Recent BDS fails, Great and Small

Lets start small.

Sighted at the Berkeley Bowl - an independent  and much beloved grocery store deep in the belly of the beast, Berkeley, in occupied northern California.  These are etrogim from Israel

Israeli Etrogim Available in Berkeley. Another BDS Fail

New Yorkers might not realize the significance of this.  This is Berkeley.   Even after years of dealing with the rage of angry anti-Israel activists- lame  flash mobs, vandalized Israel products, tabling, protests and boycotts, the local independent grocery is still proudly featuring Israeli produce.  Same as always. Do you know why?  Because these products sell.

BDS fail.

Lets get bigger, now.

From YNET

The Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego, today announced the launch of the U.S. - Israel Center on Innovation and Economic Sustainability, supported in part by the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego’s Israel Studies Fund.

The center will promote collaboration between businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers and the diverse cultures of Israel to enable the translation of technology into new global market opportunities. It also will facilitate interactions between the respective innovation communities of the U.S. and Israel. The center has entered into discussions with four universities in Israel ­— Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Technion and IDC Herzliya and plans to collaborate with the UC Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israeli Law, Economy, and Society and the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at UCLA.“

This center will be the first U.S. - Israel center at a major university to focus on innovation, sustainability and job creation,” said Rady School Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “It is also about community building. The center will provide opportunities for the Israeli and San Diego entrepreneurial communities to interact, to identify new opportunities and to provide unparalleled immersion learning for students and the community.”

“Technology and global business development means the world is becoming ever smaller,” said Charlene Seidle, Jewish Community Foundation senior vice president. “Strategic relationship building and shared learning make sense. The center will build from the already robust connections between Israel and San Diego in order to reach new heights of innovation that fill real-time needs.”

Massive, Epic BDS fail.

While the BDS cru were busying themselves  annoying shoppers in the Castro,  and inventing new BDS victories they've missed quite a bit. And I say this with a smile.

URGENT ACTION ALERT - UCSD Divestment Vote

Action Alert: UCSD Vote on Anti-Israel Sanctions Wed May 5 6 PM Pacific Time

http://news.zionism-israel.com/2010/05/action-alert-ucsd-vote-on-anti-israel.html

**** UCSD VOTE IS IN A FEW HOURS - PLEASE CIRCULATE TO LISTS AND FRIENDS AND SHARE ON YOUR FACEBOOK WALL ****

Dear friends,

Once again UCSD students are voting on a motion to divest from investment in Israel. Please write to the addresses below and explain why it is unfair to single out Israel and wrong to use the campus as a political battleground.

If you are able to drive to San Diego for this, please do. The anti-Israel group is calling for their supporters to show up in huge numbers. The are saying that "This historic resolution is a huge step forward for our cause."

The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. at UCSD Price Center Ballroom East, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093 If you can't get there, then write. Below is a sample letter. DO NOT send the same letter. Do not copy any organizations on the letter. If you need to do so, send copies separately.

**** SAMPLE LETTER - PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE WORDS EXACTLY****

SUBJECT - VOTE "NO" on Israel Divestment Bill

Dear student representatives, You are called upon once again to vote for an anti-Israel divestment bill. The bill is part of a campaign by anti-Israel organizations being conducted in California. It is poorly disguised as a "neutral" bill. The activists are attempting to use campuses as a political battle ground for the delegitimation of Israel. There is no denying that the UCSD divestment vote is about Israel and one-sidedly against Israel. The organizations and people that support it include Anna Balzer and PACBI.

Pacbi is a Hamas front that excoriates Palestinians who engage in dialogue as traitors who take crumbs from Europeans and Americans Supporters of divestment do not want to "end the occupation.," They want to end the right of self-determination of the Jewish people. They don't want peace with Israel. They want peace without Israel. The groups supporting this bill are nearly all anti-Israel and include, in addition to PACBI, the notorious "One Democratic State" and "Birthright unplugged" groups.

In what sense is the bill "neutral" as it claims? Anna Balzer explains eloquently that the bill is about divestment from Israel because of alleged Israeli human rights violations. Nobody can pretend that Anna Balzer is nuetral or that the bill is "neutral" in any way. There is no way that it can be claimed that the bill is about rights violations or occupation in general, or that it is neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. The description of Israeli "rights violations" is a one - sided demonization. There is no call in the bill to block investment in Gaza and the West Bank, though the regimes there certainly have committed grievous rights violations against their own people as well as against Israel. Hamas, which rules Gaza, is a genocidal organization that declares in its charter that it must murder all the Jews in order to bring about the end of days. It has killed numerous opponents and persecutes and murders Christians in Gaza. The United States government pays the salaries of Palestinian Authority officials who recently named a square in honor of Dalal Moughrabi, a terrorist who murdered a number of Israelis as well as an American tourist.

If the bill was "neutral" and not about Israel it would certainly mention the longest occupation in the world - the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the execution of numerous Chinese dissidents cited by HRW, and it would call for divestment from corporations like Google that do business with China. It would mention the egregious human rights violations of Saudi Arabia, and call for divestment from energy corporations like Aramco that do business in Saudi Arabia. It would call for divestment from Sudan which is conducting a genocidal campaign against Darfur. There is in fact a long list of real rights violators and occupiers, including Turkey, Iran and Egypt, that are still getting the business and investment of US corporations. If students are really interested in correcting rights violations, you need to focus attention on the real rights violators. On university campuses, Israel might seem like a demonic human rights violator. In Israel and Gaza the reality is different. Try to hold a gay rights parade or a Women's rights parade in Gaza or Tehran and you will find out all you need to know about "human rights" in the Middle East and who are the real violators.

**** END OF SAMPLE LETTER ****DO NOT SEND THE ABOVE TEXT PRECISELY


Addresses:
avpstudentorgs@ucsd.edu, asvpfinance@ucsd.edu, gbournou@ucsd.edu, avpconcerts@ucsd.edu, mchatrat@ucsd.edu, dachavez@ucsd.edu, bchirco@ucsd.edu, jdcondel@ucsd.edu, asadvocacy@ucsd.edu, vpofexternalrelation@gmail.com, tdhillon@ucsd.edu, asenterprises@ucsd.edu, jsgrossm@ucsd.edu, mguiboa@ucsd.edu, aspresident@ucsd.edu, thaglund@ucsd.edu, katiehall007@gmail.com, asvpstudentlife@ucsd.edu, k1hoang@ucsd.edu, c1hoang@ucsd.edu, ssjung@ucsd.edu, akenwort@ucsd.edu, o1khan@ucsd.edu, aselections@ucsd.edu, emlaw@ucsd.edu, velin@ucsd.edu, jlintern@ucsd.edu, dal022@ucsd.edu, asservices@ucsd.edu, bmceuen@ucsd.edu, nmetildi@ucsd.edu, bjng@ucsd.edu, pnuth@ucsd.edu, rorear@ucsd.edu, bpena@ucsd.edu, tppham@ucsd.edu, asdiversity@ucsd.edu, a2powers@ucsd.edu, dprevo@ucsd.edu, arvind@ucsd.edu, adsinger@ucsd.edu, jnstorey@ucsd.edu, lswerhon@ucsd.edu, asacademics@ucsd.edu, ctedone@ucsd.edu, cbthomas@ucsd.edu, jtriphon@ucsd.edu, mfvalent@ucsd.edu, a6vu@ucsd.edu, taweng@ucsd.edu, asvpexternal@ucsd.edu, awing@ucsd.edu, aslocalaffairs@ucsd.edu, asathletics@ucsd.edu

Thank you,

Ami Isseroff

UC San Diego ASUC Presidents Statement on Divestment

The President of the UC San Diego Student body takes a firm and principled stand AGAINST Divestment

It is not often that a student association has an opportunity to consider legislation and take a stand on issues of national and international import. As an Association, we have passed resolutions to promote what we believe and hope will make a better world. We have taken stances against sweat shop labor, unfair trade practices, and violations of civil rights. We aspire not only to be students in support of the progress of our own nation, but to also be global citizens who answer the call for aid. It is a basic civic duty awarded to us as a representative government, and one that is codified in our Constitution.

However, these past few days, I have watched as our campus climate has gotten worse. I have witnessed the creation of two competing groups and camps around a singular contentious issue: the consideration of a resolution at our ASUCSD Council meeting today. In many ways, I am watching history repeat itself.

Last year, when a resolution was proposed concerning the conflict in Gaza, two student groups came to several ASUCSD Council meetings, passionately defending and advocating for their world point-of-view, their perspective on an issue that even our best international leaders have yet to successfully resolve. Some of these students believed they were compelled to come to this meeting to defend a country they hold dear. Others came to the meeting advocating for peace and human rights, hoping to lead the Association towards what they argued was progress. What is tragic is that both groups were correct, incorrect, misinformed, and made some good and bad points. The issue was a complicated one, something that the ASUCSD Council was obviously ill-equipped to solve.

Now that a year has passed, we are still ill-equipped to resolve this issue. Consideration of this resolution today will only prove again for us one thing: that it is divisive. It is dividing our students, pitting groups against each other who are fighting to be represented by their student association. They should not have to fight for the voice of our Association. We could not call any resolution approved through this process representative of the students at our university. And thus, I do not believe our student association can or should take a stance on this resolution.

I am not here to choose or argue sides. For me, the most important consideration is the welfare of the student body at the University. Passage of this legislation will create a divide that violates the goals and purposes of our Association. To this end, I will be voting against the passage of this resolution. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I am truly proud to be a part of the extraordinary institution that is UC San Diego. The University has given us these words to live by: Local Impact, National Influence, and Global Reach. Issues such as these prove that, as a student body, we are strong and passionate. Despite what happens in our Council tonight, remember that, together, we are Tritons, and that we will continue to make an impact wherever we go.

Sincerely yours,

UTSAV GUPTA
President, Associated Students
University of California, San Diego