The signatories to this statement, all academics at Israeli universities, wish it to be known that they utterly deplore the aggressive military strategy being deployed by the Israeli government. The slaughter of large numbers of wholly innocent people, is placing yet more barriers of blood in the way of the negotiated agreement which is the only alternative to the occupation and endless oppression of the Palestinian people.
The motion commits Unite to taking ‘bolder steps like those that were taken against the South African apartheid regime’ as part of the fight against ‘the Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people
UK Methodists sidestepped a proposal to “strengthen the Church’s commitment to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a peaceful and effective method to persuade the State of Israel to end its military occupation of the Palestinian territories… by applying BDS to Israel in addition to the illegal settlements”. And they did so on a day when Israelis were ramping up their wildly disproportionate murder spree and collective punishment against Palestinians
At its conference four years ago the Methodist Church in the UK set a brave example. It voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same.
Why do churches let themselves become ensnared in inter-faith ‘friendships’ with extremists? How does it help the quest for peace and harmony?
“The way we passed those night patrols was to bang on random houses, no reason and we’d go in, wake everyone up, men in one room, women in another, mess everything up, onto the next house. “That night we wanted to watch the match so we were looking for a house that had a satellite dish. We found one, went in and locked the family in the basement while we watched the match. Why wouldn’t we? That’s what we do in the occupied territories.
Yehuda Shaul says disturbing images represent norm in occupied territories
by Stuart Littlewood
Pro-Palestinian campaigners are cock-a-hoop over the Presbyterian Church USA’s vote to divest from Caterpillar Inc, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Hailed as amazing, brave and miraculous in some quarters, it was actually a very close-run thing: 310 to 303 against, with no abstentions.
Image above: Joshua Lott for The New York Times
The American Studies Association said the reason behind its decision was that the Israeli institutions were “a party” to policies “that violate human rights” as Israel’s “violation of international law and UN resolutions” continues and the “impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students” is well-documented.
“The Boston subway ads simply state the facts and are backed up with citations from credible human rights and international organizations, including the United Nations,” said Chadi Salamoun, the president of Ads Against Apartheid, who added that “if the ads are shocking, that’s because the reality on the ground is shocking.”
