JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (IPS) – A call from a South African trade unionist for national supermarket chains to stop importing avocado from Israel could ultimately lead to the banning of all imports from the Jewish state, if unions and human rights activists have their way.
Katishi Masemola, secretary general of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (FAWU), told South Africa’s supermarket chains earlier this week that Israel produces avocado under “slave-type conditions”. He says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) forbids the use of child labour which, he claims, Israel is employing on avocado farms.
I don’t think the necessity of a worldwide Israeli boycott has ever been as clear as it is today, especially as the parallels with between Israel’s current apartheid regime and the white regime in South Africa become more well-known.
Arabist is beginning to sound more and more like the english version of Ros el yousef. Why didn’t we have a boycott of egyptian products when they killed innocent refugees last year? What about a saudi boycott for imprisoning filippino and indian workers and torturing them without any basis? How about a sunni iraqi boycott for the mass slaughter of shias?
Israeli support for apartheid. Right and we can talk. the country that treats black people like crap. I’m so fed up of this hypocrisy, it makes me sick
the american jewish community knows less about the zionist state of israel and the policy of apartheid than other jedaics around the world due to media obfuscation. How else could the organziations that collect money for israel continnue their fund raising efforts unless it is by covering up the real face of zionism in israel.
http://www.tiny.cc/apartheid
and the israeli non-democratic aparteid state just appointment its first Arab cabinet member, supported by other arab lawmakers-many of whom wish to change the nature of the state. you are right, it could only be an aparteid state that acts in this way. or maybe it’s some conspiracy.
Jerusalem – When Knesset member Esterina Tartman opened her mouth on Israel Radio last week to attack the Labor Party for naming Israel’s first-ever Muslim Arab Cabinet minister, she did more than just rattle Ehud Olmert’s shaky coalition. She opened up a raging national debate on the taboo topic of where Zionism ends and racism begins.
the debate is on…in israel. apartheid or not? the knesset is aftertall israels ruling body and they cant decide just whether they are or aren’t racist.
But after a week of furious public debate, it wasn’t clear which side was winning. Outraged Labor Party lawmakers demanded an emergency party meeting to discuss quitting the coalition if Tartman’s party and its fiery leader, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, weren’t ejected. But no such meeting was scheduled. Yossi Beilin, head of the left-wing Meretz party, called on the attorney general to open a criminal investigation under Israel’s anti-racism laws. But no probe was announced.
jja jja jja…the truth is painful to liars.
When is the boycott of China going to start? Oh wait… Tibetans are sooo last year! What about Turkey? Armenians lost their sex appeal decades ago but Kurds are soo hot right now. We’d boycott Sudan, but it’s okay when Arabs committ genocide…it actually turns me on a bit. And besides, Darfurians are African and the last thing an Egyptian wants is to associate with THOSE people.
It’s sad to see Arabist fall to this level. I’ve agreed with you on essentially everything up until now. Did someone hack into your account?
I think we should boycott most, if not all, of those other countries as well. And Israel. It’s a very effective way to get nations to change their behaviour. So what’s your point?
I am certainly in favor of a boycott of the Sudanese government too. If it hadn’t been for the Iraq mess I would have probably been in favor of regime change in Khartoum. But the above apologists for Israel seem to forget that it has occupied other people’s land since 1948 (with the collusion of the international community) and maintains what is essentially a large ghetto in the post-1967 Occupied Territories. Not to mention what it did last summer in Lebanon. It clearly meets the criteria for boycott (actually in my mind it meets the criteria for regime change, it is clearly a threat to the people whose territory it controls and those surrounding it.)
If you don’t like reading this stuff on Arabist, go read other blogs or websites. FrontPageMag will be right up your alley. I am rather amused that while I spend 90% of my time highlighting human rights abuses or problems in Arab countries, when I talk about Israel negatively I suddenly hear about “disappointed” readers.
Maybe acting disappointed in the Arabist comments section is what MEMRI staffers do in their spare time 🙂
“Reporting the truth about the Middle East, so long as it doesn’t make Israel look bad.”
“I don’t think the necessity of a worldwide Israeli boycott has ever been as clear as it is today,”
I think you will find that you are mistaken. Israel does not do anything that other countries do not also do, especially when under attack or dealing with territories occupied during such an attack.
What makes Israel different from those other countries is that Israel is Jewish.
And I’m afraid the necessity of boycotting X when the major difference between X and other things is that X is more Jewish has been very clear to many people many times.
What we need today is to get rid of that clarity.
“especially as the parallels with between Israel’s current apartheid regime and the white regime in South Africa become more well-known.”
So what are the parallels? It is often said that Israel has an “apartheid regime” but whenever I ask for examples, all I hear is reports about occupied territories. Well, guess what… I grew up in an occupied territory. And I didn’t have the same rights as citizens of the country occupying that territory. Was that apartheid too or is Israel different (again)?
“He says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) forbids the use of child labour which, he claims, Israel is employing on avocado farms.”
I didn’t know anything about child labour in Israel. Is that guy making up stuff as he goes along?
Do people believe it?
Would they believe it if he made the same claim about any other country?
Do these “human rights organisations” support the accusations? Do they support the idea of launching a boycott because of an unproven accusation?
Fascinating!
issandr, it’s a shame that anyone who disagrees with some of your opinions and represenations of facts is immediately dismissed as an Israel apologist that reads the rag, “Frontpage”. It’s partly intellectual dishonesty and party hubris. You have shown your ability to analyze the dynamics of politics in other areas. it’s just that some readers, including myself, feel that your analysis is unfortunately influenced by various ideologies views. Look at the way you generally describe Jews or Israelis who write about the Middle East. True, the same general biases can be said for Israel supporters. Secondly, it should be a tribute to you and the so-called “israel apologists’ read your blog. What is suprising is that you rarely acknowledge that these “Israel apologists” may have an argument because an Israel apologist seems to be anyone who doesn’t buy your view on Israel.
rl well said. couldn’t have put it better.
Is there another arab news weblog service that gives fair coverage?
Hi Rania,
From your comments, it seems you’re against boycotting Israel and against reporting on torture in Egypt. Not sure about blogs, but it sounds like the editorial stance of the http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/1/“ rel=”nofollow”>Egyptian Gazette (at last available online!) might suit you better. Since it’s a government paper, you can safely read it without stumbling across any distressing news about torture in Egypt or South Africans calling for a boycott of Israel.
Happy reading! The Gazette sometimes has some real gems.
The Egyptian Gazette is extremely funny reading.
I’m sure there are many others, but here is one argument for an economic boycott of Israel:
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=130
yikes! the collective wrath of ‘the arabist’ is upon me for suggesting responsible and non skewed reporting.
Regarding the torture debate, I thought I made it sufficiently clear that I was suggesting responsible reporting ie putting the victim’s interests over and obove journalistic ambitions- please go read my post again.
My rant regarding the israel boycott was because of the skewed reporting on here. funny, you mock government papers while failing to acknowledge your own bias.
happy reporting! 🙂