Palestine, October 2008 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on the hosts in the fourteen American cities where the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to perform between October 26, 2008 and November 16, 2008 to rescind their invitations to the Orchestra. We urge the hosts to support the Palestinian civil society's call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions.

Palestine, October 19 2008

On November 3, 2008 a Norwegian-Israeli Business and Research Seminar will be held in Oslo, in an attempt to enhance bilateral cooperation in trade and research. On behalf of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC):

• We ask the co-organizers of the event – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway – to re-evaluate the initiative and cancel the event.

   

The Israeli kibbutz, where I was born, has prospered on Palestinian fields confiscated by the State of Israel from neighbouring Palestinian villages, raised to the ground in the aftermath of the 1948 Israel's "war of Independence". About 500 such villages were completely demolished by the Israeli state and the property, land, assets, businesses and bank accounts of the expelled Palestinians were officially expropriated by State of Israel.

The Jewish News (London) quotes you as saying that "I have heard so many great things about Tel Aviv and Israel".

In a recent media interview McCartney confessed, "I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel." Public opinion in the UK, however, does not support Israel's occupation and violation of international law. Media reports revealed, furthermore, that many in Liverpool itself are apprehensive towards McCartney's gig in Israel.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on Telkom South Africa not to enter into a deal with Amdocs Ltd. that would outsource billing functionality to the latter. The deal would create economic support for Israeli apartheid and occupation, endanger the privacy of Telkoms´s clients, possibly pose a risk for national security and is likely to be the outcome of favouritism within Telkom.

Media reports have made it abundantly clear that the July 20 Israeli-British announcement of the establishment of the Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX) is politically motivated. The project, described by the Independent as “a major new academic exchange programme, which will help to undermine attempts to boycott Israeli universities,” is meant specifically to undercut UK, Palestinian, and international academics' calls for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

Your visit to Israel would not only violate the Palestinian civil society’s Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fulfills its obligations under international law [1], it would also contribute to Israel’s relentless efforts at whitewashing its increasingly tarnished image as a persistent violator of international law and basic human rights.