Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East and the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI) are pleased to announce their merger and reformation as Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. Riham Barghouti stated, “This merger will allow boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) activists in New York City to combine their resources and work more effectively at promoting BDS in New York, the US, and worldwide.”
Adalah-NY was founded in 2006 to organize actions in response to the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and the subsequent Israeli war on Lebanon during the summer of that year. In response to the Palestinian Call for BDS, Adalah-NY has been conducting one of the most successful Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns in the United States against Lev Leviev and his company, Africa-Israel, which is responsible for settlement construction in the West Bank as well as other human rights violations in Palestine and Africa.
The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel was established in response to Israel’s atrocious attack on the Gaza Strip from December 27, 2008 – January 18, 2009. The Campaign comprised activists from different Palestine solidarity, anti-war, and peace and justice organizations who came together to support the growing global boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. In March 2009, NYCBI launched a boycott campaign against Motorola, which enables Israel’s apartheid policies and violations of international law through the development and sale of products specifically designed for and used by the Israeli Army to maintain its settlements and perpetrate war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and elsewhere. Adalah-NY and NYCBI have jointly carried out protests against the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund, which supports violent, racist Israeli settlers in occupied Hebron. The two groups also co-organized cultural boycott actions against Israeli dance company Batsheva and a campaign calling on Leonard Cohen to not play Israel. Most recently Adalah-NY and NYCBI have supported international calls to release Palestinian community organizers who Israel has illegally arrested and detained because of their political activism and boycott efforts. Allison Brown stated, “We plan to continue our boycott campaigns against Lev Leviev and Motorola, as well as to promote other boycott actions against Israel that will hold Israel, its institutions, and companies that profit from its illegal actions accountable for their violations of international law and Palestinian rights.”