Feature Archives

On April 30th, students at UC Santa Barbara demanded a meeting with Chancellor Henry T. Yang. They asked for an end to the witch-hunt against Professor William Robinson. Robinson has been targeted by the Anti-Defamation League because of his forwarding of images that made a historical comparison of Israeli military actions in Gaza with the violence of the Nazi Germany in Warsaw.

on, May 9, the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel. The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company.

On Monday, May 11, Students for Justice in Palestine will screen the documentary Slingshot Hip Hop at UC Berkeley. The film braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

On Monday April 13, Dr. Norman Finkelstein addressed a standing room only crowd at Chico State University auditorium concerning the recent violence in Gaza, occupied Palestinian territory inside of Israel. After giving a brief background of his Jewish parent's anti-war beliefs and actions in New York, and their influence on his current views opposing Zionist Israel's apartheid policies against the Palestinians, Dr. Finkelstein gave background on Israel's early wars against Palestinians and Egypt during 1967.

On Tuesday, March 24th, members of the Kahana movement marched through the outskirts of Umm el-Fahm, a Palestinian town. The Kahana movement, a political party in Israel that vocally advocates the expulsion and extermination of all Palestinians living in Israel, was protected by more than 2500 military personal. Many residents and activists were determined to not allow the march to happen and clashed with the military. Thirteen residents were arrested, and 13 were wounded. Another 15 members of the military were also injured, among them the deputy police commissioner.

The "Israel Truth Campaign" announced its first ad on March 30th in Berkeley in observance of “Land Day." The new satirical campaign make fun of pro-Israel PR efforts in the Bay Area. For example, the press release for the ads explains that the "campaign features a picture of Palestinian terrorists disguised as schoolchildren" and notes that the ad "commemorates attacks on Israeli forces by unarmed children."

Ten days after he was shot in the head by an Israeli Defense Force high-velocity tear gas canister, Tristan Anderson is still hospitalized, unconscious and on a respirator, following three surgeries in a hospital in Israel. His family's attorney has filed a formal complaint with the West Bank Israeli border police, demanding the immediate launch of a rigorous and independent investigation into the shooting. Friends of Tristan and Palestine held a rally and press conference on Thursday, March 26th at noon outside of the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, addressing the beatings and arrests that occurred after the March 16th Solidarity with Tristan and Palestine demonstration.