divestment

JVP Boston activists protest the Veolia transportation company for operating bus lines serving settlements in the West Bank. November 14, 2012. (Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)

The quieter, more dangerous boycott

Three recent divestment cases indicate that even when there are no flashy headlines, maybe especially so, boycott and divestment efforts can have a major impact where it hurts. The largest supermarket chain in Luxembourg, Cactus, may be considering taking Israeli produce off its shelves unless suppliers can prove they do not come from occupied territory, Israeli news…

By Dahlia Scheindlin September 3, 2015

Participants in the Open Hillel Conference, Harvard University. (photo: Gili Getz)

Casting Jewish-American boycott activists as hypocrites

Israel’s top weekend news show forgets about journalistic integrity when painting American Jewish supporters of the BDS movement as hypocritical, ungrateful and misinformed. Last Friday, Channel 2’s popular weekend news show, “Ulpan Shishi,” ran a report by senior anchor Danny Kushmaro, who traveled to the United States to interview the Jews behind the boycott Israel…

By Haggai Matar July 19, 2015

With the Israeli settlement Gilo visible on a nearby hillside, Latin Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah joins Palestinians in a prayer service as a nonviolent witness against the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, February 8, 2013. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Major U.S. church backs divestment from Israeli occupation

In a landslide vote, the United Church of Christ passes a divestment and boycott resolution targeting ‘companies profiting from, or complicit in, human rights violations arising from the occupation.’ Text by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org The United Church of Christ voted by an overwhelming margin Tuesday to divest from companies complicit in the Israeli occupation. The…

By Activestills July 1, 2015

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International Christian activists join Palestinians for a Catholic mass in a West Bank olive grove as a form of nonviolent resistance against the Israeli separation barrier that threatens to further divide land belonging to the town of Beit Jala, March 14, 2014.

Interview: Church-based BDS and the Jewish voices beside it

As more U.S. churches vote on divestment, Jewish Voice for Peace aims to provide key support to a movement often accused of anti-Semitism. An interview with JVP’s advocacy director Sydney Levy. By Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Activestills.org This week, three more U.S. churches are voting on resolutions to divest from companies complicit in the Israeli…

By +972 Magazine June 30, 2015

Church based activists in the U.S. are listening to their Palestinian Christian counterparts. Here, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Lazarus rises near the Israeli Separation Wall dividing Palestinian neighborhoods on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Church-based BDS does not unfairly ‘single out’ Israel [op-ed]

Opponents of church-based boycott initiatives often accuse advocates of unfairly ‘singling out’ Israel while ignoring Islamist violence in Syria and elsewhere. Here’s why they’re wrong. Text and photos by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org In the coming days, three more U.S. churches will consider resolutions to apply economic leverage against the Israeli occupation. The Presbyterian Church USA…

By Activestills June 26, 2015

Construction of illegal settlement units at 'Elkana,' on the lands of the West Bank village of Masha, near Salfit, July 06, 2013. (Photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

The Israeli government’s election gift to West Bank settlers

Netanyahu tells supporters at a settlement campaign event that Israel will continue to build in the West Bank, as his Likud party competes with more hawkish parties for settler votes. Erekat calls for boycott, divestment in response. Less than a month and a half before general elections, the Israeli government published tenders for 430 new…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man January 30, 2015

Israeli Border police officers corral Palestinians as they wait to cross from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, West Bank, into Jerusalem, July 26, 2013. (Photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Israelis know status quo is untenable, but there’s no alternative vision

With three-quarters of Israelis saying they worry about international isolation and only 10 percent supporting the status quo, logic would hold that they might seek change. But don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. The success of the Zionist project — from the pre-state era to Startup Nation — is often attributed to some combination…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man December 24, 2014

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. (photo: DRosenbach/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The bigoted rants of Shmuley Boteach, ‘America’s rabbi’

If any gentile in America wrote about Jews the way he just wrote about Presbyterians – for any reason – he or she would be ostracized from public life for good. So many pro-Israel Jews are coming down on the Presbyterians as anti-Semites because of their divestment vote, which is a slander. But why aren’t…

By Larry Derfner June 27, 2014

Expansion and building of new settlement units of Beit Aryeh on the land of the West Bank village of Abud, near Ramallah, September 13, 2013. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

What’s the significance of a ‘settlement-free Europe?’

The direct effects of official sanctions against Israeli settlements are limited. But the momentum created by such moves inspires and pushes private actors to take their own steps in the same direction. France on Tuesday published a warning to its citizens against doing business in or with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Golan Heights…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man June 25, 2014

BDS graffiti on Israeli separation wall, Bethlehem, West Bank, June 17, 2014. (Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Is Presbyterian divestment a BDS victory? Who cares

Both BDS supporters and detractors are touting the Presbyterian Church’s divestment vote as a BDS victory. But regardless, isn’t it a step in the direction every anti-occupation person ought to be rooting for? By A. Daniel Roth The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) narrowly (310 to 303) voted late last week to divest some $21 million from…

By +972 Magazine June 22, 2014

Members of the Palestinian national security forces carry the bodies of Nadim Nawara and Muhammad Salameh during their funeral procession in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 16, 2014. Both teens were shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes the previous day outside the Israeli-run Ofer prison following a protest commemorating the Nakba. (Activestills.org)

The kidnapping is indefensible – but Israel helped provoke it

The pain Israelis feel over the three missing boys must be respected, but the fight to end the occupation – including a major BDS effort in America this week – must not stop. The three boys kidnapped in the West Bank Thursday night are innocent victims. And given their youth (Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaer…

By Larry Derfner June 15, 2014

JVP Boston activists protest the Veolia transportation company for operating bus lines serving settlements in the West Bank. November 14, 2012. (Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)

BDS’s Jewish roots: A lesson for Hillel

In all other contexts, the Jewish people have demonstrated that we understand boycotts, divestments, and sanctions to be effective, non-violent tools for political change. So why do we deem them violent and illegitimate when it comes to Israel? By Alice Mishkin My introduction to divestment as a tool for activism came in 2005. I was…

By +972 Magazine April 4, 2014

Israeli and American flags (photo: flickr / hoyasmeg CC BY 2.0)

A house divided: Campus divestment reveals cracks within the American Jewish establishment

How can a community which so highly regards deliberation and dissent demand such unwavering unity on what is, perhaps, American Jewry’s most controversial issue? By Roi Bachmutsky Uproar recently broke out regarding world-renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking’s recent decision to cancel his headline appearance at the fifth annual Facing Tomorrow Presidential Conference hosted by Israeli President…

By +972 Magazine May 16, 2013