At the Annual Conference of the United Jewish Federations in Washington, DC, during the plenary session by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CODEPINK peace activist Midge Potts stood up with a banner that said “End the Siege of Gaza” and shouted “Stop the blockade of Gaza, Shame on you, Netanyahu.” She was dragged out of the meeting by security guards. Read more about Activist confronts Netanyahu at Washington conference
For nearly six weeks now Mohammed Othman, a prominent Palestinian activist and an outspoken advocate of the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, has been held in an Israeli military prison without charges. On 22 September 2009 Othman, 34, was detained at the Allenby Crossing as he attempted to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan. He was returning from a trip to Norway, where he met with Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, amongst other officials. Mya Guarnieri reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel targeting the boycott movement
Students at the University of Sussex, England have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision follows the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, which calls upon the Israeli state to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine. In a campus-wide referendum, 56 percent of students voted in favor of the boycott. Read more about Sussex University students vote to boycott Israeli goods
Eleven organizations from the US, Palestine and Israel have called on baseball’s New York Mets to cancel a 21 November dinner at the Caesars Club at Citi Field for the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund. The dinner is a fundraiser for Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank City of Hebron. Read more about New York Mets called on to cancel settlement fundraiser
Students protested and disrupted a lecture on Monday at the London School of Economics (LSE) by Daniel Ayalon, the controversial Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel. More than 50 students and activists greeted Ayalon outside of the lecture on LSE’s campus with placards and banners, while inside audience members heckled the controversial minister as a “racist” and “murderer” in relation to the illegal occupation and violence carried out by the Israeli state. Read more about Israeli minister's speech disrupted at London university
Twenty-two activists were arrested at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s speech to the World Affairs Council on 22 October between 6:30 and 7:30pm at the Westin St. Francis Hotel at Union Square in San Francisco. Inside the auditorium, activists began disrupting the event by placing Olmert under citizens arrest. Read more about VIDEO: Citizens arrest, disruption of Olmert in San Francisco
AWARTA, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Away from the media spotlight that focuses on the widening chasm between Israelis and Palestinians, a group of Israeli humanists is quietly working to break down barriers with their Palestinian neighbors. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Israel’s Rabbis for Human Rights, has been used as a human shield, arrested, and beaten up several times by Israeli security forces while defending Palestinians. Read more about Israeli Jews take on settlers
Approximately 30 activists – mainly students from area universities – disrupted a lecture given in Chicago by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday which was hosted by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. While Olmert’s speech was disrupted inside the lecture hall, approximately 150 activists protested outside the hall in the freezing rain. Read more about EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago
We challenge FIFA to live up to the letter and the spirit of its statutes and to seize this opportunity to prove to the world that it stands for a more just world by sending Israel an unmistakeable threat of exclusion. This would be an important victory for human rights — not only for the Palestinian people, but also for the international football community. Read more about FIFA urged to give the red card to Israel
Israeli youth who refuse to cooperate with Israel’s military occupation are sent into a lengthy and relentless labyrinth of court martials and consecutive jail terms in what Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard calls a “price tag” meant to deter other young Israelis from non-participation. “Otherwise,” he says, “[the Israeli government’s] argument says, everyone — of ideological or personal reasons — will refuse to serve.” The Electronic Intifada contributor Nora Barrows-Friedman recently interviewed two young Israeli women who have refused to serve in the army. Read more about Israeli highschoolers choose jail over occupation army service
