UPDATE 4/5/09 click here.
Contact: Katherine Fuchs, National Organizer, 202-332-0994 (office), 414-324-4228 (mobile), organizer[at]endtheoccupation[dot]org
Contact: Andrew Stachiw, Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine, 860-208-1404 (mobile), hampshiresjp[at]gmail[dot]com
Washington, DC (April 2)-The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and allied organizations participating in a national boycott campaign against Motorola welcomed news that Motorola Israel Ltd. has sold its Government Electronics Department, which made several products that enable Israel’s military occupation of and human rights abuses against Palestinians.
The reported sale of the Motorola Israel department occurred just two days after a globally-coordinated day of action to promote campaigns of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and corporations that profit from its human rights abuses of Palestinians. This day of action and the growing global BDS movement were inspired by the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society for BDS campaigns targeting Israel, similar to campaigns targeting South Africa’s apartheid regime during the 1970s and 1980s.
In Brooklyn, the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI) launched a city-wide boycott campaign against Motorola, and cell phones stores selling Motorola products were picketed in places such as Cambridge, MA and Santa Clara, CA. The protests called on Motorola and its fully owned subsidiary, Motorola Israel Ltd., to end their sales of bomb fuses, communication devices, and surveillance equipment to the Israeli military. Human rights activists argue that these technologies are used by the Israeli military to violate human rights and international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Human Rights Watch researchers found shrapnel with Motorola serial numbers on it at the site of bomb blasts after Israel’s recent assault on the Gaza Strip, dubbed “Operation Cast Lead.” For additional information about the case against Motorola, click here.
In February, HampshireCollege divested from several companies involved in Israel’s military occupation, including Motorola. Hampshire College Students for Justice in Palestine member Bryan Van Slyke had the following response to Motorola’s recent actions: “Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine are proud that, following the historic successful divestment campaign from the Israeli occupation at our college, another milestone has now been achieved by the global BDS movement. This proves that activists around the world can and are truly making an impact in the cause for Palestinian self-determination.”
According to Katherine Fuchs, National Organizer for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, “Motorola is a corporation with a history of supplying products to human rights abusing regimes. Consumer pressure forced Motorola to sever its relations with the South African apartheid regime and the military junta in Burma, and we won’t stop until they do the same with Israel. The sale of Moto’s Government Electronics Department is a positive development and a sign that Motorola is being forced to respond to our boycott campaign. However, we will continue to investigate Motorola’s remaining ties with the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlements; we will continue our campaign until we find that Motorola no longer profits from human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of more than 270 organizations working for a U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and responsible consumer choices to support human rights, international law, and equality for all in Israel/Palestine. For more information about the US Campaign, please click here.
UPDATE from New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI):
Apr 5, 2009 — Motorola has sold a controversial unit that produced bomb fuses and other equipment for the Israeli military, according to the Israeli financial newspaper Globes. The sale rids Motorola of some activities that had made it the target of a growing boycott in the US and worldwide. No explanation was offered in the media reports for the sale by Motorola Israel – a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola – of its unit called Government Electronics Department (GED) to the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd.
The sale came just days after a March 30 protest in Brooklyn by The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI) kicking off a city-wide campaign to boycott Motorola over its support for Israeli apartheid. Ryvka Bar Zohar from NYCBI commented, “We are heartened that Motorola has eliminated at least its production of bomb fuses for bombs that Israel dropped on the Palestinian and Lebanese people. But we will continue our campaign to boycott Motorola until it is clear that it has eliminated production and sale of all products used to support Israeli apartheid.”
Human rights advocates in Boston and California also recently protested against Motorola. These campaigns build on the national “Hang Up on Motorola” campaign initiated by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, as well as initiatives by the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. University students have also recently taken up the call to boycott Motorola, achieving a divestment success at Hampshire College. Previously, Motorola had been the target of a successful boycott campaign for its support of the government of apartheid South Africa.
Motorola Israel produced fuses used in cluster, ‘bunker-buster,’ and other bombs. Cluster bombs are specifically condemned by an international consensus of human rights organizations, and banned by many countries. The US government has voiced concern over the use of these bombs and recently took steps towards a complete ban on their use. Human Rights Watch researchers reported that they found Motorola parts at the site of the bombing that began Israel’s latest assault on Gaza that killed around 1400 Palestinians, over 400 of whom were children.
While the sale of GED eliminates Motorola’s production and sale of bomb fuses, it has not yet been verified whether the sale of GED will rid Motorola of all other products that are boycott targets. Motorola Israel acquired a $100 million contract to provide a data encrypted cellular network, “Mountain Rose,” to allow the Israeli army, which consistently and severely violates Palestinian human rights, to communicate securely anywhere they operate. Motorola supplied the Israeli military with the Wide Area Surveillance System (WASS) and other high-tech configurations of radar devices and thermal cameras. These surveillance systems are installed around Israeli settlement/colonies and the apartheid wall, both of which Israel has constructed in the Palestinian West Bank in violation of international law.
On March 30th, NYCBI organized over 50 New Yorkers in a morning protest outside the Motorola office in Brooklyn. Protest chants included: “No More Fuses, No More Bombs, Moto’s Killing Kids and Moms,” and “Motorola You Can’t Hide, You’re Supporting Apartheid.” Signs read “Goodbye Moto! Goodbye Apartheid!,” and “Israeli Apartheid, We Don’t Buy It, Boycott Motorola.” The protest coincided with Palestinians’ annual commemoration of Land Day, and was part of the Global Day of Action for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, that included over 40 events worldwide. An NYCBI online Motorola boycott pledge has very quickly gained over 160 signatories.
In 2005, following thirteen years of fruitless negotiations that were accompanied by continued Israeli human rights abuses, hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations called on the world to implement campaigns of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli institutions and businesses. Supporters of the growing worldwide BDS movement argue that a moral campaign of non-violent public pressure like that used to topple apartheid in South Africa will pressure Israel to change its treatment of Palestinians. Adalah-NY, a member group in NYCBI, has carried out a highly successful New York campaign to boycott diamond mogul and Israeli settlement-builder Lev Leviev.
$20 million for Aeronautics Defense Systems, Ltd to buy out Motorola Israel’s entire Government Electronics Department (GED), including the wide area surveillance system, that has to be some sort of SWEETHEART deal.
If only we could declare victory and move on. But, would you expect Motorola to give up its relationship with a company whose “senior management is made up of leading figures from Israel’s defense, financial and political sectors? They certainly may try to obfuscate the nature of that relationship. Our job is to expose it.
Thanks, Cris.
It’s obvious they’re playing the shell game, in the hope that they can defuse the Boycott.
Keep up the pressure, folks!
Check out the Guardian Video: Gaza War Crimes Investigation ‘Israeli Drones’ (left sidebar). Aeronautics Defense Systems, Ltd., Motorola’s partner in Israel, manufactures drones. (http://www.aeronautics-sys.com/). The company’s web site boasts sales of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) to the Netherlands, for use in Afghanistan and to “two undisclosed NATO members:, as well as “Orbiter” aerial surveillance technology to the U.S. market. Ostensibly, these are surveillance, or intelligence gathering vehicles –drones which could be fitted with weapons, don’t you think?.
I find it hard to believe that Motorola would step away from lucrative contracts with a major Israeli defense company, and suspect we only know part of the story.
The boycott should continue until we have a full and verified accounting from Motorola.
What proof do you have that Motorola sold this division because a few people picketed in New York and Cambridge?
By the way, Hampshire College did not divest from investing in Israel – the student group may have taken credit for it, but it was also unwarranted.
Proof? You’ve got to be kidding. A bug on the wall perhaps? Of course Motorola is going to deny it, but obviously the boycott is a factor, which is and has been a lot more than “a few people picketing”. And a for Hampshire, you should read what people said a little more carefully. The divestment has to do with the Israeli occupation.