Israel arrested and detained Mohammad Othman, a prominent Palestinian human rights activist. They are holding him without charge. All indications are that this is just another exercise in Israel’s barbarous futility.
The real reason must be his prominent role in the international movements in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, one of the only fronts of Palestinian strategy Israel actually fears.
Israel runs circles around Palestinian negotiators who think they are the most clever bargainers in the souk, so ingenious they think they will end the Israeli occupation by the sheer force of their combination of guile and strategic butt-kissing. Israel also swats violent resistance down with flies (using grenades of course).
But this BDS movement is most definitely their biggest challenge, it is a powerful idea with a powerful precedent (South Africa) and being forwarded by no central group with a headquarters it can bomb. It is a plan of action being enacted by students, cultural workers, unionists, churches, progressive governments and sports fans around the world. And there is no amount of hasbara, or Israeli propaganda, that can stop this. The obviousness of Israeli transgressions against the norms of decency and fairness are too grave. This is a campaign they cannot bomb away, or smoke away in back rooms.
In detaining Mr Othman on his return from Norway, where he was promoting a BDS campaign, Israel has resorted to its usual brand of thuggery. Too many around the world are now being invested in BDS to let Israel’s brutishness have effect. This will only elevate Othman’s visibility and further demonstrate the validity of the BDS campaign, not only as efficacious, but also based on an accurate and telling reading of the nature of Israeli domination over Palestinian life.
While I am sure they will try every means to silence Othman, including threatening his family, bribery, cooked up charges or other corrupt modes of oppressive management, Palestinians, and their supporters, will more quickly realize this call for BDS the only path forward. The harder Israel pushes, the harder we will push back.
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I hope this will inspire University of Michigan students to ask for a resolution to boycott "Israel" at their own Michigan Student Assembly.
We can't wait forever.
Thank you.
Posted by Boycott "Israel" | September 25, 2009, 4:06 pmYou bigots think you can defeat Israel with a boycott! Just wait til Israel boycotts your sorry asses and has all you ungrateful ARabs deported back to the desert.
Be thankful if the only punishment you people receive for your betrayal and bigortry is internment.
Posted by the anti-jihad | September 25, 2009, 6:55 pmThe obviousness of Israeli transgressions against the norms of decency and fairness are too grave.
Unlike the suicide bombings and other random attacks on Israeli civilians that HAMAS has a proud history of perpetrating, right? How much would it suck if the world boycotted and sanctioned Palestinians, instead of housing them, feeding them, and paying for their education? Would that not be fair play?
Oh, I know… Palestinians are always victims, and Palestinians never do anything wrong. And the world needs to feel sorry for Palestinians. No matter what atrocities they commit. But I say we take that aid money and spend it on some needy people who haven't murdered anyone.
Posted by programmer craig | September 25, 2009, 7:52 pmHi, Hasbara boys, AJ and Craig!
Too bad your job will be gone pretty soon. Maybe you can contact the British trade unions for a job.
Oh, no, I forgot. They're boycotting Israel.
Oh, let's see. How about getting a job in architecture.
That might work out but definitely not if you go to Spain.
What about working for Ahava? Well, okay, but I think they're sales are way way down.
Better start working on your resume. (I'd leave off the hasbara stuff — people are definitely down on that stuff now).
Posted by Linda J | September 26, 2009, 1:12 amLinda J – You perceive the boycotts as a way to destroy Israel (rather than forcing them to adopt more human rights friendly tactics)? A way to destroy Israel since all the previous attempts failed?
What's that about working in architecture in Spain? Some veiled reference to the influence of the Moors? Did you forget about the Roman monuments preserved there, such as the aqueduct of Segovia or the the Roman Theater of Mérida? What about the Gothic styles (such as the cathedrals of Burgos, Toledo and Leon ) or the Plateresque styles (such as the University of Salamanca) or Baroque, not to mention their modernism (such as in Barcelona)? What does that have to do with anything, anyway?
And who is down on Israel's public diplomacy? Have you ever looked at the Israel Citizens Information Council website? Things seem to be going better for them than for Mohammad Othman and the "Stop The Wall" group.
Have you been drinking? lol
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 7:08 pmLinda, are there any campuses with campaigns to boycott "Israel" so far, this semester?
Thanks!
Posted by Ready to Boycott | September 26, 2009, 6:19 amApartheid states richly deserve to fall. And "Israel" is the very last one left.
Give it a little push, with a boycott, yes.
Posted by Boycott Apartheid | September 27, 2009, 9:06 amIsrael will fall, exactly as white South Africa fell. Those who boycotted it out of existence will be proud to tell their grandchildren.
Posted by Boycott Israel | September 28, 2009, 8:48 amSo the boycotts are an economic war to destroy Israel, since all the other efforts to destroy Israel failed? Good luck with that.
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 6:44 pmI don't think that those involved with BDS control enough of the market to have a meaningful impact. What is the desired impact, anyway? If it were possible to harm Israel's economy, how would that benefit the Palestinians?
It will be interesting to find out what Mohammad Othman was arrested for. There is not much information about him in the news, this is a great example of how the blogosphere can work.
I don't agree with labeling the wall an "apartheid" wall, that suggests that the reason for it is simply racial or something, when in fact it has to do with security.
Posted by eagle007blogger | September 29, 2009, 9:06 pmit has to do with security? lolz @ ur ignorant comment. obviously u dont know how much land has been grabbed using the apartheid wall, which is also used to seperate palestinians from each other. you can label it whatever you like, but in the end of the day we all know what its there for.
Posted by philip | September 30, 2009, 8:03 pmThe wall also saves lives, preventing Palestinian attacks and the retaliations. But that fact is inconvenient to you.
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 6:35 pmHow come those who are against the wall don't offer up any alternatives to preventing violence?
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 6:40 pm"How come those who are against the wall don't offer up any alternatives to preventing violence?"
I know an alternative! Its simple! End the occupation, and there would be ZERO angry Palestinians.
Posted by Arayus | October 1, 2009, 6:47 pmSadly, you are wrong again
And you just danced around the issue
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 7:12 pmRemember that there are people like this http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/09/finding-islams-m…
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 9:48 pmRemember that there are people like this
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 1, 2009, 9:48 pmAnyway, sign the petition letter to Obama to free Othman.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/t/9047/c…
Posted by Arayus | October 2, 2009, 11:15 pmAnyway, sign the petition letter to Obama to free Othman.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/t/9047/c…
Posted by Arayus | October 2, 2009, 11:15 pmIf it turns out that the Israeli authorities have intelligence on him for crimes committed – boy are you gonna have egg on your face!
What is he being detained for? The reasons have not been revealed yet.
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 3, 2009, 5:50 amPeople are detained without charge by the Israelis all the time. If you actually knew anything about this conflict, which you don't, you would understand that.
Also, according to the United Nations under the supervision of Judge Goldstone and many other prominent legal experts, Israel has committed crimes against humanity. Boy do you have shit on your face =P
Posted by Arayus | October 3, 2009, 6:26 amFor example, the report makes no mention of the recorded incidents of Palestinian rocket fire from school premises during the operation, despite video evidence.
The mission also failed to find evidence of Palestinian forces using mosques to store rockets and explosives and said so in the report. But the Israel Defense Forces made public many videos showing Israeli air force strikes on mosques in which huge secondary explosions can be seen following the initial attack, testifying to the presence of rocket stores in the mosques.
The report also fails to mention that the Palestinian forces recruited children to conduct combat-support operations. A Jan. 9 report in an Arabic-language paper in Israel included an interview with Khaled, a child from Gaza. He said: "We the children … are fulfilling missions of support for the [Hamas] resistance fighters, by transmitting messages about the movements of the enemy forces or by bringing them ammunition and food."
Gazan residents explicitly stated that Hamas fighters forcibly prevented them from leaving their houses and shot at Israeli forces from the same locations, telling them that they should be happy to die together with the "holy warriors."
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 4, 2009, 3:10 pmUnfortunately it is you who knows nothing about this conflict now, or in 1948 and 1967, as you constantly make false remarks and need to be shown the facts.
Making ad hominem attacks just makes you look silly.
…Judge Goldstone and many other prominent legal experts…
Many other? YOU MEAN FOUR? That's right 4 – including Professor Christine Chinkin. lmao! You don't know what you're talking about. You have no idea about them being "prominent" or not, you just make things up as you go along. You perceive reality as you want it to be, not how it is, and when someone brings you information contradicting your perception of reality, you call them names. You're so laughable, but it's actually not funny because there are many others like you – ignorant people, in the dark, twisting the truth, wanting to perpetuate a conflict.
Goldstone report unfair to Israel
The Goldstone mission — named for lead investigator Richard Goldstone — was, from the outset, skewed against Israel. Its mandate prejudged the outcome of the "fact-finding" mission before any facts had been found, stating that "violations of international human rights law by the occupying power, Israel," would be looked into. Some of the four investigators were not neutral arbiters either. Professor Christine Chinkin of the London School of Economics, one of the four, signed a Jan. 11 letter to the Sunday Times of London before the Israeli operation had concluded, accusing Israel of war crimes.
The political bias of the mission was borne out in the report, which, despite its 575 pages, failed to find conclusive evidence of Hamas' extraordinary use of civilians and civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
By refusing to call Hamas to account for the manner in which it deliberately endangered its own people, terrorist groups everywhere and their leaders can rest assured that they will not have to pay the consequences for such gross abuses of the laws of war. Instead, the Goldstone panelists decided to hamstring a democracy that had suffered more than 10,000 missile attacks on its citizens and to send the message that self-defense is not legitimate.
Capitulation in the face of terror is the order of the day from the Goldstone mission.
Posted by eagle007blogger | October 4, 2009, 3:23 pmDamn Arayus, again????
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Posted by Chiranjeev | September 10, 2010, 9:47 pmLearn the truth about BDS here: pacbi.com
Posted by Johnny | December 16, 2010, 12:14 pm