Protesters Say: No Cultural Figleaf for Israeli Apartheid!

Posted on April 29th, 2010

April 27 – Activists from the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago and Jewish Voice for Peace with other supporters protested an event at the Chicago Cultural Center entitled “Encountering Israeli Literature,” put on by the Petach Tikva program of Chicago Sister Cities in partnership with the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest.
Outside the cultural center, activists distributed to passersby campaign flyers outlining the PSG’s support of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions and its objection to the use of cultural activities sponsored by Israeli government and quasi-governmental organizations as a means to whitewash Israel’s apartheid policies and war crimes against the Palestinians.
The activists then took their message directly to the Chicago Sister Cities International. With a security guard blocking the elevator, the demonstrators poured into the event and demanded that the Chicago Sister Cities International respond to PSG’s repeated requests for a meeting with the director of the program.
Attendees shouted at the demonstrators to get out, stating that “this is only about books, not politics.” The activists left only after giving a copy of their demands to Daniel B. Shure, the chairman of the Petach Tikva Committee (who is also head of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce-Chicago) . The activists reminded him that they have yet to receive a written response to their demand that Chicago drop Petach Tikva from the program. This reminder was also given to Leroy Ayalla, the director of the Chicago Sister Cities International program, who the activists caught trying to slip out of the Sister Cities office.
The PSG rejects the use of cultural and educational programming to put a fig leaf on Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights. Staff of the Chicago Sister Cities International and those on the committee of the Petach Tikva program are closely tied to the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce, showing that instead of being a people-to-people program, the Petach Tikva program is designed to strengthen business ties between Chicago and Israel. Petach Tikva program events are held in partnership with Israeli governmental and quasi-governmental organizations, and serve to whitewash Israel’s illegal occupation, its massacring of Palestinian civilians and ongoing denial of the Palestinian refugees‘ right of return.
This protest is part of the PSG’s ongoing campaign calling on the Chicago Sister Cities International to drop the Israeli city of Petach Tikva from its program. Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only colony in historic Palestine and is the site of a Guantanamo-style detention center where Palestinians illegally transferred from the West Bank and Gaza Strip are routinely tortured.

Filed under: Archive, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign by wfchambers - 2 Comments →

July 9 – INTERNATIONAL ISRAEL BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS DAY OF ACTION!

Posted on April 25th, 2010

FREE AMEER MAKHOUL, TORTURED AT PETACH TIVKA!
ISRAEL’S GUANTANAMO IS NO SISTER OF CHICAGO!
NO CHICAGO TIES WITH ISRAEL!


Friday July 9
4:00 – 5:30PM
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington

The Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG) will join Palestine solidarity activists around the world on this international day of action to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the historic Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it ends the occupation, respets the right of return of Palestine refugees, and respects the rights of Palestinian citizens in Israel. We will renew our calls on the Chicago Sister Cities International, whose offices are located at the Chicago Cultural Center, to drop Petach Tikva, Israel from the Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI) program and call on Israel to release political prisoner Ameer Makoul, tortured at Petach Tikva.

We reject an official relationship between the City of Chicago and the Municipality of Petach Tikva in Israel. Under the guise of promoting cultural and education ties, and under the false premise of a people-to-people program, Petach Tikva’s inclusion in the CSCI promotes Israel-US business ties while it simultaneously whitewashes Israel’s occupation and human rights abuses.

Ameer Makhoul (pictured) is the latest Palestinian grassroots activist to be held and tortured at Petach Tikva. It is bitterly ironic that the chairperson of the CSCI’s Petach Tikva program is also president of the America Israel Business Chamber of Commerce, which earlier this year advertised a “Fight Back Against the Boycott” to undermine the movement grassroots Palestinian activists like Ameer Makhoul have been arrested and persecuted for leading.

At a national meeting earlier this year, Jewish United Fund – one of the racist Israeli government’s main champions in the US – identified the threat posed to Israel’s “legitimacy” by our campaign. Join our campaign and directly challenge Israel’s supporters in Chicago, and demand real policy change!

TAKE ACTION: contact Leroy Allala – Sister City Program Executive Director (leroy.allala@cityofchicago.org, 312.744.1372) and demand an end to the Sister City partnership between Chicago and Petach Tikva!

Filed under: Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign, Home by wfchambers - 1 Comment →

Chicago solidarity activists protest Israeli army scholarship fundraiser

Posted on April 25th, 2010
CHICAGO, April 23 – Chanting “Hey IDF, what do you say? How many schools did you bomb today!” more than 50 activists picketed outside of Chicago’s Lumen nightclub last night to protest the Friends of the IDF-Youth League’s fundraiser for “four former Israeli combat soldiers.”
Organized by the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG) with the partnership of a coalition of solidarity, community and campus groups, the protesters greeted those entering the nightclub with shouts of “No more partying! For Israel’s slaughtering!” and “No more dancing on Gaza’s graves!”
The action was co-sponsored by the International Solidarity Movement-Chicago, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Chicago, Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago, Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at DePaul, UIC, and IIT, National Lawyers Guild-Loyola chapter, and the US Palestinian Community Network.
The Palestine solidarity community in Chicago has persistently protested the Friends of the IDF fundraisers, which have been targeted by solidarity activists throughout the United States. The protests of the Friends of the IDF are part of the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a means of holding Israel accountable and respecting Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
In 2005, a broad spectrum of Palestinian civil society put out a call for BDS, modeled off of the movement that helped bring apartheid to an end in South Africa.
In addition to protesting the Friends of the IDF fundraisers, the PSG has an ongoing campaign calling on the Chicago Sister Cities International to drop the Israeli city of Petach Tikva from its program. Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only colony in historic Palestine and is the site of a Guantanamo-style detention center where Palestinians illegally transferred from the West Bank and Gaza Strip are routinely tortured.
PSG will be picketing outside of the Chicago Cultural Center on Tuesday, 27 April at 4:30 pm to protest an event entitled “Encountering Israeli Literature,” put on by the Petach Tikva program of Chicago Sister Cities in partnership with the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest.
The PSG rejects the use of cultural and educational programming to put a fig leaf on Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights. Staff of the Chicago Sister Cities and those on the board of the Petach Tikva program are closely tied to the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce, showing that instead of being a people-to-people program, the Petach Tikva program is designed to strengthen business ties between Chicago and Israel. Petach Tikva program events are held in partnership with Israeli governmental and quasi-governmental organizations, and serve to whitewash Israel’s illegal occupation, its massacring of Palestinian civilians and ongoing denial of the Palestinian refugees‘ right of return.

Filed under: Archive by wfchambers - No Comments →