Bowing to BDS pressure: G4S to completely divest from Israeli apartheid.

Statement from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), 3 June 2023 (BDS: Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions)

We did it!

In a major win for human rights activismagainst corporate complicity, the world’s largest private security company Allied Universal, which owns G4S, has decided to sell all its remaining business in apartheid Israel.

This victory was made possible by the tireless work of our amazing partners and you, our supporters. Grassroots power built the #StopG4S campaign from the ground up and persisted in pressuring G4S to divest from its stake in Policity, the Israeli police academy,due to documented war crimes and human rights violations by Israeli police.

Allied Universal, which acquired G4S in 2021, is now selling that stake to G1, an Israeli company known for complicity in human rights abuses (pending Israeli authorities’ approval).

The final straw compelling Allied Universal to end its complicity in apartheid Israel’s human rights abuses against Indigenous Palestinians came from the Quebec Pension Plan’s management fund, CDPQ, the largest shareholder in Allied Universal. CDPQ has acknowledged the documented cases of Israeli torture against Palestinians and disapproved of such activities.

Read more about our successful journey to #StopG4S

Now is the time to intensify BDS campaignsagainst Israel’s regime of apartheid and settler colonialism, and against corporations and institutions that are complicit in its crimes. Elbit, Google, Amazon, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, CAT, JCB, Volvo, Hyundai, Chevron, Siemens, CAF, AXA, PUMA, Carrefour, Booking, Airbnb, Sabra, Barclays UK, Expedia, Hikvision, TKH Security, among others, must stop enabling and profiting from apartheid!

Freedom is on the horizon!

                    Escalate all #BDS campaigns now!                  

In solidarity,

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC): The international nonviolent BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) movement for freedom, justice and equality is supported by the absolute majority in Palestinian society. BDS rejects all forms of racism and racial discrimination.

Link to original post: https://bdsmovement.net/BDS-G4S-Victory

An evening with Nasser Mashni – at a venue near you:

Mr Nasser Mashni – Brief Bio

Nasser is the current President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, having served for the past 6 years as a committee member, Treasurer and Vice President.

Nasser is the son of a Palestinian refugee, resettled in Australia. He is a co-founder of Australians For Palestine and a founding board member of Olive Kids – The Australian Foundation for Palestinian Children.

Nasser has been a guest on varied government and commercial TV and radio networks and written for a number of news outlets. He produces a weekly radio show and podcast called Palestine Rememberedthat is broadcast on Australia’s Community Network stations.

With his father’s legacy in mind, Nasser is determined to continue the struggle for justice and a free Palestine.

Public Meetings for Nasser Mashni’s tour:

DUNEDIN, Monday 29 May

6.30pm, Dunedin Community House, Alex McMillan Room, 301 Moray Place, Dunedin. Facebook Event here https://www.facebook.com/events/905322327207242/

CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday 30 May (two meetings)

University of Canterbury
12.00noon, 90 Ilam Road
Bentley’s – Haere-roa, 2nd floor
Hosted by Muslim student group
Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/702373791653303

Central City Christchurch
7pm, Transitional Cathedral
234 Hereford Street, Christchurch
Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1678080992646518

WELLINTON, Wednesday 31 May (two meetings)

Victoria University
12.15pm, Student Union Building (SU217)
Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1207559446619408

Central City Wellington
7pm St Andrews on the Terrace
30 The Terrace, Wellington
Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/212524114886936

HAMILTON, Thursday 1 June

5.30pm, Go Eco, 188 Commerce Street, Hamilton
Event here: https://fb.me/e/Z8JCi17j

AUCKLAND, Friday 2 June

6.30pm, Mt Albert War Memorial Hall
Councillors Drive, Mt Albert, Auckland
Event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1136680291057690/

Auckland supporters – save this date: Friday 2 June, 6:30pm at the Mt Albert War Memorial Hall, Auckland.

Two things you can do now with just a few clicks…

1. Help to publicise the public meeting for Nasser in your centre (or the closest one to where you live!) Go to the link above for the meeting and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media accounts.
2. Email 10 friends/family and send them the link to the local meeting and encourage them to come!

Share this:

B’Tselem בצלם بتسيلم, Twitter statement 18 May 2023

The killing of four children by Israel in Gaza last week was not an isolated case or a mistake. Israel killed 1,105 children and minors*in Gaza since 2008. This violence is inherent to the imposition of an apartheid regime.

*Additionally, 62 minors who participated in hostilities were killed by Israel in Gaza during this time, as well as 15 minors whose participatory status is unknown.

B’Tselem is the most prominent and highly respected human rights organisation in Israel.

End the ‘Memoricide’: Planting for Nakba Day

An event commemorating the Nakba in Khan Yunis, Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Lois Griffiths, Christchurch, Palestine Chronicle, 15 May 2023

May 15, Nakba Day, is an important date for the Palestinian people. It’s the day when Palestinians commemorate their history and their culture. While Israeli nationalists and Zionist supporters celebrate the forming in 1948 of the State of Israel, the ‘Birth’ of Israel, Palestinians remember the Nakba, the catastrophe, ie, what was done to the indigenous people.

Miral, the Palestinian girl who asked ‘Where is my dad?’

Dr Jamal Khuswan, Chairman of the board of directors of Al-Wafa Hospital and Miral’s dad.

By Hossam Shaker, Middle East Monitor, 12 May 2023

Miral found herself alone in an ambulance, unaware of the fate of her family. She had been woken up by the air strike that targeted her residential building in Gaza in the early hours of the morning. The little girl asked the medic who carried her, “Where is my father?”

[Ed: see our earlier report here: https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2023/05/09/where-is-my-dad/ ]

The video [below] that has gone viral on social media shows her asking this repeatedly. The child was unaware that the ambulance also carried the remains of members of her family and neighbours. Miral’s innocent face has become symbolic of the devastation that Israel inflicts on the children of Gaza.

The ten-year-old girl fell asleep on the night of 8 May after she and her four siblings heard tender words from their parents. That welcome sleep was shattered by the so-called Israel Defence Forces, who later boasted of their “precise military achievements”, a vile euphemism for crushing fellow human beings to death in the middle of the night. The bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes claimed the lives of Dr Jamal Khuswan, his well-known pharmacist wife Mervet Banat, and their eldest son Yusef, a second-year medical student. Miral and her siblings Minna, 17, Yazan, 15, and Yamen, 14, were orphaned and left to bear the shock and disbelief for the rest of their lives.

New Rules of Engagement: How Palestinians defeated Netanyahu and redefined ‘Unity’

Palestinians celebrate after the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Palestinian groups, in Gaza City, Gaza on May 13, 2023. [Mustafa Hassona – Anadolu Agency]

By Ramzy Baroud, Middle East Monitor, 15 May 2023

All Israeli wars on the Palestinians throughout the years have been promoted and justified by Tel Aviv in the name of ‘security’ and ‘fighting terrorism’.

Israel’s biggest challenge throughout many of these wars was hardly the Palestinian Resistance, however steadfast and resilient. The challenge has always been Tel Aviv’s ability to kill many Palestinians, including civilians, without tarnishing its image internationally as an oasis of democracy and civilization.

Israel has been losing the public relations battle and rapidly so and, now, it is losing a different kind of battle as well.

Gaza: Freedom, not improving conditions of oppression!

Palestinians in Gaza celebrate the announcement of the ceasefire. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Haidar Eid, Palestine Chronicle, 15 May 2023

We have spent sleepless nights under Israeli bombs before – in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2021.

On Tuesday, apartheid Israel decided to launch yet another murderous campaign of bombardment against one of the most densely populated areas on earth. And again, the victims were children and women. So far, the number of those killed has risen to 33 and more than 100 wounded. Calls for a ceasefire were made as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch “massive strikes” in the hope of killing the largest possible number of Palestinians by targeting residential areas.

Ceasefire ends five days of Gaza escalation

The aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City [Atia Darwish, APA]

Tamara Nassar, Electronic Intifada. 14 May 2023

Israel and Islamic Jihad in Gaza agreed to a ceasefire late Saturday evening, bringing to a tentative end five days of intense cross-boundary fire that claimed the lives of 33 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and two people in Israel.

Palestinians across Gaza celebrated in the streets upon the declaration of the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire:

Israel’s missiles kill 33 Palestinians, including 6 children, in 5 days of attacks on Gaza

International Middle East Media Centre, 14 May 2023

The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that Israel’s five-day offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed 33 Palestinians, including six children and three women, and injured at least 150.

Gaza under attack: Palestinians expose Israel’s moral, intellectual bankruptcy (VIDEO)

Mark Seddon speaks with Rana Shubair and Dr. Ramzy Baroud. [Palestine Deep Dive]

By Palestine Deep Dive, 12 May 2023

Amid Israel’s ongoing airstrikes on Gaza, Palestine Deep Dive’s Mark Seddon speaks live with Gaza-based author and mother Rana Shubair and is also joined by US-based Palestinian journalist and intellectual Dr. Ramzy Baroud from Seattle.

Israeli airstrikes have killed scores of people including multiple children and at the time the death toll stood at 15. Since then, the number has risen to at least 28 and shows no sign of abating, as hopes of a ceasefire have faltered.

Why Israel’s violent Gaza strategy to divide Palestinian resistance will fail

Israeli air attacks have pounded the Gaza Strip for a second straight day, witnesses said. [Video: Al Jazeera English]

ANALYSIS: By Mohsen Abu Ramadan, 11 May 2023. [By:Cafe Pacific Publisher]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest assault on Gaza is a well-worn strategy among Israeli politicians to manufacture unity during times of internal strife

In the early morning hours on Tuesday, May 9, Israeli occupation forces launched a brutal military attack on the Gaza Strip, killing 15 people including three leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement (PIJ), four children, and four women.

Israeli forces reported that a total of 40 warplanes participated in the targeted assassination campaign that lasted about two hours.

• READ MORE: New Zealand Nakba Day rally in Auckland
• Other Palestine reports

Israeli media outlets also indicated that the military operation may continue for a few days, with Prime Minister Netanyahu promising on Wednesday a “broader campaign” and “severe blows against Gaza”.

75th anniversary of the Nakba international day of action this Saturday 13 May

Poster for Auckland’s Memorial/Rally -You can find the link to the event here

Saturday 13 May is the international day of action marking the 75^th anniversary of the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) which marks the ethnic cleansing of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their land and homes by Israeli militias in 1948. The Nakba continues today with ethnic cleansing, house demolitions and land theft across Palestine.

Marches and demonstrations will be held across the world and here in Aotearoa New Zealand, because we are close to the international dateline, we will be the first country to be taking action.

(Note: Nakba Day is actually on the Monday but to give more people the chance to take part it is being remembered around the world on Saturday 13 May)

You will find details of all the events around the country on our Facebook page here but some of the event posters are here.

‘Where is my dad?’

10 year old Miral Khaswan calls out for her father killed by Israeli strikes today

“Where is my dad?” This is what Palestinian children wake up to; calling and searching desperately for their parents. It was reported that this child, Miral Khaswan, arrived at the Al-Shifa hospita, Gaza City, and waited for her father to come out after he was injured following an Israeli airstrike on Gaza Strip… …Only to find out after that both her parents were murdered by Israeli occupation forces.

Video by Al-Mayadeen News, 9 May 2023

A video showing a 10-years-old child called Miral Khaswan who arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital waiting for her father Dr Jamal Khaswan (a dentist) who was injured and evacuated to hospital following an Israeli airstrike on Gaza strip shared on social media.
Later, the hospital announced that both her mother and father were killed.

Breaking News: Gaza under attack: repeated air raids, resistance leaders targeted

Samidoun, 9 May 2023

As of 4:50 pm Monday, 8 May, [9 May NZ time. Ed ] occupation forces are currently targeting the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance in attempted assassination raids, particularly targeting leaders of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. Homes in Rafah, in Gaza City and elsewhere have been hit by Zionist missiles, leading to casualties and martyrs. The homes that have so far been targeted reportedly include those of resistance leaders Jihad Ghannam and Abu Hadi al-Bahtini. Confirmed Palestinian reports indicate that at least 10 martyrs have been killed by the occupation assault.

Israel and Palestinian Authority ‘in secret talks to exploit Gaza gas reserves’

More than 36 billion cubic metres of natural gas have remained untapped for two decades, mainly due to Israeli objections and obstacles

Palestinians join in a rally at the Gaza City sea port on 14 September 2022 to demand their right to receive gas from maritime fields in the eastern Mediterranean (AFP)

By MME staff, Middle East Eye, 5 May 2023

The Israeli government is holding secret talks with the Palestinian Authority in a bid to develop a gas reservoir located about 36km from the shores of Gaza, according to Israel’s Channel 13 News.

Israel attacks Gaza fishers at sea and in court

Jihad al-Hissi (wearing brown jacket) prepares for a day at sea.

Abdallah al-NaamiThe Electronic Intifada, 5 May 2023

It is early morning, sunny but with a cool breeze. Jihad al-Hissi is busy helping fellow fishers to prepare a boat for a day at sea.

There should not be anything unusual about the tasks they perform: fishers around the world do them all the time. Yet the tension is almost palpable: Jihad, 56, is worried that his boat will not return to the port.

Why major European cities are rejecting Israeli apartheid

People take part in a demonstration in support of Palestinians at Sant Jaume square, in Barcelona, Spain. (AFP)

RAMZY BAROUD, Arab News, 2 May 2023

A succession of events that started in Barcelona, Spain, in February before moving to Liege, Belgium, and Oslo, Norway, in April has sent a strong message to Israel: The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is alive and well.

VIDEO: Why did Israel kill Khader Adnan?

VIDEO: Dr Ramzy Baroud discusses the impact of the death of Palestinian prisoner & hunger striker Khader Adnan in an Israeli prison. Palestine Chronicle Tim Tok video 3 May 2023.

Who was the Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan who died in Israeli prison?

People gather to demonstrate in front of the Red Cross (ICRC) building in Gaza City, Gaza while they hold the poster of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan who died after an 87 day hunger strike at an Israeli prison, on May 02, 2023. Photo by Anadolu Images.

By YOUSEF M. ALJAMAL, Politics Today, 3 May 2023

On May 2, 2023, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) announced the death of iconic Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan in his cell following 87 days of hunger strike. Adnan’s health started to deteriorate in the past few days and his family was not able to communicate with him via video conference as they had done in the past at court due to what many believed a serious deterioration of his health. His family and lawyer were also not able to visit him for the past few days.

This was not the first time Adnan went on hunger strike: he was well-known on the Palestinian streets for his previous prolonged hunger strikes to protest his administrative detention without charge or trial in Israel jails.

Erasure or steadfastness: how the Nakba came to define the collective Palestinian identity

People take part in a demonstration with Palestinian flags and banners on the 74th anniversary of the Nakba, in Gaza City, Gaza on May 15, 2022 [Mustafa Hassona – Anadolu Agency]

By Dr Ramzy Baroud Middle East Monitor, 26 April 2023

The Palestinian Nakba will be 75 years old on 15 May. Palestinians all over the world will commemorate the “Catastrophe” when nearly 800,000 of their ancestors were driven at gunpoint from their homes and land, and 500 of their towns and villages were wiped off the face of the earth in the ethnic cleansing that started in historic Palestine between late 1947 and mid-1948.

The depopulation of Palestine carried on for months; in fact, for years after the Nakba was supposedly ended. But it has never actually ended. To this day, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, in the southern Hebron hills, in the Naqab Desert and elsewhere, are still suffering the consequences of Israel’s quest for demographic supremacy. And, of course, millions of Palestinian refugees remain stateless, denied their basic political and human rights.

In a speech at the “UN World Conference against Racism” in 2001, Palestinian intellectual Dr Hanan Ashrawi described the Palestinian people aptly as “a nation in captivity held hostage to an ongoing Nakba.” Elaborating, Ashrawi described this “ongoing Nakba” as “the most intricate and pervasive expression of persistent colonialism, apartheid, racism and victimisation.” This means that we must not think of the Nakba only as an event in a fixed time and place.