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BDS

Ahava Covent Garden Protest – Boycott Israeli Goods – 10th April 2010

11 avril 2010 — Ahava manufacture cosmetic products using minerals from the Dead Sea. The company has a factory and a visitors’ center in the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the occupied West Bank.

34% of the company shares are held by the West Bank settlement of Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, 34% by Hamashbir Holdings (the investment fund of B. Gaon Holdings and the Livnat family), 18% are held by Shamrock Holdings (the investment fund of the Roy E. Disney family), and 6% by the West Bank settlement of Kibbutz Kaliya.

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“RACISM” CHARGE DROPPED AGAINST ISRAEL PROTESTORS

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. Tours by the classical musicians are regularly sponsored by the Israeli Government, which the campaign group claims makes them a legitimate target for protest.

The campaigners had been accused of making “comments about Jews, Israelis, and the State of Israel”, but during a three-day legal debate at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, a BBC audio recording of the event revealed that there had been no reference made to “Jews”. Comments included “They are Israeli Army musicians”, “End the Siege of Gaza”, “Genocide in Gaza”, and “Boycott Israel”.

Sheriff James Scott ruled that “the comments were clearly directed at the State of Israel, the Israeli Army, and Israeli Army musicians”, and not targeted at “citizens of Israel” per se. “The procurator fiscal’s attempts to squeeze malice and ill will out of the agreed facts were rather strained”, he said.

The Sheriff expressed concern that to continue with the prosecution would have implications for freedom of expression generally: “if persons on a public march designed to protest against and publicise alleged crimes committed by a state and its army are afraid to name that state for fear of being charged with racially aggravated behaviour, it would render worthless their Article 10(1) rights. Presumably their placards would have to read, ‘Genocide in an unspecified state in the Middle East’; ‘Boycott an unspecified state in the Middle East’ etc.

“Having concluded that continuation of the present prosecution is not necessary or proportionate, and therefore incompetent, it seems to me that the complaint must be dismissed.”

Mr Fraser, the Procurator Fiscal Depute, said he would be appealing the ruling.

Today’s ruling will disappoint the musicians whose concerts now attract regular protest. After a similar disruption of their Wigmore Hall concert last week they issued a statement claiming to “have no connection with or patronage by the [Israeli] Government”. However, organisers of their November 2009 Australia tour acknowledged that “The Israeli Government provided about $8000 towards the costs of the tour”, but explained, “this was only a minuscule proportion of the total cost.”

Outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court, supporters held banners reproducing the ‘racist’ slogans, and a number of enlarged concert programs indicating Israeli Embassy sponsorship of the quartet’s tours were on display. Human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar, representing Mr Napier, read a statement on behalf of his client: “We welcome today’s judgment which impacts on civil liberties nationally. A dangerous precedent would be set if demonstrators were criminalised for racism for protesting against state genocide by Israel or any other country.”

SPSC chair, Mick Napier had mixed feelings about the ruling: “While this particular attempt to criminalise solidarity with Palestine has failed, British Government support for Israel continues. In England, more than 20 prison sentences – some for over 2 years – have been handed out to those who protested Israel’s massacre of 1400 mostly civilians in Gaza last year. On the subject of racism, of the 78 charged, all but two are young Muslims.

“If our case had gone to trial, it would have been Israel in the dock, not us. We had a string of witnesses from Palestine, Israel, and South Africa lined up to discuss the real racism and apartheid that Palestinians face daily. As long as the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues, Israel’s political, cultural, and sporting ambassadors will face boycott protest similar to that faced by the racist apartheid South African regime in the last century.

“It’s time for politicians to fall into line with public opinion. Alex Salmond’s recent call for a review of trade relations with Israel is a step in the right direction, but what that means in practice remains to be seen.”

ENDS

[A link to the written judgement by Sheriff James Scott; and relevant photos will be available soon from the online version of this media release: http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk%5D

Notes for editors:

1. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign started in autumn 2000 in response to the Palestinian second uprising against Israeli occupation (Intifada). The SPSC has branches and groups of supporters in several Scottish cities and universities, as well as individual members across Scotland and elsewhere.

For further information, contact:
SPSC Chair, Mick Napier: 0131 620 0052; 07958002591

Email: media@scottishpsc.org.uk (default reply to this email)
Website: http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk

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London supermarket occupied in Israel boycott

31 mars 2010 — Shoppers occupied Waitrose supermarket in London in protest over the support for illegal settlements in Israel. Much of the produce sold as ‘Israel’ actually comes from stolen lands in Palestine.

Global day of action for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. In solidarity with people of Palestine
30 March 2010, London
more info on http://www.waronwant.org

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Boycott protesters halt Jerusalem Quartet broadcast in London

Protesters disrupted a lunchtime performance by the Israeli chamber music group the Jerusalem Quartet in London on March 29, halting a live BBC broadcast from the prestigious Wigmore Hall in central London.

Radio listeners heard classically trained soprano Deborah Fink, a member of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, singing the words “Jerusalem is occupied” before a BBC announcer interrupted the broadcast.

Fink continued singing lyrics highlighting Israeli apartheid
and ethnic cleansing until security staff removed her.

The protest, organised by Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign, continued as four other demonstrators intervened in the live concert at regular intervals. All were removed from the hall but no arrests were made.

Protest was aimed at the four Israeli musicians because, as cultural ambassadors for the State of Israel, they promote the interests of the state and provide a cultural veneer for its policies against the Palestinians.

Outside the Wigmore Hall, demonstrators handed out leaflets explaining to the audience Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, its ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and its attempt to starve the people of Gaza into submission.

The Jerusalem Quartet issued a statement calling the protests “mistaken, ignorant and inconsiderate”. They said they were “musicians, not politicians” and held up the involvement of two of them with Daniel Barenboim’s Israeli-Arab West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as proof that they did not deserve to be confronted with protest.

However they made no reference to Israel’s injustices against the Palestinian people, nor to their participation in Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations that Barenboim had refused to attend. They also kept quiet about Israeli state funding for their tour of Australia last year.

“Their claims that music is separate from politics are as baseless as the same arguments used against the cultural boycott of South African apartheid,” said one of the protesters.

Monday’s demonstration came the day before the 2nd Global Day of Action on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel.

It also coincided with the appearance in court in Edinburgh of five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign for disrupting a Jerusalem Quartet concert last year.

Following their actions Israel’s ambassador to the UK complained of “attempts to sabotage the marketing of Israeli art and culture in Britain.”

Mick Napier from Scottish PSC said:

‘Scottish PSC congratulates the protesters in London today, and would like to see all other supporters of Palestine do the same every time the Jerusalem Quartet appear as ambassadors of the apartheid state’.

ENDS

See the following links for media discussion of the Jerusalem Quartet protest.

Discussion on BBC World Service “Europe Today” programme, 30.48 minutes in via this link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006x9vs/p006x9y9/Europe_Today_01_04_2010/

West Bank reaches Wigmore Hall

http://www.guardian .co.uk/culture/ 2010/mar/ 30/jerusalem- quartet-wigmore- hall-protest

Protesters silence Israeli musicians in London

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/protesters-silence-israeli-musicians-in-london-1932735.html

Protesters disrupt Jerusalem Quartet recital

http://www.rhinegol d.co.uk/magazine s/classical_ music/news/ classical_ music_news. asp

Jerusalem Quartet concert disrupted by anti-Israeli protests

http://www.bbcmusic magazine. com/news/ jerusalem- quartet-concert- disrupted- anti-israeli- protests

7 ways to stop musical ‘ambassadors’ for Israel

http://www.indymedi a.org.uk/ en/2010/03/ 448318.html

Jewish Chronicle

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/30001/protesters-disrupt-jerusalem-quartet-wigmore-hall

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Teva, we don’t want you

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Jerusalem Quartet Concert at London’s Wigmore Hall is Disrupted & Radio 3’s Live Broadcast is Terminated


Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Jerusalem Quartet Concert at London’s Wigmore Hall is Disrupted & Radio 3’s Live Broadcast is Terminated

I have a confession to make. I nearly didn’t make it. Yesterday I put my watch and car clock forward but forgot to do so for my mobile and radio alarm! Result was that I got up an hour later than intended! Fortunately I managed to get the next train to Victoria and despite further loss of time as I was (twice) misdirected, I got there only 10 minutes late.

There of course is London’s Wigmore Hall, home to the more discerning of nature’s liberals. Except that scratch a liberal and you will often find an angry conservative!

Jointly organised by members of Brighton PSC and J-Big (Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods) we ensured that the performance by the Jerusalem Quartet, the Israeli Army’s faithful musicians, didn’t go unchallenged.

Because in Scotland a similar protest in Edinburgh has resulted in 5 protestors being bizarrely charged with racism (it’s either anti-semitism or a non-existent Israeli nationality!) it was important that this protest included a Jewish contingent.

Along with an irate old lady who wanted to gain immediate entrance, despite being late, I was kept waiting for a pause in the proceedings. Fortunately our very own opera singer, Debbie Fink of J-Big, decided that she would try and enliven what was frankly a pretty dismal and boring performance by Israel’s finest. As her voice rose in harmony with the vultures on stage it seemed that at first people thought it was part of the show. However Debbie soon received a red card which quite fortunately enabled me to gain my entrance, apologising of course for my late arrival and any disruption that that might cause.

Having gained my seat, the Quartet quickly decided to resume playing. After rehearsing what I was going to say, I stood up after about 5 minutes later and proceeded to tell the JQ that they were the cultural ambassadors of Apartheid Israel and its Army whom they perform for.

Now I confess I don’t claim to understand those who pay to come and listen to musicians with blood on their hands. But then I don’t understand why Wagner was what he was. However I always thought that listening to classical music made you more not less peaceful. Instead as I began to contribute to the concert’s proceedings people began to get animated and started hitting me with their programmes! Not that I was hurt and nor did it distract me from the message I was getting across but it illustrates the Zionist mentality. Security however was quickly off the mark and I was, well not dragged but escorted off the premises, with one of the heavies shouting ‘fuck off’ at my back, to which I could but reply that that wasn’t very nice! The Police quickly entered but to my consternation and amazement did nothing. Given what had happened in Scotland I expected to be arrested. Instead I was merely thrown out into the street.

The next two to be evicted were members of Brighton PSC and the final evictee an activist in ISM. As we were gathering at a nearby café, a member of the audience came over to us to congratulate us on our protest which made us even more pleased. And when we learnt that the live broadcast by Radio 3 (which included Debbie’s initial operatic rendition) had been terminated we were even more over the moon.

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Protesters disrupt Jerusalem Quartet recital

29 March 2010

Transmission of today’s BBC Radio 3 Wigmore Hall lunchtime recital, given by the Jerusalem String Quartet, was abandoned after a group of anti-Israeli protesters infiltrated the hall and disrupted the performance with shouts, chants and bursts of song. The concert continued once the demonstrators had been removed, but the broadcast was replaced by a performance of the same repertoire by the Salomon Quartet.

Wigmore Hall director John Gilhooly told CM that there had been pickets outside the hall earlier in the morning, so some sort of disturbance was not entirely unexpected, especially in the light of a similar protest that took place when the Jerusalem Quartet appeared at the Edinburgh festival a few years ago. ‘But today’s demonstration was evidently extremely well planned,’ he said.

‘The protesters must have bought their tickets for the concert a long time ago, because they were all sitting in individual seats in different parts of the hall. One stood up and started singing and shouting, and while we were removing him another one started up somewhere else, and so on.’

The quartet continued to play and completed its programme – Mozart’s String Quartet in D K575 and Ravel’s String Quartet in F. ‘The concert took an hour and 20 minutes instead of an hour, and the atmosphere in the hall was very tense,’ said Mr Gilhooly.

The Radio 3 broadcast was truncated ‘in order to deny these people publicity’, and replaced with a performance of the same repertoire by the Salomon Quartet. The Jerusalem players stayed on afterwards to re-record some sections of the music and a patched version of the recital will be broadcast in Saturday’s repeat slot.

Posters to the Radio 3 Performance message board reported that the protest had been announced on Sunday in a Twitter message urging protesters to join an ‘urgent demo against Jerusalem Quartet 12.30 Wigmore Hall’ to ‘boycott ambassadors of apartheid Israel’.

According to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, the protesters were accusing the players of being ‘cultural ambassadors for the state of Israel, promoting the interests of Israel and all its policies against the Palestinians, to the British public’.

However, in response to the incident Mr Gilhooly said: ‘I want to make the point very strongly that we can’t possibly condone any kind of disturbance to an artistic event. Wigmore Hall is a totally non-political organisation, and by disrupting performances the protesters completely take away the whole meaning of an artistic event, which is something that transcends politics.’

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How to do it

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The mud squad in Arlington

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Open letter in defence of the right to boycott Israel

Open letter in defence of the right to boycott Israel l

March 2010

We, the undersigned, condemn the attempt by Scottish prosecutors to criminalise the growing international campaign to boycott Israel until Israel comes into line with international law.

In July 2005, working in close co-operation with partners in South Africa, hundreds of civil society organisations across Palestine produced a call for an international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions “against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era”.

The boycott did not emerge out of nowhere: according to the recent UN Goldstone report, “The prolonged situation of [Israeli] impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action.” In the historic absence of any genuine attempt by state actors to hold Israel to account, ordinary people of conscience around the world must exert the pressure that political leaders are unwilling to.

The boycott is focussed on Israeli state institutions; companies (Israeli or not) which profit from the occupation of Palestine; Israeli ambassadors of all kinds (political, cultural, sporting etc.) whose job it is to promote Israeli interests; as well, of course, as all Israeli goods.

In Aug 2008, five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) were arrested after protesting a concert performance by the Jerusalem Quartet, who enjoy the official status of cultural ambassadors of the State of Israel.

After standing up during the concert and making statements such as “End the Siege of Gaza”, “Boycott Israel”, “Stand up for human rights”, the campaigners were arrested and later charged with “breach of the peace”.

At the time of the concert, Gaza had already been under a brutal Israeli siege for 2 years. In June 2006, Israeli official, Dov Weisglass, explained that the idea behind the siege was not to starve them to death, just to “put the Palestinians on a diet”.

In Dec 2008 / Jan 2009, Israel massacred 1400 Palestinians in Gaza.

As the massacres began, the President of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann reminded “all member states of the United Nations that the UN continues to be bound to an independent obligation to protect any civilian population facing massive violations of international humanitarian law – regardless of what country may be responsible for those violations. I call on all Member States, as well as officials and every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move expeditiously not only to condemn Israel’s serious violations, but to develop new approaches to providing real protection for the Palestinian people.”

In Scotland, rather than meet these obligations, authorities there decided instead to show solidarity with Israel: the Crown levelled new charges of “racially aggravated conduct” at the SPSC campaigners.

It is no more anti-Semitic to boycott Israel to end the occupation of Palestine than it was anti-white to boycott South Africa to end apartheid. Israel has a long history of deflecting criticism of its policies by calling its critics anti-semitic — a tactic typical of those who defend the indefensible. Whilst this is expected from Israel, it is unacceptable that the Scottish Courts should allow themselves to be politicised in this way.

Boycott is a legitimate non-violent means to pressure Israel to end its crimes; the right to boycott must be protected.

We call on Scottish prosecutors to drop the case against the SPSC members and issue a full apology.

Signed
John Pilger, Journalist
Haidar Eid, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at Al-Aqsa University, Gaza
Ronnie Kasrils, former South African government minister and anti-apartheid activist
Omar Barghouti, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
Tam Dean Burn, actor
Dr Sue Blackwell, BRICUP
Ismael Patel, Friends of Al Aqsa
Yvonne Ridley, journalist and author
Musheir Al Farra, Sheffield PSC
Zahid Ali, Edinburgh Radio Ramadhan
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
American Jews for a Just Peace
Moshe Machover, mathematician & philosopher
Mike Marquesee, writer
Richard Haley, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Prof Haim Bresheeth
Janet Green, Camden PSC
Mike Cushman, Convenor, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods
Coalition contre Agrexco, France
Mike Arnott, Secretary, Dundee TUC
York PSC
Camden PSC
Betty Hunter, General Secretary, Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Sign the letter

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