Category: News

Hosts Celeste Carey and Cecil Prescod speak with Ned Rosch about the
recommendation of Portland’s Socially Responsible Investments Committee
for the City of Portland to put Caterpillar on City’s Do-Not-Buy List

Portland’s Socially Responsible Investments Committee (SRIC) voted – 4
in favor, 2 opposed – at its March 17th meeting to recommend that City
funds should not be invested in Caterpillar, citing concern that
Caterpillar Corporation violates a number of the City’s socially
responsible investment criteria.

Caterpillar, which provides militarized bulldozers that are used to
demolish Palestinian homes, has long been a target of human rights
activists. Maxine Fookson, from Occupation-Free Portland, which pushed
for Caterpillar to be placed on the Do-Not-Buy List, said, “This is an
important victory for human rights.  The SRIC today took a stand on the
right side of history making it clear that companies, like Caterpillar,
that are knowingly engaged in human rights violations in the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian land should not be supported by Portland
investments.”

The SRIC’s recommendation was based on review of an MSCI analysis which
rates companies for their investment potential and includes a screen
that looks at environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns.  In
addition, the SRIC heard powerful testimony at their February meeting
from supporters of Occupation-Free Portland, a campaign committed to
getting Caterpillar, G4S, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions placed
on Portland’s Do-Not-Buy List for their complicity in – and profiting
from – the many human rights violations that are part of the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian lands.

Later this year, the SRIC will recommend to the City Council a list of
corporations that should be on Portland’s Do-Not-Buy List. Members of
the City Council will consider the SRIC recommendations and make the
final decision in this matter.

Democratic presidential candidate speech praises “everything that is bad about Israeli policy and U.S. imperialism

Palestinian and human rights advocates were aghast over remarks made
by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the annual
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention on Monday,
saying that her speech represented “everything that is bad” with U.S.
imperialism and policy in the Middle East.

During the address, Clinton vowed to take the U.S.-Israel relationship to “the next level”—a level which seemingly includes more war and imperialism, few, if any, rights for Palestinians, and definitely no economic boycotts of Israel.

“Has even one single Clinton supporter denounced the disgusting speech she gave today?”
—Glenn GreenwaldStriking a hawkish
tone, Clinton warned the powerful lobby group against rival candidates
who want to “outsource Middle East security to dictators” and “cede the
mantle of leadership for global peace and security,” and instead vowed
even more “security and intelligence cooperation.”

“As president, I will make a firm commitment to ensure Israel
maintains its qualitative military edge,” she said. “The United States
should provide Israel with the most sophisticated defense technology so
it can deter and stop any threats. That includes bolstering Israeli
missile defenses with new systems like the Arrow Three and David’s
Sling. And we should work together to develop better tunnel detection,
technology to prevent armed smuggling, kidnapping and terrorist
attacks.”

As observers noted, as she ran down the list of “evolving threats,”
the former U.S. secretary of state resorted to common neoconservative
talking points, declaring:

As we gather here, three evolving threats — Iran’s
continued aggression, a rising tide of extremism across a wide arc of
instability, and the growing effort to de-legitimize Israel on the world
stage — are converging to make the U.S.-Israel alliance more
indispensable than ever.

We have to combat all these trends with even more intense security
and diplomatic cooperation. The United States and Israel must be closer
than ever, stronger than ever and more determined than ever to prevail
against our common adversaries and to advance our shared values.

Touting her “deep, personal commitment” to the “Jewish state,”
Clinton then said that “one of the first things I’ll do in office is
invite Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] to visit the White
House.”

The speech proved that, on matters of Israel, Clinton is “running to the right” of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, as noted by Mondoweiss‘
Philip Weiss, who wrote that the remarks were “filled with red meat for
Israel supporters” and “contained scant reference to the peace
process.”

Later, Clinton doubled down on her previous pledge to dismantle the growing international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement,
linking the campaign against Palestinian apartheid to anti-Semitism,
saying “we must repudiate all efforts to malign, isolate and undermine
Israel and the Jewish people.”

“I’ve been sounding the alarm for a while now,” Clinton continued.
“As I wrote last year in a letter to the heads of major American Jewish
organizations, we have to be united in fighting back against BDS.”

Read more at Common Dreams

An IDF soldier was filmed shooting a Palestinian in the head at close
range in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of occupied Hebron Thursday,
after he and another Palestinian reportedly stabbed a different soldier,
lightly wounding him.

Most Israeli media outlets initially went with the usual headline,
“Soldier stabbed, assailants killed.” A few hours later, however, video
of the incident was released showing that the Palestinian man was
already shot and lying on the ground wounded, presenting absolutely no
threat to anyone at the time he was shot in the head, murdered.

See also: http://972mag.com/video-israeli-soldier-executes-wounded-palestinian-in-hebron/118093

OCHA Flash Update

Third large-scale demolition in Khirbet Tana in 2016

24 March 2016
 
On 23 March, the Israeli authorities destroyed 53 structures in the Palestinian community of Khirbet Tana, located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, on grounds of lack of Israeli-issued building permits. This is one of the largest incidents since OCHA began systematically tracking demolitions in 2009.

The targeted structures included 22 homes, resulting in the displacement of 87 people, among them 35 children and 22 women. The other structures destroyed were animal shelters (19), latrine units (6), traditional ovens (5) and a water reservoir. Eighteen (18) of the demolished structures were donor-funded humanitarian assistance, the majority provided following previous demolitions this year. During the operation, five residential caves were also damaged and four vehicles belonging to the residents were confiscated.
(more…)

Fantastic news, Haaretz reported Thursday that Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics, a company that pillages mud products from occupied Palestine and longtime target of Code Pink’s Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott campaign, plans to move their factory from the occupied West Bank to within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.

The announcement comes after 7 long years, an onslaught of protests including activists chaining themselves to concrete blocks inside Ahava’s London store, and persistent online social media actions by dedicated activists spanning continents since the campaign was launched in 2009.

– See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/bds-victory-ahava-moving-factory-out-of-occupied-west-bank

(Note: Once you have read this letter, please click here if you would like your name/organization to be added in support of this letter to be delivered to Senator Wyden. Also, please spread this letter widely to all the Oregonians you know!)
 
March 8, 2016
 
Re: “The Combating BDS Act of 2016” (S. 2531)

Dear Senator Wyden:

We, the undersigned, write to express our concern with the recently introduced legislation “The Combating BDS Act of 2016” (S. 2531). We are a statewide coalition of faith and social justice groups, as well as individuals who stand for civil liberties and human rights for all. We are Oregonians of many traditions—Jewish, Christian, Muslim, secular and others. This bill seeks to authorize state and local governments to divest assets from and prohibit investment in any entity that “engages in commerce or investment-related boycott, divestment or sanctions activity targeting Israel.” In so doing, the bill encourages states and local governments to take action that is unconstitutional by penalizing entities for engaging in First Amendment-protected political speech. As someone who has championed U.S. Constitutionally protected civil liberties, we are extremely disappointed with your support of this legislation that seeks to limit First Amendment rights.

In a landmark 1982 decision, NAACP v. Clairborne Hardware, the US Supreme Court ruled that boycotts and related activities to bring about political, social and economic change are political speech, occupying “the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values.” By seeking to “authorize” state and local governments to penalize entities exercising their protected political speech with which the government does not agree, Congress would be encouraging governments to engage in “viewpoint discrimination,” an impermissible violation of the First Amendment – the protected right to free speech – according to the Supreme Court.

Furthermore, the text of the legislation defines boycott of Israel as “any activity that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.” This language, along with similar legislation introduced over the last year, is part of a quiet campaign to legitimize and extend U.S. protection to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise by blurring the legal distinction between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. This would reverse decades of U.S. policy that regards the settlements as illegitimate and illegal.

Please click here if you would like your name/organization to be added as a supporter of this letter to be delivered to Senator Wyden.

Additionally, recent polls reflect that Americans are beginning to view U.S. foreign policy toward Israel with a more critical eye than ever before. A Brookings Institute poll released in December 2015 found that 49% of Democrats (and over ⅓ of all Americans) support imposing economic sanctions or more serious action against Israel over settlement construction. A 2014 poll by GBA Strategies revealed that 49% of Jewish Americans age 18-29 support boycotting Israeli products that come from the West Bank in order to press for change in Israeli policy. At a time when public opinion is shifting so rapidly, such legislation is deeply out of touch with the current political reality.
Committed to international law, human rights and the First Amendment, we express our deep disappointment in your co-sponsorship of S. 2531.

Sincerely,
 
To sign in support of this letter, please go to this link. You may sign as an individual or, if authorized to do so, on behalf of your group or organization. Please spread this letter widely (to Oregonians) to sign on.
 

Come help us deliver petitions to Airbnb in downtown Portland!
12:30 Noon
Thursday, March 10th
​Blagen Block Building, 34 NW 1st Ave near the Skidmore Fountain Max Station, Portland, Oregon

Airbnb, we say NO!
Occupation vacation has got to GO!!​

See more and sign a petition at http://stolenhomes.org/

As people who care about human rights and international law, we ask Airbnb to immediately stop listing vacation rentals in Israeli settlements, all of which were built on stolen Palestinian land and deemed illegal under international law. Airbnb’s anti-discrimination policy states that they prohibit listings that promote racism, discrimination, or harm to individuals or groups, and require all users to comply with local laws. Yet, listing vacation rentals in illegal settlements promotes structural discrimination, theft of Palestinians’ land, and direct violations of international law. Through earning fees from settlement vacation rentals, Airbnb is directly profiting from the continuing occupation and dispossession of Palestinians.

Sincerely,

American Muslims for Palestine
CODEPINK
Jewish Voice for Peace
U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network

It is outrageous. Yesterday, Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) introduced the “Combating BDS Act of 2016.” Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is a cosponsor! 

Click Here to ACT NOW!

These bills seek to authorize state and local governments to divest from entities that support the Palestinian civil society-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Call and write your Members of Congress today to tell them that you support BDS as a nonviolent means to achieve Palestinian freedom, justice and equality, and ask them not to cosponsor S.2531 and H.R.4514.

Click Here to ACT NOW!

Vancouver, Wash., exhibit commemorates 1864 Sand Creek Massacre

‘One November Morning’ 

What: Art exhibit commemorating the survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre

When: Opens 4 p.m. Feb. 13; runs through May 28

Where: Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St., Vancouver, WA

Information: www.cchmuseum.org/one-november-morning/

Read more on Street Roots

Those familiar with the genocidal statements made by Israel’s right wing leadership towards Palestinians will see the ethos of that ideology in our own history.  The Colonel John Chivington, responsible for the Sand Creek Massacre spoke of Native Americans like right-wing Israelis speak of Palestinians. As the Street Roots article said: 

In a speech delivered in Denver shortly before the massacre, Chivington had publicly advocated for the killing and scalping of all Indian people, including children, declaring, “Nits make lice.”

Compare this with Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked who said during the last Gaza War:

Rasmea Defense Committee
February 25th, 2016

Media contact: Hatem Abudayyeh, hatem85@yahoo.com, 773.301.4108

Decision in Rasmea Odeh appeal a partial victory

This morning, a ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals represents a partial victory in the case of Rasmea Odeh, the legendary Palestinian American icon who was convicted of a politically motivated immigration charge in 2014, and sentenced to 18 months in prison and deportation last year.

Organizers with the Rasmea Defense Committee, which represents over 50 institutions across the country, have been waiting for a decision in the appeal since last October, and are pleased with the result.

“This isn’t a full victory yet, of course,” said Nesreen Hasan of the committee’s headquarters in Chicago, “but it really is what we were hoping for and anticipating at this stage. The conviction wasn’t overturned altogether, but at least Judge Drain will be forced to rethink his decision on the torture evidence.”

The appeals court determined that Gershwin Drain, the trial judge who sentenced Rasmea, wrongfully barred expert torture witness, Dr. Mary Fabri, from testifying at the trial.  According to lead attorney Michael Deutsch, “The case will be remanded [back to Drain] for a determination as to the admissibility of the expert testimony.  The appellate court has essentially ruled that it was an error for Drain to have precluded that testimony.”

We are hopeful that Rasmea’s full story will be told, and that she will ultimately be exonerated of all charges.

A more full press release will follow shortly, but contact spokesperson Hatem Abudayyeh for comment or for access to Deutsch.
 
And continue to donate to support the defense work!
 
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