Everything you need to know about fighting BDS and the assault on Israel’s legitimacy.
Today’s Top BDS Stories:
1. Preparations are well underway for Israel Apartheid Week 2014, taking place at a U.S. or UK campus near you at the end of February to the beginning of January. Other parts of Europe schedule their “week” later, keeping it going for most of March.
2. Even worse than academic boycott? Germany reportedly conditions research grants to high-tech companies on assurance that funds will not reach beyond the Green Line.
The German decision represents a significant escalation in European measures against the settlements. While the Horizon 2020 scientific cooperation agreement, which Israel signed with the European Union a few weeks ago, prohibited EU funding for academic research conducted in the settlements, Berlin has now extended the funding ban to private companies located over the Green Line. Moreover, the boycott against the settlements has now spread from EU institutions in Brussels to individual EU members.
3. Anti-Zionist blog Mondoweiss published an email from Oxfam UK CEO Mark Goldring stating that the organization is “now engaged in a dialogue” with Scarlett Johansson over her affiliation with SodaStream. Despite intense bullying from across the BDS movement, Johansson has shown no sign of surrender.
Other BDS-Related Content:
* Morocco buys Israeli drones. While Europe is increasing boycott pressure on Israel, Arab countries like Morocco seem to be warming up to the Jewish state.
* Op-ed in the New Haven Register notes that anti-Israel boycotts hurt Palestians as well as Israelis.
When asked about the merits of an academic boycott of Israel, the Israeli Arab female valedictorian of Israel’s top medical school — Dr. Mais Ali Saleh — rejected the idea as ineffectual. Instead, she urged those interested in advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East to pressure Arab countries to adopt Israel’s level of academic freedom.
* Irish4Israel has launched a new website loaded with information you can use in the fight against BDS and assorted boycotts.
