Posts Tagged ‘Divest’
#1 world human rights violator? Israel is the one according to UN Human Rights Council
Posted by: adonis49 on: April 16, 2018
Yes! UN Human Rights Council declares Israel world’s No. 1 human rights violator
According to the U.N.’s top human rights body, Israel is the worst human rights violator in the world today.
That’s the result of the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council which wrapped up in Geneva on Friday by adopting 5 times more resolutions condemning Israel than any other country on earth.
President Trump’s administration is currently a member of this reprehensible body. To borrow Elie Wiesel’s counsel to President Reagan not to pay his respects at a German graveyard containing Nazi SS remains: “That place, Mr. President, is not your place.”
The Bush administration refused to join the Council when it was created in 2006.
On March 31, 2009, President Obama – fully aware of its entrenched anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias – made jumping on board one of his very first foreign policy moves.
In an unscrupulous attempt to control his successor, Obama obtained yet another three-year term for the United States on the Council that began on January 1, 2017.
If President Trump were to choose a swift departure from the Council as one of his very first foreign policy moves, it would demonstrate a principled reset of American values and priorities on the world stage.
March 31, 2017, the anniversary of Obama’s decision, would be an auspicious date to make that point.
The reasons for leaving are many. Here are a few:
The Council plays a leading role in the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state by the United Nations.
In its history, the Council has condemned Israel more often than any other of the 192 UN states.
Comparative totals after this session’s pogrom tell the story: Israel – 78 resolutions and decisions, Syria – 29, North Korea – 9, and Iran – 6. As for Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, there’s nothing at all.
Think of it this way: 500,000 dead in Syria, forced starvation and mass torture in North Korea, systematic and lethal oppression in Iran, gender apartheid in Saudi Arabia, and an elementary lack of basic freedoms affecting over a billion in Russia and China.
But at the U.N. Human Rights Council, little democratic Israel is the problem. (Systematic incremental genocide, as the original Indians were wiped out)
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley objected to a recent UN report charging Israel with “apartheid.” But the malicious slur of “apartheid Israel” is a staple of the Council’s fixed agenda, which dedicates time for hate-speech and incitement at every session, and transmits it around the world via a U.N. webcast.
Contrary to rule of law 101, the Council has an investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a license only to report on Israel.
This week, “expert” Michael Lynk presented a report praising one Manal Tamimi as a “human rights defender.”
In the last six months alone, her twitter feed features: “God-chosen-Baby-burning #Israeli scum…” “Nazi Zionists force[s] shot a girl,” and a caricature of Satan beseeching Netanyahu for lessons on evil.
The “Human Rights” Council is now the principal U.N. engine of “BDS” – the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. (Excellent. Palestinians need a forum to remind the world that occupation and apartheid are no longer a la mode)
Economic strangulation is Plan B for Israel’s enemies, war and terrorism having so far failed to rid the world of a Jewish state. The Council has sponsored the creation of a blacklist of companies around the world ‘directly or indirectly’ doing business with Israeli settlements – in effect, Israel period. (Wrong. Just settlements in Palestinian lands taken by force to abuse the economy of the Palestinians)
Obama’s council routine was to vacate the U.S. seat temporarily during the Israel-bashing agenda item, make a speech about “unacceptable” Israel-bias, vote against the anti-Israel resolutions, and then pay for their implementation in the name of some greater good. The Trump administration should not be working from the same playbook. (Don’t worry. The Extremist Evangelical Zionists lobby is ever ready to blackmail any President through their Senators and Congressmen)
Staying on the Council means American taxpayers will pay for the production of a blacklist of American companies doing business with Israel. The State Department representative told the Council Friday that it will not provide information for the blacklist. (US taxpayers already were robbed out of $144 bn to Israel, a State with standard of living higher than Spain)
The only body that can change the Human Rights Council is the one that created it – the General Assembly, where the U.S. has one vote and Islamic states have 56. (And what of all the States that recognized the State of Palestine?)
As Freedom House attests, less than half the members of the General Assembly are fully free democracies. The majority aren’t going to create a club they can’t join. (How democratic are the States you have in mind)
It is understandable why Council members like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Cuba and China want to masquerade as human rights authorities. But why would the United States want to legitimize this charade by standing beside them? (Saudi Arabia and Qatar funded the Islamic extremist factions in Syria, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen… with the initiation of the USA)
While America fiddles, the world’s rogues are reaching into your pockets in the name of their entitlements. This week the Council adopted resolutions inserting itself into “foreign investment,” “capital inflows,” “foreign trade,” and “financial markets,” while demanding more “technology transfer,” and a “development-oriented outcome of trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization.”
Sure, we voted against – and we lost. In fact, of the 15 resolutions this session adopted by vote, the United States lost 12 of them. Setting ourselves up for target practice is not a foreign policy in which Americans can take pride.
(How proud are you of Trump’s fast turnover in his administration and flaunting the world community by a one-sided pronouncement of Jerusalem Capital of Israel?)
Anne Bayefsky is director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust. Follow her on Twitter @AnneBayefsky.
Note: What about over 3,000 unarmed Palestinians shot and injured in March by live bullets from Israeli snipers? The order was to cripple these demonstrators so that they won’t be marching any time soon
Would you Join the Boycott, Divest and Sanction Movement of the Palestinians for an Independent Palestine?
Posted by: adonis49 on: January 11, 2015
In the mid-19th century, influenced by the nationalism then sweeping much of the continent, some European Jews concluded that the remedy to centuries of persecution and pogroms in Europe and Russia was the creation of a nation state for Jews in Palestine.
Some of them subsequently began emigrating to the Holy Land, mainly from Romania, Bulgaria and then Russians. The first fertile piece of land was offered by the Ottoman Empire in 1868.
In 1874, there were about 14,000 Jews in Palestine (most of them local Jews, and the majority of the immigrants were from Yemen and Iraq), and about 426,000 Palestinians (far more populous than people living in Lebanon).
http://imeu.org/…
Since that time, the Palestinian people have been subjected to colonialism, ethnic cleansing, massacres and atrocities, terrorism, and dispossession, martial law, blockade, and occupation at the hands of first the early Zionists and then the state of Israel, with a big assist from many Western and Arab powers.
The Palestinians have tried every which way to halt and reverse their dispossession, as anyone would. They have tried revolts, rejectinga partition plan, terrorism, non-violent resistance, violent resistance, working with Israel, recognizing Israel , participating in peace processes, shunning Hamas, unifying with Hamas, maintaining quiet for Israel, non-violent protest, appealing to international bodies, appealing to international law. The result has been further dispossession and regularly-scheduled bouts of grass-mowing by Israel, which is where they find themselves today.
What can we as liberals do to help the Palestinians, and frankly, to try to protect ourselves from the blowback to our government’s pro-Israel policies? I do write to my representatives and the White House even though I’m probably just spitting in the wind. I believe it might helpful to let our reps know there are more of us out there.
However, due to domestic political considerations, until there is serious campaign finance reform in this country, I think it is unrealistic to expect US politicians to take any meaningful stand against Israel.
If we are interested in justice for the Palestinians, and safety from blowback from our government’s stand on Israel, then the only way forward is boycott, sanctions and divestment from Israel (BDS).
We the people are going to have to leave the US government behind on this one, just like we did in South Africa. You many recall that the US government clung to the SA apartheid government until the end.
What is BDS?
BDS is a call to global citizens to respond (non-violently) to Israel’s continued denial of Palestinian rights to freedom, equality, and self-determination through its ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and military occupation.
On July 9 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice’s historic advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s Wall of Shame in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), a clear majority of Palestinian civil society called upon their counterparts and people of conscience all over the world to launch broad boycotts, implement divestment initiatives, and to demand sanctions against Israel, until Palestinian rights are recognised in full compliance with international law.
The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel. The call urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:
Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
BDS doesnt advocate for a one-state solution, or a two-state solution. It is rights-based, advocating for the human, civil and legal rights of Palestinians. The campaigns under the movement are: an academic boycott, a cultural boycott, a consumer boycott, divestment, and sanctions.
What Can you Do?
1. Personally boycott products from either the illegal Israeli settlements, or Israel, or both. You can read more at this link: http://www.bdsmovement.net/…
. The movement suggests:
Trying to boycott the products of every single company that participates in Israeli apartheid is a daunting task that has a slim change of having a concrete impact.It makes more sense to focus on optimal targets that are being targeted as part of national or international campaigns.
Consumer boycotts are most effective when part of a broader campaign against a particular product or aiming to pressure a retailer to stop selling a particular Israeli product.
That means we can focus on Ahava cosmetics, SodaStream, Eden Springs bottled water, Golan Heights wineries, Israeli Medjoul dates and other fruits and vegetables from the settlements, HP, Caterpillar, Volvo and Hyundai.
There is also an app available for smartphones call Boycott that lets you choose causes you want to participate in, and then lets you scan barcodes of products to tell you whether the product is aligned with your goals. Freeing Palestine is one of the causes you can sign up for.
2. Agitate for American businesses to stop profiting from the Israeli occupation.
http://www.whoprofits.org
3. Advocate for divestment from corporations doing business with either Israel, the settlements or both.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/…
4. Advocate for an arms embargo on Israel. There is a campaign on now. You can add you name to a list that includes Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Peres Esquivel, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú and Betty Williams as well as Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, 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.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/…
5. Advocate for better coverage of the issue by the main stream media. I don’t believe there is an organization for this, but there should be. Fair.org is a progressive website that follows the media and currently has a lot to say about the coverage of this crisis. The key is to register your complaints with the media as they happen.
6. Advocate for your favorite artists to refuse to perform in Israel (politely) and encourage those who have already joined the boycott. This can be done on Twitter and Facebook.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/…
Successes in the last 18 months
July 23 2014 – The African Liturature Association joined the academic boycott.
http://electronicintifada.net/….
July 3 – Brighton, UK, Sodastream store shuts down after two years.
http://www.haaretz.com/…
June 20 2014 – Presbyterians voted to divest from 3 American business that profit from the occupation
http://www.nytimes.com/….
Feb 2014-Norway’s $810 billion sovereign wealth fund divested from two Israeli companies.
http://www.ft.com/….
The Dutch pension fund, PGGM, with over $210 billion in assets, announced it has divested from five Israeli banks, effective January 1, 2014.
http://www.reuters.com/….
December 15 2013 – The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) announced that it will join the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
http://www.dailykos.com/….
Dec 2013, American Studies Association endorsed the Association’s participation in a boycott of Israeli academic institutions
http://www.theasa.net/….
May 2013, Stephen Hawking joined academic boycott
http://www.theguardian.com/….
May 7th, 2013 – Oberlin College Student Senate endorses divestment resolution
http://electronicintifada.net/…
April 2013 – Association for Asian American Studies joined academic boycott
http://www.insidehighered.com/….
March 16th, 2013 – Mennonites Divest From Israeli Occupation
http://mcc.org/…
March 14th, 2013 – UC San Diego Students Vote to Divest (non-binding)
http://electronicintifada.net/…
March 9th, 2013 – The Netherlands calls on Retailers to Distinguish Between Israeli Produce and Produce Grown in Illegal Settlements
http://www.haaretz.com/…
Israeli Captains of Industry Fear Boycott
http://www.ynetnews.com/…
European Boycotts Begin to Bite Catching Israel’s Attention
http://www.csmonitor.com/…
The time is now. Please join us.
Will You Join BDS?
- Yes 66%
- No 33%
111 votes
Hot posts this week (Dec. 21/2012)
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 20, 2012
- Hot posts this week (Dec. 21/2012)
- Private Prison guards: Hired to “Drug Raiding” sweeps at Public High School in Arizona?
- Do Tag fiction characters: More interesting characters than biographical names…
- “Thrown of Mountain Gods”, Karakoram and Hindu Kush (north Pakistan): World most concentrated glaciers and tallest Peaks
- Huge Victory for the Palestinian People: A steady foot in the UN
- Cosmopolitan metropolis Beirut? Orientalism with a surgical twist…
- How are we handling the balancing act: Current environmental Status and children fast coming realities?
- How “Three cups of tea” generated 80 schools for little girls in North Pakistan?
- Why am I throwing rocks? How many ways to expressing love?
- Best strategy to get Israel in line with world community: Boycott, Divest, Sanction… and Naomi Klein
Adonis Diaries 