Two months ago, YNet News reported that legendary basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was planning to visit Israel in coordination with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Consulate of New York. NBA Sporting News reported that Abdul-Jabbar would be competing for the "Spirit of Freedom Award" at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
In private correspondence, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has confirmed that the former Los Angeles Lakers star has decided not to visit Israel due to concerns arising "after the Nakba Day violence." This year's commemoration of the Nakba, left 12 unarmed Palestinians dead after Israeli forces opened fire on refugees attempting to exercise their internationally recognized right of return.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, thank you for calling Israel's foul! Israeli cultural institutions like the Jerusalem Film Festival are used cynically to brand Israel as a beacon of cultural and technological progress, diverting attention away from its occupation and apartheid policies. For this reason, cultural boycott of Israel is a key component of the growing Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law. You can read the Palestinian guidelines for cultural boycott here.
100 organizations signed a thank-you letter to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, urging him to hold fast to his decision not to lend his good name or an air of legitimacy to Israeli human rights violations. In addition to the US Campaign, signatories include the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israel), the Organization for Black Struggle, six Islamic-American organizations, four Jewish organizations, fourteen campus groups, and dozens of other US Campaign member organizations.
The letter points out to Abdul-Jabbar: Your film, "On the Shoulders of Giants," documents the policies of segregation and racism that characterized the world of basketball in the 1930s. Ironically, the majority of Muslim and Christian Palestinians could not even have attended such a screening because they are excluded from entering Jerusalem on the basis of their ethnicity and religion.
Click here to thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for slam dunking apartheid!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=WYM8ci4kN5oXCfk6GL7SkPajIgIMFtLx
US Campaign to End the Occupation
June 29, 2011
Thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for slam dunking apartheid
June 20, 2011
Ahava, occupation profiteer
After years of strenuous denial, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics firm with its main manufacturing plant in an illegal West Bank settlement, is proven by documentary evidence to be in violation of international law through its theft of Palestinian resources. This evidence was recently discovered by Who Profits, a research project of the Israeli Coalition for Peace, which documents corporate activity in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory.
Prior to this finding representatives of Ahava repeatedly claimed that the company does not make use of natural resources from the West Bank: "the mud and materials used in Ahava cosmetics products are not excavated in an occupied area. The mud is mined in the Israeli part of the Dead Sea, which is undisputed internationally." The new findings prove that the company was given a license for excavating minerals in 2004 from the Israeli Civil Administration, which is the representative of the Israeli government in the Occupied West Bank, and that the excavation site on the occupied shores of the Northern Dead Sea is currently active. By making use of mud that is excavated in the occupied area the company is violating international humanitarian law (the laws of occupation), which prohibits the plundering of natural resources from the occupied territory. Merav Amir, Coordinator of Who Profits, said, "Ahava can no longer continue misleading consumers about where they get the mud used in their products. This mud is from the Occupied West Bank and is stolen from the Palestinian people."
Nancy Kricorian, the manager for CODEPINK ís Stolen Beauty Ahava Boycott http://www.stolenbeauty.org, an international campaign against the company's violations of international law, said, "Ahava's CEO has been circulating a letter to retailers that we thought was filled with lies, and now Who Profits has provided us with the evidence to prove it."
The company is still reeling from the public relations setback of an explosive new report issued on May 5th by Bítselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, which calls Ahava out by name as an occupation profiteer. Ahava representatives have yet to respond to Bítselem's report, and the company's reputation is now further tarnished by this just discovered documentary proof of its violations of international law.
June 14, 2011
June 12, 2011
Ahava prove to violate international law
Press Advisory Date: 18 May 2011
CAUGHT: Ahava's Theft of Occupied Natural Resources Finally Exposed After years of strenuous denial, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics firm with its main manufacturing plant in an illegal West Bank settlement, is proven by documentary evidence to be in violation of international law through its theft of Palestinian resources. This evidence was recently discovered by Who Profits (http://www.whoprofits.org), a research project of the Israeli Coalition for Peace, which documents corporate activity in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory.
Prior to this finding representatives of Ahava repeatedly claimed that the company does not make use of natural resources from the West Bank:
"the mud and materials used in Ahava cosmetics products are not excavated in an occupied area. The mud is mined in the Israeli part of the Dead Sea, which is undisputed internationally".
The new findings prove that the company was given a license for excavating minerals in 2004 from the Israeli Civil Administration, which is the representative of the Israeli government in the Occupied West Bank, and that the excavation site on the occupied shores of the Northern Dead Sea is currently active. By making use of mud that is excavated in the occupied area the company is violating international humanitarian law (the laws of occupation), which prohibits the plundering of natural resources from the occupied territory. Merav Amir, Coordinator of Who Profits, said, "Ahava can no longer continue misleading consumers about where they get the mud used in their products. This mud is from the Occupied West Bank and is stolen from the Palestinian people."
Nancy Kricorian, the manager for CODEPINK's Stolen Beauty Ahava Boycott (www.stolenbeauty.org
The company is still reeling from the public relations setback of an explosive new report [2] issued on May 5th by B'tselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, which calls Ahava out by name as an occupation profiteer. Ahava representatives have yet to respond to B'tselem's report, and the company's reputation is now further tarnished by this just discovered documentary proof of its violations of international law.
June 8, 2011
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
We invite you to participate in the June focus* of our "We're not buying it" Boycott Israel campaign. As you may know, CJPME's Boycott Israel campaign is intended to pressure Israel to respect human rights and cease its occupation of Palestinian land. The campaign has a different focus each month: one consumer target, and one cultural target. For June, we urge you to participate as we target:
- IKEA- Consumer Target
- Duran Duran- Cultural Target
IKEA delivers to the illegal Israeli colonies in the West Bank, while refusing to deliver to any Palestinian cities in the Occupied territories. IKEA currently has two stores in Israel and is planning on opening a third one in 2012. Find out more. - Express your concern by sending an email to the executives of IKEA by clicking here.
- Send a letter to execs at IKEA by printing the letter here, adding your name, and sending it.
- Print this letter, add your name, and take it to your local IKEA.
- Express your concern via email to Duran Duran by clicking here.
- Send a letter to Duran Duran by printing the letter here, adding your name, printing and sending it.
Telephone: (438) 380 5410
May 18, 2011
CVS products made in the settlements
I looked closely today at what the CVS has in this store.
It doesn't carry Ahava, although this store is listed on the national CVS website as carrying many of their products: Ahava Enriched Intensive Foot Cream, Ahava Velvet Cream Wash Orange & Frangipani, Ahava Foot Indulgence Soft & Soothing Gift Set, Ahava Purifying Mud Soap, etc.
The Rhinebeck CVS is loaded with l'Oreal products. This from the BDS Movement for Freedom, Justice, and Equality:
"L'Oreal Israel manufacturers a line of products using Dead Sea minerals under the name 'Natural Sea Beauty' that is exported to 22 countries. While L'Oreal exploits minerals from the Dead Sea, the region and its resources are systematically closed to the indigenous Palestinian people by Israel's military occupation and apartheid practices, which have set up a network of checkpoints, segregated roads and exclusive zones."
Natural Sea Beauty (Manufactured by Interbeauty Cosmetics Inc., a subsidiary of L'Oreal) is sold by CVS: http://www.thefind.com/query.php?query=%22Natural%20Sea%20Beauty%22%20cvs
H20 + Sea Mineral Mud Mask also uses Dead Sea minerals and is sold by CVS:
http://www.thefind.com/search?query=purifying+facial+mud+mask+cvs
Dead Sea Salt Foot Soak, Swisa Beauty Esensuals Dead Sea Facial Peel, and Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Pac are also carried by CVS
CVS carries many other products that are simply made in Israel: Emjoi Rotoshave Electric Razor, CVS Medicated Wipes To Go, CVS Children's Allergy Relief Oral Solution, CVS Tampons Super Plus Absorbency, Garnier Nutritioniste Nutri-Pure Cleansing Towelettes, Born Free 7-Oz Training Cup Assorted Colors, CVS Unscented Plastic Tampons Multi Pack, Born Free Twister Brush Set, Born Free Vented Glass Bottle 5 oz, Bornfree Level 3 Fast Flow Nipples, Boogie Wipes Individually Wrapped, Fresh Scent, CVS Omeprazole 20 Mg Tablets, Epilady Coil Tweezer.
May 12, 2011
German firm pulls out of Israeli project...
In an unprecedented victory to a public campaign led by Palestinian, German and Israeli groups, the German firm Deutsche Bahn International has been pulled off an Israeli railway project by a decision of the German Federal Government. The Israeli railway line is being built between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, unlawfully crossing into occupied Palestinian territory in two areas, at a great cost to the neighboring Palestinian communities.
The international campaign was launched six months ago following an investigation by the Israeli research group “Who Profits from the Occupation” of the Coalition of Women for Peace. The “Who Profits” report (see:
A letter from the German Transport Ministry was released last week, stating that "The federal government pointed out [to Deutsche Bahn] that the project of the Israeli state railway is problematic from a foreign policy point of view and potentially breaches international law." The letter added that the German operator confirmed "in writing" that there would be no further involvement of its international subsidiary in "this politically very sensitive project".
Prominent among the other European companies involved in the planning and construction of the new train line is the private Italian company Pizzarotti which handles much of the tunneling. A wide coalition of Italian organizations has appealed to the company to back out of this illegal project (see more: