Opposition to Boycott of Israel

BySkip Moen, Ph.D.
This news release may be of interest to our group, so I am passing it on to you.   Skip
CBM Divestment Boycott began June 20 in US
 
On this past June 20th (UN World Refugee Day), a grassroots boycott of Israeli-made products, a tactic that has been occurring in Europe since the recent war in Gaza, began here in America.  The group spearheading this effort nationwide is the BOYCOTT DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN, a coalition of anti-Israel groups that is based in Pittsburgh, PA.  Together with other groups, churches and universities, their aim is to portray Israel as an Apartheid State in the vein of South Africa – a baseless charge that reflects ignorance of history and, most often, anti-Semitic sentiments. To understand their aims in their own words, the following is a quote from their website:  “We invite you to organize in your community and deshelve, sticker, boycott, and protest the presence of Israeli products!  We aim to change those US policies that sustain Israel…”  

Emails requesting help have already begun circulating.  Rabbi Isaac Jeret of Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay Los Angeles started an email circulation, asking everyone to help his community, because the divestment campaigners were targeting and picketing a local grocer, Traders Joe, for their long-standing commitment and support of the Jewish community.  

Please watch this youtube video to see this group in action at a European supermarket:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfK7Yal64S0  (It’s in French, but that doesn’t hinder your understanding of what they are doing.)

Here in the US, according to their website:

The United Methodist General Conference will take a vote later this month on whether to adopt the “divestment” policy to boycott all Israeli-made products and companies that supply such products.  On July 2, 2008, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 431-62 “to begin gathering data to support a selective divestment of holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel/Palestine.”  In Feb, 2009,Hampshire College in Massachusetts approved the vote to divest from five US corporations involved in the “Israeli military occupation,” as put forth by the student groupStudents for Justice in Palestine.  There is also a campaign underway asking the City of Seattle to divest from corporations that sell military equipment to the Israeli army for use in the “occupied territories.”

HOW CAN YOU HELP ISRAEL

 
1.  Prayer – Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have in our arsenal against the enemy! “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.” Psalm 122:6 Please pray for misinformed church and university governing bodies, who are ignorant of history and buying into the modern day propaganda.  George Santayana (1863–1952), a US philosopher and poet, once said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  This now famous quote holds alot of truth. Take a 90-second look at Middle East imperial history from 3000 BCE to 2006 CE to see who really has “occupied” Israel since Adonai called it the promised land:  http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html

2.  Stay informed of this immediate concern by reading reports from various Israel-advocacy organizations like www.StandWithUs.com and www.BridgeHouston.org.  

3.  Wherever you may shop over the coming days and weeks – for groceries and otherwise – please consider (a) going out of your way to purchase Israeli products and/or (b) thanking store managers or proprietors for carrying Israeli products.  Let them know that one of the reasons you are patronizing their store is because of their principled and courageous determination to continue selling Israeli products in the US. 

 
Thank you for supporting Israel.
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