Today you will hear Raji Sourani, Founding Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, speaking at a forum entitled "Palestine In Focus: Reports from the Ground" that was sponsored by Brooklyn for Peace. The forum was moderated by Jamil Dakwar: Director of the ACLU Human Rights program, and was held in the spring of 2016 in Brooklyn, New York. Raji recounts just a few of the many rabid human rights assaults that Israel, with its allies, have inflicted on the people of Gaza. These assaults intensified after Gazans, in free and fair elections, elected Hamas leaders to run its government. Electing Hamas has been treated as an unforgivable sin, requiring lethal retaliation.
But first: As you probably know, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement is gaining momentum around the globe. The Israeli Lobby is striking back in full force. One of its moves is to get state legislatures to pass bills that provide punishments for businesses that support the BDS initiative. As usual, the argument is that supporting BDS is "anti-Semitic." Such accusations continue to stampede governors and legislatures which continue to bow to such arguments for fear of reprisals from the Jewish community. Even Governor Baker here in Massachusetts has bought into the argument and is supporting anti-BDS legislation. He must have been absent when they taught the First Amendment in his school. Boycotts are protected Constitutional activity but that evidently is unknown to Baker and his staff.
In light of this stampeding, a special forum was held 10-29-2016 on the challenges faced by the BDS campaign. You will hear our host's announcement of this as a future event. Regrettably, we didn't make this posting in time. Now it's in the past, but very much worth chasing if you can.
This Week In Palestine (a weekly part of Truth and Justice Radio) is an award-winning three-quarter-hour segment of news from Palestine and discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians' struggle for freedom from Israel's brutal military occupation and colonization of their homeland. It speaks from the point of view of Palestinians and those who care about them. It's a regular part of Truth and Justice Radio, aired Sundays 6-10am ET on WZBC 90.3FM, Newton, MA, streaming live and archived for two weeks at wzbc.org; TJR's website, truthandjusticeradio.org, has a link to This Week In Palestine archives back thru 1-6-2008; editions are also accessible at radio4all.net or by navigating through our playlists. (At this important time, TJR has been airing Palestine coverage IN ADDITION to that provided by This Week In Palestine.) We hope you'll write to us at tjradio@fastmail.com if you rebroadcast our work, or have questions or comments.
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