Divestment demanded against Israel-- at Duluth, Minnesota, and at City University of New York (CUNY)

"Northland Protestors Speak Out Against Israel"

June 1, 2010

Northland's NewsCenter, KBJR-TV, NBC 6, KDLH-TV, CBS3, KRII-TV Range 11, Northland CW, MY 9

Duluth, Minnesota

At: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/95370414.html

The attack on a humanitarian aid convoy by Israel off the coast of the Gaza strip has caused outrage among some here in the Northland.

Multimedia--

• Watch The Video

A group of protestors assembled outside the Duluth Federal Building to have their voices heard.

The protest is sponsored by the Northland Anti-War coalition and the Twin Ports Break the Bonds Campaign.

The United Nations reports that at least 10 civilians were killed when Israeli forces attacked the convoy. Many more were wounded.

Activists in Duluth say they are demonstrating in solidarity with protestors in the Middle East and around the world.

The U.N. says Israeli forces boarded a six-ship convoy, inbound towards Gaza. The purpose of the fleet was to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to break the Israeli blockade.

However, Israel attacked the fleet and protestors say they're outraged.

"As an activist for peace and social justice, I am shaken and hurt to the core by Israel's actions," said Carl Sack, an activist.

Protestors say they're asking the State of Minnesota to divest from financial bonds they have with Israel. Demonstrators are also calling upon the U.S. government to send a message in light of what happened.

They're asking the feds to stop sending aid to Israel.

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"Time for CUNY to Divest from Israel"

by The Editor
CUNY Graduate Center Advocate

June 1, 2010

At: http://www.gcadvocate.com/2010/05/time-for-cuny-to-divest-from-israel/

“It always seems impos­si­ble until it’s done.“
–Nel­son Mandela


Israel’s unwar­ranted and out­ra­geous attack upon the flotilla of ships car­ry­ing human­i­tar­ian aid to the Gaza Strip is another sad reminder that the lead­ers of Israel are deter­mined to indef­i­nitely con­tinue and defend the pun­ish­ing and ille­gal block­ade of the Gaza Strip and the con­tin­ued iso­la­tion of the West Bank, which has caused and con­tin­ues to cause immense suf­fer­ing and loss of life for the Pales­tin­ian peo­ple.

Deaf to the cries and con­dem­na­tions of the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity, Israel has pur­sued a cal­cu­lated pol­icy of pun­ish­ment and humil­i­a­tion against the Pales­tini­ans, explic­itly designed to cre­ate a per­ma­nent cri­sis in the region, thus fur­ther jus­ti­fy­ing Israel’s con­tin­ued pol­icy of sep­a­ra­tion and apartheid.

From the ter­ri­ble 2008 Gaza Mas­sacre to Monday’s pre­med­i­tated assault upon the Mavi Mar­mara, Israel has sent a clear sig­nal to the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity that it has no inten­tions of either abid­ing by inter­na­tional or human­i­tar­ian law, or of nego­ti­at­ing in good faith with the Pales­tin­ian peo­ple. Faced, like South Africa in the 1980’s, with a clear demo­graph­i­cal dis­ad­van­tage, Israel has cho­sen to iso­late its minor­ity pop­u­la­tion in a last ditch effort to main­tain its implic­itly racist pol­icy of Zion­ist rule.

Because of this, it is now more impor­tant than ever, that the insti­tu­tions respon­si­ble for sup­port­ing and abet­ting Israel’s con­tin­ued aggres­sions against the Pales­tini­ans, includ­ing the City Uni­ver­sity of New York, be forced, at the very least, to end their invest­ment in any com­pany that aids in any way the block­ade, iso­la­tion, and occu­pa­tion of the Pales­tin­ian ter­ri­to­ries. Since Hamp­shire College’s suc­cess­ful and ground­break­ing dis­in­vest­ment in com­pa­nies that sup­port the occu­pa­tion of Pales­tine in 2009, there has been a grow­ing stu­dent dis­in­vest­ment cam­paign, which has spread to uni­ver­si­ties across the nation from UC Berke­ley and UC San Diego, to Colum­bia and NYU. This move­ment is ded­i­cated to con­vinc­ing their col­lege and uni­ver­sity bud­get and finance com­mit­tees to rearrange their invest­ment port­fo­lios so as to dis­in­vest from com­pa­nies such as: United Tech­nolo­gies, which man­u­fac­tures Black­hawk heli­copters used by the Israeli mil­i­tary, Gen­eral Elec­tric, which sup­plies the propul­sions sys­tems for Apache heli­copter gun­ships, also used by the Israeli Defense Forces, ITT Cor­po­ra­tion, which pro­vides night vision gog­gles to the Israeli mil­i­tary, Motorola, which is engaged in a $400 mil­lion project to pro­vide radar sys­tems for enhanc­ing secu­rity at ille­gal West Bank set­tle­ments, Terex, which pro­vides trucks for logis­ti­cal sup­port to the Israeli mil­i­tary, and Cater­pil­lar, which pro­vides many of the bull­doz­ers and con­struc­tion equip­ment used to build new set­tle­ments and to destroy Pales­tin­ian homes in the West Bank and Gaza.

While this kind of dis­in­vest­ment is a good start, the cur­rent intran­si­gence of the Israeli gov­ern­ment calls for more aggres­sive forms of dis­in­vest­ment. Uni­ver­si­ties and other insti­tu­tions should be encour­aged not only to dis­in­vest in com­pa­nies that sup­port the Israeli occu­pa­tion and iso­la­tion of Pales­tine, but any com­pa­nies that engage in direct busi­ness with or pro­vide invest­ment to Israel in any capacity.

Last March, The UC Berke­ley Stu­dent Sen­ate passed a res­o­lu­tion, sup­ported in large part by the UC Berke­ley Stu­dents for Jus­tice in Pales­tine, (the res­o­lu­tion is reprinted below), urg­ing the uni­ver­sity to end all invest­ments related to Gen­eral Elec­tric and United Tech­nolo­gies. The res­o­lu­tion passed the Stu­dent Sen­ate but was cal­lously vetoed by the Stu­dent Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Noah Stern. Cur­rently UC Berke­ley stu­dents are cam­paign­ing to over­turn that veto, but UC Pres­i­dent Mark Yudof, the same indi­vid­ual who recently raised UC tuition by 32%, has issued state­ments this month mak­ing it clear that the uni­ver­sity pol­icy sup­ports dis­in­vest­ment only in the case of geno­cide — a ridicu­lous and incred­i­bly irre­spon­si­ble high bar to set for tak­ing action. While this may sound like a defeat, the res­o­lu­tion has gained steam and is being pro­posed at sev­eral other cam­puses in the UC sys­tem includ­ing UC San Diego and UC River­side. It is time that the stu­dent gov­ern­ment at CUNY includ­ing the Doc­toral Stu­dents’ Coun­cil, The Uni­ver­sity Stu­dent Sen­ate and the Uni­ver­sity Fac­ulty Sen­ate, took up the res­o­lu­tion as their own.

In the mean­time, it will be imper­a­tive these next few weeks that those of us who care about the suf­fer­ing and humil­i­a­tion tak­ing place in Gaza remain vocal and out­spo­ken crit­ics of Israel’s pol­icy, and that we call on the US Gov­ern­ment to unre­servedly and crit­i­cally con­demn the attacks on the Mavi Mar­mara and the con­tin­ued block­ade of Gaza.

Click here to see the full ver­sion of the “Bill in Sup­port of UC Dis­in­vest­ment from War Crimes”

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Demonstrations for action against Apartheid Israel----In Baghdad, Cairo, Madrid, Ankara, Washington, and Ann Arbor:

Some of the worldwide protest demonstrations from May 31, 2010 --

-- immediately after Israel massacred human rights activists who were trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza on boats:

Photo 1 from Baghdad demonstration.

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Over 3,000 Iraqis demonstrated against Israel across the Tigris River from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, May 31, 2010.

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Photo 2 from Baghdad demonstration.

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Over 3,000 Iraqis demonstrated against Israel across the Tigris River from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, May 31, 2010.

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Demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey, outside the Israeli ambassador's residence.

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Demonstrators in Cairo.

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Demonstrators in the Occupied West Bank were attacked with tear gas by the Israeli military.

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Demonstrators in Pakistan burn an Israeli flag.

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Demonstrators in front of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid.

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A protest was held in Washington, D.C..

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Thousands protested in London.

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Thousands protested in London.

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Outside the Ann Arbor, Michigan Federal Building, over 30 people protested.

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Israel massacres humanitarian aid convoy 80 miles from Gaza.

See the full interview with Free Gaza Movement co-founder, Great Berlin, below.

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May 31, 2010

On the Web at:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_We_Are_Not_Terrorists_Gaza_Activist_Says/2058141.html


At least 10 pro-Palestinian activists were killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying supplies for the Gaza Strip on May 31.

Greta Berlin, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, an organizer of the convoy, spoke with RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service correspondent Anna Zamejc about the deadly event.

RFE/RL: What happened this morning?

Greta Berlin: We were attacked by Israeli militaries. We were flotilla, six civilian ships and about 4:30 this morning Israeli "commandos," if that's what you want to call them, rappelled down off a helicopter and landed at least on the deck of the Turkish [ship], not sure about the other one, looked around and started to shoot at us.

They have killed 10 people that we know of -- that's the number I'm going to stick with right now until I get further confirmation. Then they commandeered the ships and forced them to go in the Ashdod port. They were several members of parliament on board, including MPs from Sweden, Norway, and Germany. We were 70 miles off the coast of Israel, they attacked us. That is a crime; they committed a crime on international waters.

RFE/RL: The Israeli officials say there were weapons aboard the flotilla to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip, which was the reason Israeli commandos stormed the ship. Is that true?

Berlin: I suppose, if you consider the paper and wheelchairs and crutches weapons, then the Israelis might have a point. Look, everyone on those ships was inspected before we left.

The only weapons that were on board belonged to the Israelis. They might have planted them -- after all they stormed us and they killed us.

All you have to do is to look at the statistics what actually happened. We have at least 10 people dead, they were civilians! They stormed our boats! We have manifest on every one of those boats that say what is on those boats. And it was 4:30 in the morning when everybody is sleeping.

I will venture to say that Israel is lying about this, because the weapons that I saw coming on board this morning belonged to Israel.

RFE/RL: So you claim Israel planted the weapons after they stormed the ship?

Berlin: If there were weapons, they planted those weapons.

RFE/RL: You said that so far 10 people have been confirmed dead. What nationalities were they?

Berlin: I don't know yet, we have heard nothing. We have heard nothing from the ships, they've jammed all our communication, they took all our cell phones away, we have not been able to communicate with anybody since 3:30 this morning, Cyprus time.

RFE/RL: They were also rumors that Muslim leader Raed Salah is among the casualties. But this is something you haven't confirmed yet, right?

Berlin: Yes, it's what I've heard but we haven't confirmed it. Nobody has any firm information about people who were killed and wounded.

RFE/RL: This was not the first time you went to Gaza with aid. How many times have you sent those ships to the Gaza Strip and why was the last convoy stormed by Israel?

Berlin: Since August 2009 the Free Gaza Movement has gone nine times to Gaza. The first five we entered Gaza, we took members of parliament on our yard and nothing was done to us. There were many, many threats. Israel has threatened us all along, the last thing they want is for the people of Gaza to be free and to be able to rebuild their society. We went in five times, the last three were brutally stopped and we only had one boat.

A pro-Palestinian activist is evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem.So the Free Gaza Movement along with four other partners said: "We would not go back to Gaza again unless we have a flotilla. We need to take something substantive, not just sort of a token that says: 'we support your desire to be free.' We want to take back a substantive amount of supplies and take them into Gaza." And that's what we get.

Israel is terrified that if we open up a sea route to Gaza, Gaza eventually will be free and will have its own might to do its own trade. Gaza is the only territory in the world that has no access to its sea. Every other territory that borders water or an ocean has the right to its territory except for Gaza. We were trying to say to the world: a million and half people who live in Gaza are in outdoor prison and Israel has no right to do it.

RFE/RL: What kind of supplies do you carry on the ships and what goods were onboard the last flotilla sent to Gaza?

Berlin: That's another reason Israel is terrified. Because the small amount of supplies we brought in on the yard was very small, they were just tokens. We're coming in with 10,000 tons of supplies Israel refuses to allow into Gaza. Israel only allows 81 items into Gaza. They won't allow any rebuilding supplies, they don't allow paper, they don't allow crayons for the children, they don't allow jam, they don't allow chocolate.

We didn't bring anything in on those ships except items that were already forbidden by Israel and were forbidden for the people of Gaza could not rebuild their infrastructure. We had cement, water-purification systems, prefab homes, 20 tons of paper -- Israel doesn't allow the people of Gaza to print their own books.

So there wasn't any way that Israel was going to take this easily because we have said to the world that Israel occupied Gaza and they are treating people as so they have the right to commit a slow-motion genocide on them and it hasn't gotten in and we will still continue to try to do that, then we will be successful opening a sea lane from Gaza to the rest of the world.

RFE/RL: When it comes to people on board the ships, do you have full control over who enters them? There were six ships in the flotilla; Israeli media claim that people related to terrorism were on board one of the ships. What's your response to that?

Berlin: I can only speak for the Free Gaza Movement, we are one of five partners. Every single one of our passengers has been vetted. They had to have two recommendations before they get on board and we know exactly who was on board. But frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the only terrorist we saw this morning was Israel.

RFE/RL: So can you acknowledge from your side, that there were no people on board you would know of who had any links to terrorism?

Berlin: I'm the wrong person to ask, you need to ask the Turks. Because the people Israel is accusing of being terrorists, were on the Turkish ship. We are responsible only for our own passengers.

No, I don't acknowledge any of that. The terrorists that came on board that boat last night were Israelis. They came armed to the teeth, they killed at least 10 of us, none of them were killed.

For all I know, there was one wounded in some kind of a scuffle. But they do this all the time, they kill a hundred Palestinians to every one Israeli.

Now they're killing 10 peaceful activists who were showing up in blue jeans. That is no excuse. If they thought there were any terrorists on board, they could have boarded the boat the way they did last summer, arrested the passengers, taken them off to jails. They did not need to have this kind of force.

RFE/RL: What kind of consequences will this morning's event have?

Berlin: I do think that Israel is becoming ostracized among the world community the way South Africa was. Between the Lebanon war, Operation Cast Lead last year, and now attacking civilians on board what I call "ships of mercy," I think it's probably high time for the governments of the world to tell Israel, "You can't do this anymore."

We're doing this because the governments have refused to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes. So when governments don't do that, then civil society has an obligation do that.

This is why the Free Gaza Movement has been, in fact for the last two years to begin with, is to tell the world that Israel has no right to practice collective punishment on a people that are occupied. And Israel in fact is occupying them because they don't get anything that doesn't go through Israel first.

So this is a real challenge for Israel, because we are challenging their status quo of being able to hold 1.5 million people in prison.


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University of Johannesburg may break all ties with Israeli university--

University of Johannesburg Senate considers breaking its ties with an Israeli university (May 17, 2010)

-- The President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) says:
"What Israel is doing in Palestine amounts to apartheid."

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"Varsity row over Israel links"

by LIONEL FAULL, in the "Mail & Guardian" (South Africa)

May 21, 2010

At: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-05-21-varsity-row-over-israel-links


The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is considering cutting academic ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in protest against Ben Gurion's alleged association with Palestinian human rights abuses.

An "extraordinary" meeting of the university's senate debated the matter on Monday.

The university's current partnership with Ben Gurion dates from August when the two signed an academic cooperation and staff exchange agreement, relating to water purification and micro-algal biotechnology research.

This re-established a relationship forged between the former Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and Ben Gurion in the apartheid 1980s. RAU merged with Technikon Witwatersrand in 2005 to form the University of Johannesburg.

In October, 52 academic staff members signed a petition opposing the current partnership. It states in part: "The Palestinian people are currently victims of an Israeli occupation, which violates their human rights as well as international law. Their plight has been repeatedly compared with that of black South Africans under apartheid."

Professor Steven Friedman presented the pro-boycott argument in the senate on behalf of the petitioners. "We are not asking UJ to join a boycott campaign against Israel," said Friedman, who is the director of the joint UJ-Rhodes University Centre for the Study of Democracy.

"But we are asking them not to sign agreements with institutions which collaborate with governments that commit human rights violations," he told the Mail & Guardian.

Friedman argued that:

* Israel has 53 apartheid-style laws that discriminate between Jews and non-Jews;

* The Israeli occupation of Gaza is a colonial exercise; and

* The Ben Gurion offers stipends and partial exemptions from its degree requirements to members of the Israeli military, and tenders for Israeli Defence Force research contracts.

The partnership was defended in the senate meeting by Professor Ilan Troen, the Ben Gurion's founding dean of humanities and social sciences, and South African advocate David Unterhalter.

Troen flew to South Africa from Israel for the meeting; Unterhalter appeared pro bono. Their participation was organised by the South African Associates of Ben Gurion University, the president of which, Bertram Lubner, is vice-chairperson of Ben Gurion's board of governors. Lubner is an honorary life member of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.


'Surprised'

Troen told the M&G he was "surprised" that a "water purification project that is of manifest benefit to South Africans and an academic cooperation of 20 years' standing between two institutions" should be questioned. He said the proposed boycott was reprehensible. "It is understandable that South Africans should interpret other societies in terms of their own experiences, but the apartheid metaphor is a fallacy."

Petition signatory Salim Vally, a senior researcher in UJ's Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, said: "RAU played a particular role in cooperating with apartheid. It was on the wrong side of history then and we don't want UJ to be on the wrong side now."

The university's SRC president, Emmanuel Mapheto, echoed this: "We cannot allow our institution to partner BGU. What Israel is doing in Palestine amounts to apartheid," he said.

The senate unanimously resolved that a nine-member committee, led by UJ deputy vice-chancellor Adam Habib, should make recommendations on the matter to the senate within three months.

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Boycott-Israel Resolution Wins at Dublin City Council -- Unanimously.

Major victory for pro-Palestine boycott campaign:

Dublin City Council passes anti-Veolia motion

May 10, 2010

At: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96594

The international Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement today scored a major victory as Dublin City Council passed a resolution calling on the City Manager not to sign or renew any contracts with French multinational Veolia – the operators of the LUAS who have also tendered for the Metro North project. Veolia operate Israeli rail, bus and waste services in the illegally occupied West Bank, making them complicit in Israel’s contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The resolution, tabled by Cllr. Joan Collins (People Before Profit), was passed by unanimously at the sitting of Dublin City Council this evening (May 10th 2010) and is an important statement of solidarity with Palestine by the elected representatives of a European capital city.

This solidarity mirrors the deep empathy that exists throughout Irish society for the Palestinian people and the widespread revulsion at the behaviour of the apartheid Israeli state.

Commenting on the motion’s passage, Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) chairperson Dr David Landy said: “This is a monumental victory for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The passing of this motion represents the elected representatives of a European capital city clearly standing up and saying ‘No’ to companies that collaborate with Israeli human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. It is doubly welcome coming as it does on the same day that Israel was scandalously accepted into the OECD.”

Dr Landy continued: “Furthermore, this is just the latest in a string of such defeats that Veolia has suffered as a result of their active participation in Israel’s apartheid policies – victories for the BDS movement have been seen in Sweden, Holland, Australia, Iran, France and elsewhere in Ireland. The IPSC once again urges Veolia to heed the Palestinian call for BDS and divest now from its Israeli operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. However, until it does so, the IPSC will continue to campaign for Veolia not to be granted contracts in Ireland.”

“The IPSC will now be working with other local councils to ensure the passage of similar motions nationwide. The IPSC will also now step up the pressure on the Rail Procurement Agency, which is responsible for awarding the highly lucrative Dublin Metro North contract. The city of Dublin has spoken loudly and clearly, and it says no to collusion with Israeli apartheid. The RPA should listen carefully - the Palestine solidarity movement is not going to quietly stand by while such companies are given Irish taxpayers’ money. It’s not on.”

Dr Landy concluded: “Finally, on behalf of the IPSC, I would like to thank all of the councillors who supported this motion, not least People Before Profit’s Cllr Joan Collins whose motion it was. I would also like to thank everyone who contacted their councillors in support of the motion, and those who came out on the many demonstrations and actions over the past three months that the IPSC held in the run up to this momentous vote.”

Details of Veolia’s illegal operations in occupied Palestine can be viewed on the IPSC website: http://www.ipsc.ie/veolia

[1] The full text of the motion reads as follows:

Dublin City Council recognizing

1. That Veolia is a leading partner in the consortium contracted to build a light railway system linking Israel to illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem
2. That the Irish government and the U.N does not recognise Israel’s annexation and occupation of East Jerusalem and have repeatedly stated their views that the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank contravene international law
3. That Veolia’s involvement in the project is in contravention of the UN’s stated demand that Israeli settlement activities and occupation should not be supported;
This Council calls on the City Manager not to sign any new or renew any existing contracts with Veolia as it would be in contravention of the wishes of this council. Galway and Sligo city/county councils have supported similar motions.

Cllr Joan Collins

Notes:

* Veolia is set to merge with Transdev, who are one of the two final tenderers for the Dublin Metro North contract. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100505-703713.html

* Dublin City Council is the third Irish council to pass such a motion, following on from Sligo and Galway.

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Advertisement in the Guardian (U.K.)--"Boycott Israeli Goods"

Click on the ad the enlarge it.

It was published March 27, 2010 in the Guardian.

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In Jordan: The professional associations push for boycott against all Israeli products.

Israeli flag is burned at protest in Amman.

This boycott-Israel sign says the following:

"The price of each piece of fruit from Sharon's farm = the price of a bullet lodged in the chest of each Palestinian.

"--Jordanian Professional Unions, Anti-Normalization Committee."

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Professional associations to publish list of ‘normalisers’

By Mohammad Ben Hussein

JORDAN TIMES

May 12, 2010

At: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=26496

AMMAN - The professional associations are planning to publish a list of individuals and companies who allegedly deal with Israel, an anti-normalisation activist said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes as part of a new anti-normalisation campaign launched in light of an unsure peace process and Israel’s ongoing unilateral measures in the Palestinian territories, according to Badi Rafaya, head of the anti-normalisation campaign at the professional associations.

“We are preparing a comprehensive list containing the names of individuals and companies who insist on maintaining ties with the Zionist enemy,” Rafaya told The Jordan Times in a phone interview yesterday.

“This is not a defamation campaign; we want to pressure those who have turned a deaf ear to our calls over the years. It is time for the public to know who deals with Israel so they can boycott their products,” he added.

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