Activism and BDS Beat 28 August 2017
Activists in Jordan are hailing seven companies in the country that recently dropped security contracts with G4S.
The companies include well-known local and regional names, such as Jordan Hospital and Medical Center, the local affiliates of Orange and IKEA and “a leading bank,” according to Jordan BDS, a group that supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.
“We also salute all those companies and banking institutions in Jordan that have in the past ended their contracts or refrained from dealing with this security company,” Jordan BDS added.
Thanks to the efforts of activists, four UN agencies and firms, including Aramex, Landmark Hotel and several major malls, have previously shunned business with G4S.
For several years, the multinational security and incarceration firm has been the focus of an international campaign over its involvement in Israel’s military occupation and other violations of Palestinian rights.
Role in Israel’s al-Aqsa crackdown
Following years of boycott pressure, G4S announced last December that it was selling off nearly all its businesses in Israel.
But the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) urged a renewed focus on G4S last month after it emerged that the company was complicit in Israel’s plan to tighten control over the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Weeks of sustained protest and civil disobedience by Palestinians in Jerusalem forced Israel to back off plans to install metal detectors and security cameras.
“In the past few months it has become clear that G4S intends to remain deeply complicit with Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid despite the sale of its Israeli affiliate, which continues to trade under the ‘G4S Israel’ name and uses the G4S logo,” the BNC stated.
Jordan BDS says it is still pressing other UN agencies to dump G4S, and is calling on “all companies, embassies, hotels and commercial centers across Jordan” that have not yet done so to join those that have dropped G4S.
Jordan Boycotts
Jordan BDS also announced that more than 100 civil society organizations, including women’s groups, cultural organizations, trade unions and professional societies, have signed onto the Jordan Boycotts pledge to oppose all forms of normalization with Israel.
The pledge, launched three years ago, also calls for support for divestment and pressure on companies that do business with Israel.
The milestone comes amid renewed outrage in Jordan over Israel’s assaults on al-Aqsa and the fatal shooting of two Jordanians last month by an Israeli embassy guard in the capital Amman.
The embassy guard, Ziv Hai Mordechai Moyal, evaded justice by being spirited back to Israel under cover of diplomatic immunity.
Jordan BDS notes that the steadfast popular opposition to normalization contrasts with official Jordanian insistence on deepening ties, including proceeding with a deal signed last year to buy gas from Israel.
Comments
attitude toward G4S
Permalink Carl Zaisser replied on
No one who considers themselves liberal and progressive can support or tolerate what G4S has been doing to help maintain the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Lie down with dogs....
Permalink Miss Castello replied on
'israel' & G4S are two of a kind.... partners in crime: de-humanised, unprincipled scumbags. How G4S is still 'operating' (given its mind boggling track record from Olympics fiasco to billing both deceased & re-sentenced prisoners etc Ad Nauseum) tells us all we need to know about Mrs. Philip May & Westminster UK.