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Tag: Palestine

Boycott On Aisle Three: Avoid These 6 Products That Support Israeli Apartheid

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which supports an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, is growing fast, in part because of how easy it is for people to participate. One of the simplest ways to support BDS is by making the right choices at the grocery store.

More Americans than ever support Palestinian liberation, and the movement is spreading to a record number of college campuses. It’s becoming such a threat to Israeli imperialism that opponents are pouring millions into opposing BDS, even enlisting NBA players and Hollywood celebrities. The U.S. government is consideringlegal options to fight the movement and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton recently declared her opposition to BDS.

However, the campaigns waged by the movement’s wealthy opponents are no match for the Internet. Several websites help consumers avoid companies and products with ties to Israeli occupation. The following list is compiled from bdslist.org, bdsmovement.net and a 2013 report from Alternet’s Alex Kane:

GOP Mega-Donor Sheldon Adelson Recruits NBA To Fight Israeli Boycott Movement

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

A delegation of eight professional basketball players visited Israel earlier this month. Yet this was no simple sightseeing visit: Multiple reports suggest the trip was part of a renewed, multimillion dollar effort to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Organized by Omri Casspi, an Israeli player for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, the first reports appeared on JNS.org, a global Jewish news service, which claimed the trip was sponsored by “a foundation [Omri] Casspi has formed, which seeks to fight anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement initiatives.” Casspi, along with eight teammates, flew aboard a private jet on a tour of his home country. Later, Casspi insisted the trip was “nothing about politics,” forcing JNS.org to add a correction to the story.

However, the private jet on which players flew to Israel is owned by Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino magnate known for pouring millions of dollars into opposing the BDS movement. Further, Casspi is known to sponsor an anti-BDS foundation in his own name, and the trip also featured “charity” events designed to build goodwill for Israel, sponsored by the basketball nonprofit NBA Cares.

New Calls For Justice Emerge One Year After Brutal Murder Of Palestinian Teen

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

One year after a 16-year-old Palestinian was kidnapped from his home in Jerusalem and burned to death by Israeli settlers, his family and neighbors haven’t found peace, and justice seems even more elusive.

In the early morning of July 2, 2014, Mohammed Abu Khdeir was waiting for friends when he was kidnapped near his home. Witnesses and surveillance video showed him being forced into a car. His scorched and beaten body was found soon after in a nearby forest; Abu Khdeir had been burned alive by Jewish extremists.

Many saw Abu Khdeir’s brutal death as retaliation for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens, who were buried just the day before. But even the mother of one of the slain Israelis decried the death of the Palestinian, telling the media, “There is no difference between blood and blood. Murder is murder. There is no justification and no atonement for murder.” The killing further inflamed the already high tensions between the people of Gaza and the occupying army in the lead up to the summer’s brutal war, during which Israeli forces killed thousands of civilians.

10 Years Later, Israel Under Pressure From Successful Boycott Movement

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Ten years after Palestinian civil society put out the original call to action, the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement has become a global force. With Israel and its supporters now spending millions to prop up the country’s public image, it’s hard to deny the changes these activists have created through global solidarity.

First published July 2005, the original BDS letter was signed by over 170 global human rights organizations as well as unions, political parties and other associations based in Palestine. A year after Israel continued building its Gaza wall, despite the objections of the United Nations and international courts, and with illegal Jerusalem settlements similarly continuing to expand, there seemed no other choice than to target Israel’s finances directly. The movement is modeled after similar, successful efforts to boycott supporters of South Africa’s racist apartheid regime, and the BDS movement counts high profile fighters of apartheid like Desmond Tutu among its supporters.

Below are five of the biggest achievements of the last 10 years:

White Phosphorous War Crimes Connect Israel To Monsanto

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Monsanto Corporation, the agribusiness giant best known for its pesticides and genetically-modified crops, also manufactured white phosphorous for the U.S. government over at least the past 20 years. Used in incendiary military weapons, the United States sold white phosphorous-based weapons to Israel, which used those weapons to commit brutal war crimes against Palestinians living in Gaza in 2009.

White phosphorous is created from phosphorous through industrial processes — it is not a naturally occurring substance. Exposure can cause severe and often fatal burns, or other complications such as organ failure, with even survivors suffering from long-term health effects.

In addition to its use in weapons, white phosphorous is also used to create phosphoric acid, a key ingredient in some fertilizers, which likely explains why Monsanto would manufacture the substance.

At one point, Monsanto was the only U.S.-based firm manufacturing the substance. This, of course, caught the military’s attention.

Republican Mega-Donor Sheldon Adelson Takes On Growing Movement To Boycott Israel

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Some of Zionism’s wealthiest supporters will gather in Las Vegas this weekend to consider how they can most efficiently use their money to undermine the growing support for Palestinian liberation on college campuses and throughout American society.

Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and frequent big-dollar donor to conservative political candidates, called for the private summit at the Venetian, Adelson’s luxury hotel on the Vegas Strip, to gather top donors and pro-Israeli organizations to plan better ways to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, particularly its growing support among college and university students.

Supporters of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine are alarmed that a record number of college campuses — 15, up from 13 in the previous year — adopted resolutions during this academic school year demanding that their schools end investment in Israel.