Ben & Jerry’s is 100% out of Israel

 

We have big news to share. Ben & Jerry’s is 100% out of Israel.  After settling a lawsuit with its parent company, Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s no longer operates in apartheid Israel. Last week, the company deleted Israel from its website listing countries in which it operates.   This a major victory for Palestinian freedom and sends an important message to corporations around the globe that divesting from apartheid is the right choice.     Can you give $50 today to help expand our organizing team and support more winning BDS campaigns next year?

Israeli state officials and their allies were so desperate to cover up the boycott of a multinational company that they launched a massive pressure campaign. Eventually, Unilever sold an Israeli licensee, “Blue & White Ice Cream Ltd.” the rights to sell a bootleg Ben & Jerry’s product inside the country as long as they didn’t use the English trademarked name “Ben & Jerry’s.”   After a lengthy legal battle, the Ben & Jerry’s board released a new statement last month reiterating its political position and clarifying: (1) “Any products sold by Blue & White Ice Cream Ltd. are uniquely its own and should not be confused with products produced and distributed by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc.”    This major BDS victory comes after years of campaigning. And it was our long-standing work with the Movement for Black Lives that pushed Ben & Jerry’s to finally meet Palestinian demands to withdraw its business from apartheid or risk losing M4BL as a partner. This is a clear example of how AJP’s cross-movement coalitions deliver and why solidarity is so important both as an ethic and as a strategy.

No ice cream for occupiers

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield represent a big group of American Jews who are not pleased with what Israel is doing, yet do not want to go against the state as a whole. Their Jewish values are part of their conviction that such change should occur, that it is inconsistent with their liberal values to allow such systemic oppression to continue unabated and without opposition. 

In other words, they link Israel with their Jewish outlook, and they want to see another Israel, which alas never appears on the map. When even the liberal Zionist leaders of Israel like Lapid tell them that they are antisemites, this is bound to provoke a more radical response by these people. They are being told that there is only one kind of Judaism, one that is bound in fundamentalist ultra-nationalism, occupation and Apartheid. 

Some of these people might start fighting for the soul of what they perceive to be Judaism. And their fight will have to become against Israel as a whole – maybe even against the idea of Israel. That means, becoming anti-Zionist.

Reality has brought us here. It’s nice to have dreams about what Israel is, or could be. But it is what it is. If cautious, selective, partial pressure won’t change that, then there are only two ways about it: give up, or up the stakes.  

https://mondoweiss.net/2022/06/israels-vicious-response-to-ben-and-jerry-antisemites-is-a-wakeup-call-for-american-jews/ 

Stop the drone spotters

ShotSpotter is partnering with apartheid tech that powers flying drones — and we can’t sleep on that.

ShotSpotter has formed an exclusive partnership with Israel’s Airobotics Drones. ShotSpotter’s audio surveillance will allow Israel to listen in on neighborhoods 24/7 and send out drones to enforce its military control.²

U.S. police use ShotSpotter to surveil majority Black, brown, and poor neighborhoods. ShotSpotter alerts send police in a heightened state of alarm into communities — leading to devastating results.

People have been arrested, falsely imprisoned, and in the case of 14-year-old Adam Toledo, killed by Chicago police after a ShotSpotter alert.³

Even with no credible research to back up ShotSpotter’s claims that it prevents gun violence, ShotSpotter is in over 130 U.S. cities.

It’s not far-fetched to believe that broader use of surveillance drones is coming our way too, bolstered by ShotSpotter’s partnership with Airobotics Drones.

The mayor of NYC is reportedly ready to pair aerial drones with NYPD’s ShotSpotter now.⁴ ShotSpotter’s relationship with Israel’s Airobotics could prove to be both lucrative and deadly if we don’t push back hard, and now.

Sign the petition to stop ShotSpotter: surveillance is not safety.

MPower is a key partner in the national coalition to stop ShotSpotter. Muslims have been countering surveillance in the U.S. for decades. Muslims know about the harm families suffer from state profiling and surveillance. Even before 9/11, the FBI targeted Muslims in counter-terrorism efforts.⁵

No one should be targeted as a criminal because of identity — in the U.S. or Palestine.

Take action now and sign the petition.

In solidarity,

Granate, Linda, and the MPower team

PayPal, won’t serve Palestinians

It’s almost hard to believe, but the world’s largest online payment platform, PayPal, won’t serve Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

PayPal actively discriminates against Palestinians in Palestine — essentially refusing to provide them services.²

Tell PayPal: Stop discriminating against Palestinians.

It’s open discrimination. Israelis living in illegal settlements, next door to Palestinians living under occupation, are allowed to create and use PayPal accounts.

It’s especially cruel given the economic devastation of Israeli occupation. Unemployment in the occupied territories is high and shockingly high in Gaza, where it’s nearly 50%. The ability to get paid securely would make a world of difference.

PayPal offers services to Israelis in the same areas; Apple Pay, a PayPal competitor, offers services to anyone with an Apple device. Small business owners in particular are suffering because of this.

Sign the petition to PayPal: Stop discriminating against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

By blocking access to Palestinians, PayPal adds yet another barrier for Palestinians struggling to make a living under occupation.

By withholding services, PayPal is cosigning on Israel’s racial discrimination, and no one should be okay with that. Over 200,000 people have signed a petition to PayPal — will you add your voice today?

Sign the petition to PayPal: Stop discriminating against Palestinians.

Thank you for all you do.

In solidarity,
Linda, Granate, Lau, and the MPower Change team

Sources:
1. ”PayPal,” LinkedIn, June 4, 2022.
2. "Palestinians urge PayPal to offer services in West Bank and Gaza," Reuters, October 21, 2021.

17 years of BDS

17 years of BDS -
Share our collective achievements

Today our movement celebrates 17 years.

 

On this anniversary of the 2005 call from the largest Palestinian coalition to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, we want to celebrate this growing anti-apartheid movement.  

Join us in celebrating the most significant moments in the growth of the anti-apartheid movement, its globalization, its impact, and indispensable role in bringing about an unprecedented narrative shift around Palestine and the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights.

Watch and share the video marking the 17 years of the BDS movement

Ben & Jerry's pulls out of Israel

 

Unilever sells off Ben & Jerry’s in Israel to avoid West Bank row

Move follows ice-cream brand’s decision to stop selling in Palestinian territories as it was ‘inconsistent’ with its values

The decision was one of the highest-profile rebukes by a well-known brand of Israel’s settlements. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Sarah Butler

@whatbutlersaw

Wed 29 Jun 2022 13.04 EDT

Unilever has sold off its Ben & Jerry’s business in Israel in an attempt to extricate itself from a row over sales of the ice-cream in settlements in the West Bank.

Ben & Jerry’s independent board announced last summer that the brand would no longer sell its products in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying to do so was “inconsistent with our values”.

The decision was one of the highest-profile rebukes by a well-known brand of Israel’s settlements, which are regarded as illegal under international law.

Stop the tram line to Israel's illegal settlements

Saturday, 11 June is the annual shareholders' meeting of CAF, the Basque company that is building the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR). The JLR is a tram line that serves Israel's illegal settlements in and around Jerusalem and fosters Israel’s regime of apartheid and settler colonialism.

The JLR runs through occupied Jerusalem and contributes to Israel's systemic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jerusalem, which is illegal under international law.

Email CAF's shareholders now and tell them to abandon the project to build Israel's colonial tramway

We need you to send an email to CAF shareholders urging them to end CAF’s complicity in Israel’s violent occupation of Jerusalem and Israel’s apartheid regime.

In solidarity, The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) DONATE

Stand with Alice Walker: Anti-Zionism is NOT Anti-Semitism!​

As censorship is becoming the norm in the United States, Alice Walker, who is a friend of UNAC, a human rights fighter, antiwar activist, feminist and world-renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple has been invited and then disinvited to the Bay Area Book Festival.  This was done because her consistent stand in support of Palestinian rights.  This they claim is anti-semitism.  A petition was created with 60 initial signers of authors and activists.  The festival organizers were told that if they do not reinstate her, we would initiate a public campaign and ask people to boycott the festival.  The festival organizers have not commented and have not reinstated Alice Walker.

Part of this public campaign is to get signatures on the petition.  You can read and sign the petition and see the 60 initial signers and the names of all others who are signing by clicking the link below.  Each signature will send an email to the organizers of the festival.

Please join this important effort by signing the statement.

GEICO supports Israeli apartheid

Just before Ramadan began, GEICO Insurance invited me to meet and talk with their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team. I was happy to discuss Arab-American heritage, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.

Then, yesterday, in the middle of my fast for Ramadan two things happened that shocked me — and broke my heart.

I got the news that GEICO — the world-famous insurance company worth tens of billions of dollars — had decided to abruptly cancel the event with me.

Then, GEICO publicly justified their decision by smearing my work advocating for marginalized communities as “hatred” across their social media accounts.

All during Ramadan.

Let GEICO know you demand they do the right thing and rescind their statement & apologize to their Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian employees and customers. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to push back against anti-Arab and Islamophobic hate.

On Twitter? Tweet at GEICO to let them know that we won’t back down from anti-Arab, anti-Muslim discrimination.

Linda Sarsour and the MPower Change team

Boycott Israeli Dates

Buy Palestinian dates this Ramadan!

If you’re looking for a place to buy alternative dates, AMP has partnered with Penny Appeal USA and Buycott Palestine, two companies that sell authentic Palestinian dates. Make your purchases now in time for Ramadan!

Penny Appeal USA Phone number: (202) 851-2112 Email: info@pennyappealusa.org

Buycott Palestine Phone number: (416) 897 1907 Email: buycottPalestine@gmail.com

If you have any questions about the products or shipping times, please feel free to contact the companies directly as we are not fulfilling orders on their behalf.

Let's Boycott Israeli Dates

Jessi Sander, a Jewish American school teacher, fired for a blog post supporting Palestinian rights

Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:

GUESTS: Jessi Sander, a Jewish American school teacher, and her lawyer Robert Herbst talk about why she was fired from her job by the Westchester Reform Temple for a recreational blog post criticizing the most recent attack on Gaza by the State of Israel.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/nyregion/synagogues-israel-opinion.html

Activist Radio can be heard: Thursdays 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Thursdays from 9-10 pm on WBDY 99.5 FM at The Bundy in Binghamton, NY; Sundays 1:30-2:30 pm on WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock, NY; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.FM. Past programs are available as a podcast, or anytime on the web at https://ClassWars.org

 

One minute to write the Sierra Club

Three weeks ago, we joined a coalition of Palestinian, Indigenous, and other progressive organizations to tell the Sierra Club to cancel their trips that greenwash Israel’s settler colonialism—and they listened. The Unity Intifada has called social justice advocates around the globe to choose solidarity with the Palestinian people over complicity with Israeli apartheid. But now, Zionist organizations are trying to erase this and other hard-won gains by the Palestinian people in the Palestinian struggle for justice.

The Jewish Community Relations Council has already decided to ‘coordinate a nationwide response’ pressuring the Sierra Club to reverse their principled choice. That’s why it’s so important that the Sierra Club hear from you now, to drive home the message that they made the right decision in choosing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Take one minute of your time to write to Sierra Club now. Tell them to stay steadfast in choosing justice for the Palestinian people over complicity with apartheid.

Take Action

Blogging for Palestine

Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:

GUEST: Yousef Aljamal: translator, blogger, and co-host of the podcast, "The World From Palestine," talks about his first hand experience exposing and resisting the narratives of settler colonialists.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-world-from-palestine-episode-2/id390754844?i=1000549276974

Activist Radio can be heard: Thursdays 5-6 pm on WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Thursdays from 9-10 pm on WBDY 99.5 FM at The Bundy in Binghamton, NY; Sundays 1:30-2:30 pm on WESU 88.1 FM at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock, NY; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.FM. Past programs are available as a podcast, or anytime on the web at https://ClassWars.org

 

#EndEthnicCleansing  

In coordination with dozens of other organizations across the world, American Muslims for Palestine calls on you to mobilize in solidarity with the Palestinian people as they continue to resist the ethnic cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, al-Naqab, the Jordan Valley, the southern Hebron Hills and beyond.

Here are some actions you can take this weekend in solidarity and coordination with Palestine solidarity advocates around the world:  Email your Member of Congress using our action tool here. Participate in a social media storm across all three days of action using our toolkit here.  Organize and attend local protests. Continue to maintain BDS efforts, including campaigns against the JNF, Hyundai Heavy Industries, G4S/Allied Universal, NSO (Pegasus), HP, and others to hold corporations enabling Israeli apartheid accountable for their complicity.