Israeli products should be boycotted until the Zionists agree to Negotiation and Compromise, and abandon the Fascist call for a "Clean Break", in the name of avoiding both.

This is just taking the piss!

Using Indymedia to encourage consumerism, and propping up a racist, Apartheid, colonialist state at that!!

The 'report' is riddled with inconsistencies and lies:

"Suicide bombings and other atrocities are being committed daily by Palestinian fundamentalists in Israel. "

I presume the propagandist can back up this claim that there have been 365 attacks inside Israel in the last year.

Cos I sure can prove that Israel has committed atrocities inside Palestine on a daily basis since the start of this Intifada.

Furthermore, Israeli crimes are state sponsored and the work of an occupying power.

Palestinian atrocities are the work of a small band of fundamentalists and there is no state to sponsor them - even Arafat condemns them!

Palestinians back the calls for disinvestment - the sate of Israel is quite happy to use economic sanctions against them. Theres no reason we shouldn't give the state of Israel someof it's own medicine.

If Israelis don't like it, they can vote the fascists out of power. After all, they voted them in.

Nazi liar 'freethepeeps' knows very well that the money confiscated was frozen by the PA under Abbas, and details given to Israel regarding its use for funding the murder of Israeli children, drug running, arms smuggling etc. When Arafat tried to unfreeze the money to give to his fascist Arab terror chums, Israel carried out the will of Mahmoud Abbas and placed the blood money out of the hands of the new nazis in Al-Aqsa, Hamas, Fatah et al.

... you're seeing nazis where there are none. That kinda overaction not only devalues the suffering that people experienced at the hands of the real Nazis but also affects the credibility of your posts.

Israel having said that it was going to "give" the loot to "Palestinian causes" has now gone back on its own words.

And Abbas is yesterdays news. Theres a new stooge now.

I still maintain the initial post is a breach of the editorial guidelines.

Probably all 7 of them.

I have seen this suggested before, but only here and probably by the same poster. Always with no links or backup. Though I requested some last time.

I am interested in the truth of this, and have searched the web without finding the slightest hint of anything relevant.

I am coming to suspect this is pure invention, being posted here each time this bank robbery is mentioned.
Could the person who posted

"Nazi liar 'freethepeeps' knows very well that the money confiscated was frozen by the PA under Abbas, and details given to Israel regarding its use for funding the murder of Israeli children"

either provide links to some sort of evidence, or confess it is an invention, and stop repeating it.

Incidentally, my personal decision is to boycott Israeli goods whenever I can, including carefully examining the labels on all fruit and vegetables. Its laborious, but it helps my conscience.

Nothing to do with Jewishness. Just the policies and war crimes of Israel's elected government.
If Switzerland acted the same, my opposition would be the same.

I repect the opinion of panther in relation to his checking whether his fruit and veg is from Israel. I hope makes sure that his clothes are not made in China. Nothing against the Chienese just thier brutel government that represses its people and occupies Tibet. That way you can certainly sleep well at night.

My reasons ?

1. It's a democracy, so its population is responsible. Not so in China.

2. Israel does not stand on its own two feet. It receives HUGE money gifts from outside.

3. Israel claims, and gets, admission to the circle of civilised western democracies. A higher standard is expected.

1. Turkey is a democracy
2. Turkey has oppressed the Kurds, destroying entire villages and has a terrible human rights record. not to mention the armenian genocide).
3. Turkey receives huge amounts of money from the US and the IMF

> 1. It's a democracy, so its population is responsible. Not so in China.
All the more reason u should be boycotting China, for not allowing the brutally oppressed Chinese and Tibetan peoples to vote. Or dont u care about that?


> 2. Israel does not stand on its own two feet. It receives HUGE money gifts from outside.
Israel does an extremely good job of standing on its own 2 feet. Unfortunately it has to have a massive defence budget to defend itself from relentless attack by surrounding Arab nations who desire nothing less than Israel's total destruction, and the elimination of the Jewish people. Namely: 1948 - war launched by Arab states; 1967 - war caused by Arab states; 1973 - war launched by Arab states on Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, in a cynical attempt to catch Israel off-guard; 2x "intifadas" resulting in horrendous daily acts of terror against innocent Israeli civilians.

Egypt, on the other hand, does not have to deal with external threats such as these, yet receives over $3billion/year financial aid from the USA alone. I feel a boycott of Egypt is in order!


> 3. Israel claims, and gets, admission to the circle of civilised western democracies. A higher standard is expected.
A different standard is what u actually mean. They should not be allowed to defend themselves is what u're trying to say.
As for your charge that Israel gets 'admission to the circle of civilised western democracies', allow me to piss on your fireworks:


Israel is the ONLY UN member state denied membership in any of the UN's five regional groups, which elect UN bodies in Geneva. Elections in the UN are normally based on regional representation or slates prearranged by regional groups. Israel qualifies for membership in the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), composed of geographically diverse states including Canada and Australia. But WEOG, driven by states such as France, refuses to admit Israel to its Geneva operations. This has the consequence that Israel cannot be elected to a whole range of UN bodies. For instance, Israel cannot stand for election to WIPO — the World Intellectual Property Organization. Similarly, Israel is prevented from running for the International Labour Organization's Governing Body.

Lacking UN regional group membership in Geneva means that Israel is the ONLY UN member forced to sit out consultations on draft resolutions and UN Geneva-based business of all kinds. Israel is refused any possibility of participating in the consultations of regional bodies in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development the World Health Organization. The meetings behind closed doors of regional groups at the Commission on Human Rights negotiate the language of resolutions on all subjects without any Israeli participation. In recent years, Sweden and Co. in the European Union have enjoyed negotiating an agreed-upon level of hostility on the myriad anti-Israel resolutions with Arab states on the commission, before Israeli diplomats got a copy of a first draft. Even Israel's limited participation in the WEOG regional group in New York is circumscribed by the caveat that existing rotation schemes not be disturbed. The result? WEOG membership in the UN Economic and Social Council has already been tied up until 2021!

As for UN staffers, official lists of the UN secretariat from July 2002 count 24 Israelis and 27 from "Palestine."

Algeria, Bahrain, China, Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe pass judgment on human rights at the UN Commission on Human Rights. China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates specialize in the rights of women at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Iran is one of five members on the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan scrutinize the implementation of labour standards on the Governing Council of the International Labour Organization.

In the meantime, representatives and experts from the democratic and Jewish state of Israel are disqualified, blackballed, or left standing in the halls of UN bodies everywhere.

Israel is the only UN member not permitted to stand for election to the full range of UN bodies. So while membership of the UN Human Rights Commission now includes Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Syria — four of the seven states designated as state sponsors of international terrorism by the U.S. State Department — Israel cannot even be a candidate.

Israel recently overtook Russia as the biggest suppiler of arms to India , they make some great weapons !
during the apartheid years when "sanctions" were in force against South Africa,products from SA reached the EU via Israel where there where stamped made in Israel. Due to a trade agreement between Israel and the EU
SA products entered europe without any tariffs.. funny old world ..

I didn't realise that there were other democracies in the west committing daily war crimes on the same sort of scale as Israel without attracting the sanctions and isolation such behaviour deserves.

On you recommendation I will now check them out.

But I should warn you that they won't even begin to make the grade unless they are, at the very least, firing missiles into crowded residential areas on a regular basis, shooting at least 5 or 6 completely innocent civilians per week, preventing pregnant women from reaching hospital, bulldozing the homes of relatives of suspects without compensation (occasionally with the people inside), curfewing small children indoors for weeks on end with catastrophic psychological consequences etc etc

Its a high standard, but if Turkey can meet it, then I promise I will boycott them too.

Panther, it seems there are a few countries for you to boycott

Turkey
Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey have depopulated up to 1400 villages and hamlets in their fight against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), according to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, which has called for an investigation of these practices. In "Forced Displacement of Ethnic Kurds From Southeastern Turkey," released today, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki documents a pattern of abuses by Turkish security forces in their 10-year campaign against the PKK guerrillas. In an effort to deprive the PKK of its logistic base of support, security forces forcibly evict villagers from their villages and sometimes destroy their homes. Torture and arbitrary detention often accompany such evictions. Security forces especially target those villages that refuse to enter the village guard system or those that give food or shelter to PKK fighters.

Sri Lanka (also a democracy)
Hundreds of deaths and injuries of civilians were also reported during army operations in the east, which received much less international attention. As in the north, both security personnel stationed there and ex-militant paramilitary forces working alongside them were accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, and illegal and arbitrary detentions of persons suspected of LTTE links. In one of the few cases where official action was taken, on February 1 in Thambalagamam, Trincomalee district, officers from the Bharathipuram police post and local home guards reportedly arrested and killed eight young men in retaliation for an attack by the LTTE on police in the area the night before. Police arrested forty-two, thirty-nine of whom had been released on bail by mid-June. Large-scale arbitrary arrests of Tamils based almost solely on their ethnicity continued in many parts of the country, particularly after major attacks attributed to the LTTE. In the north and east, residents complained of beatings, torture, and public humiliation of persons detained during searches, and of arrested youths being used for forced labor.

Russia
Human Rights Watch found that over the last year the situation in Chechnya has not improved. New rounds of abusive sweep operations by Russian troops resulted in hundreds of arbitrary detentions, cases of torture, forced "disappearances," extrajudicial executions and large-scale extortion and looting of civilian property. The Russian government did not issue invitations to U.N. human rights mechanisms whose mandates cover the core abuses of this conflict-torture, extrajudicial execution and forced disappearances-and failed to comply with other recommendations of international institutions. In this connection, its decision last week to cancel a long overdue joint visit to the region by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on internally displaced people is particularly troubling. Russian authorities also continued to impede access to the region for several human rights organizations and independent journalists, thus preventing the Russian and international public from receiving objective information about the conflict.

My in principal difficulty with some on your extended list is that I don't want to take action (boycott) which may unfairly harm the ordinary people of a state.

To take such action on the basis of governmental crimes can only be fair if the government is definitely acting criminally with the informed support of a decent majority of the people. That's not so with a fake or low-grade democracy, or where the population is deprived of information, so that they don't know what is being done in their name.

So I think that excludes Sri-Lanka.

Russia I am unsure. It may be that its people have other huge issues in selecting their government, and don't regard the Chechnya issue as important enough to determine their vote. Also, maybe we can cut the Russians a bit of slack in that they have recently acted so well in voluntarily releasing such a huge proportion of their hegemonic territory to freedom and independence. I don't know why they cling so adamantly to this last bit. Also, their democracy is very new, and the people need to adjust. If indeed the majority of Russians approve of actions such as you describe then they certainly are candidayes for boycott consideration. But their current extreme economic difficulties, with little external help, and also their huge steps towards disarmament and cooperation with international arms controls both speak in mitigation. I think on balance not.

Turkey I am considering. I shall try to investigate how far the general population approves of the appalling treatment of the kurds.

But Israel still tops the list. I think, by a long way. The population really could change the govt, and end the crimes, if it wished. It is well informed. This conflict is not an ignored sideshow, it is the major issue at the forefront of every newspaper and almost every political discussion. What happens really does seem to be by the informed and deliberate will of a large majority of the people. So targeting them is fair.

I am puzzled, Brad, why you are keeping this your list of the top international pariahs.

Israel, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Russia.

Its an appalling gang I agree. Are you yourself boycotting them all ?

I do not boycott any country. i dont believe in boycotts as it harms the average working class person.

Let me express my concerns another way. Boycotts from the outside world infringe on democracy, forcing people to vote a certain way. Change must come from within otherwise the change will be superficial and wont last.

Israel, turkey, sri lanka, india, etc are democracies whose people should be supported. In the case of Israel, instead of boycotting the countries goods you should lend support to pressure groups such as B'shalom who pressure the government on humn rights issues. Surely this is more effective?

I also believe that we overlook the situation of the Israeli voter. The vast majority oppose the occupation, but at the same time are being blown to peices. A harsh delima; support left leaning politicians and face worse terrorist attacks (suicide bombing starting during the oslo process under Rabin) or vote for a hawkish government that vows to stop terrorist attacks. It is wrong to blame people who vote under these circumstances which are abnormal for a democracy. A boycott campaign does not help them one bit.

The people of South Africa.

And if a population's suffering is increased, it can stop in it's tracks and think " Have I consented to something wrong that could have brought this about ?" If the answer is "Yes, through my selection of government" then they can kick that government out, and correct the wrong.

My right up-to-date example is Spain.

Some will see this as "capitulation to terrorism". I see it as a people shocked out of apathy to examine their pre-existing moral position, and, having thought really carefully (some perhaps for the first time), they acted to remove rulers doing wrong in their name.

A fine example of democracy at work.

If we put more pressure on the ordinary people of Israel, enough of them might shift to break the impasse and remove the Israeli-court-declared war criminal who leads them.

The Jewish state is NOT actually in danger of being driven into the sea.. Their weaponry is huge, including more nuclear warheads than Britain.

Your anwer was quite child like in its simplicity.

If you think that racist attitudes are no longer present in South Africa you must have gone out of your mind.

And you must be out of your mind to think that in Spain there was an apathy for the causes of the terrorists. The spanish people did not want to be targets, a decision that they might regret in the future as the spanish government has shown that it can be coerced by terrorism.

not a victory for democracy, a victory for terrorism.

I am shocked at you contempt for human beings. We are talking about people's daily needs and wishes to provide for families. They are not poltical pawns. I say this for both israelis and palestinians. Boycotts do not help either party nor do they give what the working man wants; bread on the table