Attack on Vassar College and Department of Jewish Studies

Wall Street Journal attacks Vassar College:

"Majoring in Anti-Semitism at Vassar A number of events over the past two years have transformed a prestigious institution into a parody ripe for ridicule."

Please read the Wall Street Journal article, and then write or call President Hill with your message.

==== Contact Vassar President Catharine Hill ===

Call Office of the President:
845 437-7200

Send an email:
presidentsoffice@vassar.edu

Write a Letter:
President Catharine Hill
Vassar College, Box 1
124 Raymond Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604

Possible talking points:
1. Local resident and former Vassar College administrator, Fred Nagel, attended the presentation and refutes the WSJ charges.

2. Charges based on unsubstantiated claims of anti Semitism are presented as the truth but without a recording or transcript of the presentation.

3. Dr. Puar was brought to Vassar by the Jewish Studies as well as several other department. It was supported by Vassar Jewish Voice for Peace on campus.

4. Authors of the WSJ article both work for Academic Engagement Network. From Haaretz: "NEW YORK – Enlisting faculty members at American colleges and universities as allies in the fraught battle against the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement is the main objective of a new organization that is being launched on Wednesday." In effect, the authors are being paid to shut down debate on college campuses.

5. The Academic Engagement Network has received tens of millions from from Sheldon Adelson, billionaire ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

6. The WSJ has become a typical Rupert Murdock publication, with writers being paid to distribute pro Israel propaganda, and articles full of rightwing, unsubstantiated charges.

7. A world class college like Vassar cannot afford being intimidated by these tactics.

==== Comment on Academic Engagement Network website ===

https://www.facebook.com/academicengagement/

Code Pink Call to Action

No Open House on Stolen Land!  

While RE/MAX International is holding its annual convention in Las Vegas, its Israeli franchise, RE/MAX Israel, is continuing to sell homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. RE/MAX’s profiteering and complicity have drawn condemnation from human rights activists around the world. A recent report from Human Rights Watch entitled “Occupation, Inc.”: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s Violations of Palestinian Rights” directly indicting RE/MAX LLC, states that:

By advertising, selling and renting homes in settlements, both the Israeli franchise of RE/MAX and RE/MAX LLC, the owner of the global franchise network, facilitate and benefit from the transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territory and the associated human rights abuses, contravening their rights responsibilities.

Think this is outrageous? Sign the letter to Dave Liniger, CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Co-Founder, Re/Max International, telling him to stop RE/MAX Israel's illegal sales of settlement homes on Palestinian land.

Airbnb rentals in the illegal settlements

Airbnb is coming under criticism for listing vacation rentals in West Bank settlements on their website without identifying their location in the West Bank. 

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch said businesses should stop operating in West Bank settlements because they violate the rights of Palestinian civilians. 

Urge Airbnb to stop listing vacation rentals in West Bank settlements on their website, or identify them as being in the West Bank, by signing our petition at MoveOn:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/airbnb-no-vacation-rentals-west-bank-settlements

Thanks for all you do for justice,

Robert Naiman, Avram Reisman, and Sarah Burns
Just Foreign Policy

Defending freedom of speech in NYS

Electronic Intifada:

New York bill would create official blacklist of Israel boycott supporters.

A law being proposed in New York would create an official blacklist of supporters of the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Legal experts and activists say the measure is reminiscent of the McCarthy era and could have drastic consequences for individuals, organizations or firms who engage with the campaign to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights.

Anti-BDS legislation was also introduced this week in California. Two New York bills — one introduced in the state senate and another in the assembly — would require the state government to “develop, using credible information available to the public, a list of persons it determines boycotts [sic] Israel.”

Individuals or entities included on the state’s blacklist would be barred from partnering with state agencies unless they can demonstrate in a written statement that they are “not engaged in boycotting Israel.” State pension funds would also be prohibited from investing in institutions that have divested from Israel.

Activists with the Palestine Solidarity Collective in New York are collecting signatures for a petition to lawmakers against the bill. Nearly two dozen North America-based activist organizations are opposing the legislation.

The New York bills are “the most egregious, most McCarthyite, most obvious violations of people’s First Amendment rights,” Josh Ruebner, policy director for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, told The Electronic Intifada.

If passed into law, the measure could hit local organizations that provide essential community services. Church groups, for example, that may belong to denominations which have passed boycott or divestment resolutions, often receive state funds to provide social programs such as homeless shelters and soup kitchens. “Does that mean that all these churches will become ineligible to feed the hungry?” Ruebner asked.

A separate resolution pending in New York, HR-567, would condemn the European Union’s decision to accurately label goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

Visit our website http://www.freedom2boycott.com

Law to make BDS a criminal act in NY

Law to make support of BDS a criminal act in NY

There is a law under consideration in New York State to make support for BDS and, actually, any public dissent against Israel, a crime.  This is ridiculous, but it sets a terrible precedent and everyone should sign the petition against it and forward widely.  There is a link to the actual bills on the website

Say No to Anti BDS Legislation in NY http://palestinesolidaritycollective.net/2015/12/13/anti-bds-legislation-in-new-york/
The legislation would create “A LIST OF PERSONS IT DETERMINES BOYCOTTS ISRAEL,” and defines boycotting Israel  as 

“ENGAGING IN ACTIONS THAT ARE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND ARE INTENDED TO  PENALIZE, INFLICT ECONOMIC HARM ON, OR OTHERWISE LIMIT COMMERCIAL   RELATIONS  WITH THE  STATE  OF  ISRAEL  OR   COMPANIES BASED IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL OR IN TERRITORIES CONTROLLED BY THE  STATE OF ISRAEL.”

Who will it affect?

• Individuals or Community groups that support Palestinian human  rights by supporting a boycott of Israel.   
• Contractors and other businesses seeking partnerships with New York  State.  
• Non-profit organizations that receive New York State grants. 

Say No to Anti BDS Legislation in NY
http://palestinesolidaritycollective.net/2015/12/13/anti-bds-legislation-in-new-york/

Protest in front of a closed Leviev diamond store

New York, NY, December 21, 2015 – On Saturday, for the second year running, 50 New York human rights advocates held a celebratory protest in front of a closed Leviev diamond store on Madison Avenue on one of the biggest holiday shopping days. Days before the protest, staff working for Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev had insisted his store would be open, per their publicized business hours. The Leviev store was also mysteriously closed the day of the December 2014 anti-apartheid caroling protest. This is the ninth consecutive year New Yorkers have gathered in front of Leviev’s store singing holiday anti-apartheid carols critical of Leviev’s construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and human rights abuses in the diamond industry in Angola.

On Saturday, December 19

On Saturday, December 19, from 1:00 to 2:30 pm, Adalah-NY will be holding its 9th Annual Anti-Apartheid Holiday Caroling https://adalahny.org/event/1353/ninth-annual-anti-apartheid-holiday-caroling-leviev protest against Lev Leviev at his jewelry store on Madison Avenue between E 62nd and 63rd Streets. It’s our opportunity to come together during this holiday season to enjoy (parodies of) Christmas carols and Chanukah songs as we rededicate ourselves to the fight for justice and against Lev Leviev’s and Israel’s attacks on the rights of the Palestinian people.

Hope you can join us.

Mindy