Saturday, March 30, from 7-8:30 pm: Film showing of "ISRAELISM"

 

Saturday, March 30, from 7-8:30 pm at the Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountain View Ave., Woodstock. Film showing of "ISRAELISM," a movie about the experiences of two young American Jews who have been raised to unconditionally love Israel. When they witness the way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take a sharp left turn. All donations will go to aid Gaza. Cosponsored by: Middle East Crisis Response mideastcrisis.org, Hudson Valley BDS hudsonvalleybds.blogspot.com, Jewish Voice for Peace-HV hudsonvalley@JVP.org, Veterans For Peace-Catskill Mountains, and New Paltz Women in Black for Peace and Justice. Contact: mecr@mideastcrisis.org or 845 876-7906

Genocide enabler

 

The shame of Rep. Pat Ryan. Pretending to be for the ceasefire while sending bombs and bullets to Israel. 

Why does he do it? Take a look at how much he pulls in from the Israel Lobby. He is a genocide enabler.

Free burgers for the killers

Here are 5 more actions YOU can take to challenge this complicity and support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality:
 

1. Work with progressive networks to pressure parliaments and governments to (a) end all military-security cooperation and trade with apartheid Israel; (b) ban all goods/services of companies operating in Israel’s illegal colonial settlements; and (c) promote UN action to investigate and dismantle Israeli apartheid, as was done with the apartheid regime in South Africa.
2. Mobilize institutional pressure campaigns (including boycotts or divestment) against Israeli and international companies and banks that are complicit in Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.
3. Mobilize your community, trade union, association, church, social network, student government/union, city council, cultural center, or other organization to declare it an #ApartheidFreeZone (AFZ), ending all relations with apartheid Israel and companies/institutions that are complicit in its system of oppression.
4. Initiate/support boycotts of all academic, cultural, sports, and tourism engagements taking place in/sponsored by apartheid Israel or its lobby groups and complicit institutions.
5. Join a BDS campaign or a strategic Palestine solidarity group near you to act collectively and effectively.

Saturday's Art Walk in Beacon

Saturday's Art Walk in Beacon brought with it free slices of watermelon. As it turns out, watermelon is a symbol of Palestinian resistance to the occupation. The fruit has the four colors of the Palestinian flag, and as a result artists in the West Bank are forbidden to depict them.

That was not the case in Beacon on Saturday, as members of several Palestinian rights groups handed out watermelons and flyers along the sidewalk. Members of Jewish Voice For Peace and Middle East Crisis Response called attention to the Israeli soldiers and armed settlers who are destroying Palestinian homes, schools, farms, and infrastructure. 

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/