BDS Hub – Page 25 – Canada Palestine Association

Vancouver marks Palestinian Land Day 1976-2015‏

On March 30, 1976, thousands of Palestinians marched in towns and villages… Read more

On March 30, 1976, thousands of Palestinians marched in towns and villages across the Galilee region, in the north of present-day Israel, to protest Israel’s expropriation of vast tracts of Palestinian land. In coordination with the Israeli military, some 4,000 police officers were dispatched to brutally quell the one-day general strike. At the end of the day, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by state security forces.
In Vancouver, Canada, on April 3, 1976, local Palestinians added their voices to the outcry over the killings and Israel’s policies of land confiscation (Check out this link). Since that time, Land Day has become a significant event for Palestinians as they commemorate not only their attachment to, and struggle for their homeland, but also to protest continuing Israeli ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
As Ali Abunimah pointed out in an article on the Electronic Intifada:
“Day of the Land – or Land Day – marked a turning point as the first mass mobilization by Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. Its commemoration is a reaffirmation that the Palestinians who remained in the areas on which Israel was declared in 1948 are an inseparable part of the Palestinian people and their struggle.”

In recent years, Land Day has also been marked by global Days of Action on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions BDS. This year, Vancouver again joins in with Land Day activities by leafleting at a local university campus to highlight Air Canada’s role in supporting Israeli Apartheid and war crimes through its contracting with state owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
As the BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish campaign leaflet states –
“Air Canada recently signed a maintenance agreement for its B787 jets with Israel Aerospace Industries IAI, a military defense company wholly owned by the government of Israel. IAI is the subject of boycotts across Europe and is well-known for its drone technology and production. It is truly shameful that Air Canada is “outsourcing” its maintenance work to this Israeli defense company that is directly responsible for the deaths of Palestinian civilians.”
The campaign also started an on-line petition to Air Canada’s CEO, that set a target of 1000 signatures by Land Day, a target that was met and exceeded. And global support continues to increase as more groups and individuals are outraged by Air Canada’s open complicity with Israeli war crimes.

We call on all supporters of the Palestinian peoples’ struggle for liberation world-wide to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The Western governments have proven over the last seven decades that they are the ones empowering Israeli war crimes; and we certainly can’t count on the Arab regimes, who rather than using their vast resources to challenge Israeli aggression, are busy trying to solidify their own dictatorships and suppress liberation movements across the Arab world.

Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver
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Details of Land Day Leafleting
** March 30: Palestinian Day of the Land **
Boycott Israeli Apartheid – Boycott Air Canada

Leafleting at Simon Fraser University
Burnaby Mountain campus
@ convocation hall near Bennett Library entrance
Monday, March 30
11:30 – 1:30pm

Boycott Air Canada: Tell Them We are not On-Board with Human Rights Violations

Air Canada still listing Sabra Hummus in their onboard menu.
Important … Read more

Air Canada still listing Sabra Hummus in their onboard menu.
Important Update:
Canadian BDS Coalition Declares Partial Victory in #AirCanadaComplicity
Article on the Electronic Intifada: Air Canada ends contract with Israeli arms firm

Interview with Hanna Kawas conducted by Sawssan Kaddoura for Under The Olive Tree “Air Canada Under Fire over IAI partnership and Sabra Hummus on its planes”
UPDATE Interview: Air Canada ends its partnership with IAI

New Article:
Technology of Israel Aerospace Industries: Tested on Palestinians, Exported to the World
#AirCanadaComplicity launched nationally by the Canadian BDS Coalition.
Read the statement on their website. Keep up the pressure on Air Canada until they end their complicity with the Israeli military defense industry!
Background articles on Palestine Chronicle:
#AirCanadaComplicity: Air Canada and Israel Aerospace Industries
Air Canada Is Complicit in Israeli War Crimes and Must be Held Accountable!
Sign our petition from BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish.

Background Info:

In 2015, we found out Air Canada has maintenance agreements with Israel Aerospace Industries IAI, which is wholly owned by the government of Israel. The IAI company website states: “Over the past 60 years IAI delivered, supplied and supported advanced systems for the Israeli Ministry of Defense..” Yet another compelling reason to boycott Air Canada.

Here are some further notes about Israel Aerospace Industries IAI, the company that Air Canada chose for “outsourcing” some of its maintenance work. IAI is the subject of boycotts across Europe, in particular, and is well-known for its drone technology and production. It is truly shameful that Air Canada is doing business with this Israeli government-owned military defense company that is directly responsible for the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Finally, and not surprisingly, Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada’s CEO, was part of PM Stephen Harper’s delegation to Israel in 2014.

Israel Aerospace Industries IAI and Israel’s drone wars
(according to Corporate Watch)
“IAI was one of the earliest developers of drone technology and launched its first surveillance drone, the IAI Scout, in 1979. Since then the company has launched a number of drone models (see below). Drone development is handled by IAIs MALAT divisions. IAI writes on its website of its drones’ “unsurpassed track record of over 1,200,000 operational flight hours for over 50 users on five continents”. According to Drone Wars UK, IAI has exported their UAVs, sometimes through joint venture agreements, to various European countries as well as South America, Australia, Canada and India and the company has a growing market in Africa.
Most of IAI’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) are surveillance drones, but the Heron 1 and Heron TP both have strike capabilities and have been used in Gaza. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW),i the Heron can fly up to 40 hours and can carry four Spike missiles. It is also used for surveillance and to identify targets on the ground.”

Previous Article from Palestine Chronicle on the campaign.

Article about the Air Canada Boycott on Mondoweiss.net
Under the Olive Tree interview with Aiyanas Ormond on BDS and Air Canada Boycott

Download the Fact Sheet

دعوة لمقاطعة شركة الطيران الكندية

وقعت مؤخرا شركة ألطيران الكندية اتفاقية لصيانة طائراتها من نوع بوينج (ب 787) مع مؤسسة “الصناعات الفضائية الإسرائيلية”، وهي شركة للصناعات العسكرية الني تمتلكها بالكامل حكومة الارهاب الإسرائيلية. ان شركة “الصناعات الفضائية الإسرائيلية” هي هدف للمقاطعة في جميع أنحاء أوروبا وهي مشهوره بتصنيع وإنتاج الطائره بدون طيار المعروفة في قطاع غزة بالزنانة.
ومن المخجل والمستهجن حقا لشركة ألطيران الكندية أن تصدر أعمال صيانة طائراتها خارج كندا و تدعم شركة عسكرية اسرائيلية مسؤولة بشكل مباشرعن بث الرعب ونشر الدمار والقتل بين أوساط المدنيين الفلسطينيين والعرب.
الرجاء توقيع العريضة لمدير شركة ألطيران الكندية الموجودة أعلاه على هذه الصفحة.

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Original Callout for Boycotting Air Canada Regarding Sabra Hummus

Dear Friends:
In the last month, we have communicated twice with Air Canada officials regarding their unethical behaviour in serving Israeli products on their flights. They have refused to answer us and left us with no choice but to launch a campaign to inform people of their policies. There are two products in question – one is Sabra Hummus which is listed in Air Canada’s on-board menu and prominently featured on the last page of the Air Canada cafe menu.
Sabra Hummus has already been an issue of controversy on university campuses in the U.S. and Canada because of the deplorable human rights record of one of its partner companies, Strauss Group. Strauss is the second largest Israeli food and beverage company and is known for supporting two Israeli military units implicated in human rights abuses, the Golani and Givati brigades.
The other product in question is Eden Springs water that comes from an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Golan Heights. Air Canada refuses to confirm or deny if they are still handling this product which they did serve in the past.
We ask all supporters of Palestinian rights, both here in Canada and globally, to publicize and implement this call for a boycott of Air Canada until they respect the call of Palestinian civil society. Help us to send the message that Palestinian rights and lives matter and Israeli government abuses of international law will not be rewarded!
Please tell Air Canada to stop their complicity with Israeli war crimes and make them aware that you are not “on-board” with supporting human rights violations.
BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Committee

Ways to contact Air Canada:
Email Air Canada CEO – calin.rovinescu@aircanada.ca
Air Canada Customer Relations – Webmail
Or Fax: 1-866-584-0380
Or Mail: PO Box 64239,
RPO Thorncliffe – Calgary, AB
Canada T2K 6J

Letters sent to Air Canada

Please join Facebook Group

BDS VANCOUVER Coast Salish Territories

BDS VANCOUVER
Coast Salish Territories
(Sub-Committee of Canada Palestine… Read more

BDS VANCOUVER
Coast Salish Territories
(Sub-Committee of Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver)

Basis of Unity

a. Endorsing the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS objectives:
“These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194” – See more at: http://www.bdsmovement.net

b. Regardless of its national and/or geographic location, any company, organization or institution that is empowering Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing and Apartheid is complicit in them, and accordingly is subject to the economic and cultural boycott call.

c. We believe in the universality of human rights, and that the injustices that befell the Palestinian people should be rectified.

Organizational Structure

The committee will operate as a collective, with all decisions being made democratically, by majority vote.
• Membership is open to individuals who subscribe to, and actively work to promote, the committee basis of unity; and who pay CPA membership dues ($15 a year).
• Applications for new membership will be ratified by the committee collective, by majority vote.
• Members are entitled to attend CPA regular meetings if they choose to do so.

For more info, or to become involved with the committee, please email us at: cpavancouver@gmail.com

Don’t cross our global picket line against Apartheid Israel

Open Letter to Don Davies, NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway

Mr. Davies:

We were… Read more

Open Letter to Don Davies, NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway

Mr. Davies:

We were shocked and disappointed when we saw an ad for you in the regional Zionist paper “Jewish Independent” Dec. 7, 2012 (page 28) where you sent your “Best wishes to all members of the Jewish Community and Happy Chanukah”. You were the only NDP MP to do so, in the company of ads from the pro-Israeli advocacy organization “Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs” (CIJA), the racist “Jewish National Fund”, Liberal MP Joyce Murray, BC Premier Christy Clark, and finally, a full back-page colour ad from Stephen Harper and all his MP cronies in BC.

The so-called Jewish Independent is a right-wing Zionist paper. In the 2008 federal elections, it endorsed and supported the Conservative Party and your opponent Salomon Rayek. Ironically, we celebrated your win then as a victory for democracy over the meddling and influence of the pro-Israel lobby. However, it seems we were mistaken and the Zionist lobby in Canada succeeded in their new policy of not “putting all of one’s eggs in one basket” (to quote the Jewish Independent Editorial “Post Election”, Oct. 24, 2008). This paper has also supported the war on Iraq, supports Israeli ethnic cleansing and war crimes against the Palestinian people, and is a mouthpiece for successive Israeli governments and the Canadian Zionists in general.

Mr. Davies:

Paying for an ad in this Zionist paper is a blatant attempt to cross our global picket line against Israeli Apartheid and shows a callous disregard of the Palestinian call for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions”.

We expect such a hostile act against the Palestinian people to come from right-wing businesses, corporations and parties, but we do NOT expect it from people who claim to be progressive and our allies, and especially not from someone who we know is well aware of the suffering and tragedy of the Palestinian people.

Also, Mr. Davies, you should know better than to imply or claim that Zionists and their papers represent the Jewish community; in fact, such posturing is a major contributor to modern day anti-Semitism. If you really want to reach out for your constituency, and to those progressive Jews who have backed you and your NDP party, then you should advertise in a paper like the Jewish Outlook, the Jewish-Canadian paper that supports progressive causes in Canada and all over the world, including peace and justice in Palestine/Israel.

HEU and BCNU Also Cross the Picket Line

We were also outraged that two trade unions advertised in the same issue of the Jewish Independent: the Hospital Employees’ Union (page 42), and the BC Nurses’ Union (page 60). In fact, this is not the first time the Hospital Employees’ Union has advertised with this Zionist paper, and it is also not the first time that other Canadian unions have advertised in this paper. Some of those unions stopped this practice after we brought it to their attention and we thank them for that. We also call on them now to come out publicly in support of the BDS movement and follow the lead of their sister union, CUPW.

As the Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate, the late Israel Shahak put it: the litmus test for any progressive is where he/she stands on the Palestinian issue.

We expect and demand that progressive unions, organizations and parties and their members support and join our global picket line against Apartheid Israel – and definitely not cross it.

Hanna Kawas

Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association
Host, Voice of Palestine

Joy Harjo: Cancel your show, don’t perform for Israeli Apartheid!

Change.org|Online Petition Template

Native American poet and musician Joy Harjo is scheduled to perform at Tel Aviv University on Monday, December 10. SIGN HERE TO ASK THAT SHE HONOR THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC AND CULTURAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL.

It’s time to take a principled stance in support of Palestinian human rights being violated by the Israeli state’s colonial occupation and apartheid regime. Palestinian civil society has called for the international academic and cultural boycott of Israel. This is an institutional boycott responding to the call to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
To:
Joy Harjo
USACBI
We write today to urge prominent poet, musician, author and playwright Joy Harjo to cancel her scheduled performance at Tel Aviv University on Monday, December 10. Joy Harjo’s work has been nationally and internationally acclaimed; her feminist writings and her commitment to social justice and decolonization have inspired many. We are writing to say – Joy Harjo, it is not too late to cancel!

Because of your noted commitment to social justice and decolonization, we urge you to heed the Palestinian call for global academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has laid out clear arguments and guidelines (http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1047) for the cultural and academic boycott of Israel.

Israel today is a manifestation of settler colonialism, much akin to the settler colonialism of the United States, Canada, and other settler colonial countries, built on the disposession and genocide of indigenous peoples. Standing for decolonization today must mean also listening to the Palestinian call and heeding the global picket line for BDS of Israel.

When asked about the boycott, you said:

“I didn’t know about the boycott until it was too late. My trip was posted here for a month. A person made it their campaign to question my integrity and notify others without speaking with me. I am a Mvskoke person living on occupied lands. I am in support of human rights. My music and poetry take me into the world to speak and sing a compassion that is still beyond me. I am learning yet. Mvto cehacares.”

It is not too late. The performance has not yet happened. With your actions, you have the opportunity to have your voice against occupation, for human rights, and for compassion be heard ever more strongly and clearly – by cancelling your performance at Tel Aviv University.

We urge you to join the global picket line of Israel – and not cross it.

Sincerely,
[Your name]