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On this episode we are once again joined by Naama Blatman-Thomas (a PhD candidate from Israel who has done field work with Palestinian groups in Karmiel) and Mark Thomas (an American activist who has lived in both Israel and Palestine, including spending years in Palestinian refugee camps). They discuss how you can take action against the Occupation of Palestine, focused on the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign – which includes boycotting companies benefiting from the Occupation. You can find out more information about the BDS campaign at Pacbi.org. They also discuss the one state and two state solutions to the conflict, growing fascism in Israel, and Israeli’s and Palestinian’s working together for human rights. You can hear the first part of this interview on our last episode: Episode 62: Exaggerated Threats and the Bombing of Civilians – Israel/Palestine 101.
Before we get into the interview, we give some updates. We discuss the end of the 12 hour truce and mention that the Palestinian death toll has gone over 1000 – 75% of those killed were civilians, according to the United Nations. So far there have been 45 Israeli deaths – 42 soldiers, 2 Israeli civilians and one Thai agricultural worker. We also discuss the protests around the world against Israeli human rights abuses – including in France, Perth and about 10 000 people protesting in the West Bank. The West Bank protest was in reaction to the bombing of a United Nations shelter, which was strongly condemned by the UN. We also condemn Anti-Semitic attacks in Britain.
We mention that the US (kind of) condemns Israel’s bombing of civilians and also gives $47 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinians, while continuing to donate $3 billion to Israel’s military and being the only country to vote ‘no’ on a UN resolution against killing civilians in Gaza. For further information on Israel/Palestine, Naama and Mark recommend: electronicintifada.net, adalah.org, 972mag.com, benwhite.org.uk, jonathan-cook.net, annainthemiddleeast.com, aljazeera.com, imemc.org, and maannews.net/eng/.
Also mentioned on the episode is vegan cats and shout outs to Mad Cowgirls Vegan Grocery and Friends of the Earth Café. You can hear activists from Friends of the Earth on our 5th episode on the carbon tax, which has recently been abolished. We discuss the data on the results of the carbon tax, green capitalism and free public transport as a more effective solution to environmental (and social) problems.
This episode is brought to you by “Sir Saves the Day”. Thanks a lot to Liam for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too!
Clips:
Rap News ‘Israel vs Palestine RAP NEWS 24’ – featuring Dam, BBC Global News – 14 July, Part 1 of our interview with Naama Blatman-Thomas and Mark Thomas, Part 2 of our interview with Naama Blatman-Thomas and Mark Thomas, Rap News ‘Israel vs Palestine RAP NEWS 24’, Remi Kanazi ‘This Divestment Bill Hurts My Feelings’.
You can listen to a short (6 minute) version of this episode, where Naama and Mark discuss the BDS campaign, here: Boycott Israel’s Apartheid! You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.
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