Dear Friends and Comrades,

Earlier this
week, Manchester United football legend, Eric Cantona, wrote a joint letter
slamming Israeli "racism" and questioning Israel's hosting of the 2013 UEFA U21
Championships:

 

 

Cantona's joint letter was written in support
of Palestinian footballers and others who are being illegally detained, without
trial, by the Israeli regime, including the 25 year old Mahmoud Sarsk. In 20009,
Sarsk was on his way to play a football match when he was arrested by the
Israeli army, he was just 22 years old. He has been detained for nearly 3 years
now, with no charge and no trial. Today, as South Africa commemorates Youth Day,
the young Sarsk is on the 92th day of his hunger strike (for exactly 3 months he
has taken no food) in protest of his illegal Israeli detention. He is routinely
slipping out of consciousness and is very close to death but Israel has refused
him proper medical care or a fair trial. Click here for
Amnesty International's Press Release.

Two days before Cantona's
letter, FIFPro, the
international association of professional football players, also issued
a statement demanding that Mahmoud Sarsak be released from prison. Philippe
Piat, FIFPro’s vice-president said: "[F]reedom of movement is a fundamental
right of every citizen...but actually for some footballers it is impossible to
defend the colours of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot
visit their family. They are locked up. This is an injustice."

And on
Tuesday, in a rare challenge to Israel, FIFA's
President, Sepp Blatter, expressed his "grave concern and worry" for
Palestinian soccer players who are being held in "illegal detention" by Israel.
In an official FIFA statement, Blatter said: "FIFA urgently calls on …
[Israeli authorities to ensure] the physical integrity of the concerned players
as well as their right for due process."

 

Divestment
Victory: On Tuesday, 5 June, the Arizona State University (ASU)
student government in the USA voted to divest from companies involved in
Israeli human rights abuses. This is not the first time that ASU has
divested from companies supporting human rights abuses. In 1985 Arizona public
universities supported divestment from apartheid South Africa. We salute them
for their consistency...

University
Boycott Victory: On Wednesday, 6 June, the student Cafe at the
prestigious American University, The Evergreen State College, formally
announced its decision to boycott all Israeli goods, becoming the most
recent business to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Cultural
Boycott Victory: This Monday, 11 June, it was announced that after being
called on by fellow artists and human rights workers, Zakir Hussain, one of the
world's "most influential" Indian musicians has canceled his upcoming Israeli
gigs.

Cultural
Boycott, Prominent Israeli Composer and Conductor: Gil Shohat, the
Classical Music Advisor to the Israel Festival has publicly admitted that the
cultural boycott of Israel is working, he said that: "there are choirs
and opera companies which are not interested in coming to Israel. Even if they
don’t say it’s because of the political issue, they prefer not to get involved
in such a sticky situation. As a composer active on the world scene, I can
testify that more than once projects have been cancelled or postponed based on
their ‘Israeliness.’ And again - these things are not said crassly, no one will
say: we are conducting a boycott. The word boycott doesn’t exist, but the
political situation of Israel also impacts this field."

 

 

 

BOYCOTT,
DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS in SOUTH AFRICA (BDS SOUTH AFRICA)
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