Blixa Bargeld and Teho Teardo, Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

Dear Blixa and Teho,

Since the beginning of this campaign, we have been pondering the fact that Blixa has made a film for television on the ex-Israeli musician and activist Dror Feiler, which is due to air on the Arte TV channel four days before Blixa’s own planned concert in Tel Aviv on 15 September.

It is commendable that this film will shine a light on Dror’s activities, which most significantly include his participation in several of the flotillas to break the Israeli government’s brutal siege of Gaza. However, Blixa’s planned concert in Tel Aviv, four days after the broadcast of this film, would completely negate any positive impact coming from it, and would amount to both an affirmation and amplification of Israeli propaganda. The proximity of the broadcast to Blixa’s scheduled breach of the Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) call inevitably gives the impression that the former in some way is expected to justify the latter. The Israeli government, by viewing “culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank”, has created a zero-sum game scenario, the iron logic of which allows for no ambiguity and can only be successfully opposed by a boycott. By weaponising culture itself, the Israeli government further compels artists to decide between providing it with further ammunition or refusing to be complicit in this. It is precisely for this reason that Palestinian civil society has called for a cultural boycott of Israel.

In addition, while the tension arising from the broadcast of the film and the breach of the boycott immediately afterwards appears to give rise to an interesting dialectic, this scenario is achieved at the expense of Palestinian suffering. It seems, therefore, that Blixa is instrumentalising Dror Feiler, but also, and more importantly, the wider political situation as a whole purely for effect. By the same process the Israeli government will be able to instrumentalise Blixa for its own propaganda aims. We wonder if Blixa feels comfortable being used by a state that employs culture as a weapon while also using physical weapons such as cluster bombs and white phosphorous against the Palestinian people, killing and maiming thousands.

Furthermore, artists should not think that in using their performances in Israel as a platform to criticise the state and its policies they are constructively contributing to the Palestinian cause. They are doing nothing of the sort, but rather they facilitate Israeli government in its propaganda by allowing it to portray itself as a democracy tolerant of criticism, when, in fact, this is not the case.

Nor is the argument valid that there are other states in breach of international law, the point is that the Palestinian people have called for a boycott, just as those struggling against South African apartheid did. All that is being asked of you is that you not cross the Palestinian picket line.

Even if there is no direct government involvement of funding in this particular gig, PACBI’s guidelines stipulate “In general, PACBI urges international cultural workers (e.g. artists, writers, filmmakers)… where possible and as relevant, to boycott and/or work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israel, its lobby groups or its cultural institutions, or that otherwise promote the normalization of Israel in the global cultural sphere.” And “It must be emphasized that a cultural product’s content or artistic merit is not relevant in determining whether or not it is boycottable.”

The reality is that for Israel any show that isn’t cancelled because of BDS appeals is considered a political victory over the Palestinian struggle and international solidarity with it. Hence any artist that’s been appealed to and refused to boycott is a win for Israel, in the view of the state.

Performing in Tel Aviv means playing for a segregated audience, on ethnically cleansed land, can you really see yourselves doing that?

For these reasons, we must repeat, with added emphasis, what so many international groups wrote to you in their first letter: “The call to boycott Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights was first made in 2005, by over 170 (now over 200) Palestinian civil society groups. The boycott is a non-violent tactic against oppressive state power. It would be extremely disappointing if artists of your stature chose to break this call for solidarity with the Palestinian people, particularly at a time when Israel is escalating its daily attacks on them.”

In all of this the plight of the Palestinians is once again pushed into the background and the foreground struggle becomes that of yet another high-profile western artist refusing to use their position of privilege to stand in solidarity with people who have only asked that they do no harm. Therefore we would like to conclude by quoting the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel’s letter to you:

“We are asking you to not side with the oppressor by performing in Tel Aviv 15th September. Don’t let your music normalize the racist brutality and the ethnic cleansing Palestinians suffer from day in day out under the control of the Israeli Apartheid regime. Instead, let your music stand on the right side of history. If you do so, you will look back with a clean conscience when the day arrives that we Palestinians are granted the same human rights as anyone else.”

Letters

From Gaza

 From International Groups

From Boycott from Within (2

  From Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

From Boycott from Within (1)

Palestinians hold their national flag as they ride boats during a rally to show support for activists aboard a flotilla of boats who are soon to set sail for Gaza in a fresh bid to break Israel’s blockade of the territory, at the seaport of Gaza City on June 24, 2015. Freedom Flotilla III

Tel Aviv https://electronicintifada.net/content/jaffa-eminence-ethnic-cleansing/8088

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Cultural Boycott Highlights and Cultural Worker Support for Palestinians: A Summary of 2014

By Don’t Play Apartheid Israel (DPAI)

January 2014: Norwegian artist Moddi courageously cancels his planned concert in Israel and writes: “I have chosen to cancel my performance in Tel Aviv on February 1st. This is without comparison the most difficult decision I have ever made as an artist, and one that hurts almost as much as it feels right.  The reason for my decision is the situation in Israel and the areas it controls. Although music can be a unique arena for public debate, the debate over these territories has been misused for a long time [1].”

Jasiri X furthers the message about the boycott of Israel with his release of music video Checkpoint, rapping “Support BDS, don’t give a dime to the checkpoint [2].”

JULY: British band Massive Attack in Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon support BDS (Getty Images).

 

French musician Titi Robin shows amazing solidarity with the Palestinian people, his cancellation of his planned Israel concert is particularly significant as he had performed there in the past.  He states “these journeys finally made me take this decision, which appears to me, after a long term reflection, the most honest one regarding the evolution of the situation [3].”

February 2014: Notable international cartoonists, including Siné, Tardi and Joe Sacco, mobilize against the presence of Sodastream at the International Festival of Comics in Angoulême, France. Ninety-nine cartoonists sign onto an open letter asking the organizers to join in the boycott of Sodastream [4].  Other famous names in contemporary comics that signed include Alison Bechdel (“Fun Home”), Kate Beaton (“Hark A Vagrant”), Ben Katchor (“The Jew of New York”), Peter Kuper (“Spy vs. Spy”), and Jaime Hernandez.

March 2014: People’s Books Co-op in Milwaukee, WI voted to join the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against Israel. In support of the cultural boycott the PBC will not participate in any official Israeli celebrations or festivals and will decline offers to perform or speak in Israel [5].

Founders of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and Nick Mason come together in support of the BDS movement, and they both urge all bands intending to play Israel to reconsider, pointing out that “Playing Israel now is the moral equivalent of playing Sun City at the height of South African apartheid; regardless of your intentions, crossing the picket line provides propaganda that the Israeli government will use in its attempts to whitewash the policies of its unjust and racist regime [6].” Waters has been a supporter of, and advocate for, the BDS movement for some years now.

Playing Israel today, in this time of ever increasing Palestinian solidarity, is a huge political statement. This tweet by the Associated Press is indicative of just how big BDS has become.

“@Beyonce won’t be heading to Israel for a concert. Her rep tells @APEntertainment that reports about Bey performing in Tel Aviv are false [7].”

OCTOBER: Bestselling Dominican-American author and Professor at MIT Junot Díaz endorses the cultural boycott of Israel.

 

Philosopher and activist Grace Lee Boggs and actor and activist Danny Glover denounce the inclusion of the film ‘American Revolutionary: the Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs’ in a government-sponsored Israeli film festival. In a strong statement they assert that:  “We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and support their call for cultural and academic boycott of Israel.” This was sent to the Electronic Intifada and co-signed with ten other individuals involved with the award-winning documentary that focuses on the life and work of the 98-year-old Boggs [8].

NY band The Shondes write in agreement and support of the cultural boycott:  “We support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement (BDS) because it pressures Israel to comply with international law: to end the illegal occupation, ensure refugees their right to return home, and guarantee full rights to Palestinian citizens of Israel [9].”

Over 100 artists and intellectuals — including Judith Butler, Lucy Lippard, Chantal Mouffe, Walid Raad, Martha Rosler, and Gayatri Spivak — observe the cultural boycott by signing on to a public letter calling on participants to withdraw from Creative Time’s travelling ‘Living as Form’ exhibition on the grounds that it is currently showing at an institution with a “central role in maintaining the unjust and illegal occupation of Palestine.” The missive came in response to revelations that the social practice exhibition curated by Nato Thompson had been touring in Israel for six months unbeknownst to participants, including its appearance at The Technion, a university in Haifa with extensive research-and-development links to the Israeli military and defense technology industry [10].

July 2014: Israel embarks on a violent attack on the people living in Gaza, which is held under illegal siege.  Israel’s misleadingly termed Operation Protective Edge, eventually kills over 2,200 people (including over 510 children).

After learning about the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divest and sanctions against Israel, US rapper Talib Kweli announced on twitter that he would respect BDS. Kweli was supposed to appear in an international hip-hop, funk and groove festival planned for mid-August in Israel [11].

According to Israeli media, Pearl Jam implicitly supports the cultural boycott. Lead singer Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam effectively denounced Israel’s attacks on Palestinians (though without naming it) at a concert: “I swear to fucking god, there are people out there who are looking for a reason to kill. They’re looking for a reason to go across borders and take over land that doesn’t belong to them. They should get the fuck out, and mind their own fucking business.  We don’t want to give them our money. We don’t want to give them our taxes to drop bombs on children [12].” An article in Hebrew reports on the failure to bring Pearl Jam to Israel and implicitly concludes that  the reason the efforts failed was the boycott [13].

A huge coordinated effort was made to ask Neil young to cancel his planned gig in Israel.  Roger Waters is among those who contacted Young, stating “Woody Guthrie would turn in his grave!  Neil Young! [14]”  Speculation has been made that Young allowed Israel to manipulate the reasons for his cancellation.  Staging and fencing were never built for his gig in Tel Aviv, ticket refunds were made, and he did not state he would reschedule.

Numerous bands and festivals are cancelled as Israel’s offensive rages on, and Israel predictably makes the questionable claim that cancellations were made for security reasons.  BDS activists continue to urge all artists to respect the boycott.  Meanwhile, many artists support Palestinians on twitter [15].  Waka Flocka Flame and French Montana are two of many groups to tweet in support of Palestine.

Nobel Peace laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Peres Esquivel, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú and Betty Williams join with other notables to support a military embargo of Israel.  Other signatories include Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters, playwright Caryl Churchill, US rapper Boots Riley, João Antonio Felicio, the president of the International Trade Union Confederation, and Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions. Such cooperation across a wide spectrum of people is significant [16].

Influential Ebony magazine publishes “Why Black people Must Stand With Palestine”, drawing parallels to injustices;  “Similar to the Palestinians’ call for people of conscience to boycott and divest from companies that support their oppression, we might call on people abroad to pressure an end to “the New Jim Crow”—mass incarceration [17].”

AUGUST: Sinéad O’Connor dons GAZA solidarity shirt during her London concert.

 

Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor cancels her show (planned for September), refusing the bow to pressure to play, and assuring her fans that she had not previously been aware of the cultural boycott [18]. During her August show in London, the singer puts on a t-shirt with GAZA written on it (see photo).

Cultural artists join over 21,000 people in signing on to a letter to David Cameron, demanding military sanctions against Israel.  Signatories include rock legend Peter Gabriel, Jemima Khan, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, Brian Eno and Bryan Adams, the writers Will Self, Hanif Kureishi, Ahdaf Soueif, Esther Freud, Laura Bailey and William Dalrymple, and the actors David Morrissey, Maxine Peake and Alexei Sayle [19].

Brian Eno of Roxy Music fame takes an active role in the press, asserting that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): “… seems to regard Palestinian lives as less valuable, less newsworthy [20].”

Award-winning band and veteran political activists Massive Attack use their headline slot at Longitude Festival in Dublin, Ireland to highlight their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.  A lit-up message behind the performers said: “Gaza has been ocupied [sic] or under restrictions since 1948 [21].”

Going beyond outrage at Israel’s crimes against humanity, and vocally answering the call for BDS, artists come together in “Boycott Israel.”  Norwegian Don Martin, Immortal Technique, El Tipo Este of Cuban duo Obsesion, Parisian rapper Tonto Noiza, and Johannesburg-based Tumi Molekane inform listeners about BDS in different languages [22].

New York Times bestselling author Ayelet Waldman tweets support for BDS, saying  that although she is Israeli and she loves her country, and she formerly opposed BDS, she is ready to give BDS a chance [23].

The Hollywood Reporter, the largest publication covering the entertainment industry,  attempts to explain the widespread support by celebrities of Palestinians with “Why Young Hollywood is More Willing to Question Israel’s Policies [24].”

Multiple award winning singer Selena Gomez  tweets to what she calls #wearethenextgeneration to be that change, it’s about humanity, pray for Gaza.

[25] Her tweet stays on twitter.

Prominent Jewish people, Palestinians, and others stand for Palestine in a powerful video with Jonathan Demme (Academy Award), Gloria Steinem, Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Prize), Diana Buttu, Chuck D, Eve Ensler, Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Mira Nair (Academy Award), Wallace Shawn, Naomi Klein, Mira Nair, Raj Patel, Noura Erakat,  Alison Bechdel, Urvashi Vaid and many others [26].

The cultural boycott of Israel is the central topic of conversation, in speculations about the real reason why the Israeli dance troupe’s performance was nixed from the program at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe show [27].

Magic Johnson was slated to play basketball for 5000 Israeli armed forces soldiers during an inauguration for a newly opened arena. It was reported that the Jerusalem Municipality was surprised when he refused to participate in the event.

The Hollywood Reporter notes support for Palestinians again when Oscar winners Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar denounce Israeli genocide in an open letter, others who signed the letter include directors Montxo Armendariz and Benito Zambrano, along with actors Lola Herrera, Eduardo Noriega and Rosa Maria Sarda; and musicians Amaral and Nacho Campillo among others [28]. Their support also makes headlines in many large Spanish language publications such as Eldiario.es.

Video “La Palestine pleure de SANG” is released by SLM, a popular French rap duo, using images from Gaza to compelling music [29a].

Yaakov Shwekey, known for formerly playing for the Israeli military, cancels his planned concert in Israel [29aa].

Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall of Massive Attack visit the Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon (see photo), and speak of their ‘love and commitment’ to supporting the plight of young Palestinian refugees.  Del Naja asserts “it is important to bring attention to those Palestinians living in Lebanon since 1948: all the young people I met who weren’t born in Syria were born in Lebanon, and all of them are waiting to go home [29b].

Veteran American band Kansas backs out of a planned gig in Israel, no plans for a reschedule are firm, and full ticket refunds are given [29bb].

August 2014: The Irish artists’ pledge to support the cultural boycott of Israel reaches 500 signatures, a significant milestone for such a small country, and includes creative and performing artists residing all over the island of Ireland. Over 200 artists signed up due to Israel’s murderous attack on Gaza. [31]

Musician Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the acclaimed Ravi Shankar,  speaks out on Israel’s attack upon Gaza: “I can’t be silent.  It is genocide [32].” Shankar’s declaration is notable, in that she has previously bypassed the cultural boycott, playing in Israel.  Her choice to become an artist of conscience now is commendable.

In an enormous victory for BDS, the Tricycle Theater refuses to host the UK Jewish Film Festival citing Israeli sponsorship [32a].  In a huge turnaround, acclaimed Irish film director Lenny Abrahamson (former Israel supporter and defender of Israel’s attack on Lebanon) publicly announces:  “As a filmmaker of Jewish background I fully support the Tricycle’s position [32aa].”

Often teetering on one side or another, Russell Brand makes a case for BDS, calling for big businesses to pull funding from Israeli companies that facilitate the oppression of the people of Gaza [33]. His video goes viral.

Many more musicians continue to cancel their planned Israel gigs as August wears on and the damage to Gaza is publicized.

South Korean directors Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker, Joint Security Area) and Ryoo Seung-wan (The Berlin File, The Unjust) were among 100 public figures, along with academics, legal experts and religious figures to sign a petition and deliver it to the Israeli embassy in Seoul.  The petition refers to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “civilian massacre” and calls on Israel to “stop immediately.” Elsewhere in the petition, the actions of Israel are described as a “war crime.” The governments of South Korea, Europe, and the US are asked to comply with what amounts to military sanctions against Israel [34].

Regarding Lana Del Rey’s cancellation, the Wondering Sound writes: “It’s a sad twist that Del Rey’s excellent new album is titled Ultraviolence, making her cancellation all the more tragically appropriate [35].”  When musicians reschedule Israel they are acting to support the Israeli state, regardless of whether intentional or not.

Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist Marcus Strickland withdraw from the Red Sea Jazz Festival, an event sponsored by the Israeli government.

A group of high-profile political figures predominantly from Central America, South America and the Caribbean — including Bolivian President Evo Morales, US author Alice Walker, deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (signed with his common name “Mel Zelaya”), former Cuban president Fidel Castro,Cuban musician Silvio Rodrígiuez, Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano and others — sign onto a strongly worded statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people and support for BDS [36].

Numerous Norwegian actors sign a pointed statement endorsing the BDS movement, and insisting that the Norwegian National Theatre shall not be used to normalize Israel’s illegal actions.  Actors Siri Austeen, Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk, Chris Erichsen, Trine Falch and dozens more signed [37].

Throughout August, more celebrities tweet in support of Palestine and question Israel’s actions including Mia Farrow, John Legend and footballer Joey Barton.

G4S is the British-Danish firm which provides security services to checkpoints, prisons and interrogation centers in Israel.  When legendary musician Pete Wylie found out the city of Liverpool had been paying for services from G4S he argued: “I cannot condone or work with a council that sees fit to engage with G4S,” cancelling his appearance at the city’s International Music Festival in support of BDS [38].

Wylie’s move follows a wider campaign by local Palestine solidarity groups which has seen Liverpudlian writers, actors, musicians and other artists sign up to an open letter to the city council, criticizing its contracts with G4S.  Signatories to the letter — which refers to the “appalling misery and carnage in Palestine” — include authors Frank Cottrell Boyce, Alan Gibbons and Jimmy McGovern and actor and comedian and Alexei Sayle, alongside several dozen other artists [38].

Renowned comedian Bill Bailey has put his voice to a powerful new video calling for medical aid to Gaza [39].

The Society for Cinema and Media Studies – Middle East Caucus, writes an open letter endorsing BDS [40].

Bryan Adams, Grammy Award, Oscar Award (among many others) winning musician, uses twitter, “..and the Israeli blockade of #Gaza just entered its 8th year, leaving its 1.7 million inhabitants destitute [41].”

Renowned Algerian singer Souad Massi explains with conviction why she upholds the cultural boycott of Israel, though she had been offered bookings in Israel “time and time again [42].”

Acclaimed film director Ken Loach spoke at the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Award Ceremony (Sarajevo film festival) honoring Palestinian directors Abdel Salam Shehadeh and Ashraf Mashharawi, and called for an “absolute boycott of all the cultural happenings supported by the Israeli state.” Referring to the boycott, he added “Israel must become a pariah state [43].”

The 20th Annual Film Festival in Bristol, England, publically refuses Israeli Embassy Funding in order to maintain a “neutral political status [44].”

“The oppression of one concerns that of all,” say the majority of artists and participants of the 31st São Paulo Bienal Art Exhibit, who refused to support the normalization of Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people, “We believe Israeli state cultural funding directly contributes to maintaining, defending and whitewashing their violation of international law and human rights [45].”

Popular Lebanese singers use twitter to raise awareness to their fans about Gaza [46].

The Amsterdam “Spot on Israel” show fails to normalize Dutch relations with Israel during its sojourn with the “first lady of the Israeli Habima theater.”  Brave activists can be seen being assaulted and then arrested for protesting in a video that halts the small Israeli state funded show [47].

Many authors including Junot Díaz and Eliot Weinberger sign in agreement with the cultural boycott that: “ It is deeply regrettable that the Brooklyn Book Festival has chosen to accept funding from the Israeli government just weeks after Israel’s bloody 50-day assault on the Gaza Strip, which left over 2100 Palestinians – including 500 children – dead, displaced a fourth of the population, destroyed homes, schools, and hospitals, and involved numerous potential war crimes [48].

Author and academic Marcelo Svirsky sets off on his Walk for BDS from Sydney to Canberra, a distance of 287 kms. He is feted by well-wishers from Sydney University Staff for BDS [49].

Concerts benefiting Gaza with financial contributions take place worldwide, too numerous to list here.

The Swiss Federal Council is called upon by over 640 Swiss swiss artists and cultural actors to suspend military cooperation with Israel, including canceling a recent order of Elbit H-900 military drones, which were tested in Gaza and would are intended to be used by the Swiss intelligence to monitor Switzerland’s own population [50].

September 2014: Notable international artists donate their work to create a series of compelling posters for Gaza [29].

Golden Globe and Academy Award winner Asghar Farhadi joins with Nasrin Sotoudeh to create a campaign titled “stop killing” to address the massacre in Gaza.  Farhadi  is considered by Time magazine (2012) to be one of the top 100 most influential people in the world [30].

October 2014: The Beach Boys don’t specify a reason, however they cancelled their planned gig in Israel as reported in Haa’retz and many other media outlets [51].

Israel especially singles out international film festivals as targets for rebranding attempts, often assigning local Israeli embassies as financial sponsors of festivals.  In Belgium, the Brussels Jewish Film Festival was not exempt from this effort.  The Union of Progressive Jews of Belgium (UPJB) boldly protested this by withdrawing both their participation and their sponsorship from the Brussels Jewish Film Festival [52].

New York Times bestselling author Junot Díaz (see photo), who received a Pulitzer Prize for his novel ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ and won the prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant,” endorsed the United States Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). Diaz asserts: “If there exists a moral arc to the universe, then Palestine will eventually be free. But that promised day will never arrive unless we, the  justice-minded peoples of our world, fight to end the cruel blight of the Israeli occupation [53].”

Hip hop superstar Chuck D, of the groundbreaking group Public Enemy, also signaled his endorsement of USACBI [53].

Mira Nair reaffirms her strong support for the cultural boycott by joining numerous other artists in an open letter asking the World Music Institute (New York) not to present Israeli propagandist Idan Raichel [54].

 

 

NOTES

[1] ttp://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/moddi-cancels-tel-aviv-gig-after-appeal-gaza

[2]http://mondoweiss.net/2014/01/video-checkpoint-jasiri

[3] In the French Press:

http://www.lecourrierdelatlas.com/663418022014Titi-Robin-renonce-a-jouer-a-Jerusalem.html

[4] http://www.peoplesbookscoop.org/?page_id=1333

[5] http://www.peoplesbookscoop.org/?page_id=1333

[6] http://www.salon.com/2014/05/01/pink_floyds_roger_waters_and_nick_mason_why_rolling_stones_shouldnt_play_in_israel/

[7] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/beyonce-denies-shes-going-israel

[8] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/grace-lee-boggs-danny-glover-object-film-screening-tel-aviv

[9] http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/05/29/an-open-letter-from-the-shondes/?utm

[10] http://hyperallergic.com/131497/over-100-artists-and-intellectuals-call-for-withdrawal-from-creative-time-exhibition/

[11] http://www.kadaitcha.com/2014/07/03/talib-kweli-solidarity-with-those-who-live-it-is-a-stronger-statement/

[12] At 5:22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ukBCCyczA#t=244

[13] In Hebrew http://www.mako.co.il/music-news/world/Article-5ee5eaf4a3c2741006.htm

[14] http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/14/neil-young-crazy-horse-israel-concert-gaza-conflict

[15] http://www.salon.com/2014/07/31/tweet_and_delete_on_gaza_celebrity_courage_and_cowardice_over_social_media/

[16] http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/nobel-celebrities-call-for-military-embargo-12316#sthash.iwrtjr3q.dpuf

[17] http://www.ebony.com/news-views/why-black-people-must-stand-with-palestine-402#axzz37pFwSTIv

[18] http://www.hotpress.com/Sinead-OConnor/news/Sinad-OConnor-I-wont-play-in-Israel/11954250.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/sinead-oconnor-london-roundhouse-gig-review-gaza-robin-williams-its-all-here-from-a-singer-who-refuses-to-skirt-issues-9667054.html

[19] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/rock-stars-peter-gabriel-and-bobby-gillespie-urge-arms-embargo-israel

[20] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/brian-eno-joins-criticism-bbcs-bias-against-palestinians

[21] http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/massive-attack-makes-gaza-statement-using-headline-stage-at-longitude-festival-9622836.html

[22] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/alexander-billet/watch-global-hip-hop-call-israel-boycott

[23] https://storify.com/jvplive/celebrities-speak-out-on-gaza

[24] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-young-hollywood-is-more-721353

[25] http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamberger/selena-gomez-instagrammed-a-picture-in-support-of-palestinia

[26] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDYiBls99w

[27] http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/news/edinburgh-fringe-second-israel-funded-show-pulled-1-3498490

[28] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/penelope-cruz-javier-bardem-denounce-721894?mobile_redirect=false

[29a] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtxSZOtDN3s

[29aa] https://twitter.com/MrPeeZee/status/493480856426512385

[29b] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/massive-attack-visit-palestinian-refugees-in-lebanon-all-of-them-have-a-right-to-a-life-of-dignity-and-beauty-9635645.html

[29bb] http://www.timesofisrael.com/promoters-hold-out-hope-for-some-culture-this-summer/

[29] http://www.humaginaire.net/

[30] http://keyhani.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/07/17/iran-asghar-farhadi-et-nassrin-sotoudeh-se-mobilisent-contre-le-massacre-a-gaza/

[31] http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/irish-artists-pledge-to-boycott-israel-reaches-500-signatures

[32] http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/genocide-anoushka-shankar

[32a] http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/121157/tricycle-theatre-refuses-host-uk-jewish-film-festival-over-israeli-sponsorship

[32aa] http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-director-backs-festival-boycott-over-israeli-sponsorship-1.1890360#.U-QE_lvBMPU.twitter

[33] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/russell-brand-calls-for-israel-boycott-comedian-urges-big-businesses-that-facilitate-the-oppression-of-people-in-gaza-to-pull-funding-9668147.html?kdk

[34] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/korean-filmmakers-sign-gaza-petition-723383

[35] http://www.wonderingsound.com/news/lana-del-rey-postpones-tel-aviv-israel-concert/

[36]  http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jimmy-johnson/fidel-castro-alice-walker-bolivian-president-condemn-israel-join-latin-american

[37] In Norweigan http://www.underskrift.no/vis.asp?Kampanje=5192

[38] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/sarah-irving/musicians-condemn-liverpool-councils-g4s-link-citing-abuse-against-palestinians

[39]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXyoEM5_jAo#t=40

[40] http://mecstatement.wordpress.com/

[41] https://twitter.com/bryanadams/status/501867732875624449

[42] http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/33/108885/Arts–Culture/Music/I-have-the-right-not-to-perform-in-a-country-which.aspx

[43]http://www.screendaily.com/news/ken-loach-calls-for-israel-boycott/5076553.article?blocktitle=LATEST-FILM-NEWS&contentID=40562

[44] http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-28981867

[45] http://news.artnet.com/art-world/artists-call-on-bienal-de-sao-paulo-to-reject-israeli-funds-updated-88974

[46] http://en.bellebeirut.com/behind-beirut/lebanese-singers-tweet-support-gaza/

[47] http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-activists-assaulted-arrested-protesting-israeli-theater-amsterdam

[48] http://adalahny.org/adalah-web-action/1194/open-letter-brooklyn-book-festival-re-israeli-sponsorship

[49] http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/marcelo-svirskys-palestine

[50] http://www.lecourrier.ch/declaration2014 and http://www.bds-info.ch/index.php/fr/home-fr/158-bds-fr/campagnes/bds-suisse/boycott-culturel-academique/921-640-swiss-artists-demand-that-the-swiss-federal-council-suspend-military-cooperation-with-israel

[51] http://www.haaretz.com/life/music-theater/1.621971

[52] http://www.upjb.be/communiques/article/l-upjb-ne-participera-pas-au-brussels-jewish

and http://www.kadaitcha.com/2014/10/23/international-cultural-venues-encouraged-to-boycott-israeli-government-funding/

[53] http://www.usacbi.org/2014/10/artists-and-intellectuals-including-junot-diaz-chuck-d-and-boots-riley-call-for-boycott-and-divestment-from-israel/

[54] http://adalahny.org/adalah-web-action/1202/open-letter-world-music-institute-do-not-present-idan-raichel

Reblogged from: http://refrainplayingisrael.blogspot.ie/2015/01/cultural-boycott-highlights-and.html

Brian Kerr launches ‘Gaza Kids to Ireland’

Gaza Action Ireland launched its Gaza Kids to Ireland project today in Dublin, with the support of Brian Kerr, former Irish national team manager,  who spoke very eloquently and passionately on the terrible and illegal obstacles apartheid Israel imposes on Palestinian football players both in Gaza and the West Bank. These include preventing the team from playing and training together, imprisoning players and coaches and have also seen players being shot, coupled with the bombing of the stadium in Gaza. In this light Kerr noted that the achievement of sports people in Palestine to continue to try to play and to compete successfully is remarkable. He also remembered the four children from the Bakr family who were murdered as they played football on the beach in Gaza this summer in Israel’s murderous assault which killed more than 2,200 people.

DONATE HERE

http://gazaactionireland.weebly.com/donate.html

Press release from GAI below, article from the Journal here. ‘7-year olds in Gaza have suffered three wars and yet they’re still trying to play football.’

Interview with Trevor Hogan on the Tubridy Show, from 49 mins. Irish Independent piece:  Gaza’s young footballers gear up for visit to Ireland

Many thanks to everyone who came along and have been helping out with this project, particularly to the chair and vice-chair of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Martin Quigley and Fatin Al Tamimi. Also to Peter Houlihan for the photos.

We will keep people notified on how to get involved with this project, meanwhile if you would like to donate, please see the Gaza Action Ireland website.

Follow us on twitter @GazaAI1

Free Palestine!

Photo Peter Houlihan PH Photography

Brian Kerr launches ‘Gaza Kids to Ireland’

A TEAM of Palestinian children from the besieged Gaza strip will play football in Ireland next summer, thanks to an initiative launched today by former Irish manager and leading football pundit Brian Kerr.

Hundreds of children were killed and approximately 3,000 were injured in Israel’s summer onslaught on the territory.

“We’d love to do something to help all of Gaza’s kids to have a normal childhood,” Kerr said at the launch in Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin, today. “In the meantime we can show this small group of them our hospitality – and the special sort of solidarity that comes from competing on a football pitch.”

Under-14 members of the Al-Helal club, based in northern Gaza, will play against teams from Dublin, Tipperary, Limerick and Antrim during their visit next August.

The ‘Gaza Kids to Ireland’ trip will see the children make a daunting journey across Egypt’s Sinai Desert, because the simpler route through Israel is closed by the illegal siege, and because Gaza doesn’t have an airport. It is being organised by Gaza Action Ireland (GAI) and Antrim to Gaza, who need to raise thousands of euro to support the initiative.

Contributions can be made at www.gazaactionireland.ie.

“Most people in Ireland were sickened at the sight of what Gaza’s men, women and children suffered under Israeli bombardment in July and August,” ex-rugby international Trevor Hogan, one of the GAI organisers of the visit, said today. “But the maiming and murder of so many kids was especially heartbreaking.

“We’ve expressed our anger already, not only at last summer’s assault but at the ongoing siege of this small, densely populated territory,” Hogan added. “This trip offers us a different way to show our support for the children of Palestine.”

Al-Helal’s clubhouse was damaged in the Israeli assaults of 2012 and 2014. It stands close to the beach, but the sea there is usually too polluted with sewage for the children to play in it.

“Even in Ireland, playing football is often the main form of exercise and entertainment that is freely available to children,” Kerr, who is also a director of Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI), said. “Imagine what it must mean to Gaza’s kids, who have just lived through the third major attack in less than six years on the territory where they live.”

GAI coordinator Zoë Lawlor said the organisers were delighted to have the support of many Irish sportspeople.

Photo Peter Houlihan PH Photography

Photo Fatin Al Tamimi

Irish group condemns Gaza school attack and Irish Government inaction

From Gaza Action Ireland
Irish group condemns Gaza school attack, Govt inaction

TODAY’S brutal attack on a UN school in Gaza underlines the stupidity and cowardice of Irish and EU policy toward Israel, Gaza Action Ireland (GAI) said.

At least 15 people were killed, with many more injured and the death count likely to grow.

The hospitals in Gaza, already under dire pressure due to the illegal siege, are now in an overwhelming, Israeli-made crisis, running on generators, with zero stock of many vital medicines and a medical community that is under constant military assault trying to deal with mass injuries and fatalities.

“Hospitals, schools, mosques, homes, the entire infrastructure of Gaza is being targeted and the people there are being terrorised and traumatised by the world’s fourth largest military,” Zoe Lawlor, GAI coordinator, said.

Today at the Dáil, GAI organised a protest by doctors, nurses and paramedics against Israel’s targeting of hospitals, clinics, ambulances and medical personnel.

“It could hardly be made any clearer than Israel is deliberately targeting civilians,” Lawlor added. “The attack, and their initial lies about this savage massacre, have brought home to the world their basic indifference to Palestinian suffering, something that has been evident throughout the last eight years of violence and siege.”

“The sickening irony is that this atrocity comes so soon after Ireland abstained on the UN Human Rights Council motion to investigate Israeli war crimes,” GAI coordinator Mags O’Brien said. “It is a disgrace that Ireland was dragged into an EU language of ‘balance’ that is just a front for shameful capitulation to Israeli and American intransigence.”

Lawlor said: “This latest attack on a UN school shows Israel’s utter contempt for the international community and of course for the people of Gaza. People who had already been made homeless by 17 days and nights of relentless Israeli bombardment, taking shelter in what they thought was a safe place, were bombed. This is a crime against humanity and Israel must face sanctions for its war crimes against the Palestinian people.

“The thousands of people all over Ireland that have taken part in actions and marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people shows clearly that the Irish Government is blatantly acting against the wishes of the Irish people by its shameful abstention on the UN vote yesterday. The level of outrage at this here is palpable.”

 

Gaza Action Ireland, which grew out of the Irish Ship to Gaza initiative, is a solidarity group that organises civil-society contacts between Ireland and Palestinians in the Gaza strip. It is responsible for the Windows Into Gaza art exhibition that is currently touring Ireland, and it is planning to bring a team of young footballers from Gaza to play here. In addition to artists and sports clubs, it has also forged links with fishermen, journalists, human-rights activists and providers of emergency services.

Gaza Action Ireland on Facebook

Twitter: @GAI1

Irish group calls for end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza

9 July 2014

from Gaza Action Ireland for immediate release

ISRAEL’S attacks on Gaza must stop, and international pressure must be put on both the Israeli and Egyptian governments to lift the siege on the Palestinian territory, a group of Irish-based activists said today.

Gaza Action Ireland (GAI), which has close links with human-rights campaigners inside Gaza, said there could be no justification for the bombing that has killed more than 30 people in the territory in the last few days.

Eight children are reported dead, including six killed by a single attack on the home of the Kaware family in the southern-Gaza city of Khan Younis.

“Journalists and others need to understand that when they call these savage bombings an ‘Israeli response’ to Hamas rockets, or suggest some equivalence between the suffering of the two sides, they are playing into the PR strategy of the aggressor, the occupying power, the Israeli state,” Zoe Lawlor, a spokesperson for GAI, said.

Ms Lawlor said the current wave of attacks was started by Israel. “It’s simply another example of Israel carrying out collective punishment of the people of Gaza, contrary to all morality and international law,” she said. “On this occasion, the pretext was the deplorable murder of three young Israelis — but Israel has produced no evidence that Hamas was responsible, and indeed embarked on weeks of arrests, home raids and demolitions throughout the West Bank, again described by Amnesty International as collective punishment.”

GAI’s Mags O’Brien, a trade-union activist with contacts among emergency-service workers in Gaza, said hospitals there were already stretched beyond their capacity.  “Gaza suffers from a shortage of medicine and supplies, because of Israeli restrictions and the Egyptian government’s closure of the tunnels that have been such a vital supply line,”  Ms O’Brien said. “They’re struggling to cope with the casualties of this latest assault.”

Ms Lawlor, Ms O’Brien and other GAI members visited Gaza last year, not long after Israel’s ‘Operation Pillar of Cloud’ killed more than 150 people.

Ms Lawlor said: “We need Irish politicians, and others, to stand with the people of Palestine. This latest attack is just an escalation of the state of terror that is Israel’s standard operating procedure against the besieged people of Gaza. We also need civil society to support the Palestinian call for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) on Israel.”

Solidarity with Palestine events this weekend Dublin  Limerick  Cork
Gaza Action Ireland, which grew out of the Irish Ship to Gaza initiative, is a solidarity group that organises civil-society contacts between Ireland and Palestinians in the Gaza strip. It is responsible for the Windows Into Gaza art exhibition that is currently touring Ireland, and it is planning to bring a team of young footballers from Gaza to play here. In addition to artists and sports clubs, it has also forged links with fishermen, journalists, human-rights activists and providers of emergency services.

Letter to Neil Young from Farmers and Agricultural Workers in Gaza

Neil Young is scheduled to play apartheid Israel on 17th July 2014 (Neil Young, Tell Me Why You Would Play for Apartheid Israel), for an artist of his principle and standing, this is a shocking date to be in his performance calendar. Many letters have been written to him to ask him for his solidarity, not to cross the Palestinian picket line, to respect the BDS call. This is one from the besieged agricultural workers in Gaza, Palestine. We have to hope he is reading these letters and that his conscience will kick in and that he will cancel.

Dear Neil Young,

We are Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers in the besieged Gaza Strip.

As you have stood many times for farmers and agricultural workers around the world, you would have undoubtedly found yourself meeting some of the most dignified, hard-working and family-oriented people. You will know that the life of cultivating the land is not easy. For Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, you would have to see the reality to believe what the Israeli occupation military forces do to our farming livelihoods, families and communities (many for whom you plan to perform in July this year). Try and imagine continuing our lives as farmers while:

• Getting shot each day while planting or harvesting our crops with live ammunition by armed Israeli soldiers behind a fence with F-16 machine guns.
• Having our crops and land overturned and destroyed by enormous American-made bulldozers protected by jeeps, tanks and snipers of the Israeli army.
• Having our farmhouses crushed or demolished, losing our possessions, farming equipment, livestock and water wells.
• Having huge areas of farmland bombed, with crop growth stunted by contamination from banned chemical weapons such as white phosphorous.
• Having replacement equipment, rebuilding of houses, restocking of crops made impossible by a medieval Israeli blockade of our border, preventing materials and equipment from reaching the population, such as saplings, pesticides and fertilizers, plastic sheets for greenhouses and hoses for irrigation.

This is our daily life in the Gaza Strip. We ask for the simple right to live and work as farmers do anywhere in the world, instead of having the work and livelihoods we love destroyed by an occupying army no Western government or international institution will stand up to.

With Willie Nelson [and] John Mellencamp, you organized the first Farm Aid concert to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. We share our solidarity with you and the entire world’s farming community. We also wish that you respond to the call of Palestinian farmers to not tolerate the Israeli occupation and siege that has suffocated our people and left our farming communities devastated.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented the brutal edge of Israeli policy that punishes and denies access to our own farms, seriously affecting the lives of 113,000 people or 7.5 percent of our total population. Regular shootings make farming in the “buffer zone” next to the border “high risk,” where 35 percent of the most arable Palestinian land is situated.

There are frequent incursions by Israeli bulldozers accompanied by jeeps and tanks, levelling the best land and destroying our property. The value of agricultural and other property destroyed from 2005 to 2010 is estimated [to be] at least $308 million. Ninety percent of this cost is represented by fruit trees, greenhouses, chicken and sheep farms and water wells. Due to the blockade the lost agricultural output in this “buffer zone” totals 75,000 tons per year, representing lost income of more than $50 million.

More importantly for us farmers, our culture, self-determination and attachment to the land has been taken away from us. The Israeli military has demolished over 150 water wells in the restricted areas since 2005 and routinely destroys any crop taller than 80cm, forcing farmers to grow basic crops such as barley or wheat.

In Israel’s 2008-09 Cast Lead attacks on Gaza that killed 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks, including over 330 children, a total of 46 percent of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip was assessed to be inaccessible or out of production. Residue from phosphorous and artillery shells seriously impact the quality of the food that farmers are able to produce and have impacts on health. After the recent November 2012 Israeli onslaught on Gaza, the ministry of agriculture in Gaza estimated that the agricultural sector incurred losses totalling $21 million.

The generating capacity and reliability of the Gaza power plant was massively impaired over the past eight years by the destruction of six transformers by an Israeli airstrike in 2006 and the restrictions of the seven year Israeli blockade have significantly restricted the import of spare parts, equipment, and fuel. Recently we have suffered day after day with access to only six hours of electricity.

For farmers, as well as the other impediments, this means at least 140,000 dunums of land [a dunum is 1,000 square meters] planted with fruits and vegetables are at risk of drought due to inability to use 85 percent of the agricultural wells operated with electricity. Reduced production and incomes for Palestinian farmers have left 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza dependent on food aid.

Mustapha Arafat, a farmer from Zeitoun, Gaza City says, “The daily aggression suffered by us the Palestinian farmers every day must be highlighted to the world, so people can understand the reality of the attacks and the suffering that has continued throughout the recent ‘ceasefire.’ The boycotts of Israeli companies in agriculture are so important as the Israeli occupation has destroyed our farming production and denied us the possibility of exporting our own products. International pressure on Israel from people of conscience is the only way our own economy will be allowed to develop and for us to live normal lives.”

 

Thomas Jefferson, author of the US Declaration of Independence said, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.”

In “Last of His Kind,” the words of your song resonate with farmers across Palestine:

“Don’t say much for the future

When a family can’t survive.

I’d hate to say the farmer

Was the last of his kind.”

We are tied to our land, but we are being forced off it, watching rich land eaten away by erosion that the Israeli army, which at gunpoint does not allow us to cultivate, and kills us if we do. We ask you to show solidarity with the farmers and their families of Gaza, by refusing to perform for the regime that is doing everything to destroy our means, our livelihoods and our communities.

Union of Agricultural Work Committees Association

Besieged Gaza

 

AMONG the many online media outlets that reprinted this letter, are:

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/04/solidarity-families-agricultural.html

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nour-joudah/gaza-farmers-urge-neil-young-not-play-tel-aviv

Open Letter to Neil Young: Tell Me Why You Would Play for Apartheid Israel

Dear Neil Young,

Many of your fans, including our organization DPAI, are concerned about the recent announcement that you plan to perform to a segregated audience in July 2014 in what is an apartheid state:  Israel.  

We sincerely ask that you reconsider your commitment to promoter Shuki Weiss  who serves the interests of the state of Israel, providing select Israeli officials with VIP tickets to concerts he promotes.(1)

Israel truly stands apart on the world stage as an exclusivist, ethnocentric, settler-colonial state, with a powerful military and extensive political reach.  Backed unconditionally and delivered impunity by the USA, Canada and the EU, Israel continues with its slow, gradual genocide against the Palestinian people who are indigenous to the land.  Palestinian land has not only been stolen, but water resources pillaged, olive trees burned, and families separated from each other by a system of military sniper towers, checkpoints, walls and laws preventing family reunification (as you’ll read below). When the indigenous people of the land, the Palestinians, protest the theft of their farms and destruction of their livelihoods, they are met with tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and foul smelling ‘skunk water’ and arbitrary arrest by the Israeli military.

People of conscience, including musicians, are feeling the substantial, persuasive moral weight to act urgently, ethically – and clearly, BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is an effective, powerful means to end Israel’s impunity and make it accountable for its illegal actions.

At this time, we ask you to not cross the Palestinian picket line.  We sincerely hope that soon, you will perform in a state that offers total equality in citizenship to both Palestinians (refugees included) and Jews in Israel.  Sadly, that state does not exist, yet.  

Your support for the Indigenous nationhood of Canada and the environment is commendable.  We hope you will show similar concern for the Indigenous Palestinian people. With regard to Palestinian indigeneity, Palestinian leader, MK Haneen Zoabi had this to say at the Capetown Russell Tribunal hearings in November 2011:

“Israel has confiscated my land and has started to define me as the invader of the land. They call us in the Knesset, in the courts, in the media the invaders of the land … when they confiscate our land in the Galilee and the Negev, they said they are going to redeem the land, redeem, I don’t know this word, I ask about it – salvation from me, the indigenous people, there. It is not about stealing the land, it is about stealing my homeland, my relation with my homeland. They are trying to transmit, to rewrite history, they don’t like history, they don’t like to read history, what happened before 1948 and that means we were there, the Palestinian people … they like more to write history. And they say I am a risk, they must reserve the land. So the crime is not really just to steal my land, they are trying to redefine my relation with my homeland. It is not my homeland anymore. I cannot claim it. They rewrite history and I am the invader of the land.”(2)

Israel goes to great lengths to cover up its crimes, claiming itself to be a leader in green technology and environmentalism.   Greenwashing is a tactic used by Israel to shift the focus away from shocking facts such as:

• According to the OECD, Israeli “water quality” is ranked 35 out of 36 countries, better only than the Russian Federation. Israel’s water score “is much lower than the OECD average” according to the OECD, “and suggests Israel still faces difficulties in providing good quality water to its inhabitants.”

• Similar problems face air quality: Israel is ranked 27 out of 36 for harmful particulate matter in the air and, “Particulate matter and ground-level ozone concentrations frequently exceed limit values for the protection of human health.”

• Because of Israeli discrimination, Palestinians face severe shortages of water, a report from Amnesty International found. Palestinians are systematically denied water for basic needs, and hundreds of thousands don’t even have running water. Israel appropriates 80 percent of the water from the occupied West Bank’s main aquifer, while allowing Palestinians a mere 20 percent. In the West Bank, 450,000 settlers use as much or more water than the Palestinian population of some 2.3 million.

• The fact that 95 percent of Gaza’s water is unfit for human consumption due to Israel’s siege and military attacks, and the use of desalination technology as a means to further isolate Gaza.

• The frequent contamination of Palestinian villages by flows of raw sewage from Israeli settlements;

• The systematic destruction of trees to facilitate settler takeover of land, such as in Wadi Qana, an area of rare natural beauty that is now also awash in settler sewage.

• The threat of destruction of the West Bank village of Battir’s ancient irrigation and ecosystem by Israel’s colonization and apartheid wall – which has led to an emergency application to UNESCO to try to save the area.

• Israel’s further entrenchment in the occupied West Bank under the guise of supposedly environmental companies like Better Place, which build settlement infrastructure. (3)

Here are more stark facts which no doubt Mr. Weiss has not made known to you:

Israel was established in 1948, as an exclusively Jewish state, after over 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes and land. For over 65 years, the Israeli government has used both ‘legal’ and arbitrary force against the indigenous people who still remained in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and who now comprise almost half (5 million) of the population which Israel controls.(4)

 Today, Palestinians are the largest and longest suffering group of refugees in the world. One in three refugees world wide is Palestinian, making up a 7.2 million refugee population worldwide.(5)

Jewish Israeli citizens enjoy systemic, institutionalised privileges such as legal advantage, well funded schools, universal healthcare, modern separate roads and high status in society, with full protection from the Israeli Army.  A full 20% of the population (over 1.2 million) in Israel is comprised of Palestinians who carry an Israeli ID card. These people are subject to “Jim Crow”-style laws that enforce housing restrictions, discrimination, underfunded schools, and restrictive marriage laws. More than 50 Israeli laws discriminate against non-Jews.(6)

Approximately 2.4 million Palestinians live in the Israeli-controlled West Bank.  Within this area, Israel has constructed an intricate matrix of sectors.  Hundreds of Palestinian ghettos are isolated from each other using a system of sniper towers, patrol roads, cement walls, layers of barbed wire, electric fencing and arbitrary and permanent military checkpoints. Manless drones and frequent night raids inflict constant fear on a population where around half are children.  From the International Court of Justice to the Red Cross, the apartheid wall has been deemed illegal. Its disastrous impact is felt on Palestinian farmers, villages, cities, families, schoolchildren, students and the entire people. From Jenin to Bethlehem, through the concrete-split streets of East Jerusalem, the wall has become another element of Israel’s colonization of Palestine, one more link in the apartheid chain.(7)

In Gaza, Israel’s collective punishment of 1.6 million people includes bulldozing once-productive farmland, shooting at fishermen as they try to make a living and bombing buildings that held preschools and universities.  As the borders have been sealed shut, Gaza has been forced to depend on UN schools, and to subsist on what food and medical supplies Israel capriciously decides to let in.

Israel blatantly admits using cultural events to create a false image of itself as a progressive, artistic nation with a Western European flavor (8). Having big name bands from the USA play in Tel Aviv is a part of this larger, duplicitous effort to brand the state. Getting artists known for being true to their consciences and for working in solidarity with oppressed people, artists such as you, would be a real coup for Israel’s branding of itself, and we really hope that you refuse to allow your image to be used thus. Already the state is using your planned performance as propaganda, with the official Israeli Embassies of Canada and the US tweeting about it.

The call to boycott was made in 2005 and enjoys overwhelming support from Palestinian Civil Society.  The boycott is an urgent call to people of conscience to act to hold Israel accountable for how it treats the Palestinian people.  The international community has failed to act, and, in fact, has instead enabled some of Israel’s most violent aggression.

In late 2008 and early 2009, Israel implemented a brutal attack on the civilian population of Gaza.  Over three hundred children were left dead, with a total of 1,400 people killed, from a population which Israel was holding captive under military force.  In November of 2011, Israel launched another sustained attack on Gaza, this time murdering more than 160 people. The people of Gaza are subjected to regular airstrikes and shootings both in the “buffer zone” and at sea, in their own waters.

The cultural boycott really stepped up after the assault on Gaza and then Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla in 2010.  As the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, was changing course and heading away from Israel at high speed, Israeli commandos killed nine volunteers at close-range, execution-style. This murder took place in International waters.  Many highly respected musicians cancelled their concerts in Israel, or became outspoken in favor of the boycott.  

Recently the American Studies Association (ASA) voted to join the academic boycott of apartheid Israel, a move that the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) followed up with a similar declaration of support for BDS, stating: “As the elected council of an international community of Indigenous and allied non-Indigenous scholars, students, and public intellectuals who have studied and resisted the colonization and domination of Indigenous lands via settler state structures throughout the world, we strongly protest the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and the legal structures of the Israeli state that systematically discriminate against Palestinians and other Indigenous peoples.”

In 1990, you played at a concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from South Africa’s apartheid prison system, as thousands of Palestinians, including children, languish in apartheid Israeli jails, we urge you to think about Mandela’s words: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Mr. Young, please respect the boycott, and make it known you will not play in Israel while it is an apartheid state and an oppressed people have called for solidarity and for artists not to cross their picket line.

Respectfully,

DPAI

We are a group, of over 1400 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.

Facebook page here:  Neil Young, Tell Me Why You Would Play for Apartheid Israel

NOTES:  

(1) http://pulsemedia.org/2012/12/12/israel-2012-the-question-of-a-nation-what-does-culture-have-to-do-with-politics/#more-37168

(2) http://www.kadaitcha.com/2012/01/09/haneen-zoabis-presentation-at-the-russell-tribunal-cape-town/

(3)  http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-green-israel-ads-cnn-greenwash-sewage-occupation-and-apartheid

(4) Current demographic figures show: 1.2 million Palestinians with Israeli ID; 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza; 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank; 5 million Israelis excluding Palestinians

(5)  http://www.al-awda.org/faq-refugees.html

(6)  http://adalah.org/eng/Israeli-Discriminatory-Law-Database

(7)  http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/did-israeli-apartheid-wall-really-stop-suicide-bombings                            

(8)  http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/about-face-1.170267?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.239%2C

(9)

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/12/29/native-american-studies-association-boycott-israel

Irish fears over worsening conditions in Gaza

Irish activists have expressed growing concern about the dire consequences in Gaza due to the closure of the Rafah crossing, at the border with Egypt. 

While deploring the violence in Egypt and the appalling behaviour of the military regime there, members of Gaza Action Ireland (GAI) have reiterated that the people of Gaza must not be forgotten and abandoned.

“Palestinians in Gaza are fully locked in by this siege, with the opening of their only two border crossings dependent on the whims of Israel at Erez and Egypt at Rafah,” said Zoë Lawlor, a spokeperson for GAI who visited Gaza earlier this year. “The Israeli blockade is being enforced on all sides and the lifeline via the Rafah crossing into Egypt is no longer operational. The Rafah crossing is now almost permanently closed and the military regime in Egypt is refusing to allow people to enter and exit.”

The already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza has become more precarious after the ouster of Mohammed Morsi in July, with the Egyptian authorities destroying many of the tunnels which provide a lifeline to the people of Gaza.

The tunnels are often the only means by which Palestinians in the Strip can access goods, so many of which are not allowed to enter due to the illegal Israeli blockade.

Since July, many Palestinians arriving in Cairo in order to access Gaza through Rafah have been sent back to the countries from which they arrived, and people have been stranded on both sides of the Rafah crossing, denied entry and exit for days.

Prior to the military coup in Egypt, as many as 1,200 people per day crossed legally between Egypt and Gaza. That number fell to 50 after the coup, and last Monday [19 Aug] the crossing was closed completely after an unrelated attack on Egyptian police in Sinai by Egyptian insurgents.

“It really is criminal that the people of Gaza are being collectively punished by the Egyptian authorities and now are effectively completely locked in,” Lawlor said, noting that while the world is looking at Egypt, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating alarmingly.

“Of course, the root cause of this is Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza, which has created a situation whereby the people there are subject to the whims of two different states.”

Lawlor added: “There has been a worrying and sustained campaign in some sections of the Egyptian media and state to demonise the Palestinians in Gaza, even blaming them for attacks on Egyptian forces in the Sinai. This adds to their vulnerability.”

GAI also pointed out that Egypt has banned Gazan fishing boats from its waters and they are routinely attacked by Israel when fishing in their own waters, most recently last Tuesday [20 Aug] when the Israeli navy opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the northern coast. The previous week, Israeli forces arrested three civilians from al-Shati’ refugee camp who were swimming off Beit Lahia shore. To date they have not been released.

 

Last year the UN issued a report that openly wondered whether Gaza will actually be livable by 2020. Now the people of Gaza are being subjected to further cruelty by the new closures.

GAI calls on the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing immediately and to guarantee free passage for Palestinians into and out of Gaza. Further it reiterates the longstanding call for the Irish Government and the EU to demand that Israel abide by international law and end the siege of Gaza.

Gaza Action Ireland is a new organisation (with origins in Irish Ship to Gaza) that has forged links in the Palestinian territory with sports clubs, artists, fishermen, journalists, human-rights activists and providers of emergency services

Egypt worsens Gaza situation – Gaza Action Ireland

Egypt ‘makes bad Gaza situation worse’, Irish say

EGYPT’S new regime is tightening the country’s border with Gaza, a move that could quickly worsen conditions for people in the besieged Palestinian territory, Irish activists have warned.

News that the military government had sent troops and bulldozers to secure the border at Rafah has spread fear in Gaza, which depends heavily on fuel and goods that are “smuggled” through tunnels from Egypt.

“This is making a bad humanitarian situation even worse,” Zoë Lawlor, a spokesperson for Gaza Action Ireland, said. Lawlor, who along with other members of the organisation visited Gaza earlier this year after crossing legally from Egypt, said the Egyptian actions were “very worrying and a real threat to people in Gaza”.

Lawlor noted that the busy al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City relies on smuggled fuel to run its generators — essential given Gaza’s erratic electricity supplies. “The Israeli siege would starve Gaza if it weren’t for what usually comes in ‘illegally’ through Rafah, everything from fuel to flour to fish,” Lawlor said.

The government in Gaza also relies heavily for revenue on its taxation of such smuggled goods.

After the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, it had become somewhat easier — though still very difficult — for both Palestinians and international visitors to cross legally in and out of Gaza at Rafah.  But the Morsi government, despite its supposed closeness to Hamas, closed many tunnels and did not consistently improve the border regime.

Now, it appears the new government is prepared to make things even worse.

Eygpt claims that the tunnels have been used by Islamic extremists to enter its territory in the dangerous Sinai region. Gaza Action Ireland has called on Egypt not to make Palestinians in Gaza suffer for its security concerns. Many Palestinians arriving in Cairo in order to access Gaza through Rafah have been deported to the countries they entered Egypt from and many hundreds more were stranded on both sides of the border in the days following the ouster of the Morsi government. Many thousands were also stranded in other countries as they attempted to return to Gaza through Egypt and were being denied entry.

Gaza Action Ireland is a new organisation (which originated in Irish Ship to Gaza) that has forged links in the Palestinian territory with sports clubs, artists, fishermen, journalists, human-rights activists and providers of emergency services.

The Irish Times and BDS – the Story of Why.

On Tuesday 7th May, BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine) posted on their website and tweeted that Professor Stephen Hawking had declined an invitation to a conference in Jerusalem, to be hosted by war criminal Shimon Peres – he had joined the academic boycott of the apartheid styate. The story went around the world and was all over mainstream and social media on Tuesday evening.  My account is here.

By Wednesday there was some confusion with Zionist sources claiming that Professor Hawking was not going purely for health reasons, that he had not joined the boycott. Much of this stemmed from Cambridge University whose spokesman Tim Holt put that misinformation out, the issue was however clarified by Wednesday afternoon when said spokesman had to admit that Hawking had sent a letter to the conference organisers stating that he was declining to attend because he was respecting the Palestinian call to boycott, nothing to do with health grounds.

Hawking’s Letter: “I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a Peace Settlement but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank. “However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”

Mathew Kalman wrote up the account here which vindicated his story and that of BRICUP who held the line throughout.

Even Zionist sources such as CiF Watch and much of the Israeli press had the story CLARIFIED as to Hawking supporting the boycott by Wednesday afternoon. It was also all over Facebook and Twitter.

So basically what happened here is that everyone interested and even some not interested in this knew the real story by Wednesday afternoon… EXCEPT that is Mark Weiss, the Irish Times correspondent from occupied Palestine (not that he seems to know that either…)

On Thursday his piece in the Irish Times he characterised the idea that Hawking might have been boycotting as a claim coming from “Pro-Palestinian groups” and followed it up by stating:  “However, Cambridge university spokesman Tim Holt said Prof Hawking’s decision was based strictly on health concerns. “For health reasons, his doctors said he should not be flying at the moment so he’s decided not to attend.”

Weiss then devotes most of the rest of his piece to Israeli concerns about the boycott and reports one especially vile suggestion that Hawking decommission his means of communication as it was supposedly designed in Israel. Note, this is written as if it were a normal suggestion, so the Irish Times runs a bigoted cut at Stephen Hawking’s disability with no disassociating comment or disclaimer. In Haaretz, this was actually described as “obscene”. It is outrageous that the Irish Times should just publish such abelist hate speech without acknowledging it as such.

Apart from this being Weiss’s usual style of writing purely from the Israeli perspective, it is simply astonishing that there was no fact checking done on story of this significance concerning such an eminent person. As I said above, this information was ALL OVER THE INTERNET from Wednesday afternoon. The Irish Times has positioned itself as a voice of authority in Ireland and the self-satisfaction of the majority of its writers is difficult to stomach. While hating their opinions and agenda is one thing, for the facts to be so wrong is truly dreadful.

This annoyed me more than their usual schtick and I have some (Irish) time on my hands so I called the foreign editor and pointed out the inaccuracies and errors in the piece and let him know that the correct information had been widely available since the previous afternoon. He was pretty sniffy with me and when I asked would they clarify/correct, he told me he would “examine” the evidence first. Unable to fit back in my box, I mailed the information on to him – our exchange is below:

Dear     ,

I just spoke to you  on the phone about the erroneous information in the Mark Weiss piece on Stephen Hawking joining academic boycott of Israel.

In the IT piece, Weiss says: “However, Cambridge university spokesman Tim Holt said Prof Hawking’s decision was based strictly on health concerns. “For health reasons, his doctors said he should not be flying at the moment so he’s decided not to attend.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/stephen-hawking-pulls-out-of-major-presidential-conference-in-jerusalem-1.1386618

However, since yesterday afternoon, the clarification from Cambridge has been in the public domain, on twitter, Facebook etc.
This is the journalist’s account of the trajectory of the story:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/08/a-brief-history-of-stephen-hawking-s-boycott.html

This is the Guardian updated today, this was available from yesterday: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/08/hawking-israel-boycott-furore

Electronic Intifada yesterday afternoon:
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/stephen-hawking-confirms-he-pulled-out-israel-conference-due-boycott-not-health

I wrote this myself last night, so there was no shortage of sources for either the IT or Weiss to verify the claims in the piece.
In fact a Google search for “Stephen Hawking boycott Israel” throws up 325,000 at the time of writing (Wed eve).

“There was an email exchange showing quite clearly that Hawking’s personal assistant and Tim Holt had both approved the BRICUP announcement that sparked my interest on Tuesday night. And there was Hawking’s letter, sent to the conference organizers on May 3 on Cambridge University letterhead, setting out clearly his reasons for pulling out: no health issues, all boycott. It had been copied to several other people. One of them was kind enough to share it with me.

“I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a Peace Settlement but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank,” wrote Hawking. “However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”

To be honest, it is astonishing that the Irish Times would publish a piece such as Weiss’s without at least fact checking, especially when the person in question is so eminent and the issue so important.

———————————————————————

His reply:

Thanks for this. We were clearly behind events on this one and were not aware of Holt/Cambridge’s change. Will report the accurate situation asap.

———————————————————————

My response:

That’s good to hear. It strains credibility however, that Mark Weiss was ‘behind events’ on this given that even the Israeli press was reporting the correct version yesterday.

I would hope the Irish Times would give some coverage to the vile abuse that has been directed Stephen Hawking’s way by Israel supporters as reported by the Daily Express among other publications.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/397945/Outrage-over-disgusting-cripple-Stephen-Hawking-jokes-after-he-joins-boycott-of-Israel

He is also being subjected to much name calling and venom on his Facebook page from anti-Palestinian posters
https://www.facebook.com/iloveu.stephen?fref=ts

———————————————————————

 But the piece was not corrected that day, that evening,  nor has it been since.   In Friday’s edition, in a Weiss piece on Israel’s illegal settlement building, this is tacked on at the end:  “In a separate development, Cambridge university spokesman Tim Holt has confirmed that renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking did in fact decide to cancel his participation in next month’s president’s conference in Jerusalem due to the Israel boycott. Mr Holt had earlier released a statement claiming Mr Hawking decided not to travel for health reasons.”

That’s it,that’s the ‘correction’. That’s the standard we can expect from the Irish Times. So anyone who read the original piece on Hawking and who didn’t read the settlement piece the next day would still be MISinformed by the Irish Times.  Unless they read it elsewhere, they would believe that, as reported by the Irish Times,  Stephen Hawking had pulled out of a conference in Jerusalem for health reasons. They would be unaware of the immense boost given to the BDS campaign by someone of Hawking’s stature joining it. The online version still retains the original,  massive error.

The Irish Times has serious form for misreporting the cultural boycott of Israel and indeed launching a sustained attack on the IPSC (Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign), Raymond Deane in particular. Harry Browne documented it brilliantly here and it is worthy of re-reading as a reminder of how power misrepresents and distorts truth.  My own thoughts on that representation and attempts to dictate resistance are here too.

The reason I mentioned “venom” in my mail to the foreign editor is that the IPSC was consistently and wrongly accused of directing it at Irish band Dervish in order to get them to cancel playing Israel. Despite considerable evidence to the contrary not only being freely available on Facebook and being sent to them, they never retracted nor corrected this mischaracterisation of Irish BDS campaigners. Of course we can be absolutely sure that the Irish Times won’t look at any of the abuse directed at Hawking by supporters of apartheid, preferring to deal only in imagined venom. Indeed, they quoted one of the most egregious suggestions as if it were part of a normal discourse between human beings.

Their coverage of Palestine is risible and always, always through the prism of Israel’s rights/security, through that of orientalism and dehumanisation and othering, through racism.  Trying to get pieces by Palestinians into the paper is next to impossible, their voices surplus to requirements.

The question is WHY? Laziness, ineptitude, agenda? The lethal combination of all three?

The Irish Times,  the Story of Why – the end result “behind the events”.

The free availability of alternative media which is not only reliable and up to date, but not agenda driven, should push publications in the mainstream media to raise their standards, in this case it seems to push it to ditch them.

BDS apartheid until it ends.

There’s a Facebook page here to like: Stephen Hawking: Thank You for Supporting the Academic Boycott of Israel