U.S. COMPANY FINED FOR COMPLYING WITH ARAB BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

U.S. Company Fined for Complying with Arab Boycott of Israel - Michael Freund (Jerusalem Post)
The U.S. government has imposed a civil penalty on a Pennsylvania-based firm after one of its overseas subsidiaries repeatedly violated American legal restrictions regarding the Arab boycott of Israel.

Colorcon, a manufacturer of inks and coatings for the food and pharmaceutical industries, agreed to pay $39,000 in fines after its UK subsidiary committed 21 violations of the law between 2001 and 2005 in a series of dealings with Syria.

These included providing written assurances to the Syrians that the company's products did not contain materials manufactured in Israel, as well as an undertaking that Colorcon would comply with Damascus' boycott of Israel.

BAHRAIN VIOLATES PROMISE TO BUSH; BOYCOTTS ISRAEL

Bahrain Violates Promise to Bush Administration (LGF)
One of the conditions of the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement was that Bahrain would eliminate its boycott of Israel. Imagine my surprise to discover they were lying: Bahraini parliament calls to boycott Israel and parley.

At a stormy session held last Tuesday, Bahrain’s parliament called upon the Gulf Arab emirate’s government to cease all contact with Israel and to refrain from attending the upcoming Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, which it labeled “a waste of time”.

“Most of the parliament is in favor of cutting off any contact with Israel,” Abd-Ali Muhammad Hassan, a member of Bahrain’s Chamber of Deputies, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Manama. “We are not going to recognize Israel and have any dealings with them until the rights of the Palestinians are achieved,” he said.

At least one of Hassan’s parliamentary colleagues, Jalal Fairooz, already appears to be implementing the decision.

Contacted by the Post, Fairooz said that he refused to be interviewed by a newspaper published in Israel. “I am not willing to speak to a newspaper that is published in the occupied territories,” he said, after which he hung up.

PEACE PROCESS: LINK DUMP

Hamas says it will occupy the West Bank if Israel withdraws.

Annapolis Peace Conference: pray for failure.

Arab Columnists: The Annapolis Summit Will Serve Arab Interests.

Palestinians in East Jerusalem Say Please Don't "Liberate" Us From Israel and Thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem Apply for Israeli Citizenship

Israeli Military Intelligence: Chances for Success at Annapolis Are "Close to Nil"; PA Cannot Fulfill Obligations Since Abbas Does Not Control Fatah

Israeli Intelligence: Abbas Is Too Weak.

Annapolis: A Journey to La-La Land

Arabs Meet in Syria to Discuss Boycott of Israel

Hamas Warns Abbas Against Concessions to Israel

CALIF. PENSION FUNDS BOYCOTT IRAN

Less Moolah for the Mullahs (WSJ-BOTW)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday signed legislation mandating that CalSTRS and CalPERS, the pension funds for California teachers and other government employees, respectively, divest themselves of foreign companies that do business in Iran. Back in May we interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu, a former prime minister of Israel, who argued that such disinvestment could help topple the Islamic revolutionary regime in Tehran. Since then, Florida as well as California has passed a divestment bill, so Netanyahu's idea is about to get a real test.

MICHIGAN FOOD CO-OP REJECTS ISRAEL BOYCOTT

By a Landslide, Food Co-op Rejects Israel Boycott - Daniel Strauss (Michigan Daily-University of Michigan)
The Board of Directors of the People's Food Co-op of Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced Thursday the outcome of a vote to boycott Israeli products. The final vote was 262 members in favor of the ban and 866 opposing it.

IRANIAN-BORN GERMAN SOCCER STAR BOYCOTTS ISRAEL GAME

Iranian-Born German Soccer Star Boycotts Israel Game (DW-World)
The tensions in the Middle East seem to have influenced the decision of Iranian-born German international soccer player Ashkan Dejagah's decision not to travel with the national Under-21 squad for a match in Israel.

Dejagah, who plays for Bundesliga club VfB Wolfsburg, asked his national team managers to withdraw him from Germany's European Championship qualifier against Israel, to be played in Tel Aviv on Friday, citing "personal reasons."

"He came to us citing personal reasons that seemed very plausible," DFB spokesman Jens Grittner said in a statement. Dejagah was quoted by mass-circulation tabloid daily Bild as saying his motive was cultural. "I have more Iranian than German blood in my veins," he said in a report published Tuesday. "That should be respected, and besides I'm doing this out of respect. My parents are Iranian."

Dejagah was born in Tehran, but later moved with his parents to Germany. He holds a German passport. Iranian citizens have been forbidden from traveling to Israel ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the point from which Iran also began to refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist.

The Under-21 star's decision is not the first to bring the tensions of the Middle East into German soccer. Former Bayern Munich striker Vahid Hashemian, now with Hanover 96, was pulled from the Bayern squad to face Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in a Champions League game in 2004.

Although Bayern cited a back injury as the reason for the Iranian's withdrawal, the potential visit proved controversial with opposition to Hashemian's involvement coming from Iran's national sporting body.

Dejagah's withdrawal has stirred controversy in Germany. Bild, Germany's biggest-selling newspaper, called for Dejagah's exclusion from the national team, a call which was backed by Friedbert Pflüger, a leading member of the Berlin branch of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).

DFB President Theo Zwanziger meanwhile made his own opposition clear in a statement. "I respect the decision of the coaches not to travel with the player because they told me that the player stated private and appropriate reasons," he said. "However, my position and that of the DFB is clear: We will not accept that a German national player refuses to play in an international match for reasons associated with his views on world politics."

The Central Council of the Jews in Germany responded with indignation to Dejagah’s decision. "It is inconceivable and impossible that a national player initiates his own private Jewish boycott," Vice-President Dieter Graumann told German magazine Der Spiegel’s online portal. "It would be scandalous if the DFB does not take action."

BOYCOTTING ISRAELI DATES IN UK

MPACUK's Reckless Endangerment, with Fauxtography (LGF)
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a UK radical Islamic front group that doesn't even try to hide their vile antisemitism (they've previously linked to and used images from neo-Nazi web sites), has published the name, address, and phone number of a shop that's selling... gasp!... blood dates! Alert! Blood Dates: Muslim Shop Supports Israel!

A Muslim sister writes in desperately seeking help:

"In a nutshell Sabar Brothers in Slough are selling Israeli dates - last time I got screamed at when I complained. When MPACUK helped with an Action Alert the shop-owners were abusive to others who called in and then went to the Jewish Chronicle to defend themselves.

This year they are selling big boxes of Israeli Carmel dates for £9.99 each also Jordan River dates (which they have purposely labeled Jordan River dates on a piece of cardboard to mislead people to think they come from Jordan) - even though I looked closely and I saw a little sticker that said 'product of Israel' in French on the box.

Since last year Sabar bros has had a large extension, a roof built for the covered market, and they have put in four flat screens which usually blast Bollywood songs but this month only ARY QTV is playing. They make enough money and stock loads of Tunisian, Iranian, Saudi dates there is no need for them to stock Israeli dates! I won't shop there anymore unless they stop supporting Israel, but it needs other Muslims to tell them the same."

Last Wednesday Israel killed 11 Palestinians in 9 hours following its targeting of Gaza as "hostile territory," setting the stage for plans to cut off electricity to the 1.4 million residents of Gaza. How can any Muslim say 'Bismillah' as they break their fast with Israeli dates that help support this?

Don't be silent in the face of oppression – please phone them now and tell them you will boycott their shop unless they stop selling Israeli produce:

Sabar Bros
Tel: [deleted – ed.]
Address: [deleted – ed.]

REMEMBER: Check whether your local shops are selling Israeli dates (Boycott all product of Israel - including Carmel, King Solomon and Jordan River dates). Ask your local shops to support the boycott.

It's blatant intimidation, using the fear of violence to force this Muslim merchant to fall in line and stop selling Israeli products.

And in a real-life example of the persistence of propaganda, MPACUK is distributing a flyer to promote the boycott, using an early piece of Palestinian fauxtography that constantly shows up in deceptive Islamic anti-Israel campaigns:

It's an iconic image of a Palestinian boy being arrested by Israeli security forces, so brutalized by the inhuman Jews that he lost control of his bladder:

This image, cynically employed to prey on people's natural sympathy for a scared child, does not tell the whole story. Another photo taken a few minutes earlier supplies some important context. You see, this scared little boy was anything but innocent—but clearly knew how to play to the media cameras:

HAMAS STRUGGLES TO BEAT BOYCOTT

Hamas Struggles to Beat Boycott Squeeze - Steven Gutkin and Diaa Hadid
The Islamic militants who violently seized control of Gaza are selling confiscated cigarettes, smuggling cash through underground tunnels and auctioning off government vehicles to make ends meet in the face of a global economic boycott. No bank will deal directly with Hamas, so it's making deals to receive funds from Iran, Arab countries and Islamic charities abroad. As the funding boycott is intensifying, Hamas is feeling the squeeze. It is charging hefty fees for vehicle registration and birth certificates, big companies are being dunned for heavier taxes, and Hamas officials are having to car pool. So far Hamas is managing to stay afloat financially, getting most of its money through merchants, moneychangers and charities, while letting these go-betweens keep 20% of any sum they deliver. (AP/Washington Post)

UK ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL DEAD?

UK Academic Boycott of Israel is Defeated (LGF)
For a change, we have some good news to report from the UK this morning, where the ugly campaign to boycott Israeli academics has been defeated.

The Engage Forum has a report, and they say the decision is “absolute and final.” I’d like to believe that, but the people who promote these vile movements always find a way to come back and try again.

The campaign for an academic boycott of Israel has ended today in an absolute and final political, legal and moral defeat.

The University and College Union’s (UCU) own lawyers advised it that a policy to exclude academics who work in Israel from the global academic community – and to exclude nobody else on the planet - would have been a violation of equal opportunities legislation in Britain.

Given this legal advice, the leadership of the UCU had no choice but decisively to end the union’s flirtation with a boycott of Israeli academia. To persist in a ‘discussion’ of an illegal and discriminatory policy would have opened the union up to potentially fatal lawsuits on the grounds of unfair discrimination. Union members could have been held personally liable if they had ignored clear legal advice. The Opinion was given to UCU by a widely respected barrister. ...

It will be claimed by the campaign to exclude Israelis from our campuses, conferences and journals that the end of the boycott in UCU represents a capitulation to ‘bourgeois’ or ‘Zioinst’ law (the two adjectives have become inter-changeable amongst some ‘anti-Zionist’ ‘anti-capitalists’). In truth, however, anti-discrimination law is not a mode of state repression but a victory, hard-won, by generations of antiracist activists. It is a good thing that there is law in place which prohibits bodies like our union from discriminating against Jews. In the old days there was no legal prohibition on Jewish quotas and silent or explicit exclusions and boycotts of Jews by civil society organizations such as universities, golf-clubs and trades unions. The exclusion of Jews is no longer a private matter of choice for an organization; it is now illegal. This is good.

It is scandalous that the proposal to exclude Israeli academics was seriously considered by political people, trade unionists and by our union. It was a proposal for direct unfair discrimination on the grounds of nationality and for a policy of indirect unfair discrimination against Jews. It was, in effect if not in intent, a racist proposal. Engage, the network which came together to oppose the boycott, the antiracist campaign against antisemitism, said, from the beginning, that it was a racist proposal. People who consider themselves to be antiracists and who were seduced by the plan to punish Israeli academics for the consequences of the Israel/Palestine conflict should be ashamed that it took ‘bourgeois’ law to finish off this racist proposal.

WHAT'S A COLUMBIA STUDENT TO DO?

Boycott Ahmadinejad by William Kristol (Weekly Standard)
A Columbia student asked how he could effectively protest his university's invitation to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak Monday. My first response was to suggest petitions, e-mails to President Bollinger and the university trustees, letters to the student paper, peaceful protest, and the like. All these are fine. But then I had a second thought. There might be one form of protest that would be effective both in showing appropriate disgust for the Iranian regime, and in shaming the Columbia administration: A total student boycott of Ahmadinejad's speech. Let the Iranian president (and the Columbia president) look out on, and speak to, a sea of empty seats on Monday.

The rationale for a student boycott is simple: The Iranian government is directly involved in killing and wounding American soldiers in Iraq. As a gesture of elementary solidarity with those serving our nation in the military--young men and women, many of them their exact contemporaries--Columbia students should refuse to dignify Ahmadinejad's talk by attending it. Needless to say, Columbia faculty and administrators shouldn't attend either. Some of them will. But this is a chance for the 9/11 generation to show a decency and a sense of honor that some of their elders lack. After all, this is not primarily about Ahmadinejad. Dealing with his regime is mostly a task for our government. This is about us. Columbia students have a chance to shame their elders, redeem the good name of their institution, and make many Americans proud. I urge them to take it.

SAN DIEGO WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL REVERSES BAN ON ISRAELI FILMS

San Diego Festival Reverses Ban on Israeli Films (AJC)
The San Diego Women Film Foundation and Festival issued an apology about banning Israeli films. The apology came after AJC’s San Diego and Orange County Chapters protested the exclusion of Israeli films from the annual festival, which opens October 4. “We are pleased that the Film Foundation recognized the festival director's errant behavior and has moved expeditiously to correct the injustice of excluding Israeli filmmakers,” said Tad Seth Parzen, president of AJC’s San Diego Chapter. The Film Foundation’s apology was posted on its website, www.sdwff.org.

WILL ANN ARBOR FOOD CO-OP BOYCOTT ISRAEL?

Food fight in Michigan
The People's Food Co-op of Ann Arbor is debating whether to boycott Israeli goods. (Ann Arbor News)

EUROPEAN UNION HOLDS SECRET TALKS WITH HAMAS

Exclusive: European Union officials hold secret talks with Hamas (JPost)
EU security officials have been conducting secret talks with Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip over the past few weeks, Palestinian Authority officials told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

The office of deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh allegedly played a major role in the forced conversion of Professor Sana al-Sayegh. The PA officials did not reveal the identity of the visitors, except to say that they belonged to three EU intelligence services.

The Europeans are said to have met with top Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, as well as Ahmed Yusef, political adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Sources close to Hamas confirmed that EU officials had visited the Gaza Strip recently for talks focusing on security-related issues.

According to the sources, the Hamas leaders urged the EU representatives to work to end the boycott of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, and to pressure Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

"We hope these talks will be the first step toward ending the boycott of Hamas, which came to power in a free and democratic election," the sources told the Post. "There is growing awareness among the Europeans of the fact that Hamas can't be ignored as a major player in the Palestinian arena."

EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES TO QUESTION EGYPTIAN ACTOR WHO MADE FILM WITH ISRAELI

Egyptian Actor Who Made Film With Israeli Actor To Be Questioned (MEMRI)
The head of the Egyptian Actors Union has decided to hand over actor Omar Waked for questioning by the Egyptian authorities, following his appearance in a film with an Israeli actor. The offense is considered a violation of the union's policy, which rejects normalization with Israel.

SAN FRAN. CHRONICLE OP-ED SUPPORTS ISRAEL BOYCOTT

The San Francisco Chronicle gave George Bisharat, a Palestinian law professor at the University of California, Hastings op-ed space to argue in favor of boycotting Israel. Here are some of his earlier opinion pieces.

LUTHERANS MOVE TOWARD ISRAEL BOYCOTT

Lutherans move on Israel boycott (JTA)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America took a step toward a partial boycott of Israeli goods.

At its 2007 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago last week, the church's top legislative authority urged "consideration" of economic options, including the refusal to buy Israeli products or invest in activities in Israeli settlements, The Jerusalem Post reported. The church also resolved to work toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for investment in the Palestinian Authority. The assembly rejected a call for divestiture from Israel.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center blasted the assembly's "mixed message" of rejecting divestiture but "studying" a boycott."This marks the first time a mainline American Protestant church has moved toward a possible boycott of Israel," said the center's associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper. "ELCA delegates would have made a stronger contribution to the quest for peace and justice in the Holy Land had they also raised the ransacking of Christian places of worship and [the] recent forced conversion of a Christian professor in Gaza, as well as the unrelenting targeting of Israeli civilian communities by Palestinian Kassam rockets," Cooper said.

AID MONEY GOES TO PAY HAMAS LEADER

P.A. pays Haniyeh (JTA)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was among those whose salaries were paid this month by the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority began paying government salaries for the first time in 15 months, and while 19,000 rank-and-file Hamas members were excluded from the payments, Hamas parliamentarians received their salaries, Israel Radio reported.

The payments were made possible by the end of the Western-led boycott of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian Authority following the dissolution of the Hamas-led government and the appointment of a new Fatah-led government last month.

Haniyeh, the elected P.A. prime minister, was unilaterally dismissed last month by President Mahmoud Abbas following Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh condemned the decision to exclude Hamas-appointed employees from those being paid, saying it violated “the minimal rights of Palestinian citizens.”

BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL ASKS: SHOULD WE BOYCOTT ISRAEL?

British Medical Journal: Should We Boycott Israel? (LGF)
The British Medical Journal is trying to decide if they should boycott Israeli academic institutions, and they’ve posted two articles arguing for and against the boycott. The interesting part is that both articles start from the premise that evil Israel is persecuting the poor innocent Palestinians. They differ only on the best way to force Israel to surrender: Should we consider a boycott of Israeli academic institutions?

It’s also interesting that despite the obvious bias of these writers, the BMJ poll is currently running 94% against the boycott.

BRITISH JOURNO UNION CALLS OFF ISRAEL BOYCOTT

UK journalists' union calls off boycott (JPost)
The UK's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has put forward a motion effectively overturning the decision to call for a boycott of Israeli goods, taken at its annual delegates meeting in April.

The union's National Executive Council has forwarded a motion, tabled by union general-secretary Jeremy Dear and seconded by its president Michelle Stainstreet, that calls to put the row over the Israel-boycott call and for members to unite behind the union's key workplace priorities.

The executive council has committed to continuing to work with Israeli journalist unions and has stated it will take no action on the boycott motion.

The motion "strongly reaffirmed" the sovereign role of the union's annual conference in setting National Union of Journalists policy and rejected any allegations that the union was anti-Semitic or racist, reaffirming the union's commitment to fighting racism in all its forms.

The Stop the Boycott Campaign, a coalition of academics and Jewish and non-Jewish groups across the UK, welcomed the decision to drop the boycott call.

"This is an honorable decision and a victory for common sense," said campaign co-director Jeremy Newmark. "It shows that the NUJ leadership are attuned to the wishes of their membership, and should serve as an example to the leaders of other trade unions. This is a shot in the arm for the anti-boycott movement in the UK and the beginning of a backlash against the extreme positions of the pro-boycott camp."

"This is a vindication of the members of the NUJ who do not want their union to boycott Israel," Lorna Fitzsimons, chief executive of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre said. "This vote is instructive to all the trade unions whose conferences are voting to boycott Israel - the rank and file do not want it."

The boycott call had been widely condemned across the British media. National Union of Journalists grassroots members led a campaign against the boycott. Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones led the anti-boycott campaign at the BBC. National Union of Journalists chapels at ITN, Reuters and the Guardian newspaper, and many others, issued statements opposing a boycott of Israel.

BRITISH LAWMAKERS URGE TALKS WITH HAMAS

British lawmakers urge talks with Hamas (JTA)
A day after the release of a kidnapped BBC reporter by the Hamas government in Gaza, 20 British Parliament members called for talks with Hamas.

The Parliament members, from across the political spectrum, put forward a motion in the House of Commons urging international engagement with Hamas, which Britain considers a terrorist group.

Hamas' "pivotal role" in ending the four-month abduction of Alan Johnston is a sign that Hamas should be part of Palestinian reconciliation efforts, the motion said. Johnston "acknowledged the pivotal role played by Hamas in condemning the kidnapping and securing his release," it said.

After Johnston's release Wednesday, Britain's new foreign secretary, David Miliband, also "fully acknowledged the crucial role" played by Hamas and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in securing Johnston's release, though no official softening of the government's stance against Hamas has been announced.

"The international community's support for Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate President of Palestine should not preclude contact with Hamas," the motion said.

THE FRENCH (!!) ARE MORE RESOLUTE.

Kouchner: Hamas help to free Johnston will not change French policy (YNet)
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Hamas' help in freeing British Broadcasting Corp. Correspondent Alan Johnston in Gaza showed goodwill but was not enough to change France's policy toward the Islamic militant group.

Kouchner said he was very happy that Johnston has been released and his government would take the demonstration of goodwill by Hamas into account "but they were so determined to kill and to chase their Palestinian neighbors ... Fatah, that I have no illusion for the moment," he told reporters (AP)

BUT NOT THE MEDIA: From Munich to Gaza (Melanie Phillips)