Now is the time to strengthen our campaign.

Last week we found out that Motorola has met our first boycott demand - they no longer sell the Israeli military bomb fuses. Instead of resting on our laurels, we need to seize this opportunity to push twice as hard on our other demands. Now is the time to strengthen our campaign.

We want everyone to be able to help hang up on Motorola so we've come up with six different ways to take action - everything from creative arts, to public protest, to sustaining us financially, to just clicking a button will help us force Motorola's hand at this crucial time.

1. Win up to $500 by using your creativity to make a 30 second to two minute video turning a Motorola advertisement around to tell the truth about Moto's ongoing support for Israel's occupation and apartheid practices.

2. Protest on May 4th. Motorola's annual shareholder meeting will be in Chicago on May 4th. The US Campaign and our allies will be pressuring those profiting most directly from Moto's crimes in Palestine/Israel both inside and outside the meeting. Our shareholding allies will be supporting a human rights resolution in the meeting and the US Campaign will be coordinating a presence outside of the meeting.

3. Bring the US Campaign to your area for Boycott & Divestment education, training & action planning.

4. Organize the Hang Up On Motorola boycott in your area. Sign up here to get a campaign kit with everything you will need to work as a group or an individual to hold Motorola accountable for their role in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

5. Make a tax-deductible donation to support our boycott & divestment campaigns. Our first campaign victory was sustained by donations from people like you.

6. Send an email to Motorola's CEO and VP for Investor Relations. Send an email asking Motorola's senior decision makers to explain why they work for profit at the expense of human rights for Palestinians.

Now that Motorola has sold its bomb fuse department we're happy to be able to check the first demand off of our list, but we know that the next victories will be even tougher. Stand with us as we continue working to pressure Motorola to stop selling communications equipment, including cell phones and radar detection devices, and surveillance equipment, including the "Stronghold Surveillance System," and components for drone interfaces used by the Israeli military.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Moto Meets Our First Demand!

Last week Motorola Israel, Ltd. sold its Government Electronics Department to Israeli military contractor Aeronautics Defense Systems. This means that Motorola will no longer be selling bomb fuses to the Israeli military. The first demand of our boycott has been met!

While this first victory is sweet, it's far from the end of http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=HoeggyrmwzovV1pUfBBNGvg6vBzXh%2Bae Hang Up On Motorola! Motorola Israel (which is wholly owned by Motorola USA) still produces a number of products that support Israel's military occupation and entrench its apartheid system in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Support Hang Up On Motorola now and ensure that we will stay steadfast until Motorola stops profiting from Israel's human rights abuses and violations of international law. Make a $30 or greater contribution and we'll send you a poster featuring Parachutes Falling, the winning design from our Expressions of Nakba art competition. Make a $50 or greater donation and receive a DVD of Occupation 101*. Make a $100 or greater contribution and we'll send you both Parachutes Falling and Occupation 101*.

What does this sale mean for Hang Up On Motorola?

1) We have Moto on the run - we can win this boycott! The only stated motivation for this sale is that it "would enable Aeronautics to provide more comprehensive solutions to its customers," and, on its part, Motorola has declined to comment. Of course, we expect Motorola will be reticent to admit that our pressure had anything to do with this sale. Read more about how pressure from international boycott & divestment campaigns are affecting Israeli businesses http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=GFCBDanXldE2pFAXkozw9Pg6vBzXh%2Bae here.

2) Motorola is still responsible for the damage that their products have done. The "bomb family" that utilized Motorola fuses is responsible for the deaths of at least 28 civilians in Lebanon and Human Rights Watch recently found shrapnel with Motorola serial numbers on it at the site of a civilian building in Gaza bombed during Operation Cast Lead.

3) We must keep our pressure up! Even after this sale, Moto still makes myriad products used by the Israeli military to continue its occupation and enforcement of apartheid. Motorola Israel has ongoing contracts with the Israeli military, both independently of and jointly with Aeronautics Defense Systems. These contracts include military communications systems and surveillance systems for Israel's apartheid wall and illegal settlements. Motorola Israel's subsidiary, MIRS, also makes mobile phones exclusively for Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This sort of business reinforces norms of apartheid and cannot be tolerated.

Israeli exports hit by European boycotts after attacks on Gaza

A fifth of Israeli exporters report drop in demand as footage of Gaza attacks changes behaviour of consumers and investors

* Rachel Shabi, in Tel Aviv
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 April 2009 16.16 BST
* Article history

Israeli companies are feeling the impact of boycott moves in Europe, according to surveys, amid growing concern within the Israeli business sector over organised campaigns following the recent attack on Gaza.

Last week, the Israel Manufacturers Association reported that 21% of 90 local exporters who were questioned had felt a drop in demand due to boycotts, mostly from the UK and Scandinavian countries. Last month, a report from the Israel Export Institute reported that 10% of 400 polled exporters received order cancellation notices this year, because of Israel's assault on Gaza.

"There is no doubt that a red light has been switched on," Dan Katrivas, head of the foreign trade department at the Israel Manufacturers Association, told Maariv newspaper this week. "We are closely following what's happening with exporters who are running into problems with boycotts." He added that in Britain there exists "a special problem regarding the export of agricultural produce from Israel".

The problem, said Katrivas, is in part the discussion in the UK over how to label goods that come from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Last week British government officials met with food industry representatives to discuss the issue.

In recent months, the Israeli financial press has reported the impact of mounting calls to boycott goods from the Jewish state. Writing in the daily finance paper, the Marker, economics journalist Nehemia Stressler berated then trade and industry minister Eli Yishai for telling the Israeli army to "destroy one hundred homes" in Gaza for every rocket fired into Israel.

The minister, wrote Stressler, did not understand "how much the operation in Gaza is hurting the economy".

Stressler added: "The horrific images on TV and the statements of politicians in Europe and Turkey are changing the behaviour of consumers, businessmen and potential investors. Many European consumers boycott Israeli products in practice."

He quoted a pepper grower who spoke of "a concealed boycott of Israeli products in Europe".

In February, another article in the Marker, titled "Now heads are lowered as we wait for the storm to blow over", reported that Israelis with major business interests in Turkey hoped to remain anonymous to avoid arousing the attention of pro-boycott groups.

The paper said that, while trade difficulties with Turkey during the Gaza assault received more media attention, Britain was in reality of greater concern.

Gil Erez, Israel's commercial attache in London, told the paper: "Organisations are bombarding [British] retailers with letters, asking that they remove Israeli merchandise from the shelves."

Finance journalists have reported that Israeli hi-tech, food and agribusiness companies suffered adverse consequences following Israel's three-week assault on Gaza, and called for government intervention to protect businesses from a growing boycott.

However, analysts stressed that the impact of a boycott on local exporters was difficult to discern amidst a global economic crisis and that such effects could be exaggerated.

"If there was something serious, I would have heard about it," said Avi Tempkin, from Globes, the Israeli business daily.

Israeli companies are thought to be wary of giving credence to boycott efforts by talking openly about their effect, preferring to resolve problems through diplomatic channels.

Consumer boycotts in Europe have targeted food produce such as Israeli oranges, avocados and herbs, while in Turkey the focus has been on agribusiness products such as pesticides and fertilisers.

The bulk of Israeli export is in components, especially hi-tech products such as Intel chips and flashcards for mobile phones. It is thought that the consumer goods targeted by boycott campaigns represent around 3% to 5% of the Israeli export economy.