BDS Hub – Page 17 – Canada Palestine Association

Boycott Israeli Wine, Stand up for Palestine!!

New Video from Feb. 29th Action, FB Event Page

BDS activists were out leafleting on February 29, 2020 in Vancouver, to say Boycott Israeli Wines, and to tell consumers that both the Canadian and BC governments are complicit in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. They are asking people to contact the BC Attorney General, David Eby (see below) to demand that BC Liquor Stores stop violating international law.

BC’s Liquor Distribution Branch continues its complicity with the violation of Palestinian human rights. Despite calls from multiple local organizations for a boycott of Israeli wines, many produced in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, they continue to be sold in our publicly owned BC Liquor Stores.

Our appeals to BC Attorney General David Eby, responsible for the provincial Liquor Distribution Branch, have seen no action and little response. We urge you to join us in calling on Mr. Eby and the Liquor Distribution Branch to take a stand in respect of international law and Palestinian human rights, and halt this complicity in Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Human rights violations are not a valid “consumer choice” – but they are the choice being made every day by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. These are our publicly funded stores and should reflect a commitment to human rights, including justice for the Palestinian people. It’s time to make a change and respect international law rather than violating it!

What you can do:

CALL: David Eby, BC Attorney General: (604) 660-1297

EMAIL: AG.minister@gov.bc.ca

Tell him: It’s time for BC Liquor Stores to stop violating international law. Pull “Made in Israel” settlement wines off the shelf!

BC Attorney General: Still stonewalling on illegal Israeli wines in BC stores

The following letter was sent to BC Attorney General David Eby on December 9, 2019. Once again, he has chosen to ignore our concerns and refuses to respond with any explanation.

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Dear Mr. Eby:

Since we sent you our letter on Oct. 17, 2018 regarding your refusal to remove Israeli wines from BC Liquor Stores, we have not received any further reply regarding our concerns.

Since then significant developments have taken place, and we would like to bring them to your attention.

On July 29 of this year, the Federal Court ruled that “product of Israel” labels from wines made in the West Bank, in the occupied Palestinian territories are “false, misleading and deceptive,” and ordered the removal of such labels.
On August 2^nd, 2019, the NDP issued a statement in support of this Court ruling that stated:
“New Democrats welcome this decision, which we view as a step forward for justice in Israel and Palestine…These settlements are illegal and clearly violate the fourth Geneva Convention…Products made in illegal settlements that are imported into Canada with “Product of Israel” labels fly in the face of the Government of Canada’s policy on the status of Palestinian territory as well as international law.”
On September 6, 2019 “Canada’s attorney general announced he was appealing a recent federal court ruling that banned labeling wines made in West Banks settlements as products of Israel…The announcement…put the Canadian government squarely in the limelight as openly violating the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
On November 12, 2019, the Guardian reported that: “The European Union’s top court has ruled that EU countries must identify products made in Israeli settlements on their labels, in a decision welcomed by rights groups but likely to spark anger in Israel. The European court of justice said: ‘Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the state of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin’.”
During the past federal elections, the “I Vote Palestine” campaign received a YES answer from the NDP relating to two BDS questions:
* Do you recognize the rights of Canadians to support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions BDS movement as a non-violent strategy to force Israel to abide by UN resolutions and all international humanitarian laws?
A. Yes.
* Do you oppose condemning or criminalizing people or organizations who support the BDS Movement?
A. Yes.

Your stated reason for keeping “Made in Israel” wines on the shelves was that, “It is the Liquor Distribution Branch’s (LDB) policy to respect its customers’ right to make choices”. We should inform you this reasoning is flawed; actually it is the opposite of the ruling of the Canadian Federal Court which stated: “because the wines weren’t labelled as products of the West Bank, Canadians were unable to make informed decisions as consumers, particularly if they wanted to ‘buy conscientiously’.” And it is also the opposite of the EU court ruling: “labelling of products from Israeli settlements must provide an ‘indication of that provenance’ so consumers could make “informed choices” when they shopped.”

We urge you to reconsider your position and respond positively to the thirty-one groups, that signed the original letter asking you to take action regarding “Made in Israel” wines in B.C. Liquor Stores. As stated in that letter, and still valid today, all of the Israeli wines currently in stock “are either from the Galil Winery, which is a joint venture with the Golan Heights Winery (the name of which speaks for itself), or from the occupied West Bank, including the illegal Gush Etzion settlement bloc around Jerusalem.”

Please “have the courage” to “stand up for what is right” as the “NDP Statement on Federal Court Decision on ‘Product of Israel’ Labels” claimed when stating that the party believes in a principled foreign policy . “The NDP will always stand up for what is right, even when others don’t have the courage to do it.”

If this is true and not just crass political opportunism, then we expect concrete action in situations like this where you are in a position to make a difference. A year ago, you informed us: “my schedule does not allow me to meet with you at this time.” Does your schedule now allow for addressing our human rights concerns?

Regards,

Hanna Kawas, Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association
Aiyanas Ormond, Coordinator, BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish

c.c. John Horgan, Premier of BC, premier@gov.bc.ca

Jagmeet Singh, NDP Leader, Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca

All Signatory Groups on the Open Letter

Media Complicity in Demonizing Palestinians

York University Update

“The damage has been done, the smear was repeated and repeated, and a half-hearted revision five days after the first story will not undue the harm that has been caused.”

This quote is from the article posted on the CPA website yesterday, entitled “Jerusalem Post admits to printing false info about York University protest”. That article detailed how false and dangerous accusations against pro-Palestinian supporters in a Jerusalem Post story had lacked any credible evidence and were eventually revised in updated versions.

But indeed, the smear becomes accepted fact. Just today, November 28, 2019, the Toronto Sun carried an inflammatory article by Joe Warmington, entitled “Did York University protestors commit a hate crime?” repeating the same false accusation, again referencing the Jerusalem Post and its quote from Shar Leyb. The original Sun article declared: “One person they may want to talk with is Calgary-born Shar Leyb, a Reservists on Duty speaker who — according to the Jerusalem Post — said “there were hundreds of posters that read ‘stop the IDF killers on campus,’ and ‘we do not let Zionists on York University campus” and we heard some outside chanting “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens, you belong in Europe.’ I have never felt so much hate in my life.”

However, after we pointed out to them in an email exchange that even the Jerusalem Post had revised that quote and removed the second part of it, the Sun has now also revised their story. Mind you, they did not feel compelled to alter the misleading title.

Following the original exchange with the Jerusalem Post and a further query by Dimitri Lascaris, the paper is now on the 5^th version of this particular article. FIVE versions in less than a week. Surely that points to the lack of any credibility of the one biased source for this information. Nonetheless, JPost still insists on repeating it in their introductory paragraph, although attributing it to only “several” protestors.

Even the right-wing FrontPage Mag has revised its story on who alleges to have heard this “chant” and the exact wording involved, but they also are still insisting on leading with this claim in their article and even in their title. Their source is also Shar Leyb, not surprisingly the same source as the Jerusalem Post.

This is how media works to demonize Palestinians and their struggle. First, its an angry mob of 600 who chanted this offensive slogan, then it was downgraded to a handful or several protestors. Then the actual quote from the one source is completely removed from the Jerusalem Post. But the seed has been planted and the tags of racist and anti-Semitic have been loosely thrown around, with even the spectre of “hate crimes” brought up. Will anyone, including PM Justin Trudeau, bother to review all of these developments and admit they were wrong to issue their dangerous accusations of anti-Semitism? And recognize the harm caused by their rush to embrace such fabrications and deceptions?

Boycott HP, Mark Int’l Day of Solidarity with Palestinians

Boycott HP, Mark International Day of Solidarity
Saturday, December 7, 2 pm
Best Buy, 798 Granville (at Robson), Vancouver
Join the FB event

Nov. 29 marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This year, join with us and show our solidarity with the Palestinians to say #BoycottHP, Technology of Israeli Apartheid!

Hewlett Packard branded companies play a key role in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. They provide equipment and services to the Israeli military, prison system and government, including the ID card system that underpin Israel’s apartheid policies and its movement restrictions for Palestinians.
Along with providing technology to the Israeli military that maintains Israel’s illegal occupation and the aggression and siege on Gaza, HP provides Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority with the exclusive Itanium servers for its Aviv System. This system enables the government to control and enforce its system of racial segregation and apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and is directly involved in Israel’s settler colonialism through its “Yesha database”, which compiles information on Israeli citizens in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

There are over 5000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails, 460 of them held under administrative detention without charge or trial. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds the current contract for maintenance of the Israel Prison Services data systems.
Boycott HP!
End the Siege on Gaza!
Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners!

Organized by Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver and BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories

#RaptorsDontGo Campaign Declares Victory

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Statement of Canadian BDS Coalition
October 22, 2019

The Canadian BDS Coalition is pleased to announce that the #RaptorsDontGo campaign has been successful. Our campaign was launched in June 2019, immediately following the Raptors victory in the NBA championship; and after team co-owner Larry Tanenbaum received extensive coverage in the Israeli media stating he would bring the team to visit Israel if they won the championship. The Israeli Embassy in Ottawa highlighted the issue, and tweeted the Raptors promising “we’ll call you…to help with the arrangements”.
However, the 2019-20 NBA new season has now begun and there has been no reported public team visit; and continued silence from all of the team owners on this issue.
The campaign from the onset seemed to strike a chord with many people, both in Canada and globally. Although the Israeli lobby has engaged in other sportswashing events, this particular attempt struck many as an incredibly blatant and crude exploitation of a popular victory for an overt political agenda.

#RaptorsDontGo took off on social media and the Coalition would like to thank all of the individuals and groups who helped the campaign become so popular so quickly. Our petition gathered over 6500 signatures, a parallel petition in the U.S., started by CodePink, had over 2700 people sign on, and Jewish Voice for Peace also picked up the campaign on social media.
The Chair of BDS Vancouver, Aiyanas Ormond, stated in an open letter: “Around the world poor and oppressed people have embraced basketball as a sport of the people, and basketball players, many of whom come from poor and struggling backgrounds, have an important history of taking progressive positions and giving back to their communities. From Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russel’s stand with Mohammed Ali against the draft and the Vietnam War to public and collective statements against police brutality against Black people in America, NBA players have stood on the side of social and racial justice.”
Why exactly the Raptors team never went on the “promised trip” may have been the result of several factors, not the least of which was the quick and overwhelmingly negative response by so many basketball fans. This must surely have been noticed by the team’s owners – Bell 37.5%, Rogers 37.5% and Tanenbaum’s company Kilmer Sports 25%. Although Tanenbaum’s entity may not be impacted by public opinion on this issue, Bell and Rogers certainly are and have their broader business agenda to consider. Also, the protests that happened in Israel after the police shooting of an Ethiopian teenager on June 30, 2019, some referencing slogans of the Black Lives Matter movement, would have been a politically damaging backdrop for such a team visit.

The Canadian BDS Coalition is grateful that this visit did not materialize, as it would have given legitimacy to Israel’s war crimes. We feel the #RaptorsDontGo campaign also demonstrated the strength of popular grassroots campaigns that can mobilize to achieve justice for Palestinians. As with the Boycott Puma campaign, that calls out that company’s sponsorship of the Israeli Football Association which includes teams from the illegal settlements, the push-back on sportswashing of Israel’s dispossession of a whole nation and people is a critical part of the struggle for Palestinian rights.

Check out the new articles in Mondoweiss and Palestine Chronicle