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Argentine Committee of Solidarity with Palestinian People condemns Israeli attacks on Samidoun

Photo credit: @letigarziglia/Telesur

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has received the following message of solidarity from the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino). We thank and salute the committee for their solidarity! There are further messages of solidarity from Canadian organizations and a wide range of Palestinian and international organizations on our website, all of which have come in response to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s declaration of Samidoun as a “terrorist organization”:

From the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we condemn the inclusion by Israel of Samidoun in the list of terrorist organizations.

On February 28, Israel included Samidoun in the list of organizations it considers terrorists. Samidoun is an International Network of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners with delegations in North America, Europe and Palestine, with a sustained work for ten years.

From the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People we condemn this inclusion, which, together with others, intends to distort and ban the organizations that we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As of January 2021, there were 4,400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 160 boys and girls, 440 administrative detainees and 8 members of the Palestinian parliament.

Strikingly, Israel’s announcement comes days after 300 international organizations joined in a campaign to free imprisoned Palestinian students.

Israel maintains a systematic policy of detention and confinement of Palestinian men and women in Israeli jails in flagrant violation of International Law. In addition to the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment reported internationally, Palestinian prisoners suffer other violations of their rights: restrictions on family visits, access to education, medical assistance, the right to due process, among many others.
Israel’s decision to include Samidoun on its list of terrorist organizations is part of a new attempt to persecute defenders of the rights of the Palestinian people. An attempt to isolate Palestinian prisoners from their international base of support and solidarity. For this reason, from Argentina we join the voices that condemn this inclusion.

We will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

**

Desde el Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino, condenamos la inclusión por parte de Israel de Samidoun en la lista de organizaciones terroristas.

El pasado 28 de febrero, Israel incluyó a Samidoun en el listado de organizaciones que considera terroristas. Samidoun es una Red Internacional de Solidaridad con los Presos Palestinos con delegaciones en Norteamérica, Europa y Palestina, con un sostenido trabajo desde hace diez años.

Desde el Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino condenamos esta inclusión, que junto con otras, pretende desvirtuar y proscribir a las organizaciones que nos solidarizamos con el pueblo palestino.

A enero de 2021 se contabilizaban 4400 presos y presas palestinos/as en las cárceles israelíes, entre ellos 160 niños y niñas, 440 detenidos/as administrativos/as y 8 miembros del parlamento palestino.
Llamativamente, el anuncio de Israel se produce días después de que 300 organizaciones internacionales se unieran en una campaña para liberar a los estudiantes palestinos presos.

Israel mantiene una política sistemática de detención y reclusión de palestinos y palestinas en cárceles israelíes en flagrante violación al Derecho Internacional. Además de tratos crueles, inhumanos y degradantes denunciados a nivel internacional, las presas y presos palestinos sufren otras violaciones a sus derechos: restricciones a las visitas de familiares, en el acceso a la educación, la asistencia médica, el derecho al debido proceso, entre muchas otras.

La decisión de Israel de incluir a Samidoun en su listado de organizaciones terroristas, se enmarca en un nuevo intento de perseguir a defensores y defensoras de los derechos del pueblo palestino. Un intento de aislar a los presos palestinos de su base internacional de apoyo y solidaridad. Por eso, desde Argentina nos unimos a las voces que condenan esta inclusión.

Seguiremos solidarizándonos con el pueblo palestino.

March 20: International Day of Solidarity With Alabama Amazon Workers & Against Union Busting on World Day Against Racism

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has joined many Palestinian, Palestine Solidarity, progressive, labor and anti-racist organizations in endorsing the International Day of Solidarity with Alabama Amazon Workers and Against Union Busting on 20 March, the World Day Against Racism. 

Read more about the Day of Action, including over 50 international actions at: https://supportamazonworkers.org/

Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). The harsh working conditions at Amazon warehouses, along with Amazon’s refusal to adopt measures that protect workers from COVID 19, have pushed Amazon and Whole Foods workers every- where to step up organizing and fighting back.

These predominantly Black workers who have in recent months formed the BAmazon Workers Union, are on the cusp of launching a history-changing workers organization against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union busting owner, Jeff Bezos. In addition, these workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South.

Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movements is needed now to show the workers in Bessemer that they are not alone, that all eyes are on the historic struggle that they are leading. This is especially needed as Amazon ramps up their union-busting tactics.

Nearly 50 actions are planned from coast to coast this weekend, in large cities and small towns alike, to mobilize solidarity for the majority Black workers fighting to form the first U.S. union at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama.

Find a full and up to date listing, or submit your action or endorsement at the Support Amazon Workers website here

 

Palestinian Women Prisoners: The Struggle for Freedom

On the International Day of Solidarity with Revolutionary Political Prisoners around the world, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network launches the following resource on Palestinian women detained by the Israeli settler-colonial occupation regime. 

We invite all organizations, activists, women’s collectives and others interested in standing for justice in Palestine and for the freedom of Palestinian detained women to contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net to build collective campaigns for their liberation.

Visit and share this page permanently at: https://samidoun.net/aseerat

"Our battle is united, as we are all fighting oppression on the basis of gender, fighting class exploitation and fascist colonialism and foremost among which is the occupation on our land...For all Palestinian women, we believe that our social struggle is an inherent part of the struggle of our people, and for the liberation of land and people, we sacrifice, struggle and bring forth strugglers.”
– Bir Zeit University student prisoners, Layan Kayed, Elia Abu Hijleh, Ruba Assi, Shatha Tawil, Damon prison, Mount Carmel, 8 March 2021

Introduction | Photos of Palestinian Women Prisoners (English) | Photos of Palestinian Women Prisoners (Arabic) | Actions You Can Take | Resources | News

There are currently approximately 35 Palestinian women in Israeli jails, representing all facets of Palestinian society: students, activists, organizers, parliamentarians, journalists, health workers, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, strugglers, freedom fighters.

Palestinian women have always been at the center of the liberation movement through all aspects of struggle and have led within the prisoners’ movement, organizing hunger strikes and standing on the front lines of struggle even behind bars.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the leading role of Palestinian women in struggle and urges the immediate release of all Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.

Palestinian women prisoners include 11 mothers, six injured women and three jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

They include Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist, leftist and advocate for Palestinian political prisoners, sentenced to two years in Israeli prison for her public political activities just days prior to International Women’s Day; Khitam Saafin, President of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, jailed without charge or trial, her administrative detention renewed for another four months; Bushra al-Tawil, Palestinian journalist and activist whose detention without charge or trial was also renewed for another four months on 7 March 2021.

They include Palestinian students, like Layan Kayed, Elia Abu Hijleh, Ruba Assi and Shata Tawil of Bir Zeit University. Hundreds of Palestinian students are routinely detained by the Israeli occupation, especially those who are part of student organizations involved with campus political life. At Bir Zeit University alone, approximately 74 students were detained by occupation soldiers during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Palestinian women prisoners are among 5,000 total political prisoners, but Palestinian women are broadly affected by the mass incarceration of Palestinian men as well. Palestinian women are the mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, lovers and friends of Palestinian male prisoners. They make homes for themselves and their children, denied access to their husbands and fathers.

Palestinian women lead the movement outside prison to highlight the names, faces, voices and stories of all Palestinian prisoners struggling for liberation. However, too often, the stories, names and experiences of imprisoned Palestinian women remain unmentioned and unhighlighted. 

Since 1948 and before, from the earliest days of the Palestinian national liberation movement, Palestinian women have been expelled from their homes and targeted for repression on multiple levels, their very capacity to reproduce and raise their children labeled as an unacceptable threat to the racist settler-colonial project of Zionism. Since 1967 alone, around 10,000 Palestinian women have been jailed by the Israeli occupation for their political activity and involvement in the Palestinian resistance, including Palestinian women in Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian women holding Israeli citizenship in occupied Palestine ’48. Palestinian women in exile and diaspora have been denied their right to return to Palestine for over 72 years yet continue to struggle, facing political repression, criminalization, deportation and imprisonment.

Palestinian women prisoners are routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment by Israeli occupation forces, from the moment they are detained — often in violent night raids — and throughout the interrogation process, including beatings, insults, threats, aggressive body searches and sexually explicit harassment. Within Israeli prisons, the official state policy of “worsening the conditions” of Palestinian prisoners has particularly targeted Palestinian women, denied family visits or even phone calls, subjected to intense surveillance that violates their privacy, denied education and held in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. They are transported in the “bosta,” a metal vehicle where women are shackled on a long, circituous trip that takes hours longer than a direct route and often denied access to sanitary facilities.

Damon prison, itself formerly a stable for animals, is located in occupied Palestine ’48 — in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and making it even more difficult for Palestinian women’s family members to visit them. All visits are subjected to an arbitrary permit regime which is often obstructed by the Israeli occupation regime.

Palestinian women behind bars continue to resist and to lead. In April 1970, Palestinian women prisoners at Neve Tirza prison launched one of the first collective hunger strikes of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement when they refused food for nine days. They demanded access to women’s sanitary supplies as well as an end to beatings and solitary confinement. Palestinian women have been consistently involved in general hunger strikes and protest actions, including strikes led by women prisoners in 1985, 2004 and 2019 that inspired global women’s solidarity. Despite the denial of formal education by the Israeli colonial regime, Palestinian women prisoners have developed revolutionary education for all prisoners, expanding their knowledge and commitment to struggle.

Palestinian women prisoners are not alone; they struggle alongside fellow women political prisoners in the Philippines, Turkey, India, Egypt and around the world. And their imprisonment is also international: it is funded, backed and supported by the diplomatic, military, economic and political backing given to Israel by the imperialist powers, including the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and the European Union states. Palestinian women also confront the role of the Palestinian Authority’s “security cooperation” regime under Oslo and the normalization politics and repressive attacks of reactionary Arab regimes.

Despite all attempts of the Zionist regime to isolate them from the global movement for the liberation of women and humanity through imprisonment and repression, Palestinian women continue to organize and struggle from behind bars, in the streets and fields of occupied Palestine, and everywhere in exile in diaspora, seeking return and liberation. Now is the time to act and urge their immediate release and the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, and of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Below are images and links to information about many of the Palestinian women political prisoners today held behind Israeli bars. To submit more information or contact us about a campaign, please email samidoun@samidoun.net.

Images for Palestinian Women Prisoners: Please download and use in your campaigns!

Thanks to Samidoun Palestine for the design of these posters!

الأسيرات الفلسطينيات

Take Action to Support Palestinian Women Prisoners

Here are some actions that you can take to join the campaign and spread it in your local area and community!

We join together to call for action and support for imprisoned Palestinian women: 

  • Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
  • Ending all military and economic aid, military transactions, joint projects and direct funding to the Israeli occupation regime by governments around the world.
  • Challenging “normalization” programs that aim to legitimize Israeli occupation.
  • Organizing to build direct links of solidarity with Palestinian women’s organizations and movements, to ensure that they will not be isolated from their global community of support despite all attempts by the Israeli occupation.

Writing Solidarity Letters

Palestinian prisoners and detainees repeatedly report that receiving letters from supporters around the world boosts morale and provides them with support. Israel wants to isolate Palestinian student leaders by keeping them behind bars, and letters help to break their isolation. This is a simple activity that can be done with physical distancing or combined with other prisoner support efforts. Contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net for a physical mailing address, or send us your letters — Samidoun in Occupied Palestine will share directly with the families and lawyers of detained women. 

Adopt a Prisoner

Share the stories of Palestinian women detainees with your community by “adopting” a prisoner. Share their stories, write letters to them and include their name and photo in your activities. Above, we’ve presented 33 women prisoners, and we’ll be continuing to share their stories and photos throughout this campaign. Please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net for even more info on your organization’s adopted prisoner. 

Boycott Israel!

Join the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

Protest, Rally and Organize

Organize a protest or direct action! The United States, Canada, EU states, Australia and Britain, among others, provide ongoing military, economic, diplomatic and political support to Israel to continue the repression of Palestinian women. Protest on your campus or in your city, highlighting government and media complicity, or act and organize at Israeli embassies, corporations and institutions in your area. Ad hacks, postering and other outdoor actions – especially near an Israeli embassy or consulate – can draw a significant amount of attention to the Palestinian women prisoners and the Palestinian cause at this critical time.

Share These Stories on Social Media

You can support Palestinian women on social media as well. Use the prisoner photos above on your individual or group social media pages, on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Take a selfie or a group photo with our posters or just post these images with a message of your own.

Support Palestinian Women’s Organizing

The Palestinian Feminist Collective has launched a campaign: Palestine is a Feminist Issue. Sign on to support the Pledge and support Palestinian women’s anti-colonial organizing for liberation.

Resources On Palestinian Women Prisoners

We recommend the following resources for more information on Palestinian women prisoners:

Successful Palestine Stand in Toulouse supports Palestinian students and the boycott of Israel

Photo: Corine Janeau

The following article is largely translated from the French original at Collectif Palestine Vaincra: 

On Saturday, 13 March, around 20 activists and supporters of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra gathered at the exit of the Capitole metro station in Toulouse, France, for a Palestine Stand. The event took place as part of the international campaign for the release of imprisoned Palestinian students, which unites over 350 international organizations.

Under a shining sun, participants distributed nearly 1,000 flyers for the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign and displayed an exhibition of dozens of portraits of young imprisoned students, drawing great attention from passers-by who stopped to discover the reality of the Israeli occupation. At the same time, two large banners at the exit of the Capitole metro station affirmed: “Against colonialism, racism and apartheid: Boycott Israel” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win.”

Photo: Corine Janeau

Affirming their support for imprisoned students, many passers-by stopped to join the card-writing workshop to send notes of solidarity to Palestinian youth spending months and years in prison for living and studying in occupied Palestine. 52 cards were created and will be sent to around 10 prisoners. At the same time, the Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine (of which the Collectif Palestine Vaincra is also a member of the network) will meet with their families to provide them with copies of the letters written in Toulouse. Do not hesitate to write to them: it is an important gesture of solidarity!

Photo: Corine Janeau

Dozens of people also took solidarity photos to support the campaign. You can participate by using these posters and sending your photos!

The stand distributed many free stickers and leaflets on the struggle of the Palestinian people and the importance of supporting their cause: on the history of Zionist colonization and solidarity today, the situation of nearly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, on the cases of Georges Abdallah and Ahmad Sa’adat, and of course on the global campaign to boycott Israel. Throughout the event, speakers provided more information over the microphone about the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign, making the link to developing concrete and active solidarity in Toulouse. On this occasion, the speakers highlighted that not only is the boycott of Israel legal, it is legitimate and necessary. It is a political and moral duty for every anti-racist and anti-colonialist to boycott Israeli apartheid. In addition, two large display banners highlighted the history of the colonization of Palestine and the reasons for the boycott of Israel as well as some key targeted products to boycott. Many photos of these banners were taken by passers-by.

Photo: Corine Janeau

Throughout the event, participants affirmed their support for Olivia Zémor, president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, who faced a trial on 16 March in Lyon for calling for the boycott of Israeli pharmaceutical manufacturer TEVA. Many people were outraged to learn of the case and expressed their support, and dozens took “No TEVA” sticketrs to put on their health cards to tell their doctors and pharmacists they want an alternative vendor.

In addition to a protest event, the stand was also full of warmth, camaraderie and cultural resistance. A team from the Collective made cakes and prepared tea and coffee, an activist performed a rap about Palestine and a removable mural on plastic was created to support Palestinian students, while Palestinian music played in the heart of Toulouse city center. The event ended with a dabkeh dance that was warmly applauded by dozens of people.

Photo: Corine Janeau

Collectif Palestine Vaincra thanks the associations and collectives that came to provide support, especially the delegation of Couserans Palestine. The Palestine Stand takes place every month in the Toulouse city center, in addition to other initiatives organized by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, which invites all to contact them and get involved.

This was not the only event in France to express support for Olivia Zémor in advance of the trial. In Lille, over 50 people demonstrated on Sunday, 14 March to denounce TEVA and its attempts to silence the boycott campaign against Israeli colonization and occupation.

Meanwhile, in Paris, over 150 people came out despite wind, rain and cold on Saturday, 13 March to stand with Olivia Zémor in a unified demonstration bringing together the Palestine solidarity movement in France to defend the boycott of Israel.

More photos from Toulouse:

Photo: Corine Janeau
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VIDEO: Boycott Israel, Boycott TEVA, Free Palestine! Solidarity with Olivia Zémor!

14 March — Samidoun Palestinian Solidarity Network, the Palestinian, Arab and international network in defense of Palestinian political prisoners, issued a video statement of solidarity and call to action in support of Olivia Zémor, the president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, who is facing trial in Lyon, France, for posting information in 2015 and 2016 about the campaign to boycott TEVA, the generic pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the largest Israeli corporation by market value.

Samidoun’s statement noted: “The trial of Olivia Zémor reflects the alliance of Israeli capitalism and the French state in seeking to suppress and silence advocacy for Palestinian rights and liberation…TEVA’s profits have been accumulated on the back of the colonization and exploitation of the land and people of Palestine. Now, TEVA is joining hands with the French state to aggressively seek to shut down and silence international voices of conscience for exposing corporate complicity and profiteering from the Israeli occupation regime.”

Samidoun activists in Palestine, Canada, Sweden, France, the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain participated in the solidarity video.

Olivia Zemor, president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, facing trial 16 March in Lyon, France for advocating for the boycott of TEVA

Samidoun joins numerous groups, movements and coalitions in France and around the world to take a united position in defense of the right to boycott and in support of Palestinian liberation. Dozens of organizations have issued statements and organized events and actions in support of Olivia Zémor, including nearly all organizations advocating for Palestine in France, including AFPS, BDS France, and the many organizations that issued a unified call to action; Collectif Palestine Vaincra in Toulouse, France; Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine in Belgium, alongside many other Belgian organizations; Boykot Israel in Denmark; the Canadian BDS Coalition; the South Africa BDS Coalition, and many others.

On Tuesday, 16 March, supporters of justice will gather outside the court in Lyon, France, for a solidarity demonstration at 1:00 pm to stand together with Olivia Zémor against this unjust prosecution.

We urge supporters of Palestine around the world to share this video and your own solidarity messages online – and deliver a letter of protest to a French embassy or consulate near you. Send us a link or your photo at samidoun@samidoun.net! Visit your French consulate or embassy and make it clear: The boycott of Israel is not only a right, it is a duty. Solidarity with Olivia Zémor — and solidarity with Palestine!

Please note: Because TEVA is a generic manufacturer, there is almost always another option at the pharmacy. Ask your pharmacist for a generic made by another manufacturer to help spread the word, build solidarity and boycott TEVA!

Download solidarity posters and read the full statement: https://samidoun.net/2021/03/boycott-teva-solidarity-with-olivia-zemor-defend-the-right-to-boycott/

The text of the video is below:

On Tuesday, 16 March, Olivia Zémor, the present of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine in France, has been summoned to court in Lyon. What is she accused of? Supporting and promoting actions calling for the boycott of Teva, the Israeli pharmaceutical company.

As the Zionist state continues to intensify its brutal policies of racism, colonization, apartheid, mass imprisonment, land confiscation, and siege, we must take action. Developing campaigns to boycott Israel is an important popular response to oppose these crimes.

Supporting Olivia Zémor is supporting the legitimate right to boycott Israel and to fight back against the criminalization and repression of the Palestine solidarity movement in Europe and around the world.

Teva is the largest commercial entity on the Israeli market by operating income and market value. Its profits are built on the colonization of occupied Palestine and funds and sustains the Israeli economy of exploitation.

We stand with Olivia Zémor. We stand with the Palestinian people and their right to resist until return and liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Boycott Teva! Boycott Israel! Free Palestine!

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boycott-israel-solidarity.pdf

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boycott-teva.pdf

 

#Justice4ElHalabi Social Media Storm – Join us today, Sunday, 14 March

#Justice4ElHalabi
NEW Twitter Storm and Social Media Campaign
Sunday, March 14
10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 6 pm central Europe – 7 pm Palestine

Use the hashtag: #Justice4ElHalabi
Tweets and Resources: https://bit.ly/justice4elhalabi

LAST TIME, your tweets alone reached 3.1 million people – and thousands of you participated. With Mohammed El-Halabi, Palestine’s “Humanitarian Hero,” facing a new unjust Israeli hearing this week, join us on Sunday, March 14 in a social media storm for #Justice4ElHalabi!

Mohammed El-Halabi is the former director of World Vision in Gaza. A Palestinian “humanitarian hero,” Mohammed El-Halabi, 42, was detained by Israel in 2016. In a widely promoted press campaign, El-Halabi was accused by Israeli officials of financing Hamas using funds from the charity. However, audits by World Vision and the Australian government found not only that there was no misuse of funds but that, further, the Israeli charges were fundamentally impossible — World Vision’s budget over multiple years never reached the sums of money cited by Israeli officials.

Join Just Peace Advocates, Canada Palestine Association, Palestine House and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a social media storm on Sunday, March 14.

On March 16, 2021, Mohammed El-Halabi will face his 157th court hearing – postponed from the prior hearing on March 3. All of his hearings have taken place behind closed doors, and UN experts noted that el-Halabi’s “arrest, interrogation and trial is not worthy of a democratic state.” He refused a plea bargain after being warned by the judge in his case that he will likely be convicted and that, “You’ve read the numbers and the statistics,” the judge told el-Halabi, according to ABC. “You know how these issues are handled.” The plea bargain offer would have seen him imprisoned for three years. He has now been imprisoned without conviction for four and one-half years.

Mohammed El-Halabi is a protected person under international humanitarian law, yet he has been subjected to gross violations of his fundamental rights. Mohammed El-Halabi’s case has been used to intimidate international NGOs away from working in Gaza, further tightening the siege on over 2 million people living under daily Israeli siege, occupation and ongoing bombing raids — most of them refugees denied their right to return to their original homes and lands in Palestine. On Sunday, March 14, join us to demand #Justice4ElHalabi.

Get Sample Tweets, Images and More:  https://bit.ly/justice4elhalabi

Below are a few sample tweets from the page above — just click the “Click to Tweet” link to send your message on Twitter!

Click to Tweet:

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Click to Tweet:

 

Boycott TEVA, Solidarity with Olivia Zémor! Defend the Right to Boycott

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our strongest solidarity with Olivia Zémor, the president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine in France. She is being sued by TEVA Pharmaceuticals — the largest Israeli corporation by market value, a producer of generic pharmaceuticals — for publishing the call to #BoycottTEVA on the EuroPalestine website due to the company’s complicity in Israeli apartheid, colonization and occupation. The trial of Olivia Zémor reflects the alliance of Israeli capitalism and the French state in seeking to suppress and silence advocacy for Palestinian rights and liberation.

In 2020, the European Court of Human Rights affirmed the right to boycott Israel, specifically invalidating the French prosecution of Palestine solidarity organizers for activities to boycott Israeli goods, corporations and institutions. Nevertheless, French Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, in blatant violation of the decision of the ECHR, has distributed a circular to prosecutors throughout the country, urging them to prosecute activists for boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and attempt to win convictions for their expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This, of course, comes hand in hand with the extensive legacy of French colonialism and ongoing French imperialism throughout the Arab region and Africa, the French state’s suppression of broad popular movements fighting racism, colonialism and exploitation, and France’s imprisonment of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine jailed in France for over 36 years.

Now, on 16 March, TEVA is summoning Olivia Zémor to court in Lyon, France, because EuroPalestine posted a call from the Collectif Palestine 69 to boycott TEVA. TEVA is one of the largest manufacturers of generic drugs in the world. It also provides millions of dollars in tax revenue to the Israeli colonial and occupation regime and its military. TEVA’s profits have been accumulated on the back of the colonization and exploitation of the land and people of Palestine. Now, TEVA is joining hands with the French state to aggressively seek to shut down and silence international voices of conscience for exposing corporate complicity and profiteering from the Israeli occupation regime.

We stand with people and organizations around the world to express our solidarity with Olivia Zémor and to reiterate the call to boycott TEVA and boycott Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice, return and liberation. We join the calls of organizers in France and around the world to demonstrate, gather, deliver messages of protest and express outrage at French embassies and consulates — and to do all we can to intensify the movement to boycott Israel and for victory and liberation in Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Boycott TEVA! Boycott Israel! Free Palestine!

Please note: Because TEVA is a generic manufacturer, there is almost always another option at the pharmacy. Ask your pharmacist for a generic made by another manufacturer to help spread the word and boycott TEVA!

People have already taken to the streets in Charleroi, Belgium (organized by the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine), Toulouse, France (organized by Collectif Palestine Vaincra), Paris, France, Lille, France, and more. Boykot Israel in Denmark has issued a statement, republished below. The Canadian BDS Coalition (of which Samidoun is a member) has also signed on to the collective appeal below.

On Tuesday, 16 March, supporters of justice will gather outside the court in Lyon, France, for a solidarity demonstration at 1:00 pm to stand together with Olivia Zémor against this unjust prosecution.

We urge supporters of Palestine around the world to deliver a letter of protest or take a solidarity photo with the posters below and share it on your social media. Send us a link or your photo at samidoun@samidoun.net! Visit your French consulate or embassy and make it clear: The boycott of Israel is not only a right, it is a duty. Solidarity with Olivia Zémor — and solidarity with Palestine!

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boycott-teva.pdf

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boycott-israel-solidarity.pdf

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boycott-teva2.pdf

 

 

**

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a signatory of the following collective statement, joining many groups and organizations around the world:

Despite a resounding judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which last June confirmed the legitimacy of a popular boycott of a state for political reasons, and mandated the French state to compensate human rights activists unfairly prosecuted for their organizing for the BDS campaign, the government refuses to stop.

Olivia Zémor has thus been summoned before the court of Lyon on Tuesday, 16 March. And that, for having relayed in 2016, on the europalestine.com site, of which she is the publication director, a call from the Collectif Palestine 69 to boycott the Israeli pharmaceutical firm Teva.

The undersigned organizations reaffirm their full solidarity with the activists facing the repression of a government complicit with the apartheid regime.

From this point of view, they are particularly outraged by the recent circular from the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti on the subject. Pretending to ignore the scope of the judgment of the ECHR, Mr. Dupond-Moretti indeed allows himself to enjoin all the prosecutors of France, to maintain the prosecutions against the BDS campaign, and to try to obtain, at the contempt for the law, convictions in these cases.

The Collectif Palestine 69, which brings together in Lyon the entire arc of support for Palestine, is responsible for managing communication locally, and calling for a rally in front of the court, at 1 p.m., just before the trial. Its president will, moreover, testify at the hearing itself.

This is why we are calling for demonstrations to be held everywhere in France, and in particular in Paris…

Solidarity with Olivia Zémor and all the activists of the BDS campaign!

No to the false claims of anti-Semitism against activists!

Down with the complicity of the French government with the Israeli apartheid regime!

Boycott Israel, the racist state!

Signatories:

Amis des Arts et de la Culture de Palestine
Association de Palestiniens en Île-de-France
Association France Palestine Paris 14 – 6
AFPS Paris-Sud
Association France Palestine Solidarité Nîmes
AFPS Albertville
Association Démocratique des Tunisiens en France (ADTF)
Association Nationale des Communistes
Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France (ATMF)
Association Marocaine de Droits Humains (AMDH Paris)
Comité BDS 57 (Metz)
Comité poitevin Palestine
Campagne BDS France-Montpellier
Campagne BDS France-Paris
Campagne Unitaire pour la Libération de Georges Abdallah
CAPJPO-EuroPalestine
Car ty es libre (association Istres)
CGT Energie Paris
CGT Unin Locale Paris 18ème
Collectif Ni Guerres Ni État de Guerre
Collectif Palestine Vaincra
Collectif Justice pour la Palestine
Collectif Palestine Nord Essonne
Collectif de Soutien à la Résistance Palestinienne (CSRP59)
Comité pour le Respect des Libertés et des Droits de l’Homme en Tunisie (CRLDHT)
Corsica Palestine
Droits Devant !
Evry Palestine
Fédération des Tunisiens pour une Citoyenneté des deux Rives (FTCR)
Fondation Frantz Fanon
International Jewish Antizionist Network IJAN
ISM : International Solidarity Movement France
LDH 75018
ORIW (ORGANIZATION RACISM ISLAMOPHOBIA WATCH) – Strasbourg
Palestine Libre Haute Marne
PIR
Rete dei Comunisti (Italie)
SAMIDOUN (Réseau International de Solidarité avec les Prisonniers Palestiniens)
Solidarité avec Georges Abdallah Lille
Union Française des Consommateurs Musulmans (UFCM)
Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP)
Union des Tunisiens pour l’Action Citoyenne (UTAC)

International:

Italy:
Comitato « Con la Palestina nel cuore »
Comitato « Per non dimenticare il diritto al ritorno »
Associazione Amici dei prigionieri palestinesi
Comitato « Per non dimenticare Sabra e Chatila ».
Forum Palestina

Belgium:
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Le Comité Verviers Palestine
La Coordination Namuroise Belgo-Palestinienne, asbl
BACBI (Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel)
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
Bruxelles Panthères
L’association Belgo-Palestinienne de Liège
Palestina Solidariteit

UK:
Football Against Apartheid
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Tunisia:
Association FIDA
L’Académie Tunisienne des Connaissances Maqdiciennes

Morocco:
Fédération Marocaine des Droits Humains
Stop Normalisation Maroc
AMDH Association Marocaine des Droits Humains

Canada:
Just Peace Advocates
Palestiniens et Juifs unis (PAJU)
Justice for Palestinians (Calgary)
Canadian BDS Coalition
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association, Canada
Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI),
Canada Solidarity with Palestine-St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

Australia:
The Australian Friends of Palestine,
Women for Palestine,
Australians for Palestine

South Africa:
South African BDS Coalition

Solidarity Greeting for Olivia Zémor

on the occasion of the trial in Lyon Tuesday March 16, 2021

From Boykot Israel Denmark

The French state – on behalf of the Israeli medical company Teva – has prepared a trial against Olivia Zémor at the court in Lyon on Tuesday March 16 trying to criminalize her because of participation in boycott Teva-activities in front of a pharmacy in Lyon back in 2015 and 2016.

Olivia Zémor is the president of the solidarity organization CAPJPO-europalestine struggling for the rights of the Palestinian people.

By this trial, the French state is acting in direct opposition to the European Court of Human Rights which in 2020 declared that boycott of Israel for political reasons is not illegal.

Teva supports the Israeli apartheid state, contributes economically to Israeli military operations in Gaza and to the development of the illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. Therefore we say: Boycott Teva!

Through the trial in Lyon the French state defends the interests of Teva as well as the interests of the state of Israel.

Boykot Israel Denmark sends our warmest greetings of solidarity to Olivia Zémor and to the French and international Palestine solidarity movement.

Boycott Teva – Boycott Israel – Free Palestine

www.boykotisrael.dk

facebook.com/boykotisrael.dk

Webinar, 14 March: Palestinian Women in Europe – Confronting Racism, Islamophobia and Sexism


Sunday, 14 March
11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine
Zoom Event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85479130270

Palestinian women in Europe face multiple challenges, but they have also developed ways to get organized and continue fighting for liberation and return. We invite you to this event where we will listen to young Palestinian women from Italy, Germany and Spain discussing the various struggles of Palestinian women in Europe

Mariam, Palestinian Youth in Italy
Nour, Samidoun Deutschland
Abir, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization

Join the Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85479130270
This event will be translated in Arabic and English

تواجه النساء الفلسطينيات في القارة الأوروبية تحديات مختلفة ، لكنهن طورن أيضًا طرقًا للتنظيم ومواصلة النضال من أجل التحرير والعودة. ندعوكم إلى هذا الحدث حيث سنستمع إلى شابات فلسطينيات من إيطاليا وألمانيا وإسبانيا. النساء الفلسطينيات في أوروبا محاربة العنصرية والإسلاموفوبيا والتمييز على أساس الجنس: النضالات المختلفة للمرأة الفلسطينية في أوروبا

مريم ، شباب فلسطينيون إيطاليا
نور، صامدون ألمانيا
عبير ،الكرامة
الانضمام إلى لقاء زووم https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85479130270

Die palästinensischen Frauen auf dem europäischen Kontinent stehen vor verschiedenen Herausforderungen, aber sie haben auch Wege entwickelt, sich zu organisieren und weiter für die Befreiung und Rückkehr zu kämpfen. Wir laden euch zu dieser Veranstaltung ein, bei der wir junge Palästinenserinnen aus Italien, Deutschland und Spanien anhören werden. Palästinensische Frauen in EuropaBekämpfung von Rassismus, Islamofeindlichkeit und Sexismus: Die verschiedenen Kämpfe der palästinensischen Frauen in Europa
,
Mariam, Junge Palästinenser Italiens
Nour, Samidoun Deutschland
Abir, MMP Alkarama

Schliessen Sie sich dem Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85479130270

Nummer der Sitzung: 854 7913 0270

#FreePalestinianStudents: 350 organizations sign on with actions in Spain, France, Tunisia, Italy

Join the  social media storm today, Thursday, 11 March, using the hashtag #FreePalestinianStudents. Share your demands for freedom at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm UTC/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine! A list of sample tweets and images you can use is available at https://bit.ly/FreePalestinianStudents.

Even as Palestinian students face ongoing attacks by the Israeli occupation, with approximately 35 students seized by armed occupation forces in just the last month, there is growing international outrage at the systematic repression of Palestinian student organizing and violations of the right to education.

Over 350 organizations have joined the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign, which includes social movements, political parties, trade unions, student associations, Palestinian and solidarity groups and many others. Supporters of the campaign include the Democratic Progressive Student Pole (Al-Qutob) in Palestine, the Landless Workers’ Movement (Movimento Sem Terra) in Brazil, the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, the Union degli Studenti in Italy, the All Nepal Peasants’ Federation, the Communist Youth Federation of Spain and the Fédération Syndicale Étudiante in France. (See the full list of endorsers below) Add your organization’s name to this statement: http://bit.ly/palstudentsignon

Click to tweet: Over 350 global organizations, including political parties, mass social movements, student organizations, churches, and labour unions, joined together in an international call for solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian students. #FreePalestinianStudents https://freepalestinianstudents.org

In Madrid, Samidoun España posted a large banner today, 11 March, demanding freedom for Palestinian students, noting that torture is legal in Israel. The banner was hung at the Madrid Metro Ciudad Universitaria station, the stop that leads to Complutense in Madrid.

This followed actions elsewhere in the world in support of Palestinian students, with students at the University of Grenoble in France taking dozens of solidarity photos to show their support for the hundreds of Palestinian students jailed by the Israeli occupation.

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Click to tweet: We, the undersigned organizations, join our voices together in a global call to urge the immediate freedom of imprisoned Palestinian students and the protection of Palestinian students’ rights. #FreePalestinianStudents https://freepalestinianstudents.org

Students in Tunisia also came together to show solidarity with Palestinian students detained by the Israeli occupation, organized by the Tunisian Collective in Solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, on 28 February and 5 March.

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In Naples, Italy, the Centro Culturale Handala Ali highlighted the campaign to free Palestinian students and the case of Khalida Jarrar, imprisoned Palestinian leftist, feminist parliamentarian, as part of the protest outside the Poggioreale jail, in solidarity with detainees in Italian prisons and the Palestinian detainees in Israeli occupation jails.

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Samidoun in occupied Palestine created two videos featuring the photos of 25 student prisoners jailed by the Israeli occupation from a range of universities:

Click to tweet: The Israeli occupation has targeted Palestinian students and, specifically, the Palestinian student movement and Palestinian student organizations for harsh repression and political detention and imprisonment. #FreePalestinianStudents https://freepalestinianstudents.org

Call to Action: #FreePalestinianStudents

We, the undersigned organizations, join our voices together in a global call to urge the immediate freedom of imprisoned Palestinian students and the protection of Palestinian students’ right to education, right to political expression and involvement and right to determine their own futures. The Israeli occupation has targeted Palestinian students and, specifically, the Palestinian student movement and Palestinian student organizations for harsh repression and political detention and imprisonment.

We join together to call for action and support for Palestinian students behind bars, including: 

  • Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including Israeli academic institutions, which are fully complicit in the systematic deprivation of Palestinian rights.
  • Ending all military and economic aid, military transactions, joint projects and direct funding to the Israeli occupation regime by governments around the world.
  • Challenging “normalization” programs that aim to legitimize Israeli occupation — this is an attempt to legitimize the criminalization and targeting of Palestinian students.
  • Organizing to build direct links of solidarity with Palestinian students and the Palestinian student movement, to ensure that they will not be isolated from their global community of support despite all attempts by the Israeli occupation.

**

Hundreds of Palestinian students are routinely detained by the Israeli occupation, especially those who are part of student organizations involved with campus political life. At Bir Zeit University alone, approximately 74 students were detained by occupation soldiers during the 2019-2020 academic year. They are among nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners jailed by Israel. The work of student organizing, from holding book fairs to organizing events and participating in student elections, is criminalized by the Israeli occupation. Still more students are detained for joining demonstrations or posting on their social media profiles. 

Palestinian students have been seized by Israeli occupation forces and abducted for their participation in the student movement in their homes, at their workplaces and on their campuses.

Once arrested, Palestinian students are routinely subjected to torture under interrogation — subjected to stress positions and stretched out over chairs, suspended from walls and forced to stand on tiptoe, deprived of sleep, cuffed and pressured on injured limbs, and beaten.

Palestinian students may be sent to administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial, indefinitely renewable in six-month periods. Palestinians routinely spend years jailed with no charges, no trial and no real challenge to the deprivation of their rights. They may be brought before Israeli military courts, which convict over 99% of the Palestinians charged there.

One of the most common charges is “membership in a prohibited organization,” typically referring to the student blocs. These represent the full spectrum of Palestinian politics. They organize lectures, book fairs, rallies and other campus events and participate in student elections. The charge sheets often refer to these standard activities of campus life, which are widely interpreted as a barometer for broader Palestinian political opinion.

The targeting Palestinian students is an attack on Palestinian futures. It is a systematic attempt to undermine the capacity of young Palestinians to organize with one another for a liberated future for their people: One free of colonization, apartheid and occupation.

These are not isolated cases, but a direct and collective violation of Palestinian students’ right to education, as affirmed in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The targeted repression of students is just one facet of Israel’s crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.

We condemn the complicity of the Palestinian Authority, which has not only failed to defend Palestinian students but has also engaged in political detention and harassment of student movements as part of its “security coordination” with Israel.

Palestinian students in occupied Palestine ‘48 — Palestinian students in Israel — are subjected to ongoing, systematic harassment and discrimination, including bans on student groups and prohibitions on demonstrations and protests.

Further, Palestinian and Palestine solidarity student groups internationally are targeted for campaigns of defamation, organization bans and administrative repression, with these efforts officially and unofficially supported by the Israeli government and pro-apartheid lobby organizations around the world. All the while, Palestinian refugee students are denied their right to return to occupied Palestine.

This persecution is supported by the billions of dollars in aid, military transactions and unlimited political support given to Israel by major imperialist powers like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union states and Australia. This coincides with the militarization of police in imperialist countries and their global use of military and economic domination against the peoples of the world. Israeli persecution of Palestinians mirrors the state repression of popular movements and marginalized peoples in these countries, especially indigenous and Black liberation movements.

We cannot and must not remain silent about the persecution of the Palestinian student movement and of individual Palestinian students behind Israeli bars. We stand with Palestinian students! 

Add your organization’s name to this statement: http://bit.ly/palstudentsignon

Endorsers

  • 100 Idee per la Pace Siena – Italy
  • Action Antifasciste Paris Banlieue
  • ADDICTED To WAR
  • AFPS 0726 (Association France Palestine Solidarité Groupe local Ardèche Drôme)
  • AFPS 63 (France)
  • AFPS Douai
  • AFPS Nord- Pas de Calais
  • AFPS Paris 14-6
  • AFPS PARIS-SUD
  • Africa4Palestine
  • Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
  • Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
  • Alkarama Palestinian women’s movement)
  • All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (ANPFa)
  • Alliance for Global Justice
  • Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
  • Allt åt Alla Kvinnofront
  • القطب الطلابي الديمقراطي التقدمي Al Qutob – Progressive Democratic Student Pole at Bir Zeit University
  • Al-Yudur Juventud Palestina | Al-Juzour Palestinian Youth
  • Amis des Arts et de al Culture de Palestine
  • AMP-NJ
  • Anakbayan-USA
  • Anti Imperialist Action Ireland
  • Anti-Imperialist Alliance – Ottawa
  • Anti-Imperialist Alliance Youth (AIA Youth – Ottawa)
  • Anti-Imperialist Front – France (AIF)
  • Antirasistiska Akademin
  • Arbetarmakt (Workers Power) – Swedish Section of The League for the Fifth International
  • ARENE (Association des ResidEnts de NanterrE)
  • Asamblea Plaza de los Pueblos Madrid
  • Asociación Brasileña Maloka
  • Asociación Estudiantil Madrid
  • Asociación Palestina Biladi
  • Asociación Punto Feminista Alcorcón
  • Asociación Teatro de la Tierra
  • Asociación Unadikum
  • Associación Americana de Juristas
  • Association Car t’y es libre
  • Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (AURDIP)
  • Association Eunomia
  • Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees
  • Association France Palestine Solidarité d’Albertville
  • Association France Palestine Solidarité Loire
  • Association France Palestine Solidarité Nîmes
  • Association Nationale des Communistes – ANC
  • Association of Palestinian Students – University of Toronto Mississauga
  • Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
  • Associazione Senza Paura Genova
  • AssoPacePalestina
  • Australia Solidarity with Latin America
  • Bahraini Society to Resist Normalization with Zionism
  • Bathurst Street United Church
  • BAYAN Canada
  • BAYAN Canada
  • BAYAN USA
  • BDS France Marseille
  • BDS France Montpellier
  • BDS Genova
  • BDS Mexico
  • BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories
  • Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
  • Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG)
  • Boycott, Divest, Sanction, on CATerpillar
  • Bündnis gegen Krieg / Hände weg von Syrien
  • California Scholars for Academic Freedom
  • Campagne Unitaire pour la Libération de Georges Abdallah
  • Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD)
  • Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
  • Canada Palestine Association
  • Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)
  • Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)
  • Canadian BDS Coalition
  • Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3902 BDS Committee
  • Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
  • CAPJPO-EuroPalestine
  • Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land (Canada)
  • Center for Study and Preservation of Palestine
  • Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies
  • Centro Culturale Handala Ali – مركز حنظله علي الثقافي
  • Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
  • Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine
  • Coletivo Feminista Classista ANA MONTENEGRO
  • Coletivo pelos direitos no Brasil
  • Collectif 65 pour la liberation de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
  • Collectif 69 de soutien au peuple palestinien
  • Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
  • Collectif Palestine Vaincra
  • Collettivo Palestina Rossa
  • Comité Antifa Saint Etienne
  • Comité d’actions et de soutien aux luttes du peuple marocain
  • Comité de Défense des Internés des Camps du Sud (Algérie)
  • Comite de Liberté pour Musa Aşoğlu!
  • Comité de solidarité tunisien pour la libération de Georges Abdallah
  • Comité justice et vérité 31
  • Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient (CPJPO)
  • Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI)
  • Communist Organization of Greece (KOE)
  • Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninst) Liberation
  • Communist Workers League
  • Comunidad Palestina de Chile
  • Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG)
  • Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe – ATIK
  • Cordillera Peoples Alliance
  • Couserans-Palestine
  • CRED-GIGI
  • Cultura è Libertà, una campagna per la Palestina
  • Dallas Palestine Coalition
  • Deutsch-Palästinensischer Frauenverein e.V.
  • Dirección de DDHH y Pluralismo Cultural. FHyAr
  • Droit Solidarite
  • DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group Steering Committee
  • East Los Angeles Revolutionary Action Party
  • Éirígí- for A New Republic
  • End the Deadly Exchange Seattle
  • Europal Forum – London
  • Eye On Palestine Arts and Film Festival
  • Fédération Syndicale Étudiante (FSE)
  • Femmes de diverses origines/Women of Diverse Origins
  • Festiclown
  • Finnish-Arab Friendship Society, FAFS
  • FIRMES: Federación Internacional de Resistencia Migrante en España
  • Fordham SJP
  • Framåt kamrater
  • Free CUNY!
  • Free Palestine Movement
  • Freedom Road Socialist Organization
  • French Friends of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin (ATL Jénine)
  • Friends of Palestine Against Imperialism and Zionism (Filistin Dostlari)
  • Friends of Sabeel North America
  • Front Populaire France (Turquie)
  • Front Uni des Immigrations et des Quartiers Populaires de Grenoble (FUIQP 38)
  • GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women
  • GABRIELA BC
  • Galizan People’s Union-UPG
  • GATS
  • Gazainfo
  • Giovani palestinesi d’Italia
  • Giuristi Democratici
  • GMB union z60 branch Lincoln
  • Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine
  • Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
  • GUPS Aix-Marseille
  • Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
  • Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War
  • HRA:PI/CD3-IP (Human Rights Awareness: Palestine Israel/CD3 Israel Palestine
  • Human Rights March, Denmark
  • Humanity For Palestine
  • ILPS Commission on Children
  • Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
  • Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
  • Inminds Human Rights Group
  • International Action Center
  • International Association of Democratic Lawyers
  • International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG)
  • International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
  • International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Australia Chapter
  • International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) – Commission 10
  • International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) – US Northeast
  • International League of Peoples’ Struggle-US
  • International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
  • International Prisoners’ Network IPN
  • International Solidarity Movement
  • International Solidarity Movement France
  • Internationalist Socialist League in Israel(occupied Palestine)
  • Internationalt Forum – Denmark
  • Int’l Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
  • IPNOTGlobal
  • Ireland Information Group of Sweden
  • ISM Northern California
  • Israel Palestine Task Force
  • IU-Marx Madera
  • IWA – Europe
  • Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
  • Jeune Garde Lyon
  • Jeunes Communistes de la Loire (JC42)
  • Jeunes Communistes du Bas-Rhin (France)
  • Jeunesse Patriote Communiste – PCQ
  • Jeunesse solidaire
  • Jewish Voice for Peace – Bay Area
  • Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles
  • Jewish Voice For Peace Central Ohio
  • Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
  • Jóvenes Izquierda Unida
  • Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
  • Justice for Palestinians, Calgary
  • Justice pour la Palestine
  • KAMARAD-مجموعة عمل نشريّة كاماراد/تونس
  • Kia Ora Gaza (Aotearoa New Zealand)
  • Labor for Palestine
  • Landless Workers Movement – MST
  • Le Collectif Rouge Internationalistes pour la libération des prisonniers révolutionnaire (Le CRI Rouge – Paris)
  • Le Collectif Solidarité Palestine Ouest Étang de Berre
  • Le Poing Levé Mirail
  • Le poing levé Paris 8
  • League of Filipino Students
  • League of Filipino Students – Cavite State University
  • League of Filipino Students PUP
  • Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
  • Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
  • Letters for Palestine – Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Lynne Stewart Organization
  • Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights
  • Mar de Lumes – Comité Galego de Solidariedade Internacionalista
  • Massachusetts Peace Action
  • Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church (MUPMC)
  • Mesa Migración y Antirracismo SBC
  • MOVIMIENTO WIPHALA España
  • الحملة الوطنية لتحرير الأسير جورج عبدالله National Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
  • National Jericho Movement
  • National Lawyers Guild
  • National Lawyers Guild International Committee
  • National Lawyers Guild, Loyola Chicago Chapter
  • National Students for a Democratic Society
  • National Students for Justice in Palestine
  • Netherlands Palestine Committee
  • Netzwerk Freiheit für alle politischen Gefangenen Magdeburg
  • Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
  • Noi Restiamo
  • NorCal Sabeel
  • North America Nakba Tour
  • Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA, France)
  • NPA Jeunes
  • NY Boricua Resistance
  • NY4Palestine Coalition
  • Oakland Jericho
  • Ongd AFRICANDO
  • Opera con Grazia
  • Opposizione Studentesca d’Alternativa (OSA)
  • OPRA (Oakville Palestinian Rights Association)
  • Palästina Antikolonial
  • Palestina Libre Murcia España
  • Palestinalibre.org
  • Palestine Advocacy Project
  • Palestine Foundation
  • Palestine Network Shining Waters Region, United Church of Canada
  • Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College CUNY
  • Palestine Solidarity Committee Stuttgart, Germany
  • Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
  • Palestine13
  • Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
  • Palestinian Cultural Club at the American University of Beirut
  • Palestinian Youth Movement
  • Pallasos en Rebeldia
  • Parti des Indigènes de la République
  • Peace Alliance Winnipeg
  • Peoples Power Assemblies NYC
  • Peoples Power Assembly
  • Peoria No Ban No Wall
  • Philippines ‐ Palestine Friendship Association
  • Philippines Australia Union Link
  • PISTON
  • Plataforma Bolivariana de Solidaridad con Venezuela de Madrid
  • Plataforma Solidaria con Palestina de Valladolid
  • Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
  • Popular Resistance
  • Principles NOT Parties
  • Prisoners Solidarity Committee
  • Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Workers World Party
  • Progressive Lawyers Association, CHD
  • Project South
  • Rattvise och frihet center
  • Red Banner Anti-Imperialist Collective
  • Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
  • Resistance Festival – Athens, Greece
  • Resistencia Saharaui
  • Rete della Conoscenza
  • Rete Romana di Solidarietà cin il Popolo Palestinese
  • Revolutionaire Eenheid
  • Revolutionary Communist Group
  • Rojavakommittéerna Göteborg
  • SABIR
  • Sacramento Area Peace Action
  • Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
  • Sada Movement
  • Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns
  • Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
  • Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine
  • سير وصيرورة Sayr wa Sayroura
  • SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
  • SDSU SJP
  • Secours Rouge de Belgique
  • Secours Rouge Genève
  • Secours Rouge International / International Red Help
  • Secours Rouge Montréal
  • Secours Rouge Toulouse
  • Secrétariat International de la CNT-France
  • Ship to Gaza – Gothenburg
  • Sikhay-Marikina
  • SJP Chicago
  • SJP DePaul
  • SOAS Palestine Society
  • Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste
  • SODePAZ BALAMIL
  • Solidaires 09
  • Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC
  • SPHR Queen’s
  • Stand with Kashmir
  • Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina
  • Students Against Israeli Apartheid, University of Toronto
  • Students Against the Occupation DK
  • Students for a Democratic Society – Georgia Tech
  • Students For Justice in Palestine – San Diego State University
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at Arizona State University
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at UMass Amherst
  • Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California Irvine
  • Students for Justice in Palestine, University of South Carolina
  • Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill University (SPHR McGill)
  • Students Not Consumers
  • SUD Education 31-65
  • Sulong UBC
  • Temple Students for Justice in Palestine
  • The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine
  • The Palestine Committee of Norway
  • The Palestine Solidarity Committee – Austin, Tx
  • The Rachel Corrie Foundation
  • Theorie und Praxis Verlag
  • Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche)
  • Trueque de Ley por Derecho
  • Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (TACBI)
  • UCL (union communiste libertaire)
  • UJFP
  • UMass Amherst SJP
  • Unión de Juventudes Comunistas de España – Communist Youth Union of Spain (UJCE)
  • Union Départementale des Syndicats CNT de Haute-Garonne
  • Union départementale des syndicats CNT des Pyrénées Orientales
  • Union des Étudiant·e·s de Toulouse – UET
  • Union Générale des Etudiants de Palestine – GUPS France
  • Union syndicale Solidaires
  • Unione degli Studenti
  • Unione Democratica Arabo Palestinese
  • Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
  • Unité Communiste
  • United Methodists’ Holy Land Task Force
  • United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
  • Unity of Child Rights Advocates Against Inhumane Treatment and Neglect of Children (UNCHAIN Children)
  • University of Leicester Palestine Society
  • US Boats to Gaza
  • US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
  • US Palestinian Community Network
  • UW United Students Against Sweatshops
  • Vänsterpartiet Göteborg
  • Victoria Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
  • V-SB (Vlaams Socialistische Beweging)
  • Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
  • Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
  • Women for Filipino Women and Children (WoW)
  • Women in Black, Vienna, Austria
  • Workers Assembly Against Racism
  • Workers Voice Socialist Movement, Louisiana
  • Workers World Party
  • Yeni Demokratik Gençlik – YDG
  • Youth Against War & Racism
  • Youth and Students Section of the Lebanese Communist Party

Solidarity with Palestine Action as two activists jailed in Britain: Take action to #ShutElbitDown

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with our comrades in Palestine Action in Britain, who are advancing a campaign to shut down Elbit Systems, the Israeli arms manufacturer profiting from the global sale of weapons of war tested on the occupied and colonized Palestinian people. The direct actions organized by Palestine Action have drawn widespread attention to Elbit’s involvement in war crimes; the company has attested that these actions have cost them thousands of dollars in factory shutdown and cleanup costs.  

Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer and provides the Israeli military with over 80% of its drone fleet, including the Hermes 450 and 900, used extensively in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in 2014, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed.

Palestine Action is organizing direct action as a form of popular resistance to the war crimes of Elbit Systems and facing harsh repression from the British state for interfering with the bloody business of manufacturing arms “tested upon children and refugees in occupied Palestine,” as Palestine Action notes. Two detained activists have been refused bail after arrests. This follows raids on the homes of several members and seizure of their documents and passports.

Palestine Action emphasized that the best way to support the detainees is to continue the work to #ShutElbitDown.  We are republishing their statements below and extend our full solidarity. To sign up for Palestine Action or donate to their work, visit the Palestine Action website.

There are also several upcoming court dates (below and at Palestine Action) to support Palestine Action activists who have been arrested or charged for their direct action activities – we urge all friends of Palestine to stand with these courageous activists at their court hearings! 

  • Six activists from Palestine Action were arrested on Tuesday morning for allegedly carrying items including paint
  • Two have been remanded in prison for “possession of articles to cause criminal damage”
  • Notably, two of the activists remanded were part of the Stop HS2 campaign, one of whom spent several weeks in the Euston tunnels

Two Palestine Action activists have been put behind bars after a court shockingly refused to grant them bail yesterday(March 10).

The two were among six activists arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning for allegedly carrying items which may be used for criminal damage. After being refused police bail, the activists were sent to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court.

The court refused to provide bail for two activists and sent them to prison, while the other two were released. The homes of the activists were raided by police whilst they were held in custody.

Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.

Commenting on the decision to send the two activists to prison, a spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

“The UK government, its courts and its police, continue to do nothing to stop Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, from developing weapons tested upon children and refugees in occupied Palestine. Instead, choosing to harass, detain & incarcerate those who challenge & resist their crimes against humanity. 

It is therefore our moral duty to use our privilege and to join the growing struggle fighting to end this complicity between Britain & Israel’s Apartheid regime. We call on all people of conscience to join our struggle against this ongoing, murderous complicity, to join the fight to Shut Elbit Down and end all complicity between Britain & Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The two could be forced to spend at least four weeks in prison until potentially being granted bail at their upcoming court date next month.

The unusual decision to refuse bail over a minor charge is yet another escalation in the ongoing campaign of oppression and intimidation against activists allegedly linked to Palestine Action.

Since the direct action network was founded in August 2020, activists have been routinely arrested on spurious charges, had their houses raided and devices confiscated.

Co-founder Richard Barnard was arrested in February for “blackmail”. He and co-founder Huda Ammori had their house raided and passports seized. The documents have not yet been returned.

Barnard and Ammori were even stopped in November 2020 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which enables police officers to interrogate individuals without the standard safeguards.

Palestine Action has accused the police of launching a wholly disproportionate response to the activists ongoing campaign to shut down Elbit sites in the UK, a firm responsible for war crimes in Gaza and exporting killer drones to oppressive regimes across the globe.

Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer and provides the Israeli military with over 80% of its drone fleet, including the Hermes 450 and 900, used extensively in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in 2014, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed.

Commenting on the police crackdown of Palestine Action, Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) campaign coordinator Kevin Blowe said:

“Using counter-terrorism police powers, bringing wholly disproportionate charges and essentially treating Palestine Action campaigners as though they are some kind of organised crime network is a deliberate attempt to disrupt protests in solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian people. 

“The implication that the group is some kind of ‘extremist’ threat provides a justification for police surveillance and harassment. It means that all those associated with Palestine Action may also be labelled in this way – even if they do nothing unlawful. 

“Unfortunately, we have seen the state act in this way many times before, especially when corporate interests are challenged by civil disobedience and direct action. This is designed to wear people down, alienate potential public support and restrict campaigners’ ability to exercise their rights to freedom of assembly and association.”

Earlier today, two Palestine Action activists were imprisoned after being arrested 33 hours earlier for allegedly being equipped to “cause criminal damage”. Six activists were arrested in total, four of whom have subsequently been released.

Maybe they were going to throw paint on an arms factory. Whatever they were, or weren’t, going to do, it would pale to insignificance next to the death and destruction that Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer, causes across the world.

Our activists were held in the police station before being taken to court and remanded in custody until their next court date. We understand this will be at least a month away.

The UK government, its courts and its police, continue to do nothing to stop Elbit from developing weapons tested upon children and refugees in occupied Palestine. Instead, they choose to harass, detain and incarcerate those who challenge their crimes against humanity.

But our brave activists will continue to act, despite the fear they may feel, because they know that the consequences of not acting are too high. We will not allow the continued oppression of the Palestinian people to be facilitated by this country any longer. We therefore call again on all of you, our comrades and supporters, to take action.

We have been asked what is best to do to help those in prison. Of course, sending money and letters will be greatly appreciated, and we will share how to do this as soon as we are informed. But perhaps the best thing we can all do for them is continue their fight – our fight.

Nothing will raise our imprisoned activists’ spirits more than hearing further actions have happened – and that Elbit are even closer to being shut down for good. Those in prison range in age from young to retired. What is stopping each and every one of you taking action to shut Elbit down? Get involved. Join us. Arrange your own actions. Sign up to the resistance: bit.ly/JoinResist

Court Support Dates to #ShutElbitDown

March 26th 2021

Plea hearing for 3 activists who blockaded the gates of Elbit’s subsidiary in Shenstone, near Lichfield. They are charged under the trade union act for obstruction of “lawful business”

Time: 1.00pm

Location: Stafford Magistrates’ Court, The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ

March 29th 2021

Plea hearing for the Shenstone 6 who occupied the roof of Elbit’s subsidiary – UAV Engines in Shenstone. They successfully shut the factory for a week and caused over £50,000 in damage to Elbit’s death factory

Time: 9.30am

Location: Stafford Crown Court, The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ

March 31st 2021

First court appearance for 6 Elbit activists who are charged with “conspiracy to commit criminal damage” and “conspiracy to commit burglary” for actions against Elbit occurring between 1st June 2020 and 5th September 2020. At court, Richard Barnard & Huda Ammori will also apply to retrieve their passports, which were unlawfully taken by the police in February.

Time: 9.30am

Location: Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, 51 Holloway Rd, Highbury, London N7 8JA

April 9th 2021

Three activists are facing trial against Elbit, after blockading the gates and covering the entrances with blood-red paint. They are charged with criminal damage.

Time: 9.30am

Location: Stafford Magistrates’ Court, The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ

April 15th 

Caroline Brouard, Palestine Action activist, is facing possible charges of “blackmail” after being arrested and released under bail in January. They are due to answer bail and discover whether they are being charged or not on this date.

Time: 10am

Location: Charing Cross Police Station, Agar St, Charing Cross, London WC2N 4JP

May 17th (listed until May 25th)

5 activists who occupied the roof of Elbit’s subsidiary, UAV Engines in Shenstone, are facing trial against Elbit. They are charged with “criminal damage” of over £30,000. Their action saw the factory close for at least two weeks – totalling £450,000 in losses for Elbit Systems.

Time: 9.30am

Location: Stafford Crown Court, The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ

June 1st 

Richard Barnard, co-founder of Palestine Action, is due to return after over 4 months of police bail, facing possible charges of “Blackmail”. His police bail restricted him from entering Greater Manchester, Staffordshire & the City of London.

Time: 11.00am

Location: Charing Cross Police Station, Agar St, Charing Cross, London WC2N 4JP

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