Backlash Defense Overview

IJAN Congratulates the PennBDS Conference

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network joins with USPCN and others in congratulating the organizers and participants in the PennBDS conference for the widely successful Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Conference held this past weekend at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The conference was an inspiring gathering of BDS activists from around the country exchanging ideas on how to strengthen existing campaigns, share lessons learned from past campaigns, and envision the future world in which Palestinian self-determination is a reality.

In the lead-up to the conference, the opposition revealed that all it has left to rely on to undermine our work are slander and lies. In multiple Philadelphia-based papers, conference organizers and speakers were vilified and even compared to “Nazis” and “Capos” in an opinion piece by a UPenn professor, which the university president refused to denounce. Though clearly stating she had no intention to prevent the conference from happening, UPenn's President stated unequivocally that she did not support BDS and went as far as to co-sponsor the anti-BDS conference featuring Alan Derschowitz, a Harvard professor who denies the historically known fact of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 during the founding of the State of Israel.

We in the BDS movement know how Zionist institutions falsely level the charge of anti-Semitism at those who defend Palestinian rights. These disingenuous claims aimed at silencing our movement are not only inaccurate but becoming more and more irrelevant and even self-incriminating. In his keynote address to the conference, Ali Abunimah laid out who the true anti-Semites are: those who claim that all Jews speak unanimously in support of Israel's crimes, thereby attempting to lump all Jews into one group and silencing the voices of those who strive for a just future for all humanity.We applaud the BDS conference for once again demonstrating its commitment to the principles of truth, justice, and liberation and look forward to continuing the work ahead of us.

IJAN Presents at US Campaign Conference

IJAN organizers Sara, Mich, and Ilana attended the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation's Annual Membership Conference. The US Campaign is a coalition of almost 400 organizations around the country that do work to raise awareness about the 1967 Israeli occupation (of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem) and U.S. support for the occupation. The US Campaign itself focuses its work on supporting BDS campaigns around the country, building a broader base of people and organizations to support Palestine solidarity work, and attempting to change U.S. policy towards Israel. IJAN attended the conference to co-present a workshop entitled "Legal and Popular Approaches to Challenge Zionist Organizations in the United States" with American Muslims for Palestine, and to consider joining the US Campaign as a member organization. The workshop was very successful and sparked discussion about the surveillance and policing work of the Anti-Defamation League as well as the campaign to challenge the legal status of the Jewish National Fund (Stop the JNF). We were very excited to see that Kristin was elected to the US Campaign's Steering Committee at the end of the conference, and have since decided to become a member organization of the US Campaign.

IJAN-TC Supports Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign

On November 29, MN BBC served a lawsuit against the state on the basis of three counts. Violation of Minnesota law is its first count. The second count says that since the United States signed and ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention, that international treaty is the law of the land, and therefore investments in activities contrary to the Convention are also contrary to U.S. law. The third count claims that the SBI is exposing Minnesota taxpayers and pensioners to potential lawsuits based on an 18th century law allowing non US citizens who have been harmed by illegal activity to sue aiders and abettors. This count claims that Minnesota is providing “material support for illegal activity” (wording reminiscent of other charges recently faced by Palestinian solidarity activists).