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ACTION: combat anti-BDS and pro-Settlement legislation in Oregon!

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 11 April 2017 11 April 2017

Dear Supporter of Human Rights and Free Speech:

We need your help to stop several bills going through the Oregon Legislature. They need to be condemned and defeated. They are bills: SCR25, SM1, SJM9. This legislation attacks UN efforts to oppose illegal settlements on Palestinian land, and attempts to put an end to an increasingly effective campaign in support of human rights and international law in Palestine-Israel.  These misguided and misleading bills must be defeated.

Bill SCR25 - condemns the non-violent movement of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). BDS is a movement answering the call of Palestinian civil society against Israel's ongoing violations of human rights. The movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law. If passed, this bill will have a chilling effect on criticism of Israel's human rights abuses, and could serve as a basis for other, more extreme bills such as have been introduced in a number of other states. For details about SCR25 see:

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SCR25

For more information about anti-BDS legislation across the country and fact sheets see:

http://palestinelegal.org/resources/

 

Bills SM1 and SJM9 oppose UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which passed unanimously in the Security Council with only one abstention from the Obama administration. The UN resolution properly condemned Israel's ongoing and rapidly expanding settlement activity on Palestinian lands in support of international law and in support of longstanding U.S. policy that is opposed to Israeli settlements. You can read more at:

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SM0001

and 

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SJM9

 

The above bills are in the Senate Committee On Rules. We need to call and write the Senators of the Rules Committee and our own Senators to make sure they know that opposition to these bills is widespread and growing. See the contact information below or use the link above.

 

Read more: ACTION: combat anti-BDS and pro-Settlement legislation in Oregon!

Israeli Ministry Trying to Compile Database of Citizens Who Support BDS

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Written by Barak Ravid Barak Ravid
Published: 23 March 2017 23 March 2017

[So much for acting like a Democracy]

read more:  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.778516

Senior officials say attorney general vehemently opposes Minister Gilad Erdan's bid, arguing his ministry has no legal authority to collect information on Israelis.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan wants to set up a database of Israeli citizens who are involved in promoting and supporting boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel or the settlements.

Senior Israeli officials noted that Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is vehemently opposed to Erdan’s proposal, arguing that the Strategic Affairs Ministry has no legal authority to collect information on Israeli citizens.

Read more: Israeli Ministry Trying to Compile Database of Citizens Who Support BDS

Anti-Boycott Bills Are Part of Wider Crackdown on Protest

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Written by Chip Gibbons, Policy and Legislative Counsel at Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation Chip Gibbons, Policy and Legislative Counsel at Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation
Published: 19 March 2017 19 March 2017

A number of commentators have noted two different trends. First, across the nation Republican lawmakers are pushing for bills criminalizing protests. Second, a number of state legislatures have passed or considered, often at the impetus of Democratic lawmakers, bills aimed at silencing the movement for Palestinian human rights by targeting boycotts of Israel. 

These trends should not be viewed separately from one another. It is important to understand that the more general anti-protest bills and those aimed specifically at the Palestinian human rights movement are motivated by the same factors. The bills aimed at silencing supporters for Palestinian human rights are anti-protest bills. All of these anti-protest bills are not arising exclusively out of a general disdain for public participation, but out of a disdain for the public participation of particular social movements that the bills’ sponsors fear will be successful. Together, the two trends amount to a bi-partisan attack on the First Amendment.

Read more: Anti-Boycott Bills Are Part of Wider Crackdown on Protest

Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid

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Written by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Published: 18 March 2017 18 March 2017

Courtesy of Mondoweiss, here is the copy of the UN Report on Israeli Apartheid that was removed from the UN website due to severe political pressure.

Read more about the controversy on Mondoweiss!

 

Israeli-Practices-towards-the-Palestinian-People-and-the-Question-of-Apartheid.pdf

UN agency labels Israel ‘apartheid regime’– and Israel likens organization to Nazis

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Written by Allison Deger Allison Deger
Published: 16 March 2017 16 March 2017

A United Nations agency today labeled Israel an “apartheid regime,” in a report that found the country guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” of the “grave charge” of operating systematic discrimination and oppression against the Palestinian people. 

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) published the document, “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian, People and the Question of Apartheid,”[PDF]. ESCWA is mandated to review Israeli aggressions.  

The findings of the report are non-binding and reflect contributions from professor of political science at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Virginia Tilley and former UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. It concluded UN organs should sanction Israel and coordinate with civil society groups in boycott campaigns. Apartheid, the report described, is “a crime against humanity” and defined as:

Apartheid, the report described, is “a crime against humanity” and defined as:

“[I]nhuman acts…committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial groups or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”

While neither Jews or Palestinians are racial groups, the report stated, the apartheid standard was met because ESCWA found a “racial character” to the policies of the Israeli government enacted toward both Jews and Palestinians. This is expressed inside of Israel through separate categories for a citizen’s “nationality” (Jewish or Arab) and in the occupied territories by the absence of citizenship for Palestinians. 

Israel was said to have divided Palestinians into different spheres of governance, each with fewer rights than Jewish-Israelis. Sub-sections of the report outline Palestinians citizens of Israel, West Bank and Gaza residents, Jerusalem residents, and external refugees, all of whom have unequal rights in comparison to Jewish-Israeli citizens. 

“Strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian people is the principal method by which Israel imposes an apartheid regime,” ESCWA said. Individual treatment to each group may not meet the apartheid definition, when taken together the report said, it does. 

The UN body regarded Israel as producing “one comprehensive regime developed for the purpose of ensuring the enduring dominion over non-Jews in all land exclusively under Israeli control in whatever category.”

Read more on Mondoweiss.

Read more: UN agency labels Israel ‘apartheid regime’– and Israel likens organization to Nazis

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