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🔸 New or Recently Updated
AROUND THE WORLD
Governmental Actions
in 17 Countries
Australia
? The Australian Prime Minister announced that
his government will recognise West Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel. However, he said Australia's embassy
would not move from Tel Aviv, until a peace settlement was achieved. He added that Australia also recognises the aspirations of the Palestinians to a state with a capital in East Jerusalem. The announcment displeased those who saw it as an attempt to “have it both ways” – appease Israel and the U.S. by a partial recognition of the capital that Israel claims, while not flagrantly violating international law and the understanding of the international community that Jerusalem will be a crucial issue to be decided in peace negotiations.
Belgium
👍 TheCity Council in Ghent, Belgium voted to ban companies involved in human rights violations from doing business with the the city. Palestinian solidarity activists with the group Ghent Action Platform Palestine (GAPP) were the driving force behind this vote. Observers see in this vote a growing commitment to hold Israel accountable for its violations of Palestinian human rights. reflected by similar actions taken in city councils across the world.
Brazil
👎 The divisive rhetoric and populist politics of President Jair Bolsonaro are not all he shares in common with the current US President. The Brazilian president has promised to move the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem and has reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for closer relations. Netanyahu visited Brazil in December 2018 to strengthen political and economic ties between the countries, and has added Bolsonaro’s regime to the list of far-right, nationalist governments with which he is cultivating relationships, including Hungary and Poland.
Canada
👍 Canada has revoked the charitable status of the Beth Oloth Charitable Organization, with more than US$45 million in 2017 revenues, which funneled money to projects supporting the Israeli army, specifically programs called mechinot that prepare Israeli high school students for military conscription, and which include weapons training, mentoring by Israeli soldiers and visits to army bases. Using charitable donations to fund foreign militaries contravenes Canadian law.
Chile
👍 By a vote of 99 to 7, the National Congress of Chile adopted a resolution demanding that the government “forbid the entry of products manufactured and coming from Israeli colonies in the occupied Palestinian territory.” The resolution was debated as part of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Also in 2018, the Chilean city of Valdivia became the first Latin American city to declare itself an “Israeli Apartheid Free Zone” (AFZ). Last year, students at University of Chile’s Faculty of Medicine voted to break institutional ties with Israeli universities, following similar decisions by students of the Social Sciences Faculty and the Law Faculty.
Denmark
👎 In October, the Danish Foreign Minister announced that Denmark will no longer provide funding to groups that endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, in what pro-Israel activists have called a significant step. A document outlining conditions for government funding said: "The use of Danish funds for political purposes, including BDS activities, is unacceptable."
France
👍 In 2018, the prestigious Human Rights Prize of the French Republic was awarded to organizations that are being harassed or pressured for defending or promoting human rights. To Israel’s embarrassment and ire, two of the 2018 recipients were organizations that report on human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories: Al Haq, a Palestinian organization based in Ramallah, West Bank, and B’Tselem, based in Jerusalem. Both groups have been harassed and attacked by the Israel government.
? Also in 2018, the “Saison France-Israel” was a cultural season with hundreds of cultural events taking place over a period of six months. Due to well-mounted activist opposition throughout the season and the refusal of many French artists to participate, the Season was deemed a failure by an Israeli diplomatic source.
👎 France has taken a hard line on BDS activism, erroneously conflating opposition to Israeli policies with anti-semitism, and therefore treating BDS messaging and actions as hate crimes. Therefore, both Paypal and French banks shut down account for the France-Palestine Solidarity Association. But the French payment service HelloAsso defied the trend and would not suspend service for the group.
Germany
👎 After several years of harsh opposition to BDS and other activism for Palestinian rights in Germany, in January of 2018, Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, approved measures with the stated goal of combating anti-Semitism. A close look at the measures indicates that a key target of that measure is the BDS movement. The Bundestag motion recommended that the judiciary should examine to what extent a boycott of Israel is a “criminal offense,” and event suggested that calls for boycott actions may amount to “sedition.”
👍 Nevertheless, later in 2018, a German court confirmed that advocating for BDS and Palestinian rights constitutes freedom of expression and assembly, rights that are protected by the German constitution and are essential for democracy. The court ruled that the German city of Oldenburg unlawfully violated these fundamental rights when it revoked a permit for an event space, forcing a Palestinian solidarity group to cancel its public lecture on Palestinian rights.
Ireland
👍 At the beginning of 2018, the lower house of Ireland’s parliament passed legislation that would ban all imports from Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. Ever since, the U.S. has been trying to pressure Ireland not to take further steps on that legislation. Palestine is a big issue in Ireland, where there is a deep empathy for the Palestinian people.
👍 In April of 2018, Dublin became the first European capital to endorse the BDS movement for Palestinian rights. Citing Israel’s “inhumane blockade and siege of Gaza,” the Dublin City Council promised to discontinue all its business contracts with the BDS-targeted Hewlett Packard (HP) branded companies and spin-offs, including DXC Technology, given their complicity in Israel’s egregious violations of Palestinian human rights. Dublin’s action was soon followed by the governments of Donegal, Galway and Monaghan. Derry had previously declared a boycott in 2016, which brings the Irish cities in the BDS movement to five.
Italy
👍 In May, the City Council of Bologna, Italy’s seventh largest city, approved a motion by a wide margin in support of concrete action to hold Israel accountable for violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, as stipulated in international law. The motion urges the Italian government and European institutions to "commit to suspending supplies of weapons and military equipment as called for by Amnesty International." Italy is a major weapons provider to Israel. The city’s statement recalled the over one hundred Palestinians killed and 10,000 wounded in recent weeks by Israel’s "harsh repression" of Palestinians in Gaza protesting against Israel’s occupation and illegal blockade of Gaza and for the UN-sanctioned right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Malaysia
👍 In January 2018, Malaysia chose to forfeit its hosting of the World Para Swimming Championships rather than grant visas to Israeli nationals, making that decision to reject “normalization” of international relations with Israel and to stand in solidarity with Palestinians. The country suffered international recriminations for taking that stand. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry stated: “For more than half a century, Israel has continued to disregard the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, while committing inhumane policies and practices that are in clear violation of international laws.”
In November 2018, the Malaysian Prime Minister criticized Australia’s decision to recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying that [all of] Jerusalem should remain as it is now.
Norway
👍 In 2018, the Norwegian foreign ministry stated that municipalities that vote to boycott Israel’s settlements do not violate Norway’s international obligations, a defeat for right-wing parties that had tried to have two such municipal boycotts rescinded.
Portugal
👍 The Portuguese Ministry of Justice withdrew from The LAW TRAIN project which is aimed at unifying police interrogation methodologies, an EU-funded project with the Israeli Ministry of Public Security, the Israeli National Police and Israel’s Bar Ilan University. It met strong opposition in Portugal due to human rights abuses committed by those Israeli entities.
👍 In July, The Portuguese Parliament voted in favor of a bill that condemns the Israeli decision to expel Palestinian Bedouins living in village of Khan Al-Ahmar in occupied East Jerusalem. The resolution expresses the Portuguese Parliament’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to have an independent state within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
👍 In August, The Portuguese parliament condemned, with votes in favor by all the parties except the one, the “disproportionate violence by the Israeli army” against the Palestinians in the Gaza strip and called for “an independent investigation into these incidents. This vote of condemnation and sympathy, the parliament also “appealed for Israel to respect its responsibilities under international humanitarian law and a transparent investigation into the acts that led up to the confrontations" and "offered its solidarity with the forces of the international community to find a fair solution based on two states accepted by both sides in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.”
Scotland
👍 The Glasgow City Council responded to months of popular protest against its decision to sponsor the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) conference, a military fair featuring Israeli weapons manufacturers notorious for violating Palestinian human rights. The Council vowed to refuse to sponsor any military fairs in the future and promised the city would “reexamine its guidelines” to ensure they reflect that “Glasgow is a human rights respecting city.” This concession by the Glasgow City Council was won by a coalition of human rights defenders that included the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC).
👍 Also in 2018: A report commissioned by the Scottish government set an important legal precedent by concluding that “hostility towards a political entity” should not be considered a hate crime. The report, authored by Lord Bracadale, a senior member of the Scottish judiciary, states: “The right to engage in legitimate political protest is fundamental in a democratic society.” As an example, it cites a Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) boycott action against an Israeli music group.
South Africa
👍 Relations between South Africa and Israel became increasingly testy in 2018. In January, At the United Nations Human Rights Council, a South African official stated that “Israel is the only state in the world that can be called and apartheid state,” thereby drawing an furious response from Israeli diplomats. In May, South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel over the extreme violence perpetrated against protesters in the Great March of Return in Gaza.
In June, in an interesting development on the local level, the Mayor of Johannesburg suspended a councilwoman of the city who said at a public event that Johannesburg is a “friend of Israel.”
Spain
👍 In 2018, a wave of major cities across Spain expressed strong support for Palestinian rights, denounced both the US embassy moving to Jerusalem and Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in the Great March of Return. Altogether, more than 30 local municipalities in Spain have endorsed the BDS campaign. Many Spanish cultural centers and small businesses have also declared themselves Israeli Apartheid Free Zones (AFZ).
👍 Madrid, the capital and largest city in Spain, passed a motion condemning Israel’s “disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force … against Palestinian civilians” in Gaza and called for an “immediate end” to the “illegal siege” of Gaza. Barcelona, the second largest city, called for a comprehensive military embargo on Israel. Valencia, a regional capital, voted to become an Apartheid Free Zone and to support the BDS movement. Pamplona, another regional capital, voted to support the right of return for Palestinian refugees and called for Spain to impose sanctions on Israel and cut diplomatic ties. Several more cities called for an embargo on arms to Israel, urging the European Union and beyond to end preferential treatment of Israel.
United Kingdom
👍 The Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn have been under attack for some time with accusations of anti-Semitism, due in large part to his and his party’s strong opposition to Israeli policies. The Labour Party voted in 2018 to freeze arms sales to Israel and Corbyn, a serious challenger to the current PM, announced that the UK would immediately recognize the Palestinian state if he is elected Prime Minister. Not surprisingly, Reports surfaced in 2018 that the smear campaign has ties to the Israeli government.
👎 Also in 2018: Prince William paid the first visit to Israel/Palestine by a member of the UK royal family since the British Mandate period of 1922-47, something activists had called for him to cancel.
👍 UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her country’s embassy would not be moved to Jerusalem, despite the US move.
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Download 2018 Review: Part One –
Download 2018 Review: Part Two –
The Big Stories of 2018
________________________
Read these sections of
Part Two on our website:
• The Top Stories
• People in the Spotlight
• Events IN Israel/Palestine
• U.S. Scene: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism
• U.S. Scene: More from Trump Admin
• U.S. Scene: On Campus
• U.S. Scene: Legislation- State, Federal
• U.S. Scene: Changes on the Horizon
• Around the World
• Successes: BDS & More
• Last, But Not Least
• For Information Junkies