On 28 April, University of California, Berkeley’s Student Senate narrowly missed an historic opportunity to divest its funds from United Technologies and General Electric which manufacture F-16 jets and Apache helicopters — weapons sold to the Israeli military and used against civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Dina Omar reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about At Berkeley, moral victory despite divestment vote loss
On Wednesday 28 April, the UC Berkeley Student Senate will make a final attempt to pass a bill calling for divestment of university funds from companies that profit from Israel’s war crimes and occupation of Palestine. Read more about UC Berkeley set to vote on historic divestment bill
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is gravely disappointed by the announcement that well-known, progressive artist Gil Scott-Heron is due to perform in Israel on 25 May. We call upon Mr. Scott-Heron, a member of United Artists Against Apartheid in the 1980s and a featured singer on the breakthrough song “Don’t Play Sun City,” not to play apartheid Israel. Read more about Gil Scott-Heron: don't play apartheid Israel!
Ahead of the English publication of his book Eyes in Gaza (co-authored with Dr. Erik Fosse), Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert recently spoke with The Electronic Intifada contributor Stefan Christoff about what he witnessed during Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s three-week long assault on the Gaza Strip starting in December 2008, during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured. Read more about Medical solidarity with Gaza: in conversation with Mads Gilbert
More than 100 individuals were arrested at or after solidarity demonstrations during Israel’s attack on Gaza during winter 2008-09. Almost all of the demonstrators charged with violent disorder were Muslim, despite the mixed nature of the protests, which were supported by majority-white organizations like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament as well as by Islamic groups. Sarah Irving reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about UK's discriminatory criminalization of dissent
Five Palestine campaigners who contested the relevancy of a “racially aggravated conduct” charge in relation to their protest against Israel’s blockade of Gaza had all charges against them dropped today. The campaigners, all members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), had interrupted the August 2008 Edinburgh Festival concert by the Jerusalem Quartet. Read more about "Racism" charges dropped against Scottish solidarity activists
Students in the Gaza Strip urge Canadian author Margaret Atwood to support the Palestinian campaign for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and reject a prize at Tel Aviv University that would be an “inadvertent nod to Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide” and help cover up the university’s role in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. Read more about Gaza students to Margaret Atwood: reject Tel Aviv U. prize
Outside the Washington Convention Center, together with activists from CodePink, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Avaaz, Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, we tried to bring a little reality to the AIPAC policy conference bubble. We carried signs and banners calling for respect for international law and human rights, an end to the siege of Gaza, Israeli apartheid and US taxpayer funding of war crimes. Read more about Activists burst AIPAC conference's bubble
More than a year ago, several concerned Swedish organizations asked fashion chain H&M about its plans to extend its franchise to Israel. H&M’s management denied the rumors but refused to provide written confirmation. In March, H&M unexpectedly opened a store in Tel Aviv and a second store in Jerusalem’s Malha shopping mall. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Swedish fashion chain H&M under pressure
A joint group of more than 50 Jewish, Christian, Muslim and agnostic medical and health advocates of the Tucson and surrounding region, following student initiative, are calling on the University of Arizona to divest from corporations benefiting from the global health and humanitarian crisis in Palestine caused by Israel’s military occupation, supported by the United States. Read more about Health workers and advocates support call for U of Arizona to divest
