[News] BDS challenges Israel and partners in crime

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-bds-challenges-israel-and-partners-crime-says-omar-barghouti 



  Video: BDS challenges Israel and "partners in crime," says Omar Barghouti

April 25, 2017
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On Sunday, Omar Barghouti 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/omar-barghouti> was presented with 
the Gandhi Peace Award <http://www.gandhipeaceaward.org> at a ceremony 
in New Haven, Connecticut.

He was recognized for his role as a human rights defender and co-founder 
of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian 
freedom, justice and equality.

Barghouti was introduced by Rebecca Vilkomerson, director of Jewish 
Voice for Peace 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-voice-peace>, who cited his 
role in pushing her organization to fully endorse the Palestinian call 
for BDS.

“Twelve years ago, we were called romantic dreamers or worse,” Barghouti 
said in his acceptance speech, recalling the beginnings of the BDS 
movement. “Today, our fast-growing movement is recognized as being so 
strong as to be fought by the full force of Israel’s regime of 
occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, and by its partners in 
crime in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, among others.”

Dedicating the award to hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israel-punishes-hunger-strikers-demanding-their-rights> 
and Palestinian refugees, Barghouti said the monetary sum that comes 
with it would be equally divided among Black Lives Matter and four other 
US organizations that work for Palestinian rights.

Watch the whole speech in the video above.


    Israel lobby upset

In a sign of how fearful major US institutions remain of offending 
Israel’s powerful lobby, Yale University, where the ceremony took place, 
issued what a local newspaper called 
<http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20170423/nader-israel-critic-barghouti-given-gandhi-peace-awards-in-new-haven-yale-disavows-views> 
“an unusual statement distancing the university from endorsing the 
Gandhi event.”

By contrast, the university has openly honored 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3787486,00.html> Israeli 
leaders such as Tzipi Livni, who is wanted for questioning by 
prosecutors 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-war-crimes-summons-force-tzipi-livni-cancel-brussels-trip> 
in several countries over her role in war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, /The New Haven Register/ published an article 
<http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20170424/forum-honoring-those-like-barghouti-will-make-enduring-peace-much-less-attainable> 
by leaders of local Israel lobby groups attacking Barghouti and smearing 
the BDS movement.


    Israeli harassment

Barghouti’s attendance at the Yale ceremony had been in doubt. As part 
of its effort to crush the BDS movement, Israel has targeted him for 
harassment.

In the past year, Barghouti has been subjected to a travel ban 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-temporarily-lifts-travel-ban-bds-co-founder-omar-barghouti> 
and open threats by Israel’s top ministers.

During a “Stop the Boycott” conference held in Jerusalem last year, 
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s public security and strategic affairs minister, 
vowed 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-envoy-refuses-condemn-israeli-threats-against-bds-activists> 
that BDS activists “will know they will pay a price for it.”

Singling out Barghouti, Erdan, who is responsible for spearheading 
Israel’s assault on the global BDS movement, added, “We will soon be 
hearing more of our friend Barghouti.”

During the same conference, which was attended by EU and US diplomats, 
Israel’s intelligence minister Yisrael Katz called for the thwarting of 
the BDS leadership, using the same Hebrew term used by the military for 
“targeted killing,” or extrajudicial execution.

In the latest chapter of that campaign, in mid-March, Israeli 
authorities detained and interrogated Barghouti 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-allegations-against-omar-barghouti-fabricated-boycott-movement> 
over several days in a tax fraud investigation.

Barghouti has condemned 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/under-israeli-gag-order-omar-barghouti-urges-more-bds> 
the investigation as part of Israel’s “McCarthyite witch hunt” and 
denounced the “vicious lies published by Israel’s regime against me.”


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