How much military aid to Israel do you provide?

How much military aid to Israel does your city or state provide, and what could it have bought instead?

Find out using our new website and interactive map:

Aid to Israel in the State of the Union?

Learn more and take action here.

From Hampshire College: "First Anniversary of Divestment 2009!"

From Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine:

"February 7th marks the anniversary of Hampshire College's divestment from the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, the first institution of higher education to wash its hands of the systematic exploitation of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state. To remember the occasion, Students for Justice in Palestine urges you to talk, inform and celebrate this historic event.

....

In just the last year, our movement has grown exponentially, with two of the largest financial institutions in Denmark announcing their divestment from Elbit Systems and Africa-Israel, as well as divestment campaigns going on at many other schools and institutions, like the University of Arizona and Carleton. As Ali Abunimah has pointed out, the movement must be getting something right when Tel Schechter of J Street said that he feared that it is "spreading like wildfire across the country."

In November of last year, student organizers representing over 40 campuses nation-wide came together for a BDS Conference held on Hampshire's campus to continue to carry the momentum of divestment last January. More than ever, activists throughout the United States and around the world are talking to each other, exchanging ideas, and continuing to find new ways to respond to the the 2005 call from over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.

We hope, in the spirit of "remembrance," that this day is not simply memorialized in and of itself--for itself--but serves as an inspiration for current and future struggles against injustice, both transnationally and locally--other movements which demand our solidarity just as much as we ask for theirs.

"I cannot dissociate myself from the fate reserved for my brother," said Fanon. "Every one of my acts commits me as a man. Every instance of my reticence, every instance of my cowardice, manifests the man."

Like Fanon, any memory of injustice is also simultaneously a call to action in the present. Sunday, February 7th, should be a day to imagine how to carefully and skillfully respond to the demands of Palestinian civil society, and to consider the role we have in our own communities, our own relationships, as people concerned with justice.

Divestment is a statement. But it's only a start."

Inspired by the work of Hampshire SJP and looking to start your own divestment campaign on campus? Check out our campus divestment resources by clicking here.

Hampshire SJP also suggests some other actions you can take:

-Changing your status on Facebook to something like, "I remember Hampshire College's Divestment from the Occupation."
-Trending this post (permalink: here) and the facebook event we've created on twitter, under #divestment2009 or something similar
-Read & educate yourself about the situation as it stands today at sites like:
Electronic Intifada
Jewbonics
US Campaign to End the Occupation
B'tselem
-Talk to friends and family members--spread the word

Boycott and divestment gets mainstream attention in church, on campus

It's good news to see that boycott and divestment campaigns against companies profiting from Israeli occupation and apartheid are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Here's a couple of recent examples.

The National Catholic Reporter ran a great article about the Kairos Document produced by the Palestinian Christian community, calling for churches around the world to intervene for justice and peace in Israel/Palestine via boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns:

"The leaders of the thirteen Christian communities serving in the Palestinian territories -- including Latin and Orthodox patriarchs -- have declared the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories a “sin against God and humanity” and urged Christians everywhere to nonviolently intervene to end its injustices....Such a response, the authors wrote, includes civil disobedience, boycotts, and divestment campaigns. “Resistance is a right and duty for Christians. But it is resistance with love as its logic,” they said....The national committee for the Palestinian Boycott and Divestment and Sanctions campaign said it “saluted the moral clarity, courage, and principled position conveyed in this new document which emphasizes that resisting injustice should ‘concern the church.’ "

The article quotes US Campaign National Media Coordinator David Hosey in regards to U.S. church involvement with divestment campaigns:

"David Hosey, media coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and a missionary with the United Methodist Church, said members of the New England conference of that church are in correspondence with the targeted companies, the first step in “phased divestment.” The Methodists adopted a resolution in 2004 opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories. Various regional conferences are now debating whether or not to express that opposition with divestment campaigns....

As for action from the Roman Catholic Church, Hosey said members of the Sisters of Loretto, a U.S. order of Catholic women religious, were pushing for shareholder resolutions urging Caterpillar to stop its sale of militarized bulldozers to Israel.

Christian calls for divestment have sparked criticism from various Jewish organizations and, at times, strained inter-religious dialogue. But Hosey thinks that could change as more Jewish and Israeli groups endorse using economic pressure to change Israeli action in the Occupied Territories."

Divestment is becoming part of the mainstream discourse on U.S. campuses as well. The University of Arizona Daily Wildcat now includes a weekly column on corporate involvement in the Israeli occupation. This week's column notes the connections between corporate accountability work against sweat shops, the BDS campaign against South African apartheid, and the BDS movement against Israeli occupation, as well as highlighting the University's investments in human rights abusers Caterpillar and Motorola:

"After an intensive anti-sweatshop campaign last spring led by students in the Sweatshop-Free Coalition and University Community for Human Rights, President Robert Shelton had the UA divest our financial holdings in the Russell Corporation due to the company’s singularly cruel labor abuses in its factories in Honduras. Now, while all eyes are on Shelton as he continues to sit on the UA’s illegal business contracts with Caterpillar and Motorola, it’s worth noting that divestment activism on campus stretches back far beyond Shelton’s tenure and probably beyond everything else on campus except for the oldest of UA’s buildings........Motorola and Caterpillar, two companies perpetuating grisly crimes upon mostly Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, are so unspeakable as to have prompted Jewish South African politician Ronnie Kasrils, who was quoted in the United Kingdom’s Guardian in a 2006 article, to denounce the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation as “much worse than apartheid” of the sort under which Kasrils and others survived for so many long, bloody years. A rich history has proven that UA students have risen to the occasion of doing everything they can to disassociate themselves and their universities from such atrocities. One doesn’t have to look far to see that such a time has come again."

Check out the US Campaign's website for resources on starting your own boycott and divestment campaign on campus and/or organizing against Caterpillar and Motorola in your community.

Israeli Apartheid Week--coming to a city near you!

Check out this video for Israeli Apartheid Week 2010 in Toronto, and then get resources for organizing Israeli Apartheid Week events in your area by clicking here.

Israel closes case of U.S. citizen shot with U.S. tax dollars by Israeli military

Still think the Israeli army--or any military--can investigate itself? Here's the latest on Tristan Anderson, the U.S. citizen who was shot in the face with a high velocity tear gas canister by the Israeli military while in the West Bank village of Ni'lin, from Ha'aretz:

"The Justice Ministry declared Sunday that no indictments will be filed against police in the case of an American activist who was hit by a tear gas canister and left comatose during a violent demonstration in the West Bank last year. Tristan Anderson, 38, of Oakland, California, was critically injured during a Palestinian protest in the West Bank village of Naalin last March. Amir Moran, spokesman for Israel's Tel Hashomer hospital, where Anderson is being treated, said his condition has not changed. Justice Ministry spokesman Ron Roman said the investigation determined there was no criminal intent in harming Anderson. The investigation was opened in May and closed several weeks ago, but results were made public only Sunday. Human rights groups charge Anderson's case highlights a culture of impunity toward Israeli forces, because incidents of harm against Palestinians and their supporters are rarely investigated and few reach prosecution."

In FY2007 alone, the US gave Israel 121,991 pieces of teargas and riot control agents valued at $1,654,536. These munitions are used by the Israeli military against unarmed, anti-apartheid activists. Find out how you can work to hold Israel accountable for the way it uses the $3 billion/year in military aid paid for by U.S. tax money by clicking here.

As Goldstone deadline approaches, Israeli impunity continues

Three months after the U.S. Congress voted in favor of Israeli impunity by condemning the Goldstone Report with H.Res. 867--and just a few days before the deadline set by Judge Goldstone for independent investigations of the accusations of the report by all parties involved--Israel continues to avoid real accountability for its violations of international law and Palestinian human rights during last year's assault on the Gaza Strip.

On January 31, Israel issued a 46-page document refuting the claims of the Goldstone Report and "documenting the steps it has taken to investigate IDF actions during Operation Cast Lead," according to YNet News. They Ynet articles notes that the IDF document claims to disprove only 4 of the 36 accusations of war crime leveled against Israel by the Goldstone Report.

The Israeli "counter-report" has already come under fire for inaccuracy. Here's the Guardian reporting on evidence which directly contradicts the Israeli report (note that the MK82 is a U.S.-made bomb, and that until recently fuzes for this series of bombs were produced by Motorola):

"The Israeli report looked in detail at a handful of incidents, including the attack on the al-Badr flour mill in northern Gaza, which was severely damaged.

The UN mine action team, which handles ordnance disposal in Gaza, has told the Guardian that the remains of a 500-pound Mk82 aircraft-dropped bomb were found in the ruins of the mill last January. Photographs of the front half of the bomb have been obtained by the Guardian.

This evidence directly contradicts the finding of the Israeli report, which challenged allegations that the building was deliberately targeted and specifically stated there was no evidence of an air strike. Goldstone, however, used the account of the air strike as a sign that Israel's attack on the mill was not mere collateral damage, but precisely targeted and a possible war crime."

Click here to read the full article.

The Israeli report also indicated that token disciplinary steps had been taken in those cases that the Israeli military ruled "inappropriate," including the case of two officers who were lightly disciplined for their role in the shelling of a UN compound in the heavily populated civilian area of Tel al-Hawa.

Meanwhile, attacks on Goldstone continue, including the latest slanders from Harvard professor and apologist for Israeli war crimes, Alan Dershowitz. Here's human rights activist Omar Baddar writing in the Huffington Post:

"The list of UN resolutions, legal bodies, mainstream human rights organizations, and prominent human rights advocates who have recently condemned, with overwhelming evidence, Israel's atrocities against Palestinians has become too large to ignore. Indeed, it is so extensive that one can no longer defend Israel's human rights record without having to attack the international human rights community itself, along with authoritative institutions of international law, and accuse them of exacerbating the conflict. Such zealotry was on full display since the human rights community shed light on Israel's atrocious conduct in last year's assault on Gaza. However, it sank to a new low of desperation yesterday, when Israeli news outlets reported that Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has accused the eminent South African judge Richard Goldstone of being an "evil man" and a "traitor to the Jewish people."

Click here to read the full article.

Tired of U.S.-backed impunity for war crimes? Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Interfaith Peace-Builders for a Grassroots Advocacy Training and Lobby Day, March 7-8, 2010. And take action for accountability in your community by organizing in your Congressional district and strengthening the international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid and occupation. Tired of impunity? Act for accountability!

From PinkTank: "A British MP makes the case against Ahava"

Dr. Phillis Starkey, a British MP, made a speech on January 27 regarding the fraudulent labeling of Israeli settlement products. One section of her speech focused on one of our old favorites, Ahava cosmetics.

Here's an excerpt from the speech, courtesy of PinkTank, the blog of US Campaign member group CODEPINK Women for Peace:

"I now turn to a specific case relating to cosmetics in which it seems to me that even more blatant fraud is occurring. Cosmetics, particularly from Dead sea products, are very significant imports into the UK; there were 417 consignments of beauty and skincare products in 2009. I want to focus on Ahava, a firm that is part-owned by two co-operatives based at Mizpe Shalem and Kibbutz Kalia. Both are in the occupied Jordan valley and both are on the EU list of settlements. The products that Ahava produces are based on Dead sea mud, which is extracted at both those sites and processed at Mizpe Shalem. There is no evidence of any other production facilities and certainly none within Green Line Israel, although the head office is near Tel Aviv.

The Ahava website and product labels clearly give the postcode at Mizpe Shalem and then say “Israel”, which is an incorrect description. Its chief executive was totally open in a BBC interview a year or so ago about the fact that it uses the head office address, not the site of production, to justify the “Made in Israel” claim. That could not be more blatant. There is no argument about this one, and when… the firm was challenged about where its site of production was, it made no attempt to rebut its site in the occupied territories, but just waffled about how “the Dead Sea treasures are international and do not belong to one nation”, which was an interesting response to an HMRC request."

Read more here, and click here for "Stolen Beauty" Ahava boycott resources.

NYT reports on Palestinian nonviolence, UA students target Caterkiller, video of Netherlands boycott action, Dr. Zinn, and more

A lot happening today, and not a whole lot of time to update, so I'm just going to post a few items that might be of interest:

1) Mondoweiss is carrying some good updates on President Obama being challenged over U.S. aid to Israel and Palestinian human rights in Tampa yesterday. Phil Weiss refers to Obama's response as a "meltdown," and US Campaign Steering Committee member Adam Horowitz quotes Laila Abdelaziz, the student who raised the question about aid to Israel, from an interview with a local news station:

"How are the Palestinian people supposed to do anything if they’re the ones being occupied? The occupiers have to allow for something to happen which they have not yet allowed to happen. I asked President Obama why he says America as a nation supports human rights, but at the same time, one of our greatest allies is Israel, a country that does not support human rights, and has many human rights violations. President Obama did not really answer my question or address it, so I’m really disappointed right now."

2) The New York Times has finally noticed the growing movement of Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid.

The Times reports on the recent arrest of Bil'in leader Mohammad Khatib:

"“Bilin is no longer about the struggle for Bilin,” said Mr. Khatib, who was arrested in August and has been awaiting trial on an incitement charge. “This is part of a national struggle,” he said, adding that ending the Israeli occupation was the ultimate goal. Before dawn on Thursday soldiers came to Mr. Khatib’s home in Bilin and took him away again."

Mondoweiss has a good critique of the Times article. Click here for media action resources, and click here to demand the release of Mohammad Khatib, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and other jailed leaders of grassroots Palestinian resistance.

3) Gabriel Schivone of the University of Arizona Community for Human Rights has a great article at the UA Daily Wildcat about the university's investments in Caterpillar. Here's a quick excerpt:

"Beginning in October 2009, the student-led University Community for Human Rights began to approach the College of Engineering to make known the campus investigation into the company, provide information on Caterpillar, discuss alternatives with the college and make recommendations. In an e-mail sent last Thursday, College of Engineering Dean Jeff Goldberg wrote, “Funny, but nobody here had any idea of what Caterpillar is accused of doing … Something tells me that we would not be where we are right now (if the college) had known.” But as the contract remains intact on campus — and the college’s knowledge of Caterpillar’s activities grows — the range of criticism is persists....It’s quite clear the administration now knows about Caterpillar’s “instruments of destruction” which the UA has sadly been endorsing for six long, destructive years."

Read the full article, find out more about the campaign against Caterkiller, and check out the US Campaign's resources for campus groups. You can also keep up with the latest media coverage of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) by clicking here.

4) Yesterday we shared a link to an article about Israel/Palestine by Howard Zinn. We continue to honor his memory today by posting this link a speech by Dr. Zinn on Mark Braverman's Politics of Hope blog, entitled "We must transfer our anger to the brutalities of our time," as well as this excerpt from his writing on CommonDreams.

5) The "Dear Colleague" letter signed by 54 Members of Congress which calls for an end to the Israeli blockade and collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has been getting some media attention. The Jewish Telegraph Agency reported on the letter, as did the Minnesota Independent. It's not too late "cheer or jeer" your member of Congress for their response to the letter by clicking here.

6) And finally, check out this inspiring list of 2009 BDS victories from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), and this great video of a boycott action at a supermarket in the Netherlands:

President Obama challenged on aid to Israel, violations of Palestinian human rights in Tampa

Ma'an News Agency reports:

"US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the United States would always ensure Israel's security but that Washington must also pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians...."Last night in your State of the Union address, you spoke of America's support for human rights," said a university student, who added that she worked on Obama's campaign last year. "Then why have we not condemned Israel and Egypt's human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people? We continue to support [Israel and Egypt] financially, with billions of dollars coming from our tax dollars."

We're not so impressed with Obama's answer--but we are impressed that a question about Palestinian human rights and U.S. aid to Israel was the first one asked, and that it was a student who'd worked on Obama's campaign that asked it. Slowly, slowly, the discourse is changing--when was the last time you heard a question about U.S. aid to Israel being aired on CNN?

Join us in changing the discourse by using our media action resources and by attending the Grassroots Advocacy Training and Lobby Day that we're co-hosting with US Campaign member group Interfaith Peace-Builders in March.

Howard Zinn on Palestine: "[T]he advance of "civilization" involved what we would today call "ethnic cleansing."

Howard Zinn, historian, activist, author of A People's History of the United States, and advisory board member of US Campaign member group Jewish Voice for Peace, has died at the age of 87. His death is a great loss for all those involved in the struggle against U.S. militarism and violations of human rights.

Here is Zinn, writing in Tikkun Magazine about his developing understanding of Palestine and Israel (Tikkun is a member group of the US Campaign):

"It did not occur to me--so little did I know about the Middle East--that the establishment of a Jewish state meant the dispossession of the Arab majority that lived on that land. I was as ignorant of that as, when in school, I was shown a classroom map of American "Western Expansion" and assumed the white settlers were moving into empty territory. In neither case did I grasp that the advance of "civilization" involved what we would today call "ethnic cleansing."....It was only after the "Six-Day War" of 1967 and Israel's occupation of territories seized in that war (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the Sinai peninsula) that I began to see Israel not simply as a beleaguered little nation surrounded by hostile Arab states, but as an expansionist power....I had long since understood that the phrases "national security" and "national defense" were used by the United States government to justify aggressive violence against other countries. Indeed, there was a clear bond between Israel and the United States in their respective foreign polices, illustrated by the military and economic support the United States was giving to Israel..."

Check out today's Democracy Now! special on Howard Zinn, and click here to find out how you can work against modern day ethnic cleansing made possible by the military and economic support the United States continues to give to Israel.

Mohammad Khatib, yet another leader of nonviolent struggle against Wall in Bil'in, arrested by Israeli military

Yet another high profile Palestinian leader of nonviolent resistance to the Apartheid Wall has been arrested by the Israeli military.

Mohammad Khatib, a leader of the struggle against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in and a coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee, was taken from his house in a pre-dawn raid.

You can demand his release, as well as the release of Abdallah Abu Rahmah and other anti-apartheid prisoners, by clicking here.

Additionally, Palestinian anti-Wall activists and grassroots leaders continue to call for solidarity in the form of campaigns of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). Find out how you can get involved in BDS in your community by clicking here.




Here's an update about Mohammad Khatib's arrest from the Popular Struggle website:

Mohammed Khatib during a speaking his speaking tour in Canada last year. Pictures Credit: Tadamon!

At a quarter to two AM tonight, Mohammed Khatib, his wife Lamia and their four young children were woken up by Israeli soldiers storming their home, which was surrounded by a large military force. Once inside the house, the soldiers arrested Khatib, conducted a quick search and left the house.

Roughly half an hour after leaving the house, five military jeeps surrounded the house again, and six soldiers forced their way into the house again, where Khatib's children sat in terror, and conducted another, very thorough search of the premises, without showing a search warrant. During the search, Khatib's phone and many documents were seized, including papers from Bil'in's legal procedures in the Israel High Court.

Israeli Soldiers violently preventing an international solidarity worker from entering Khatib's home tonight. Picture Credit: Hamde Abu Rahmah

The soldiers exited an hour and a half later, leaving a note saying that documents suspected as "incitement materials" were seized. International activists who tried to enter the house to be with the family during the search were aggressively denied entry.

Mohammed Khatib was previously arrested during the ongoing wave of arrests and repression on Augst 3^rd, 2009 with charges of incitement and stone throwing. After two weeks of detention, a military judge ruled that evidence against him was falsified and ordered his release, after it was proven that Khatib was abroad at the time the army alleged he was photographed throwing stones during a demonstration.

Khatib's arrest today is the most severe escalation in a recent wave of repression again the Palestinian popular struggle and its leadership. Khatib is the 35^th resident of Bil'in to be arrested on suspicions related to anti-Wall protest since June 23^rd, 2009.

The recent wave of arrests is largely an assault on the members of the Popular Committees – the leadership of the popular struggle – who are then charged with incitement when arrested. The charge of incitement, defined under Israeli military law as "an attempt, whether verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order," is a cynical attempt to punish grassroots organizing with a hefty charge and lengthy imprisonments. Such indictments are part of the army's strategy of using legal persecution as a means to quash the popular movement.

Similar raids have also been conducted in the village of alMaasara, south of Bethlehem, and in the village of Ni'ilin – where 110 residents have been arrested over the last year and half, as well as in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah and East Jerusalem.

Among those arrested in the recent campaign are three members of the Ni'ilin Popular Committee, Sa'id Yakin of the Palestinian National Committee Against the Wall, and five members of the Bil'in Popular Committee – all suspected of incitement.

Prominent grassroots activists Jamal Jum'a (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigning, have recently been released from detention after being incarcerated for long periods based on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them.

Background links:
[1] LA Times: Palestinians who see nonviolence as their weapon
[2] Ynet: 2010 will see us beat the occupation

54 Representatives demand end to Gaza siege, declare that Israel's blockade of Gaza is "de facto collective punishment"

Unfortunately, it's not too often that we get the opportunity to thank Members of Congress for doing the right thing. That's why it's so important to do so when they do something that we ask of them.

On January 21, 2010, 54 Representatives sent President Obama a letter that termed Israel's blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip as "de facto collective punishment" and called on the United States to press Israel "for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza."

To read the entire text of this "Dear Colleague" letter, organized by Rep. Jim McDermott and Rep. Keith Ellison, and to see the full list of signatories, please click here.

Please take a moment to "cheer" your Representative for signing this important "Dear Colleague" letter calling attention to the devastating humanitarian impact of Israel's illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip, or "jeer" your Representative for not signing the letter by clicking here.

To learn more about how you can help change U.S. policies that sustain Israeli occupation and apartheid and deny equal rights for all, click here.

Another Danish fund divests from Elbit systems!

Yesterday we reported that Dankse Bank has decided to exclude Elbit Systems and Africa Israel from its investment portfolio due to the companies' involvement in the Israeli occupation.

Now there's more good news--one of the largest Danish pension funds has divested from Elbit as well as two U.S. companies that are involved with Israel's Apartheid Wall. Note that Elbit also has half of the contract on the Wall being built by the United States government on the Mexico border. Here's an excerpt from a press release issued by our allies at Stop the Wall:

"Danish Bank (Danske Bank), the biggest financial group in Denmark, has excluded Elbit Systems and Africa Israel from its investment portfolio because of their involvement in providing equipment for the Wall and in settlement construction. The Danish Bank is normally not quick to divest as its list of excluded companies has now risen to only 24 companies around the globe.

However, Thomas H. Kjaergaard, responsible for socially responsible investment in the Danish Bank Group commented: "We handle clients 'interests, and we do not want to put customers' money in companies that violate international standards."

PKA Ltd. (in Danish: Pensionskassernes Administration A/S), one of the largest funds administrating workers’ pension funds in Denmark, announced it would no longer consider investments in Elbit Systems, and US companies Megal Security Systems and Detection Systems. All three are supplying equipment for the Wall. PKA has sold shares in Elbit worth almost one million dollars.

"The ICJ stated that the barrier only serves military purposes and violates Palestinian human rights. We cannot rule out the inclusion of other companies in our blacklist for their role in this area,” said Michael Nellemann, investment director of PKA.

These decisions come in the wake of media pressure in Berlingske Tidende exposing the investments in companies investing in the settlements and aiding and supplying the construction of the Wall.

The Norwegian government initiated the recent surge in divestments from the illegal wall announcing last September their decision to cut ties with Elbit systems."

Boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns are really taking off in Europe--and the movement is gaining strength here in the United States, too. Click here to get involved!