Articles from the News Media
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Diab is free, and how the Can. Jewish community wanted to keep him in prison
Judy Haiven, writing for Independent Jewish Voices - Canada, notes that B'nai Brith and other Jewish organizations that claim to advocate for human rights played a role in the extradition of Hassan Diab but have not commented on his release and return to Canada. Justice for Hassan Diab
Hassan Diab is a Canadian professor from Ottawa of Lebanese , Muslim background who has spent the last 8 years in jail or under house arrest for allegedly bombing a synagogue in Paris . He was extradited to France over 2 years ago and still sits in their jail. There is no reliable evidence that he was even in France in 1980 . This is a shocking case of an innocent man who his lawyer calls the modern equivalent of Alfred Dreyfus , the French Jewish officer wrongfully convicted last century amid virulent anti-semitism in France. "
Please sign the parliamentary petition: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-833. Click here for more information. For information about A BCCLA free public event, co-sponsored by Hassan Diab Support Committee (Vancouver). ICC's chief prosecutor fights to prove the institution's worthFatou Bensouda, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, is surprised by Canada’s hard line against increasing funding to the institution. (HIROKO MASUIKE/NYT)
Read more... Palestinian civil society condemns Canadian government disinformation and repression against boycott movementPosted on February 5, 2015 by Palestinian BDS National Committee
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations that leads the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, has condemned the Canadian government’s ramped up disinformation campaign and repressive measures against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights. BDS is a global, Palestinian-led nonviolent human rights movement that aims to apply pressure on Israel, as was done on apartheid South Africa, to fully comply with its obligations under international law. Canada and Israel signed a series of cooperation agreements recently, one of which included an unprecedented commitment to work jointly to counter the continued growth of BDS. Read More UN: Israel demolished homes of 1,177 Palestinians in 2014UN: Israel demolished homes of 1,177 Palestinians in Jerusalem and West Bank in 2014
Since the beginning of 2015, Israeli authorities destroyed 77 structures, displacing 110 Palestinians. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.640147 By Amira Hass Since the beginning of 2015, the Civil Administration of the Israel Defense Forces has demolished 77 homes, livestock pens, farm buildings and other structures of Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, since they were built without building permits. As a result, 110 people, around half of them children, lost their homes at the height of the winter, according to a report compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Bethlehem Prayer ServiceThe simulcast service on December 20, 2014 between Washington, D.C., and Bethlehem, Palestine
via the Internet, in celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace, may be viewed on YouTube.
http://goo.gl/phTc30 Letter to Kerry re GazaA letter has been sent to John Kerry by religious and faith based organizations calling on the USA to urge Israel to fully lift the blockade on Gaza and to work with the Government of Palestine/Government of National
Consensus, Government of Israel and the United Nations to resolve problematic
aspects of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism.
Click here to read the letter.
Anti-Semite is a 'terrible word' "Toronto SUN"
Does Harper "honestly believe[s] that any criticism of Israel at all - any - is anti-Semitic?" Tories deluged by letters denouncing opposition to Palestinian UN bid
Canadian Press January 23, 2014 The Harper government was flooded with angry letters from Canadians after it opposed the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, newly disclosed documents show. Rick Steves, Bethlehem: A busy town (The Star)Lots of tourists go to Palestine, but I’d estimate that 90 per cent of them do it in a rush from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square. (Bethlehem is just over the wall that separates Israel and Palestine, about six miles away.) They then return directly to Israel without spending a single shekel in restaurants or hotels in the West Bank.
Obviously, there’s much more to experience in this country. Read more... |
Statements on Trump's declaration on the Status of Jerusalem
Several statements by a number of organizations were made following President Trump's declaration on the status of Jerusalem. Read them here. Read more... 
Free Issa Amro Campaign
Currently Issa is facing a trial in military court. We are asked to share the petition to drop the charges against him. Please sign the petition: https://freeissa.org More information Al Jazeera: Hague-based ICC accepts Palestine's status Dec. 08, 2014
Decision clears way for the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in the occupied territories. The International Criminal Court has accepted the status of Palestine, clearing the way for war crimes in the occupied territories to be investigated, Al Jazeera has learned. Monday's decision amounts to a symbolic victory for the Palestinians who will get a seat at the ICC: In theory, it is now legally possible for war crimes to be investigated in the occupied territories if requested. The ICC, which is governed by the Rome Statute, is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The court, whose headquarters is at The Hague in the Netherlands, is an independent international organisation and is not part of the UN system. While its expenses are funded primarily by "states parties", the ICC also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities. Al Jazeera's Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said the acceptance happened at an open meeting on Monday of the assembly of states parties of the ICC. "What this means is that Palestine is now listed as a 'non-state party observer' - exactly the same status as the US or Russia or every other country that is not a signatory of the Rome Statute," he said. "In other words, all the ICC signatories now consider Palestine to be a state. The acceptance is symbolic but adds to the international momentum for Palestinian statehood and has legal repercussions. "If Palestine now applies to join the Rome Statute, it will be much harder to reject them. The acceptance clearly brings war-crimes trials against Israelis one step closer." If I were an American Jew, I’d worry about Israel’s racist cancer
Amid the awareness that Israel is sliding toward an apartheid regime, the silence of Jews worldwide is deafening.
By Daniel Blatman | Mar. 7, 2014 | 8:01 PM | 26 If I were an American Jew who held Israel dear, I would view the crisis afflicting the greatest Jewish dream in modern times with despair. When sitting down to Shabbat dinner with my adult children, I would hear that Israel no longer represents the values on which they were raised: human dignity, equal rights, a pluralistic society, and the obligation to fight for the weak and the persecuted. In the eyes of America’s future economic and political leaders, Israel no longer has a place in the family of enlightened nations. It has become the South Africa of the 21st century. Read more... The boycott is our Palestinian non-violent resistanceBDS is gaining global traction as an effective and responsible protest against Israel's settlements – in contrast to Scarlett Johansson’s endorsement.
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Life with Dignity: Kairos Palestine
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