Portside

Reader Comments - Tony Benn; Labor organizing; BDS and American Jews; Seniors; Mayor de Blasio; Education - Charters, Testing, Children's Literature, Adjuncts; Real Irish American history; Keystone XL; Neil deGrasse Tyson on Cosmos; Announcements: GLobal Protests Against Racism and Fascism - this Saturday; Cecily McMillan Trial Update; New books/resources - New Labor in New York; Living Wage Calculator; Getting Back to Full Employment; Truth About Three Mile Island

Many American Jewish organizations claim to be staunch supporters of civil and human rights as well as academic freedom. But when it comes to Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, they make an exception. In their relentless opposition to BDS, they leave even core principles behind. In Israel this week, sixty young people sign open letter to Netanyahu announcing their resistance to the draft in biggest wave of refusal since 2008.

Say what you will about the boycotting, divesting from and sanctioning Israel. The tactical brilliance of BDS becomes clearer with every passing month. Amid faltering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli politicians and business leaders are forced to consider a host of international boycotts that threaten to damage the economy of the Jewish state.

Doesn't the NFL Pay Taxes?; Haven't the Redskins Changed their Name Yet?; Scarlett Johansson Turns Her Back on Human Rights, Takes the $$ Instead; Irish Should Defend Undocumented Latinos; Bronco chooses Chomsky over NFL; Cheerios Family in New Ad

Reader Comments - Pete Seeger; Harry Belafonte Tribute to Seeger; Seeger before HUAC; Seeger - a life-long socialist; Costs of Privatization; Adjunct Professors; Scarlett Johansson and Israeli Occupation; Fracking; Net Neutrality; Radical Art in History; Arlo Guthrie; Solidarity with Russian airline pilots; Today in History

Actress Scarlett Johansson is an Oxfam Goodwill Ambassador and the new Global Brand Ambassador for SodaStream - the Israeli manufacturer. Their main production facility is in the industrial zone of Mishor Edomin, an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. An international boycott is being waged by The Interfaith Boycott Coalition - a group of individuals from faith-based organizations and institutions who share a common goal of bringing justice to the Palestinians.

Reader Comments - Kshama Sawant's election; The Vietnam Antiwar Movement; AFL-CIO's new road; Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA; Religious Freedom, or Reproductive Freedom; Israel Boycott Movement Controversy; Chris Christie; Bill de Blasio; Announcements - Chicago (Jan. 18); New York (Jan. 21, 24 and 30); Bay Area (Jan. 22) Today in History

Reader Comments - Pardon for Snowden; BDS and Israel; Turkey; NAFTA; North Carolina; Bill de Blasio; John Handcox; Philadelphia schools; Art Spiegelman; Obamacare; Announcements - Memorial for Steve Kindred -NYC -Feb.8; Pete Seeger gets first Woody Guthrie Award -NYC - Feb.22; Student activists scholarships available; Preserve Mother Jones monument in Illinois; Save the Village photo exhibit -NYC; This week in history - largest slave revolt in U.S. history

Debate over Israeli policy on settlements in the occupied lands;, the on-going discrimination against Palestinians and Jews of color within Israel; negotiations with the Palestinian state; and peace with Iran are now hot items on campuses, in academic organizations and within the Jewish community. While there are disagreements on the tactics of BDS, this debate and discussion should be welcomed. Here Portside presents four different views of the BDS campaign.

Newly Published Photographs Share Rich Lives of Former Slaves After Emancipation; Web Series Tells "What Black Folks Don't Do"; Customs Destroys Rare Bamboo Flutes; NYT & NPR Maintain Latino Stereotypes; Native American Studies Association Supports BDS; Chart Illustrates You Vote What You Drink