Dystopian system to watch over an imprisoned people

All across the West Bank there is a network of secret cameras hooked up to cutting-edge facial recognition software. It tracks every Palestinian face it can find, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Israeli Defense Forces’ surprise partner in this Orwellian surveillance system? Microsoft.

This June, Microsoft made a massive multi-million dollar investment in AnyVision, an Israeli facial recognition company led by former Mossad and Israeli defense staff – even though Microsoft had just committed to follow six ethical “principles to guide Microsoft’s facial recognition work.”

A description of one of these principles:

“We will not deploy our facial recognition technology in those surveillance scenarios where we believe there are inadequate safeguards to protect democratic freedoms and human rights.”

Under Israel’s apartheid system, there can never be adequate “safeguards” to protect the freedoms and human rights of Palestinians.

And there is NOTHING ETHICAL about creating a dystopian system to watch over an imprisoned people.

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Green candidate supports BDS

Hawkins Supports BDS Movement Against Israel, Calls for New Relationship

Aug 06, 2019 09:37 pm

On Tuesday, July 3, the US House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming 398 to 17 margin to pass a resolution condemning the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights.

I have been a long-time supporter of BDS. In 2014, I wrote that I support the efforts to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction against Israel in response to its attack on Gaza.

Continue reading Hawkins Supports BDS Movement Against Israel, Calls for New Relationship at Howie Hawkins for President.

Legal Win for Campus Palestine Activists

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/08/palestine-activists-happened/

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The first major legal win for campus Palestine activists just happened at Fordham

Michael Arria on August 7, 2019

 

In 2016, Fordham University tried to block a Palestinian advocacy group from being formed. After a two year legal battle, students at the school have won a landmark victory which legal advocates are calling “the first major legal victory for free speech for advocates of Palestine on college campuses,” and a Students for Justice in Palestine club can now be established on their campus.

Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech & the Battle for Palestinian Rights

We’re thrilled to let you know that “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech & the Battle for Palestinian Rights,” the electrifying event that faced fierce right-wing resistance and made international headlines, is now streaming online! The event, which focused on the increasingly vitriolic backlash against pro-Palestinian voices, was held at the UMass-Amherst Fine Arts Center on May 4 in front of a capacity crowd of 1,600 people despite an aggressive political and legal effort by right-wing groups to brand it as anti-Semitic and shut it down. We've launched a new website at NotBackingDownUmass.org featuring the full program, event highlights, and media coverage of the intense blowback the panel generated.

Sut Jhally | Executive Director, Media Education Foundation

BDS will end Israeli apartheid

To the Editor:

Israel is a rogue nation which repeatedly violates international law,  UN resolutions, and the human rights of Palestinians and Bedouins.   This outlaw and criminal  behavior  would not be possible without the  support of the United States and our taxpayer dollars ( $3.8 billion per year).  Since 1967 Israel has demolished 55,000 Palestinian homes - in 1948 Israel demolished 60,000 homes and terrorized  850,000 Palestinians into abandoning their land and homes.  Since 1967 the Israeli army (IDF) has militarily occupied  Gaza and the West Bank, and imposed a brutal blockade on Gaza,  intentionally causing shortages of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies.  This  year peaceful, non-violent  border protests by desperate Palestinians  were met with Israeli army sniper fire that killed over 200 Palestinians  including journalists,  medics, and  disabled demonstrators  in wheelchairs - IDF snipers  severely wounded  more than 20,000 protesters! 

With the relentless, violent and illegal theft of occupied Palestinian lands, homes, and farms  to build apartheid, Jewish only settlements  there are now over 500,000 Jewish settlers occupying over 200 settlements, outposts, and neighborhoods.   Israel has been condemned widely by the international community for it’s brutal ethnic cleansing and creation of an apartheid state where only Jews have full citizenship and rights.  

The non-violent BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions)  movement is attempting to pressure Israel to end it’s military occupation, secure equal rights for all (Jews and Arabs), and to allow Palestinians to return to their  stolen lands.  A boycott ended South African apartheid - hopefully, BDS will end Israeli apartheid. 

Eli Kassirer

New Paltz, NY

Support for UMass Amherst’s Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine

Please fill out this form with your name and/or organization and title to support UMass' Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

https://bit.ly/2PutHZg

Greetings,

We, UMass Amherst Students for Justice in Palestine, are urgently contacting you for support, because of the extreme backlash both in number and nature regarding the upcoming panel event on May 4 titled, “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech, and the Battle for Palestinian Rights.” This past week, 80 nationwide organizations wrote to UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy ordering the university to rescind all support and sponsorship of the event.. They stated that this event violates the university’s academic mission and will encourage violence on campus. 

This is a clear silencing tactic to end a necessary discussion about Palestinian rights and critiques of the Israeli government. The selective outrage is clear when there is no response like this to any other political events UMass holds on campus. UMass and its academic departments regularly sponsor speakers on all sides of the political spectrum, showing that the only “personal political agendas” these 80 organizations take umbrage with are those who are standing up in the face of censorship on the topic of Palestine. This letter describes the event as a “political rally” that will incite violence even though it has been explicitly promoted as a panel discussion on censorship. The reaction to this event is exactly why this event is happening. Anti-Palestinian rhetoric has controlled the conversation for far too long and censorship received by individuals such as the panelists solidifies the need for this event on a diverse campus. Anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-semitism.

On the evening of April 23rd, tickets for the event online were reserved in bulk in an attempt to protest the event and ensure others genuinely interested in the panelists’ messages are unable to attend. We have also received information about individuals preparing to disrupt the event, although we hope this is not true.

Once again, we urge those in support of this event and free speech to share this message widely. Hundreds of tickets will be available at the door at 6:15 pm on evening of the event and unclaimed tickets on the day of the event will be available to students as well. We suggest you come even earlier if you are able. In the face of this intimidation, we hope you come out in support early and wait for your tickets at the door.

Our panelists, Linda Sarsour, Roger Waters, David Zirin and Marc Lamont Hill and moderator, Vijay Prashad are steadfast in their beliefs and refuse to be intimidated and silenced. We stand with them. We urge you to show your support as our University faces severe pressure against this event.

Join the New Paltz Socialists

Since Israel's foundation, the basic rights and freedoms of Palestinians have been under assault. Continued land grabs, the denial of clean water and equal education funding to Palestinians, and the continued bulldozing of Palestinian homes make it clear that Israel is a modern-day apartheid state. The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement attempts to use one of the same strategies (an international boycott and divestment campaign) used to end apartheid in South Africa to end apartheid in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories. Join the New Paltz Socialists for a discussion on what BDS is, and how we can fight for it here in the Hudson Valley.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2247776385541258/