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/ 

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