IJAN supported Students forJustice in Palestine’seffortsto defend a UC Berkeley student government resolution which called forUC Berkeley to divest from two companies complicit in Israeli war crimes.  After the student Senate overwhelminglypassed the measure, they came under tremendous pressure from AIPAC and its ilk.The student body president then vetoed the bill, and a few senators withdrewtheir support.

IJAN’s work. In solidarity with the movement tooverride the veto of this important bill, we activated our phone trees and sentemails, turning out IJAN members to two all-night packed Student Senatemeetings on campus. We also wrote astatement in support of the divestment bill, using our Jewish-rooted voice toadvance the Palestinian narrative in the debate.

Thestatement is available at http://www.ijsn.net/C87/and was also featured on the campaign’s website, http://www.caldivestfromapartheid.com/

Thecampaign. IJAN was proud to standwith SJP and dozens of campus and community organizations. (off-campusgroups listed at http://www.caldivestfromapartheid.com/2010/04/27/statement-of-support-from-off-campus-organizations/.)  Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 4 other nobel laureates, along withHolocaust survivor Hedi Epstein, also offered movingsupport for the bill. While in the end, the effort fell just one vote short ofoverturning the veto (with an impressive 13 out of 20 student senators votingto reinstate the divestment bill; 14 out of 20 were needed), there waswidespread agreement that this inspiring campaign – with hundreds of studentsand community members organizing together to support the bill, and significantpublic scrutiny brought upon Israel’s crimes – was a major victory for themovement. Moreover, Israel’sConsulGeneral for the region was present through both all-night hearings; in a sense,the Israeli government was forced to publicly confront its crimes beforehundreds of activists.

Analysisfrom members of SJP is available at http://www.caldivestfromapartheid.com/2010/05/29/bds-at-uc-berkeley-the-campaign-the-vote-and-the-veto-by-youmna-derby-and-dina-omar/

IJAN is one of the core groups in the Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), which was initiated by Break the Siege, a group that emerged out of the 2006 attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. In the last month, BACEIA has identified a target for a long-term campaign. In addition, IJAN Bay Area is supporting smaller efforts to target organizations and festivals that break the boycott. As we develop our local JNF campaign, we will bring it to BACEIA.

Our yearly Seder took went really well with about 150 people in attendance.  TheSeder is a time when we are able to bring together Jewish spirituality withAnti-Zionist values by drawing parallels between the historyof Jews leaving an oppressive Egyptto the current struggle of the Palestinian people.  There were a lot ofpeople new to IJAN. People seemed to really enjoy it and once again it playedan important role in providing a space for people to come together. It was alsosuccessful in raising money to go towards the cost of the Assembly of Jews andthe Maia Project of the Middle East Children’s Alliance.