US Jews to Hollywood stars: Boycott Israel celebration!

The following has been sent as an open letter to Jason Alexander, Heidi Klum, Debi Mazar, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Stone, Kiefer Sutherland, and all other confirmed attendees of the September 18 celebration of Israel at Paramount Studios.

It has also been sent to unconfirmed guests Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Adam Sandler.

Stay tuned for any updates or action announcements!

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Update: We received an email from Ixtlan Productions — Oliver Stone’s management — who confirmed that Oliver Stone did not, and was not planning to, attend the September 18 event.  The email did not state a reason or respond to the call for boycott.

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September 12, 2008

We write to you with sadness and outrage as we learn that you plan to attend the September 18 event “From Vision to Reality,” a Hollywood celebration of sixty years since the establishment of the state of
Israel. The vision that led to the reality of the Israeli state is one of systematic and ongoing ethnic and religious discrimination against the Palestinian people. This does not deserve to be celebrated.

Sixty years ago, Zionist groups destroyed over 500 Palestinian villages and made more than 800,000 Palestinian people refugees in order to create a Jewish state in a land where the majority was not Jewish. This has come to be known by Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” and this Nakba continues today. Inside of the 1948 borders of Israel, Palestinian citizens are denied equal rights to Jews under the law. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are denied access to land,  water, healthcare, and other basic resources. Today there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees throughout the world, all of whom are denied their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and land simply because they are not Jewish.

As Jewish North Americans, we are outraged at the policies the state of Israel has implemented in our names and with our government’s financial support for more than sixty years.  At the same time, we are inspired by the ongoing creative resistance of the Palestinian people, and most recently the unified civil society call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law.  We ask you to heed this call.  Boycott is a nonviolent tool that has been used by ordinary people  countless times to hold countries responsible for atrocities when our governments fail to do so.  In South Africa, the boycott movement helped bring about an end to the apartheid system.  In the case of Israel/Palestine, it can do the same.

Whether you attend or not, you are making a statement.  If you attend, you indicate that you support the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people (now millions) and ongoing policies of ethnic cleansing of an indigenous population from their land.  If you cancel your attendance, you indicate that you will not turn a blind eye to both the suffering and the call to action of millions of Palestinian people.

With stature comes responsibility, and we hope you do not take yours lightly.

Sincerely,

The No Time To Celebrate Campaign
a campaign organized and implemented by thousands of Jewish people in the US and Canada this year to protest Israeli Independence Day activities, to commemorate the Nakba, and to honor the Palestinian
call for boycott against Israel

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Open Letter to Paul McCartney: Do Not Perform in Israel

The No Time To Celebrate Campaign has joined the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and other allies in issuing an open letter to Paul McCartney asking that he cancel a scheduled concert in Israel in late September.  More information is available from PACBI and the BIG Campaign (Boycott Israeli Goods) in the UK.

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Sir Paul McCartney,

We write to you with sadness and urgency as we hear that you are preparing to perform in Israel at the end of this month, and we ask that you cancel this performance. As Jewish North Americans, we are outraged at the policies the state of Israel has implemented in our names and with our government’s financial support for more than sixty years. Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem live under occupation and siege; Palestinian citizens of Israel have fewer rights than Jewish citizens of Israel; and Palestinian refugees, who make up two thirds of the Palestinian population, have been denied their internationally recognized right to return to their lands and their homes since 1948.

At the same time, we write to you with hope that you will heed the unified Palestinian civil society call for boycott against Israel until it complies with international law.  Boycott is a nonviolent tool that has been used by ordinary people countless times to hold countries responsible for atrocities when our governments fail to do so.  In South Africa, the boycott movement helped bring about an end to the apartheid system.  The boycott is both collective and individual.  In this case, we call on you as an individual to take a stand against Israeli apartheid and cancel your performance.

Whether you perform or not, you are making a statement.  If you perform this month, at a time when Israel is celebrating sixty years of existence, you indicate that you support the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people (now millions) and the ongoing policies of ethnic cleansing of an indigenous population from their land.  If you cancel your performance, you indicate that you will not, in the name of profit, turn a blind eye to both the suffering and the call to action of millions of Palestinian people.

With stature comes responsibility, and we hope you do not take yours lightly.

Sincerely,

The No Time To Celebrate Campaign
a campaign organized and implemented by thousands of Jewish people in the US and Canada this past spring to protest Israeli Independence Day activities and to commemorate the Nakba (1948 displacement of Palestinian people)

Seattle Jews confront American Jewish Committee and Honor Palestinian Resistance

May 7th: On May 7th the American Jewish Committee held a celebration of the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding, at the large and sumptuous Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. Outside, al-Nakba Coalition, a network of Middle East peace and justice organizations, held a protest and commemoration of 60 years of Nakba. We started by marching from Westlake Park, carrying banners and coffins with the names of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948, and wearing masks. We arrived shortly at the concert hall, put down our coffins, and interacted with rush-hour passersby, police, and some celebrants. Some of our people wrote slogans and names of destroyed villages on the sidewalk around the entire building. There were around 100 of us, and there had been coverage of our work that day in both main Seattle newspapers.

Click here for more images from the May 7 demonstrations.

May 10th: We also had an event on May 10th, titled “Celebrate Palestine: 60 years of Resistance.” This was a positive, pro-active cultural event to recognize and honor the steadfastness of the Palestinians in the face of a 60-year Israeli attempt to dislocate and exile the native population of Palestine. Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967 spoke, giving moving personal testimony about their life and their experiences. A youth folklore ensemble performed; information tables were present; traditional handicrafts were displayed, and Palestinian food was provided. The event was held at the Seattle Central Community College, organized by al-Nakba Coalition, and at least 100 people attended.

May 28th: The AJC hosted another event, a high-ticket reception and dinner, celebrating Israel in a fancy restaurant on the waterfront. Around 30 of us held a vigil outside, passing out leaflets, writing in chalk on the sidewalk, and reading appropriate poetry and other writings into a small p.a. system.

Click here for more images from the May 28 demonstrations.

For more information about al-Nakba Coalition, see http://nakba60th-seattle.org/

Philadelphia: Banners Remember the Nakba

PHILADELPHIA, PA — On the mornings of May 18 and 20, 2008, Philadelphia drivers found messages hanging from several bridges leading into the city. Banners read, “Jews remember the Nakba,” “Ethnic cleansing is not a Jewish value,” “U.S. Jews mourn the Palestinian lives and land lost in 1948,” and “Jews say Israeli ‘independence’ = Palestinian dispossession.”

Los Angeles: Street Performance

LOS ANGELES, CA — May 18, 2008, a public interactive street performance took place, commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. The artists mapped 150 of the 800+ destroyed Palestinian villages, and distributed fact sheets to the public.

Seattle: These Jews Aren’t Celebrating!

While some celebrate 60 years of Israel’s statehood, many Seattle Jews join a broad local coalition in mourning 60 years since the Nakba – Arabic for Catastrophe – of 1948, asking, “Is our nation-state worth the displacement of another people?”

On Wednesday May 7th, 2008, a dozen members of the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace stood with many local community members in protest outside the celebratory Israel@60 event at Benaroya Hall. The protest was organized by the Seattle Nakba Coalition, of which the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace is a member organization. Other member groups include Seattle Palestinian, Arab-American and Palestine solidarity organizations.

Five JVP members attended the Israel@60 event as ticket-holders, in an additional effort to present an often-silenced perspective. They distributed hundreds of leaflets to other attendees, questioning the dominant narrative of Israel’s independence. “What happened to 418 Palestinian villages that existed in 1947? How is this different from the ethnic cleansing that has long been practiced upon us?” These were met with widely varying responses, including deep appreciation. “We need more students doing this,” one attendee said.

After the performance, the ticket-holders unfurled banners inside the hall, reading “Shame on Us for Making Refugees” and “Seattle Jews for a Free Palestine”. They were quickly surrounded by police and escorted off the premises, singing Lo Yisa Goy – nations shall learn war no more.

While Israel provided a home for Jewish refugees after the Holocaust, some from our own families, the terrible fact is that over 700,000 Palestinians were made into refugees to make room for the future state of Israel. Sixty years and several generations later, that number has swelled to an estimated seven million. Many live in 58 registered refugee camps dispersed throughout the Middle East, still denied their rights under international law.

That is why the creation of the state of Israel is known as the Nakba, or the Catastrophe, to Palestinians. Today the Palestinian Nakba continues. Inside of the 1948 borders of Israel, Palestinian citizens are denied legal rights received by Jews. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are denied access to land, water, health care, and other basic resources. Palestinians throughout historic Palestine experience international isolation, economic devastation aided by the erection of a 730-kilometer wall, and continued closures and invasions including the current horrific siege of Gaza.

And that is why many of us are refusing to celebrate: as long as Palestinians are still fighting for their fundamental human rights, we cannot rejoice.

Any peaceful future depends on recognizing both the Palestinian and the Israeli narrative. And yet, just as the names of over 400 pre-1948 Palestinian towns and cities have been deliberately erased from maps, the history of the Palestinian Nakba itself has been all but erased from Jewish consciousness

As Jews, we are members of a community that has repeatedly suffered exile and ethnic cleansing. We refuse to remain silent while this oppression is perpetuated upon another people in our name. To this end, we will continue to work within Jewish community and also in solidarity with Palestinian community, as we seek a self-determination for Jews that does not depend on the displacement and oppression of another people.

also see: http://www.thestruggle.org/not_celebrating.htm
and more photos!

NYC: ANTI-ZIONIST JEWS TELL PARTY-GOERS “IT’S NOT OUR BIRTHRIGHT”

May 12, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Ethan Heitner
notimetocelebrate@gmail.com

ANTI-ZIONIST JEWS TELL PARTY-GOERS:
“IT’S NO TIME TO CELEBRATE” AND “IT’S NOT OUR BIRTHRIGHT”

Approximately ten Anti-Zionist Jews confronted attendees at a
Birthright-Israel “Mega Event” fundraiser at a club near Columbus
Circle on Saturday night, May 10. The group , wearing matching black
party attire, delivered their message through coordinated chants and
cheers, until residents of the apartments above asked them to keep it
down, at which point they deployed a banner reading “It’s No Time To
Celebrate” and distributed fliers explaining their presence as Jews
commemorating the Nakba.

“We were surprised at how few of the people we talked to going into
this party had any clue about the ideology of the Birthright program,”
said Louisa Solomon, an organizer. “They really thought it was about
free trips, not about convincing young American Jews that they have
the “right” to a land already populated by others. I mean, it’s in the
name, people.”

Birthright-Israel is a program which pays for two week tours of Israel
for young Jews that contain multiple lectures and presentations
designed to teach the participants a Zionist perspective on the
history and present of Israel and Palestine.

“We reject the notion of a “birthright,” as embodied in Jewish-only
fully-funded trips to Israel,” said Hannah Mermelstein, a co-founder
of Birthright Unplugged, which offers Jewish young people a chance to
visit and learn from Palestinians. “Israel has ignored the
internationally recognized right of return for refugees, but has
created a “Law of Return” which extends citizenship benefits to any
person of Jewish heritage, excluding millions of Palestinians born in
the land that has become Israel.”

The anti-Zionist demonstrators, organizing under the banner of “It’s
No Time To Celebrate,” have signed an electronic pledge disavowing the
violations of human rights and international law that have marked
Israel’s existence and promised to disrupt celebrations of Israel’s
60th anniversary not just in New York but across the nation. On May 7,
Israel’s “Independence Day” they took a giant Handala puppet and a
kickline cheer into crowds of attendees at Radio City Music Hall’s
musical gala salute to Israel, while twenty Jewish protesters were
arrested in San Fransisco at a fundraiser.

“As Jews who believe in justice, it’s important to us to stand out
here, visibly and audibly, reminding people that many Jews are
outraged, not elated, at the 60th anniversary of the Nakba,” said
Temim Fruchter, another protester. “We hope others will join us in
speaking out.”

For more information, visit: notimetocelebrate.wordpress.com

Montreal: Demonstration at Israel Day

The annual Jewish counter-demonstration to the Israel Day commemoration began in 2003 in a confrontation that saw 2-3 Zionists cross the boulevard René Lévesque to surround the Jewish counter-demonstrators. The police intervened with the Montréal Riot Squad and placed themselves in between the two parties. However, instead of defending the counter-demonstrators the police turned towards the dissidents and surrounded us in order to push us out of the area and end our protest. Shields were used to hit the protesters and we were pushed down into an underground parking while the Zionists spat down on us from the ground level above. Next day saw the affair on the front page of the only English language paper. Ever since, we have placed ourselves in their face so to speak and denounced the Zionist State as Jews. From the first the Neturei Karta came to uphold Judaism against Zionism

The major addition to this year’s Jewish protest at the Israel Day commemoration was the 35 Lev Tahor Chasidic community members from Ste-Agathe, north of Montréal with Rabbi Elbrans. The traditional contingent from Monsey, New York State was the Neturai Karta delegation with Rabbi Weiss. Sackcloth was worn to denote the mourning of the event. The Lev Tahor community was very vocal and chanted a Hebrew prayer to denounce the Zionist event. In comparison, the 10 leftist Jews were few in number and lacked the enthusiasm of the Chassids! The six adherents of the Independent Jewish Voices Montreal present completed the regular Jewish People’s Liberation Organization leftist presence. The police confined the protest to the opposite side of the boulevard unlike the previous years. The local CTV network did not even identity the counter-demonstration as being Jewish in character. The Zionist organizers misrepresented the size of the Zionist rally, which was actually less than 5,000 in number, together with the bussed-in school-kids. With the Zionist presence reaching a ceiling of 5,000 and the annual Jewish counter-demonstration growing to be 40 this year the balance of forces are evidently beginning to shift in Jewish political culture.

Click here for coverage in the Montreal Gazette.

San Francisco: Video from action at JCRC

Below is a short video about Thursday’s action in San Francisco, the No Time To Celebrate Campaign, and why we do this work.

San Francisco: 20 Jews Arrested in protest of 60th Anniversary Event

Yesterday 20 of us were arrested in the lobby of the San Francisco Jewish Community Center at an event organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council’s “Israel @ 60” Educational Symposium. Many other Jews and allies joined us inside as well as outside to voice our opposition to an organization that continually claims to speak in our name as it supports the continued project of Israeli colonialism. By staging the action inside the lobby, we hoped to move our action from a binary of Jews/inside and protestors/outside, to recognize that indeed we are dissent from within the Jewish community

Below is our press release (click here to download PDF), as well as some links to photos and media gathered so far. Check back for more.

20 Jewish Activists Arrested, Disrupting Jewish Community Relations Council’s (JCRC) 60th Anniversary of Israel Celebration
Jewish Activists Draw Attention to 60 years of Palestinian Forced Exile and Dispossession

San Francisco—In response to Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations, 20 Jewish activists were arrested, demonstrating Jewish opposition to Israel’s 60-year-old policy of dispossession, and highlighting the often-silenced struggle of Palestinian refugees. For over two hours, 30 Jewish activists and supporters disrupted San Francisco’s anniversary event, bunkering against the main atrium of the Jewish Community Center (JCC). In conjunction, over thirty Jewish and Palestinian supporters held a rally outside the center to call attention to ongoing Israeli policy of apartheid against the Palestinian population. With banners reading, “Jews in Solidarity with 60+ years of Palestinian Resistance,” activists declared anniversary, “No Time to Celebrate.”

“As Jews of conscience, acting in solidarity with 60-plus years of Palestinian resistance, we’re here today to promote an “Independence” that does not depend on an ethnically or religiously exclusive state or on the displacement of indigenous people,” said Eric Romann, International Jewish Solidarity Network (IJSN) organizer. “We want is joint liberation, not isolation.”

The action in San Francisco, organized by the local IJSN, is part of “No Time to Celebrate,” a national Jewish campaign opposing Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, while simultaneously amplifying the American Jewish community’s critique of Israeli policy. The Israeli Consulate and the Jewish Community and Relations Council (JCRC), who have attempted to silence any and all criticism of Israeli policy, were the sponsors of this event.

The activists presented the JCRC with a statement, with the following demands:

• To stop the targeting of non-Jewish organizations, particularly of organizations serving communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, that criticize Israel and/or express solidarity with Palestine
• To stop claiming that anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel are anti-Semitic
• To acknowledge that they do not speak for the full organized Jewish community—that Jewish voices that criticize Israel and Zionism are legitimate voices of dissent within Jewish communities
• To criticize Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai threat of a “shoah” against the people of Gaza and demand a public apology for the exploitation of the Nazi genocide against the Jewish people for the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Click here to download the complete statement and demands!

Some coverage generated so far (support our work by leaving comments!):

• San Francisco Bay Guardian Politics Blog
• IndyBay
• KCBS (click for audio)
• The Arabist (Hossam el-Hamalawy) (recently added!)
• Flickr photoset
• KPFA Radio (recently added!)
• KGO Radio (recently added!)
• Baltimore Jewish Times (recently added!)
• On Digg! (recently added!)
• My Direct Democracy (recently added!)
• What Really Happened Blog (recently added!)
• Daily Kos (recently recently added!)
• KRON 4 (video!)
• JTA
• check back for more!