Support the Global Day of Action and Boycott Puma – Worst. Gift. Ever.
Israel’s far-right government is escalating its expansion of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. At the same time, it is demolishing Palestinian homes in record numbers, leaving hundreds of Palestinian families homeless during a pandemic.
Puma’s support for these violent land grabs makes it the… Worst. Gift. Ever.
Israel’s military occupation and illegal settlements force Palestinian families from their homes, with full backing from the Australian government which remains complicit and does not even support UN Resolutions calling on Israel to respect Palestinian human rights and adhere to international law.
Puma says it supports equality but is helping to prolong the brutal dispossession of indigenous Palestinians.
Take two quick actions HEREto thank Lewis Hamilton for his stand against racism and to urge him to take that stand to Puma over its support for Israeli apartheid that South Africans say is worse than what they endured.
Lewis Hamilton, Formula One’s first and only Black driver, is shattering records and fighting against racism on and off the race track.
He recently said, “We all have a responsibility to educate ourselves and raise awareness of the tragedies happening in the world around us and take action where we can”.
Let’s take this opportunity to do just that!
Lewis Hamilton’s sponsor Puma supports Israeli apartheid that South Africans say is worse than what they endured.
Take two quick actionsHERE to thank Lewis Hamilton for his righteous stand against racism and ask him to take that stand to Puma.
August 17, 2020 – Palestinian human rights defender and BDS coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa was released by an Israeli military court, after 19 days of illegal detention without charges. Since his arrest on July 30, the Israeli internal security Shin Bet has failed to present any formal charges against him.
Nawajaa praised his supporters after his release: “Pressure works. Sustained global pressure works even better. I am deeply grateful to all of those who pressured apartheid Israel to release me. From Europe and the Arab world, to Southern Africa, Latin America, North America and Asia, your solidarity gave me strength and kept alive my hope to be reunified with my loving family and my inspiring wider BDS family.” He also thanked Palestinian and human rights organizations. (bdsmovement.net, Aug. 17)
July 30, 2020 – In Ramallah and Gaza, more than 150 representatives of Palestinian trade unions, women’s associations, political parties and BDS supporters rallied Tuesday in front of the representative offices of Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency, to demand EU pressure on Israel to set Mahmoud Nawajaa free.
Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the Palestinian National BDS Committee, was arrested by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the night from his home in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah on July 30th.
The decision to extend his detention was made in an Israeli military court in Jenin on August 2nd, upon request from Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet.
According to the BDS movement, the Shin Bet declined to present any charges or evidence that they have against Nawajaa with him or his lawyer — a common practice used by Israeli officials who routinely cite unnamed “security reasons” to justify the detention of Palestinian political activists.
Majida Masri, coordinator of the Palestinian Women’s Campaign for Boycotting Israeli Products, spoke for the BDS movement saying:
“We are rallying here to demand that the EU end its complicity of silence and apply concrete pressure on Israel to release Mahmoud Nawajaa and respect the rights of Palestinian human rights defenders. Israel is bowing to our pressure, so we must intensify it to #FreeMahmoud.
“Being Israel’s largest trade partner, and given its decades of complicity in enabling Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, the EU has legal and moral obligations to act to end Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
1. Let’s amplify their message and tell EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell that continued EU inaction amounts to outright complicity:
Help us send an equally determined message to the UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet, urging her to denounce Israel’s persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders, like Mahmoud.
2. Tell the UN it must act to defend Palestinian human rights defenders. Period.
@mbachelet: Help stop Israel’s persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders like Mahmoud Nawajaa, who peacefully resist apartheid. @UNHumanRights must demand that Israel #FreeMahmoud and all political prisoners now. https://bdsmovement.net/un-eu-freemahmoud pic.twitter.com/tdoVhuCST4
In their call for Israel to “immediately and unconditionally release Mahmoud, Amnesty International said:
Advocating for boycotts, divestment and sanctions is a form of non-violent advocacy and of free expression that must be protected. Advocates of boycotts should be allowed to express their views freely and take forward their campaigns without harassment, threats of prosecution or criminalization.
BDS Australia is pleased to host this important forum featuring Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) co founder, Omar Barghouti with key First Nations and Palestinian Australian speakers discussing the shared experience of dispossession, state-based discrimination and racism and how to counter it.
Don’t miss this unique event – REGISTER HERE – ZOOM FORUM SATURDAY AUG 29, 7.30PM EST (SYD, CANBERRA, MEL)
Speakers:
OMAR BARGHOUTI – Palestinian writer and founding member of the BDS campaign AMY MCQUIRE – Darumbal and South Sear Islander journalist and academic DR RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH – Palestinian author, academic and former lawyer PROFESSOR TONY BIRCH – Indigenous Australian author, academic and activist HIBA FARRA, Moderator – Palestinian lawyer and activist
BDS Australia condemns the recent violence against students and human rights defenders at York University in Canada. BDS Australia is a coalition of 12 Australian pro-Palestine associations, dedicated to informing and raising awareness in the Australian community in support of a just peace for the Palestinian people.
On 20 November 2019, Canadian human rights activists, students and others were protesting against the presence of former and current Israeli soldiers at York University’s Toronto campus when members of the Israeli lobby violently attacked and assaulted them. The Israeli soldiers were brought to campus by the right-wing Canadian branch of the Israeli organization called Herut. The students protested peacefully and we understand they were assaulted by the members of Jewish Defence League while the university security and police failed to protect them.
BDS Australia stands with activists from Canada and elsewhere internationally to unconditionally reject the assertion that protesting Israeli apartheid and Israeli violations of human rights and international law in relation to Palestine, is antisemitic.
We stand in solidarity with the Canadian students, staff, and others including progressive Jewish Israelis in the struggle against Israeli apartheid and Israel’s ongoing grave violations of international law.
We note that bogus claims of antisemitism against supporters of free and equal rights in international law for all Palestinians are disingenuous and a cynical attempt to discredit the ongoing international condemnation of Israel for its longstanding brutal and illegal colonization of Palestinian land and, oppression of Palestinians.
A presentation by the renowned Palestinian writer, scholar and commentator, Dr Abu Sitta in Sydney whose work has meticulously documented the Palestinian Nakba.
What: BDS for the Right of Return – Why? When: Wednesday October 9, 6.45pm-8pm Where: Redfern Town Hall.
Dr Abu Sitta is an author, scholar and commentator. He has meticulously documented the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). No-one can speak more authoritatively than he on that momentous event’s impact on the Palestinian people, nor on how to remedy the more than 70 years of the dispossession of their lands and the loss of their rights to self-determination and freedom.
Salman Abu Sitta was born in Palestine in 1937, not far from Beersheba. As a schoolboy when Israel was established in 1948, he was forced, with his family, to move from home to the Gaza Strip. He was educated in Palestine, Cairo and (at university) in London. Abu Sitta is a former member of the Palestinian National Council, the general coordinator of the Right of Return Congress. Abu Sitta is also the founder and President of the Palestine Land Society, London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and people. Website www.plands.org.
He is the author of six books on Palestine including the compendium Atlas of Palestine 1917- 1966, English and Arabic editions, the Atlas of the Return Journey in Arabic, English and Hebrew and over 300 papers and articles on the Palestinian refugees, the Right of Return, history of al Nakba and human rights.
His most well known book is the “Mapping my Return: A Palestinian Memoir” which had strong reviews internationally. Dr Abu Sitta is active in many academic, legal and human rights groups.
This website is maintained by BDS Australia, which is affiliated with the coalition of Palestinian organisations that leads and supports the BDS movement and by the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a BNC member organisation.
