Tag Archive for BDS

| December 21, 2014
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Another #BDSFAIL as Harvard reverses its SodaStream ban

Pro-Palestinian activists at the university branded Israeli company‘s water dispensers as ‘microaggression’ forcing their removal, but after the university’s investigation, they reversed the controversial decision.

By Ynet

 

SodaStream is expected to shortly halt its operations beyond the green line, but those plans have not prevented it from being the target of boycotts, which have now spread to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States.

The dining halls at Harvard University have removed vending machines owned by the Israeli company after pro-Palestinian activists decried it as indirectly discriminating against Palestinians.

The campaign to remove the machines began last autumn, in e-mails sent by students. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| December 18, 2014
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#BDSFail: Multi-national leaders report no impact from BDS

Manager of GE says the real threat to Israel is not the BDS movement, but would be for the Jewish state to lose its competitive edge through a decline in educational excellence, overly high taxes, or excessive state bureaucracy.

By NIV ELIS

 

Efforts to boycott, sanction and divest from Israel are not making a dent, according to leaders in several multi-national firms active in Israel.

Boycott Israel sign

Boycott Israel sign. – Photo: REUTERS

At a conference in Tel Aviv for the Bilateral Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) foundation, a fund that promotes joint US-Israel business ties, panelists from several multi-nationals were asked what the impact of both war and the boycott movement have been on their businesses.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| December 10, 2014
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Roseanne Barr blasts ‘anti-Semitic’ Jews for supporting Israel’s enemies

In the comedian’s blog, Barr asks why they support “those who occupy all but a sliver of the middle east, those who stone women to death execute gays and rape little children, and GET AWAY with doing it.”

By NOA AMOUYAL

 

Outspoken comedian Roseanne Barr lashed out at Jews who are anti-Israel and proponents of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement in her blog on Sunday.

Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr. – Photo: REUTERS

In a letter addressing “Erev Rav” Jews – a biblical phrase for mixed-multitude Jews, including Egyptians, that accompanied them out of slavery, often used in a derogatory context – Barr accused them of “knowing nothing about Judaism” and being hypocritical in their stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| December 2, 2014
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Following in Palestinian Leadership’s Footsteps, BDS Seeks to Hurt Israel Rather Than Help Palestinians

 

BDS leadership tries to hinder the use of $5.4 billion aid to rebuild Gaza. Keeping the Gazans in poverty & increasing their suffering, stirs up international anger & backlash at Israel.

By David Lazarus

 

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) National Committee are trying to block a $5.4 billion investment to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

A BDS campaign grotesquely misuses a picture of Jewish Holocaust survivors for its anti-Israel agenda on social medias.

The huge sum of money was pledged during a conference this October in Egypt in order to help reconstruct some of the damage done during the recent Israeli military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| November 26, 2014
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South Africa’s High Court ends BDS protests at Woolworths stores

 

In October, BDS organizers placed a pig’s head in the Kosher meat section of a Woolworths in Cape Town because it continues to sell products from Israel.

By

 

A court in Johannesburg has ordered the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to stop the organizing and encouraging of protests of the Woolworths chain of department stores.

A shopper selects yoghurt at a Woolworths Ltd. supermarket in Sydney, Australia.

A shopper selects yoghurt at a Woolworths Ltd. supermarket in Sydney, Australia. – Photo: Bloomberg

The Johannesburg High Court in its ruling issued Tuesday also ordered representatives of the BDS movement and Woolworths to meet face-to-face by December 10 “in an attempt to settle the entire matter,” the South African Press Association reported.

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Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| October 30, 2014
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SodaStream consolidates and moves to large new site in Israel’s Negev

SodaStream said move to new factory in southern Israel is not because Palestinian activists launched a campaign boycotting the company because the factory was located in an Israeli town in the West Bank.

By Dror Reich, Reuters and

 

SodaStream is shuttering its controversial West Bank plant next year as part of a plan to boost growth, the company said Wednesday.

The SodaStream plant in Mishor Adumim.

The SodaStream plant in Mishor Adumim. – Photo: Bloomberg

The plant in the Ma’aleh Adumim industrial zone, which employs Palestinian workers, has made the at-home soda machine maker a target of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, and put the company at odds with European policies blocking the import of products made in West Bank settlements.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| October 10, 2014
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1,200 academics charge BDS ‘violates the very principle of academic freedom’

1,200 academics challenge boycott of Israel by signing petition that charges BDS being unfairly prejudice and for stifling academic freedoms.

By i24news

After upward of 350 anthropologists from around the world have endorsed a boycott of Israel and its academic institutions, some 1,200 academics signed a pro-Israeli petition calling to oppose such measures.

Boycott Israel, BDS ( Twitter )

Boycott Israel, BDS – Twitter

“We, the undersigned academics, (faculty, full time and part time, academic staff including librarians, researchers, post doctorates, technicians and technologists, administrators, and trustees) vigorously support free speech and free debate but we oppose faculty or student boycotts of Israel’s academic institutions, scholars and students,” reads the petition, posted on the website of the Faculty for Academic Freedom. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| September 30, 2014
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Anti-Israel Propaganda Delays South Africa’s Approval of Israeli Circumcision Device

The African National Congress and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, both supporters of the Boycott Divest Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel are boycotting the device since 2013.

By

 

The South African Department of Health reportedly is delaying approval of an Israeli-made circumcision device after political pressure from anti-Israel trade unions.

Cape Town anti-Israel protest

Pro-Gaza, anti-Israel demonstrators in Cape Town, August 9, 2014. – Photo: Reuters

Prepex, a nonsurgical circumcising device developed in Israel, was approved last year by the World Health Organization. Studies show it reduces the likelihood of contracting the virus that causes AIDS by nearly 60 percent.

RELATED:

The boycott of the device began in 2013 by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, or Cosatu, and the African National Congress, both supporters of the Boycott Divest Sanctions campaign against Israel.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| September 28, 2014
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Pro-Hamas protesters block Israeli-owned ZIM cargo-ship at Oakland port

Last month, BDS protesters obstructed cargo from being unloading off the Zim Piraeus for nearly 5 days before the vessel departed for L.A. port.

 

 

Officials say a group of pro-Palestinian protesters are again blocking an Israeli-owned commercial ship from unloading its cargo at a port in California.

A woman marches with a 'Block the Boat' sign to the Port of Oakland, August 16, 2014.

A woman marches with a ‘Block the Boat’ sign to the Port of Oakland, August 16, 2014. – Photo: Steve Rhodes/Demotix/Corbis

International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Craig Merrilees says longshore workers did not unload cargo from the Zim Shanghai docked at the Port of Oakland on Saturday morning because of safety concerns raised by the presence of police and protesters.

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Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| September 5, 2014
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In rebuttal to Archbishop Tutu: Focusing on Israel to blame won’t bring peace

You missed the point: The Arab-Israeli conflict isn’t just a struggle for liberation, it’s for survival. It’s not apartheid-era South Africa redux, which is why your boycott ‘cure’ isn’t and won’t work.

 

Dear Archbishop Tutu,

Recently, you addressed the people of Israel in Haaretz (“My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine”) explaining why the methods of boycott and divestment used in South Africa should be applied to the situation in Israel-Palestine. You offered your own impressive personal testimony, grounded in your substantial contribution in the fields of religion, peacemaking, society building and more – to validate the growing movement aimed at isolating Israel in the international community.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 7, 2014
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After 2 years of weekly pro-Palestine protests, SodaStream store in Britain closes

Since 2012, pro-Palestinian activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have demonstrated every Saturday as part of the global BDS movement.

By JTA

 

An Israeli-owned store in England that sold replacement parts for SodaStream closed after two years of weekly boycott protests.

Israel boycott activists outside the EcoStream shop in Brighton - Photo: Sandy Rashty

Israel boycott activists outside the EcoStream shop in Brighton – Photo: Sandy Rashty

The EcoStream shop in the coastal town of Brighton shut down last week, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

The store sold the recyclable bottles for the SodaStream machines made in the factory in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.

Since September 2012, pro-Palestinian activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have demonstrated in front of the store every Saturday as part of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

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Category: The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| July 7, 2014
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Lawyer Attacks Hypocrisy of Presbyterian Divestment While Enjoying Israel Tax Benefits

Shurat HaDin founder, demands that Interior Minister immediately cancel all benefits enjoyed by Presbyterian Church in Israel.

By Yossi Aloni

 

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) voted last month to divest from companies that supply equipment to Israel. The decision means pulling church investments in Caterpillar, Motorola and HP to the tune of $21 million.

The Presbyterian Church USA

But, as it turns out, this very same church and its related organizations receives benefits and tax breaks from Israel totaling millions of dollars, and presumably would be none too pleased to lose those perks.

Israeli human rights lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, founder of Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center, demanded that Interior Minister Gideon Saar immediately cancel all benefits enjoyed by the PCUSA in Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| July 6, 2014
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Britain’s largest union adopts 2 boycott Israel resolutions, despite Labor’s calls to reject

The trade union, which claims a national membership of about 1.3 million, easily passed 2 pro-Palestinian resolutions.

By JERRY LEWIS

 

LONDON – UNITE, Britain’s largest Trades Union – which last week confirmed it will be financially backing Labor Party leader Ed Miliband’s bid for the premiership next May – has defied his recent call to not support the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment campaign against Israel.

British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband

British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband – Photo: REUTERS

At their annual conference held in the south coast resort of Brighton last week, they voted to support two hostile- to-Israel resolutions, including one that actively supports the BDS policy promoted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 3, 2014
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Noam Chomsky says BDS boycott of Israel risks harming Palestinian cause

Noam Chomsky, the American academic & pro-Palestinian activist claims that the ‘South Africa-apartheid-Israel’ analogy is erroneous.

 

The campaign calling to boycott Israel in an effort to change its policies toward the Palestinians risks backfiring because of limited support, leading American academic and political activist Noam Chomsky has said.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky – Photo: AP

In an article posted in The Nation on Wednesday, Chomsky targets the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. He says that while there is international support exists for two of the movement’s main goals – ending the occupation of territories captured in the 1967 war and granting equal rights to Arab citizens of Israel, there is no significant support for its third objective – allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel.

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Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| June 23, 2014
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PM Netanyahu responds to Presbyterian divestment

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu: Israel is only country in region “where you have freedom, tolerance, protection of minorities, protection of gays, protection of Christians!”

Although doing their biding, the Presbyterians deny taking part in BDS.

Associated Press

 

Israel’s prime minister on Sunday criticized the decision by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to divest from US companies that operate in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying the vote was misguided and unfair.

Photo: issued the following statement this afternoon:"Hamas terrorists carried out Thursday's kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers. We know that for a fact. These teenagers were kidnapped and the kidnapping was carried out by Hamas members. Hamas denials do not change this fact. And this attack should surprise no one because Hamas makes no secret of its agenda. Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel and to carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians – including children.Instead of abiding by his international obligation to disarm Hamas, President Abbas has chosen to make Hamas his partner. Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas responsible for any attacks against Israel that emanate from Palestinian-controlled territory. The Palestinian claim that the Palestinian Authority cannot be held responsible for an attack that took place in an area under Israeli security control is patently absurd.When an attack takes place in Tel Aviv or in London or in New York – all these places have been attacked by terrorists – the question is not where the attack takes place. The question is where it originated. The kidnappers in this case set out from territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and the PA cannot absolve itself of its responsibility.You remember that Israel warned the international community about the dangers of endorsing the Fatah-Hamas unity pact. I believe that the dangers of that pact now should be abundantly clear to all. We have seen since the signing of that pact an increase in terrorist activity emanating from the West Bank. We have seen Hamas strengthen its presence there, and this increases the likelihood that Hamas will take control of the Palestinian Authority, precisely as it did in Gaza. This will not advance peace; it will advance terror.Israel will act in all ways under its province, in all ways under our control, to bring home the three kidnapped teenagers . Israel will act against the kidnappers and their terrorist sponsors and comrades. We will do whatever needs to be done to protect our people, our citizens, our children and our teenagers from the scourge of terrorism.Thank you."Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO

In an address to an international gathering of Jewish journalists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel as a rare bright spot in a turbulent region. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
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