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

Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism?

Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, 2:30pm
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
Facebook EVENTRead more

Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, 2:30pm
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
Facebook EVENT

Is being Anti-Zionist synonymous with being Anti-Semitic? Come explore this question speakers from Independent Jewish Voices and YCL – Vancouver.

Accessibility, Washrooms:

This event has stairs leading up to it, but can be made accessible upon request. Too, two gender neutral washrooms are available.

This event will be taking place on unceded Coast Salish territories.

Palestine: “68 years Journey of struggle and resistance for Peace, Justice & Freedom”

Date & Time: January 17th 2015 at 1:30 pm (sharp) to 3:30 pm.
Place: … Read more

Date & Time: January 17th 2015 at 1:30 pm (sharp) to 3:30 pm.
Place: Dr. Ambedkar Room (room 418) City Centre Library, 10350 University Drive, Surrey
Facebook EVENT

Speakers:
Dr. Sunera Thobani (Associate Professor at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, UBC)
Hanna Kawas (Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association)
Sid Shniad (Independent Jewish Voices)

In 1942, some leading Zionists met in New York to formulate plans for a Jewish state and for the last 68 years, the history has experienced nothing but the brutal and severe war crimes by Zionist forces in the pure land of Palestine. To discuss this journey of struggle and resistance by the people of Palestine and to create an awareness on this issue the Fraser Valley Peace Council has arranged a seminar.

Lets be there to show solidarity and salute the struggle of Palestinian people for their national liberation and more than six decades of efforts to get freedom just to live in peace on their homeland.

Organized by Fraser Valley Peace Council
“Fraser Valley Peace council is an organization under the flag of Canadian Peace Congress. This is an organization of Canadian people that advocates and works for world peace and disarmament.”

First Peoples, Palestine, and the Crushing of Free Speech

Monday, January 12 at 7:30pm
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street,… Read more

Monday, January 12 at 7:30pm
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Segal Rooms; Vancouver, BC
Facebook EVENT

Wednesday, January 14 at 5:00pm
Coach House at Green College, UBC; 6201 Cecil Green Park Road (off NW Marine Drive, opposite Chan Centre and Rose Parkade)
Facebook EVENT

A talk by Professor Steven Salaita, who is at the centre of an international protest against academic censorship.

Salaita, author of six books and many articles, was “unhired” from a tenured position in American Indian studies at the University of Illinois when donors pressured the university because of Salaita’s tweets on his personal Twitter account about the Gaza massacre this past summer.

Because this action is widely recognized as part of a broad effort to silence voices for Palestinian rights and justice, and as one incident in the long history of colonial treatment of indigenous peoples, the case has attracted international attention.

Salaita’s books will be available at this event.

Co-sponsored by:
CanPalNet
Canada-Palestine Association
Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures, SFU
BIAC (Boycott Israeli Apartheid Coalition)
UNJPPI (United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel)
Building Bridges Vancouver
Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver
Institute for the Humanities, SFU
SFU English Department
SPHR-UBC (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights)
Critical Race and Postcolonial Feminist Theory Group-UBC
Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church-Vancouver

Steven Salaita & Academic Censorship“: an interview on Voice of Palestine

Launch of Nahla Abdo’s new book, Captive Revolution

Friday, January 9, 2015
6:30 PM – 9 PM
Room 7000, Simon Fraser University … Read more

Friday, January 9, 2015
6:30 PM – 9 PM
Room 7000, Simon Fraser University Harbour Center
515 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC

Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle Within the Israeli Prison System

Sponsored by SFU Anthropology and Sociology Departments, Independent Jewish Voices and rabble.ca

Endorsed by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Red Sparks Union, Canada Palestine Association, Voice of Palestine

Women throughout the world have always played their part in struggles against colonialism, imperialism and other forms of oppression. However, there are hardly any academic books on Arab political prisoners, fewer still on the Palestinians who have been detained in their thousands for their political activism and resistance.

Nahla Abdo’s Captive Revolution seeks to break the silence on Palestinian women political detainees, providing a vital contribution to research on women, revolutions, national liberation and anti-colonial resistance. Based on the stories of the women themselves, Abdo draws on a wealth of oral history and primary research in order to analyse Palestinian women’s anti-colonial struggle, their agency and their treatment as political detainees.

Making crucial comparisons with the experiences of women political detainees in other conflicts, and emphasising the vital role Palestinian political culture and memorialisation of the ‘Nakba’ have had on their resilience and resistance, Captive Revolution is a rich and revealing addition to our knowledge of this little-studied phenomenon.

‘With Captive Revolution, Nahla Abdo reveals just how much of the history of anti-imperialist struggles is absent when women — especially Palestinian women freedom fighters — are overlooked. In the process of reconstructing this history through testimonies of Palestinian women political detainees, Abdo offers us incisive critiques of orientalist feminisms and of the persistence of racism in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.’ — ANGELA DAVIS, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Nahla Abdo is an Arab feminist activist and Professor of Sociology at Carleton University. She has published extensively on women, racism, nationalism, and the State in the Middle East, with a special focus on Palestinian women. Captive Revolution seeks to break the silence on Palestinian women political detainees, providing a vital contribution to research on women, revolution, national liberation and anti-colonial resistance.

Check out Voice of Palestine interview with Nahla Abdo

Facebook Event