Successful Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) action against Israeli Aparthied
Hi everyone,
There was a very successful BDS action in town (Brisbane) this morning.
The target was the Israeli cosmetics company, Seacret (the information flyer that we distributed is attached).
The action attracted a lot of attention – with the huge banner, signs, t-shirts, loud chanting (which reverberated throughout the Myer Centre) and hundreds of flyers distributed. And the action had an immediate impact – the Seacret stall shut down after we left!!
More photos and footage will be posted soon as well as details of the next action on August 14 – put it in your diary now!
Free, free Palestine! Boycott Israel!
in solidarity,
Kathy
www.justiceforpalestinebrisbane.org
__._,_.___
I understand that Israel does some horrific things, but I don’t think that protesting against private businesses who happen to be from Israel is going to help your cause. Suppose it was the 1950’s, would it be reasonable to boycott Vegemite because of the Stolen Generations?
Your pathetic attempst to block me and my comments show the world how opposed you are to anything resembling reality.
**********************
Hamas Leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: Our Plan For This Stage Is To Establish A Palestinian State Without Recognizing Israel and Without Giving Up The Right Of Return; Our Ultimate Plan Is To Have Palestine In Its Entirety
In an interview with the Egyptian opposition newspaper Al-Wafd on June 23, 2010, co-founder and leader of Hamas Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said that Hamas advocates the liberation of all Palestine, from the Lebanon border to Rafah and from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. He said that Hamas’ consent to a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders is part of a phased plan, the first phase of which is to liberate the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – and that Fatah believes, in contrast, that this is the final phase[1].
Excerpts from another interview with Al-Zahhar on Future News TV on June 15, 2010:
(http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2527htm )
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: “We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital – but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key – without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land.
“This is our plan for this stage – to liberate the West Bank and Gaza, without recognizing Israel’s right to a single inch of land, and without giving up the Right of Return for a single Palestinian refugee.
….
“Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy. ”
“As for the issue of a referendum – [the PA] is ready to impose its position on people by force. Whoever wants to hold a referendum, and believes that he can get all of Palestine for the Palestinians, can hold a referendum, but will not give up the platform of resistance, and the plan to liberate Palestine in its entirety. This is unequivocal. ….
“If we could liberate the Negev now, we would continue [our military activity], but our capabilities dictate that after we got rid of the Israeli presence in Gaza, we must finish off the remnants of that occupation, and move on to the West Bank.”
Endnotes:
[1] Source: Al-Wafd, Egypt, June 23, 2010, http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/28101.htm
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ase0UgeIgRc&feature=player]
And quite seriously, Ian, How can you not know my perspective? Don’t you read what I write?
Jeez, you don’t need a PhD in English to get my perspective!!! Pay attention to the words and you can draw your own conclusions!!
i know your perspective because i read what you write, not because you’ve posted a slogan somewhere. That’s basic comprehension.
By the way, most of the Arab Jews in Israel are there becaseu they and their parents were thrown out of their countries – Iraq, etc – without being able to take money or possessions with them, all of which were stolen by the Arabs states they came from.
i don’t see them in any refugee camps today, because their countrymen in Israel took them in.
If the Arabs gave one whit of concern for the Palestinians – most of whom are Arabs and many of whose ancestors came from thos esame countries especially Egypt, Syria and Jordan – they would let them live normally in whichever of the 22 Arab countries they chose.
But they – like you – would rather see Israel destroyed.
By the way, if you’re going to join this disgusting boycott, feel free to dispose of your mobile phone and any technology you have, including any medical diagnostic equipment. All of it was contributed to by Israeli geeks.
Hi Ian –
it’s very simple. I use a pseudonym because you BLOCKED my original name and email because you did not like what I posted about the IHH terrorists.
So you write about other refugess – well, good for you. I stand corrected. maybe I was misled by the fact of your suppressing evidence of the Terr4orirts infwesting the Gaza flotilla, and your lack of acknoledging the supremacist islamic religion that Hamas espouses.
You don’t’ like what you call my abuse? I’m not the one sponsoring professional harassment against innocent people – workers trying to earn a living, by the way, which is what the Seacret people are – and i don’t like people misrepresenting history.
Ancient Israel, composed of Judea and Samaria was the land of the Jews, there have always been Jews there, no matter who threw them out and tried to eradicate them.
hadrian the Roman emperor named Judea and Samaria Palestine so, as he said, the world would forget that the Jews were ever there. Well, it’s worked a treat for people who love to champion lying savage causes like that of the “Palestinians”.
Do you care that the PLO gutted Lebanon, made a ststa within a state and cause d acivil war there?
Do you care about the PLO that caused so much strife in Jordan that King Hussein killed 10 000 of them in what was called Black September?
Do you care or acknowledge that Jordan recently rescinded citizenship of Palestinians there?
Maybe you don’t like my tone. i freely admit that i am angry at you and your lies, and that you try to justify them on ideological grounds.
I personally have nothing against Palestininas per se and know of MANY Israelis and Palestiniansd that work together.
But why should I support their Islamic sense of grievance that causes them to murder Jews and Christians?
I won’t do that, and I don’t respect terror groupies like you.
And if you don’t like that either, well, that’s all part of the great diversity in society – you know, that thing that people like you APPRECIATE so much.
Hello ‘mm’,
Your accusation that I focus purely on Israeli exploitation of Palestinians is false. So too is your accusation that i have shown disrespect to Khaled abu Toameh concerning his article Palestinians in the Arab World: Why the Silence?.
At least I wrote to him [on his blog at the Hudson Institute in New York], told him my name, and told him where my perspective and his differ. You have not accorded me even that respect, you have not said who you are or what your perspective is. You have just spammed and shouted abuse and lies on Workers BushTelegraph.
You accuse me of bias yet I allow your comments to be posted on Workers BushTelegraph. Then you say Khaled is not in the thrall of conservatives. By implication you defend Khaled’s publishers at the Hudson Institute, yet it is they that did not publish my comments titled No silence here.
Now back to the substantive issues you raised.
I do write about Palestinian refugees in Arab countries, but do not forget that there are many Palestinian refugees in their own country as there are in other neighbouring countries — for example, most of the people in Gaza are refugees from villages in other parts of Palestine. This stemmed from Al Nakba.
I do write about the poverty of Palestinians in Lebanon [see ‘Labor for a Just Palestine: A two state solution?’].
I do state that the poverty of these refugees and the Lebanese is worse in parts of southern Lebanon than on the West Bank.
I do write about the poverty in Egypt and Dubai of workers of all countries, from arab, indian and phillpino backgrounds.
A simple Google search of Workers BushTelegraph would reveal this to you.
But no, ‘mm’, you have sprung, knee jerk, in your own denial of where the real problem lies, it lies in Israel, it lies in Dubai, it lies in the Lebanon, it lies in capitalist failure in the development of undevelopement.
Khaled abu Toameh did not respond to my post on his blog, nor did his minders at the Hudson Institute publish my comment on his article ‘Palestinians in the Arab World: Why the Silence?’. I have written and asked them why.
If you look at Khaled abu Toameh’s articles at the Hudson Institute you will find that Khaled spends most of his time criticising Palestinian political groups like Hamas and the PLA for their lack of democracy.
What you will find also at the Hudson Institute is plenty of accusations of bias of critics of Israel i.e. when Goldstone accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
But you will not find criticism of an Israeli ‘democracy’ that permits racist laws like the one described here by Yifat Susskind — In Israel, Miscegenation Equals Rape
You do not find racism like that in Palestinian laws passed in Ramallah or Gaza. The Hudson Institute is promoting criticism and division of an arab people, the Palestinians, who are the most secular, the most democratic.
It is american conservatives that do not like to critise allies like Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia. Even though the 9/11 bombers came from Saudi Arabia. No coincidence that it was Saudi Arabia that the US government used as an ally to launch the ‘Desert Storm’ invasion of Iraq in 1991.
Read what the Hudson Institute claims as its mission statement —
It is a wonder they did not include ‘respect’ for US enemies in there as well.
Ian Curr
July 2010
Khaled abu Toameh is an Arab Muslim journalist working in Israel and publishes all over the world. He has himself said that he would not and could not work in the Hamas territories because there is no free press there.
He is in no-one’s “thrall” except that of journalism.
You imply by this accusation that this adult man cannot think for himself, and has no free choice about where he publishes and what he wishes to write.
That is a smug, patronising and bigoted statement.
I got the article from the National Post above, and did credit what I posted to the author.
Finally, it is the article’s purposeto question why only Israel is criticised in matters relating to “palestinian” refugees when Lebanon treats them so hideously, not even letting them work and giving them no medical care, unlike Israel.
You cannot expect a writer to deal only with the emphasis on a matter that YOU wish, just because you dfon’t like what he says or his perspective. That is disrespectful to the writer and to journalism in general.
It also shows you simply cannot deal with someone whose perspective differs from yours and just because you have an agenda- a very egotistical, immature thing to do.
The untitled article above inserted by ‘mm’, was originally titled “Palestinians in the Arab World: Why the Silence?” published by the Hudson Institute which is a conservative think-tank in New York.
It has been inserted here by an anonymous contributor going under the pseudonym ‘mm’. I will allow this post but recommend that contributor’s give the origin and link to articles like this one, especially since it unlikely that Khaled Abu Toameh has given permission for its publication here.
The source I found for the article was http://www.hudson-ny.org/1422/palestinians-in-arab-world – I have made some comments there which I repeat here:
Poor Ian – hiding the truth about “Palestine” and the “Palestinians” and Arab “society” in general is SO time-consuming….
You know, all the time you spend lying about Israel and Zionism – you could have used it to build a hospital in the Gaza Strip!
If Hamas woud have let you of course.
By Khaled Abu Toameh
When was the last time the United Nations Security Council met to condemn an Arab government for its mistreatment of Palestinians?
How come groups and individuals on university campuses in the United States and Canada that call themselves “pro-Palestinian” remain silent when Jordan revokes the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians?
The plight of Palestinians living in Arab countries in general, and Lebanon in particular, is one that is often ignored by the mainstream media in West.
How come they turn a blind eye to the fact that Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and many more Arab countries continue to impose severe travel restrictions on Palestinians?
And where do these groups and individuals stand regarding the current debate in Lebanon about whether to grant Palestinians long-denied basic rights, including employment, social security and medical care?
Or have they not heard about this debate at all? Probably not, since the case has failed to draw the attention of most Middle East correspondents and commentators.
A news story on the Palestinians that does not include an anti-Israel angle rarely makes it to the front pages of Western newspapers.
The demolition of an Arab-owned illegal building in Jerusalem is, for most of these correspondents, much more important than the fact that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon continue to suffer from a series of humiliating restrictions.
Not only are Palestinians living in Lebanon denied the right to own property, but they also do not qualify for health care, and are banned by law from working in a large number of jobs….
But who said that the Lebanese authorities have not done anything to “improve” the situation? In fact, the Palestinians living in that country should be grateful to the Lebanese government. Until 2005, the law prohibited Palestinians from working in 72 professions. Now the list of jobs has been reduced to 50.
Still, Palestinians are not allowed to work as physicians, journalists, pharmacists or lawyers in Lebanon.
Ironically, it is much easier for a Palestinian to acquire American and Canadian citizenship than a passport of an Arab country. In the past, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were even entitled to Israeli citizenship if they married an Israeli citizen, or were reunited with their families inside the country.
Lebanese politicians are now debating new legislation that would grant “civil rights” to Palestinians for the first time in 62 years. The new bill includes the right to own property, social security payments and medical care.
Many Lebanese are said to be opposed to the legislation out of fear that it would pave the way for the integration of Palestinians into their society and would constitute a burden to the economy….
Nadim Khoury, director of Human Rights Watch in Beirut, said, “Lebanon has marginalized Palestinian refugees for too long and the parliament should seize this opportunity to turn the page and end discrimination against Palestinians.”
Rami Khouri, a prominent Lebanese journalist, wrote in his country’s Daily Star that “all Arab countries mistreat millions of Arab, Asian and African foreign guest workers, who often are treated little better than chattel or indentured laborers…The mistreatment, abysmal living conditions and limited work, social security and property rights of the Palestinians [in Lebanon] are a lingering moral black mark.”
Foreign journalists often justify their failure to report on the suffering of Palestinians in the Arab world by citing “security concerns” and difficulty in obtaining an entry visa into an Arab country….
National Post
The best I can say about you poor people is that you are deluded.
It doesn’t matter how much evidence there is that “The Palestinians” are pawns of the Arabs you still deny it.
Thanks to all the Justice for Palestine (JFP) activists in Brisbane for the protest described and shown in the video above.
As a postscript to the BDS action on Saturday 17 July, an ABC cameraman/journo was invited and turned up at the Justice for Palestine (JFP) Boycott, Divestments, Sanction (BDS) action and filmed the whole action in Myers including an interview with Phil Monsour. He had told his editor that he would be filming without permission in the Myer centre and that he had been told by Myer management to stop filming as it is unlawful.
None of his footage was put to air.
That night Julia Gillard announced the federal election which swamped all the news coverage from the major stations. The ABC editors on the ABC News on Saturday night were happy to cross to sport after the election round up and left the BDS action off the news.
Here is the Workers BushTelegraph filming of the interview with one of the activists and the encounter with police i.e. what we did not see on the ABC news that night.