BDS CALLS ON BRAZIL TO CANCEL MILITARY DEAL WITH ISRAEL
Brasilia, 21 Safar 1436/14 December 2014 (MINA) – The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement announced that a Brazilian company based in Rio Grande do Sul has cancelled a massive military deal with an Israeli company after a wave of protests broke out in the country over Israel’s suppression of the Palestinian people. The decision was also largely influenced by the work of prominent activists within the BDS movement.
Numerous Brazilian social movements, trade unions and the Palestinian community called on the Brazilian government to cancel its deal with the Israeli company due to the latter’s involvement in building the Separation Wall in the West Bank. The groups also called on the Brazilian government to end its close relationship with the Israeli army due to its human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
The international BDS movement welcomed the Brazil’s decision to cancel its agreement with Elbit, an Israeli security firm, by saying that this was a huge victory for the pro-Palestinian movement, which seeks to isolate Israel in a way that is similar to the sanctions against South Africa during apartheid.
Mahmoud Noajah, the general coordinator for the national committee of the BDS movement, said: “This decision is a great example of how one can organise a grass-roots movement like BDS and influence the policies of decision-makers through the use of broad popular alliances. This is a huge step in the direction of a comprehensive military embargo against Israel, which is something that we are asking not only of the Brazillian government, but all the governments of the world.”
Many Brazilian organisations including the Federation of Trade Unions, which has more than 20 million members, the World March of Women, as well as local political parties and students groups have all placed considerable pressure on the government of Rio Grande do Sul to cancel its deal with Elbit. The pressure mounted as protestors began to occupy and surround all of the buildings owned by the Israeli company after the Palestinian embassy and the Palestinian community in Brazil repeatedly called on the state to end its deal with Israel.
This is not the BDS movement’s first victory against Elbit, the first came in 2009 directly after the Israeli offensive against Gaza when the Norwegian Pension Fund, the largest of its kind in the world, withdrew its investments from the Israeli firm due to its involvement in providing the Israeli security apparatus with supplies for the Separation Wall in the West Bank. Numerous companies followed suit and cut their ties with the firm.
During the recent Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, many solidarity groups decided to protest and surround the company’s factories in the UK and Australia.
Jamal Juma, the leader of the popular Stop the Wall group, made the following comments on the BDS win: “Elbit has become a symbol that is synonymous with apartheid and the military aggression against our people. Israel has been able to continue its crimes and human rights violations against our people due to the international community’s willingness to cooperate with them, as was the case in Brazil prior to Rio Grande do Sul’s decision to cancel their deal with the company.”
Juma considers the Brazilian decision “a glimmer of hope for all the people working to mobilise popular resistance and support solidarity movements. We hope that other governments will take similar steps to ending their military cooperation with Israel, especially after their recent violations against our people in Gaza. We thank all of the activists and popular movements who helped achieve this victory.”
The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has previously expressed its attention to the Palestinian cause when it hosted the World Social Forum for a Free Palestine in the city of Porto Alegre in 2012.
Moreover, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) recently denied claims that were cited on Israel’s Army Radio that it was on the verge of signing an agreement with the Israeli army in the West Bank under the context of joint-coordination in the medical field. The Red Crescent also denied claims that its officials met with members of the Israeli army and that there was a possibility of opening a direct channel of communication with the occupation forces.
Furthermore, the PRCS confirmed that it is a national, humanitarian and independent institution which was founded to provide medical and social services to the Palestinian people in Palestine and in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon. It is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and operates according to the principles and the Geneva Conventions. Any contact between the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Israeli occupation forces is usually conducted through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).(T/R04/R03)
Translated from Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper, 9 December, 2014 and published in Middleeastmonitor.com
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
