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Someone ought to tell Rupe about this BDS

In Australia, one of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers - well of sorts! - The Australian carried on a disgraceful and deceitful campaign recently against a local council in Sydney which intended adopting the BDS campaign against Israel. Eventually, the council was cowed into retracting the proposed motion. That hasn't stopped the newspaper carrying on a campaign of bagging anyone who supports the BDS. Needless to say, in true News Corp. style, different voices or views are seldom published, if at all.

Perhaps someone ought to tell Rupe about one of his other newspapers, The Financial Times, reporting on no lesser company than the German government's Deutsche Bahn adopting the BDS. If it's good enough for that large company......

"Deutsche Bahn, the German railway operator, has pulled out of an sraeli project that cuts through the occupied Palestinian West Bank, after pressure from activists and Berlin.

The move marks a victory for pro-Palestinian groups and their so-called boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, which tries to use economic pressure on Israel to help the Palestinian cause.

Campaigners were angered by the activities of Deutsche Bahn’s international consulting arm, which provided advice on the electrification of the new track linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The high-speed line, due to be completed by 2017, has attracted sharp criticism from Palestinian officials because a 6-km stretch cuts through the West Bank.

Opponents said the project was illegal because it used occupied Palestinian territory for a project that would be used primarily, or solely, by Israeli citizens. They also argued that the new line could have easily been built on Israeli territory alone, making land confiscations in the West Bank unnecessary."

****

"Merav Emir, an activist with Who Profits, the campaign group that leads the lobbying effort against the rail project, welcomed the decision. “I want to congratulate the German government for making such a clear and bold statement about the illegality of this train route under international law,” she said. “We call on other European governments to follow suit in making sure that companies in their countries abide by international law.”

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