:30 AM - 4:00 PM (Event runs from 11am - 3pm)

Where: 2939 Birch Hollow Drive (Corner of Pebble Creek Dr.)

Seven Vigillers
Zionism is Racism
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
#



Boycott Apartheid Israel, at People's Food Co-op--

WHY BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS?

Israel's brutal actions demand it

Palestinian civil society requested it

Our Food Co-op values human rights and social responsibility

“Israel” just killed my friend, Bassem Abu Rahme, pictured below in 2005. He was participating in a peaceful demonstration against the Apartheid Wall on April 17^th, 2009. He was targeted and assassinated in a gangland killing. The gang is the State of Israel. Boycotts will non-violently stop them just as they stopped the White Supremacist government of South Africa. Let’s do our part. Voting for Henry Herskovitz will place an activist on YOUR BOARD that will not tolerate the purchase of Israelis goods for sale at the Co-op.

Israel is in violation of over 70 UN Resolutions
Israel has just committed the massacre of over 1400 people in Gaza
Israel has been committing genocide of the Palestinian people for over 60 years
Israel operates the world’s fourth mightiest military to ethnically cleanse Palestine
Israel uses $7,000,000 each day from the United States to commit its crimes
Israel attacked the USS Liberty in June, 1967, killing 34 US Sailors
Israel killed Rachel Corrie, an American citizen on March 16, 2003
Israel has never asked its citizens to die for America; yet we invaded Iraq for Israel

VOTE HERSKOVITZ

BOYCOTT APARTHEID ISRAEL
[for more information on Israel, see www.ifamericansknew.org]
voting ends May 30, 2009

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Professor tells the truth:Gaza is a concentration camp, Israel is a Nazi Jailer.

"Jewish prof. equates Israel with Nazis

"California's academic scene up in arms after William Robinson of University of Santa Barbara sends students email comparing war-torn Gaza to German concentration camps. Professor defends act as academic freedom, slammed for anti-Semitism"

Published 4/30/2009 in YNet

Full article is on the Web at:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3708479,00.html

Jewish Sociology and Global Studies Professor William Robinson of the University of Santa Barbara in California sparked massive controversy recently after sending his students an email comparing photos of Jews in Nazi concentration camps with Palestinians in war-torn Gaza Strip. The email, sent during Operation Cast Lead and titled "parallel photos of Nazis and Israelis", was sent to 80 students in his class and included 25 photos of Nazi victims, compared with similar photos from Gaza. The email also included an essay stating, "Gaza in Israel's Warsaw – one big concentration camp for Palestinian… What we are witnessing is the slow process of genocide." Sneak Attack Anti-Israel event fraudulently planned, then canceled, at NYU / Yael Levy New York University reports student received permission to host event on climate change, then hung flyers for conference on 'Hidden History of Zionism: The Road to Gaza's Killing Fields' Full story Two Jewish students immediately dropped the class and filed a formal complaint against Robinson with the Academic Senate’s Charges Committee. Robinson has hired an attorney and the hearing has been set for May 14. Robinson, 50, who has been teaching at the University of Santa Barbara for the past nine years, called the complaints and criticism "an attack of academic freedom," citing his accusers were confusing criticism with anti-Semitism....

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Apartheid Wall at Ithaca College:"just as Israel celebrates its independence, a day known as 'nakba,' or catastrophe, to Palestinians."

"Students act out conflict on campus"

Updated: 04/30/2009 07:20 PM

By: Tamara Lindstrom

On "News 10 Now"
(Channel 10 television news)

On the Web at:

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/138483/students-act-out-conflict-on-campus/Default.aspx

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Students at Ithaca College built a mock wall and staged military checkpoints Thursday in an effort to draw awareness to the conflict in Gaza.

"There's checkpoints all over the place, but there's also checkpoints throughout the wall, which people have to struggle to get in and out of, despite the fact that much medical care and access to resources is in Israel," said Brooke Reynolds, an Ithaca College student and member of Students for a Just Peace.

The display by the pro-Palestine student group comes just as Israel celebrates its independence, a day known as "nakba," or catastrophe, to Palestinians.

"We thought it was important for both representations of that story and that piece of history to be made available to the people of Ithaca College," Reynolds said.

Students act out conflict on campus

A surprising display at Ithaca College had students crossing military checkpoints. The staged aggression was put on by students wanting to bring attention to violence in the Middle East. The students built a mock wall to represent the wall in Gaza. The demonstration drew attention, but not everyone appreciated the display. Tamara Lindstrom spoke to students on both sides of the symbolic wall.

The students have been flying the Palestinian flag all week, including during the Israeli independence celebration. And there are some who say the demonstration goes too far.

Molly Wernick is a member of Student Alliance for Israel who thinks the demonstration unfairly portrayed Israeli soldiers.

"I'm angry at the total inaccuracy of their display," Wernick said. "How am I supposed to feel safe and supported on a campus that I take so much pride in when their actions are telling me that I kill people?"

Reynolds believes the violent display was necessary.

"These are things that Palestinians have to incur every day," she said. "So for us to have to recognize their resistance for a short period of time during the lunch hour at Ithaca College, pretending and dressed up, can't possibly be conceived of as more offensive than what Palestinians go through on a daily basis...."

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