Indonesia Asked to Lead Boycott Campaign for Israeli Products

Jakarta, MINA – Chairperson of the Indonesian Parliamentary Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP) Fadli Zon hoped that Indonesia can provide initiatives to echo efforts to reject and thwart the annexation of territories in the Palestinian West Bank by organizing an Israeli boycott product movement.

According to him, the effort is part of social, economic, and political exclusion at regional and global levels against Israel that want to violate international law and the UN resolution again.

“So, the campaign is boycotting products assembled by Israel. In fact, there is already a list at the UN, “Fadli said when receiving a visit from the Aqsa Working Group (AWG) delegation at Fadli Zon Library Jakarta, Friday.

The AWG delegation was led by AWG General Chair Agus Sudarmaji accompanied by AWG executive Aang Gunawan, Head of MINA News Agency Rana Setiawan, and MINA reporter Abdullah.

The meeting discussed the joint efforts in countering Israel’s annexation and realizing a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

Fadli Zon, who is President of the World Parliament League for Al-Quds, urges regional and international communities such as intergovernmental institutions (UN, OIC, NAM, ASEAN, and others), inter-parliamentary (IPU, PUIC, AIPA, and others), as well as various institutions, activists and activists of peace and human rights as well as related parties to collectively and synergistically act concretely to stop the latest illegal Israeli move.

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“This effort is aimed at forcing Israel to submit toward the international laws and regulations,” he stressed.

AWG Chairman Agus Sudarmaji welcomed and fully supported the call to boycott Israeli products and products that support the entity of Zionism.

“We are also campaigning for a boycott of Israeli products and encouraging Indonesia to import more products from Palestine,” he concluded.

AWG is an institution that focuses on raising aid to help the struggle of Palestinian people and efforts to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque. AWG, headquartered in Jakarta, was established as a follow up to the 2009 International Seminar on Al-Aqsa and Palestine.

It is also in line with the statement of the Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Zuhair Al Shun, who said that many Israeli export products are made on Palestinian land.

Ambassador Al Shun at a press conference rejected the Israeli annexation initiated by the AWG in Jakarta on Thursday, calling for the international community to boycott Israeli products.

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“For countries that support Palestine, we call for a boycott of Israeli products … (which are produced with) are very hurtful and detrimental to us,” Zuhair said.

In the statement, Zuhair explained that the construction of Israeli settlements never stopped and accompanied by business activities and sending Israeli products abroad.

“Israel can become an exporter. “For European (and American) countries which are still receiving Israeli products, know that they are made on Palestinian territories,” said Zuhair.

112 Companies Related to Israeli Illegal Settlements

On Wednesday, February 12, 2020, the office of UN Human Rights Council released a list of 112 companies that have business links with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Palestine.

The report is a previous report which was delayed by the UN Human Rights Council. The list revealed that 94 companies are domiciled in Israel and 18 others are registered in six other countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Thailand, and France.

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According to the New York Times, the publication of the list is seen as a victory for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which sought to economically pressure Israel over illegal settlements.

Israeli government views BDS, which has supporters in many countries including the United States, as an anti-Semitic plan to delegitimize Israel. BDS supporters deny the allegations.

Most of the companies listed are in Israel but some of them are international companies, including Motorola Solutions, General Mills, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Expedia from the United States, Alstom, and Egis Rail from France, and JC Bamford Excavators of Britain.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which compiles and publishes the list, acts in accordance with instructions by the Human Rights Council in 2016.

The publication came a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Trump administration’s plan to supporter Israel’s annexation to annex about 30 percent of the West Bank, including all of its settlements there while offering pieces of Palestinian territory linked by tunnels and bridges they call the state. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)