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U.S. Anti-Israel Activity
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| Divestment from Israel
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Posted: August 30, 2007
Divestment is one of the US Campaign’s main goals. It wages divestment campaigns in churches, mosques and on college campuses nationwide, often leading anti-Israel workshops on how to pressure the U.S. government, trade unions and other organizations to stop investing in Israeli companies.
During its fifth annual conference in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2006, members officially adopted an anti-apartheid framework, signaling what it called “a significant shift” in policy. The adopted framework, modeled after the strategies used in the 1980s against South Africa’s apartheid regime, called for divestment, boycotts and sanctions of Israel and Israeli-made goods.
The Campaign’s Divestment Project provides member groups with research and helps them form local divestment campaigns using educational materials and resources available on its Web site. The US Campaign provides lists on its Web site of specific companies and Israeli-made products to target for divestment. For example, Caterpillar (CAT) is targeted because the Israeli government commits “massive human rights abuses against the Palestinian people” using CAT bulldozers, according to one of its fact sheets titled, “Caterpillar Destroys Homes, Builds Apartheid.” The fact sheet argues that “CAT equipment is being used daily in the commission of war crimes and violations of human rights.”
In 2005, the US Campaign’s intense scrutiny of CAT led to an “International Day of Action Against Caterpillar.” The group encouraged activists to organize demonstrations against CAT and provided addresses of CAT offices on its Web site.
In 2004, it served on the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) organizing committee and participated in the PSM’s Fourth Annual Conference at Duke University.
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