In less than three weeks, 2000 people have signed a BDS manifesto (see below for a translation into English), with their names, addresses and occupations, asking the French Minister of Justice (who has publicly asked French judges to repress anyone active in the boycott of Israel) to sue them. And the 19 first signatories of this manifesto are further calling for big demonstrations in Paris and other towns in France where we’ll show our solidarity with all those who are presently threatened with trials and fines. One of us, Sakina, has been sentenced to pay fines to the Zionist lobby and to the government for “incitement to racial hatred” because she led a boycott action against Israeli products in a Carrefour supermarket in Bordeaux. She is lodging an appeal and will go back to the court on 21 May.
So on 30 March we are going to claim “Yes, I participate in the BDS campaign against the Israeli occupier. Shame on you ! You can sue me. I won’t stop being active in defence of the oppressed Palestinian people.”
We shall not be intimidated. We continue on, as you can see, with the BDS campaign demanded by Palestinian society, as long as you boycott Palestinians
H&M : http://www.europalestine.com/article.php3?id_article=4873
Limor Livnat in Paris : http://www.europalestine.com/article.php3?id_article=4833
BDS Manifesto
I am addressing this to the French government and especially to the Minister of Justice, to inform them that I participate in the boycott of goods produced by the Israeli occupier of the Palestinian Territories and, in so doing, refuse to become an accomplice to the crimes committed by the State of Israel against a defenceless people, and in total violation of international law as well as humanitarian law.
Yes, I participate in the boycott of products from this war-waging, conquering and repressive country that has abandoned all morality.
Yes, it is with my voice and my soul that I take part in this act of resistance, an act which is reasoned and peaceful. In this way, I raise my voice against Israel’s disgraceful crimes and its pursuit of the settlements, in order to induce it to renounce colonization. Faced with the inertia of the French and European authorities, who refuse to impose sanctions on a State which commits war crimes and crimes against humanity, I consider it a moral duty to lend assistance to a people in danger. Faced with a colonization that has gone on for decades, in violation of numerous Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, faced with the construction of a wall ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, faced with the imprisonment and murder of thousands of men, women and children, I am responding to the appeal launched by Palestinian civil society by participating in the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) aimed at the Israeli occupier.
As in the struggle against South Africa’s apartheid regime, I consider this boycott to be the only peaceful means to impose respect for human rights and international law, without which we are threatened by a law of might over right, which can only mean barbarity. I shall stop boycotting the State of Israel and its products when it stops boycotting the Palestinian people, walling them in, denying them their fundamental rights and depriving them of food, employment, freedom of movement, and their right to self-determination.
First signatories :
BOUMEDIENE-THIERY Alima, Sénatrice (Paris)
KIIL-NIELSEN Nicole, Députée européenne (Rennes)
MGR GAILLOT Jacques, Evíªque (Paris)
LANGLOIS Bernard, Journaliste (Paris)
LECOUR-GRANDMAISON Olivier, Historien (Paris)
ROSSI Henri, Militant des Droits de l’Homme (Cannes)
BOURGET Jacques-Marie, Journaliste (Paris)
RENOU Xavier, Responsable associatif (Paris)
PONSIN Jean-Claude, Médecin et ancien X (Paris)
AMARA Jean-Claude, Porte-Parole de Droits Devant !
ZEMOR Olivia, Responsable associative (Paris)
FLAMENT Michel, Coordination de l’Appel de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)
DEPLUS Sylvie, Medecin ophtalmologue (Paris)
JENNAR Raoul Marc, Consultant en relations internationales (Mosset, 66)
BESANCENOT Olivier, Porte-parole national du NPA (Paris)
KRIVINE Alain, NPA, ancien député européen (Paris)
HARRIBEY Jean-Marie, í‰conomiste Université Bordeaux IV
NIKONOFF Jacques, Universitaire, porte-parole du M’PEP (Paris)
CAHEN Michel, chercheur CNRS, historien de l’Afrique (Bordeaux)
This manifesto comes
a.. after the condemnation of our friend Sakina in Bordeaux this month for having put a sticker “Boycott israel” on a bottle of orange juice in a Carrefour supermarket
a.. after the big lies of our Prime Minister and our Ministry of Justice who said in their speeches in front of the french Israeli lobby (CRIF), that we were attacking Kosher products.
a.. after one of us (Serge Grossvak) made a public statement saying he wanted to be sued by the government too because he has participated in boycott.
