[Canadian-BDS-Coalition] Important BDS News, Wins & Actions to Take

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A good update from

Mahmoud Nawajaa

General Coordinator, Ramallah

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)



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News, Wins & Actions

On Our Movement's 12th Birthday

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Dear supporter,

We... have news and movement victories to share.


Last month we placed two important op-eds, marking 50 years of brutal Israeli military rule and almost 70 years of dispossession. Please read Omar Barghouti’s op-ed in The Nation, which is a movingly personal reflection on these years and on why he is confident that the BDS movement, which he helped found, will with your support prevail over Israel’s system of oppression.

Haneen Maikey’s op-ed in Newsweek clearly explains how a deliberate Israeli government-sponsored propaganda campaign makes cynical use of gay culture to mask, or to “pinkwash,” ongoing violence against the Palestinian people. Haneen called for a boycott of Tel Aviv’s Pride parade, as millions of Palestinians in the nearby occupied West Bank and Gaza marked 50 years of life under a suffocating Israeli military occupation that controls nearly every aspect of their days.

Our BDS Movement Turns 12 This Week.
Here Are 12 Wins From 2017 To Mark The Occasion:

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1. Yesterday, the Mennonite Church USA voted by a large 98% majority to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Their resolution also urges church members to boycott products produced in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.


2. Right to Boycott wins: The Spanish parliament affirmed the right to advocate for BDS is protected as free speech and association. The UK government was defeated in court by advocates with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in a ruling that deems it unlawful for the government to restrict divestment from Israeli companies complicit in violating Palestinian human rights. The Swiss parliament blocked efforts by right-wing parties lobbying for Israel to criminalize BDS.


3. A Lebanese doctors’ syndicate dropped G4S, one of the world’s largest multinational security companies, following a campaign by BDS activists in Lebanon concerned with the company’s ongoing complicity with Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.


4. Following a campaign by BDS activists for Palestinian rights, Israel’s largest public transportation operator lost a 190.1million euro contract to run public transportation in the Netherlands.

5. A Palestinian coalition of Christian organizations called on the World Council of Churches to support the BDS movement for Palestinian human rights.


6. A UN report proved that Israel has imposed a system of apartheid on the entire Palestinian people and called for BDS measures to end Israel’s apartheid regime.

7. Two Chilean universities cancelled events sponsored by the Israeli embassy.


8. A wave of boycotts hit the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival as artists from around the world showed respect for the Palestinian picket line. An award-winning South African filmmaker, whose film was scheduled to be the festival’s opening night film, was among the artists who canceled their participation in the festival.


9. A California transportation board dropped its contract with G4S after BDS activists highlighted the company’s role in violating human rights in Palestine and the United States.


10. Norway’s largest trade union federation, representing close to one million workers, endorsed a full boycott of Israel to achieve Palestinian rights under international law.


11. BDS activists scored a first victory in Ecuador, where a research institute dropped its contract with G4S after learning about the company’s complicity with Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.

12. BDS campaigns grow among Palestinian citizens of Israel. The BDS Committee of Palestinian Citizens of Israel (BDS48) launched a campaign to boycott and divest from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) until the company ends its complicity in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights, particularly in Jerusalem and the Naqab (Negev).

Thank you, as always, for standing with us and being part of this movement in pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.


Solidarity,

Mahmoud Nawajaa

General Coordinator, Ramallah

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

Like our work? Can you help us do more?

Donate

Sign the Boycott HP pledge

Call on all Hewlett Packard (HP) companies to end all participation in the oppression of the Palestinian people. Pledge not to purchase products from HP companies.


HP companies provide Israel with technology to enforce its deadly blockade of Gaza, service its illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land and restrict the movement of Palestinians at checkpoints.

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Take action: tell HSBC bank to end its complicity in Israel's militarised repression of Palestinians

HSBC bank is a major shareholder in companies selling weapons and military technology to Israel and provides those companies with the loans they need to operate. Tell HSBC to stop investing in and lending to companies arming Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians.

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The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society. It leads and supports the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Follow us on social media using the buttons below.

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