Tel Aviv-based group threatens Australian professors over Israel boycott

June 13, 2013: A Tel Aviv-based civil rights group warned Australian supporters of a proposed boycott against Israel on Thursday that their activities were racist, and in violation of Australian Federal anti-discrimination laws. Recently, faculty and students at Sydney University called for the severing of links with Israeli institutions.

In letters sent to Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Professor Stuart Rees and others, Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center threatened to take legal action if they did not immediately discontinue their boycott campaign.

This past semester, the university’s student body endorsed Associate Professor Jake Lynch’s academic boycott of Israel. Lynch had publicly announced his refusal to work with Dan Avnon, an Israeli professor from the prestigious Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which promotes Israeli-Arab coexistence, and also called for a boycott of Technion University in Haifa.

Professors’ Lynch and Rees’ actions, although widely condemned by mainstream politicians and community figures, have also been supported by NSW Labor MP Lynda Voltz and Mary Kostakidis.

According to NSW Solicitor Andrew Hamilton of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been recognized as anti-Semitic by leading authorities such as Anti-Defamation League in the United States, and in a report recently released by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

In the letters Hamilton pointed out that the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 made it “unlawful for a person to do any act involving a distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, … national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of any human right or fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.”

Hamilton also warned that any “successful” boycott of Israel was illegal under the Competition and Consumer Act of 2010 if they damage the businesses they target, and that as a result parties could be investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and face legal action for damages.

Ultimate Mission participants visit Golan Heights tank base

Ultimate Mission participants visit Golan Heights tank base, a photo by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center on Flickr.

Shurat HaDin’s June 2013 Ultimate Mission participants visit (Thursday) a Golan Heights tank base on the Israel-Syria border. Participants were briefed on the current challenges in the area and the way in which the IDF maintains security.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner lectures to Ultimate Mission participants in Tiberias

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner lectures to Ultimate Mission participants in Tiberias, a photo by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center on Flickr.

Shurat HaDin’s director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Esq. speaks to June 2013 Ultimate Mission participants in Tiberias. On Thursday Darshan-Leitner discussed the escalating threat from Hezbollah terrorism, Islamic extremism and the racist BDS movement.

Ultimate Mission Participants Visit Erez Crossing on Gaza Border

Ultimate Mission Participants Visit Erez Crossing on Gaza Border, a photo by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center on Flickr.

Shurat HaDin’s June 2013 Ultimate Mission participants visit (Tuesday) the Erez crossing on the Israel-Gaza border. Participants received a first hand explanation of the security arrangements protecting Israel from the Hamas terrorist regime ruling Gaza.

Uzi Arad Briefs Ultimate Mission Participants

Uzi Arad Briefs Ultimate Mission Participants, a photo by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center on Flickr.

Dr. Uzi Arad, former national security advisor and senior Mossad official, briefed Shurat HaDin June Ultimate Mission participants on Monday.

TIAA-CREF Decision Sets Precedent to Block BDS Motions – Legal Analysts (Algemeiner)

A decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow a major financial services group to keep Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions off the agenda at their shareholders’ meeting, created new precedent to counter BDS assaults on the financial community, legal analysts told The Algemeiner.

The SEC’s decision on Thursday was a relief for TIAA-CREF, officially Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund, which manages $520 billion on behalf of millions of teachers and other union members, many of them Jewish. The BDS motion demanded divestment from Israel as part of a new human rights policy it wanted shareholders to adopt. The SEC chose to ignore the first part of the argument, simply ruling that the BDS motion would interfere with the company’s ordinary business.

Continue reading on Algemeiner

Israeli Pressure Forces US Pension Giant to Bar Divestment Vote (WAFA)

Pressure from an Israeli law office calling itself Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center, publicly boasted on Thursday of its behind-the-scenes success in persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to grant the pension fund giant TIAA-CREF permission to withhold a divestment shareholder resolution from shareholder voting, a press statement said on Friday.

The statement by “We Divest,” a US-based coalition of human rights groups, said the proposed resolution would have asked TIAA-CREF to divest from companies engaging in egregious human rights violations, including those significantly supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

TIAA-CREF had previously disclosed that the Israel Law Center had threatened to sue TIAA-CREF if the SEC were to decline to grant a “no action” letter and shareholders had approved the resolution, its aid.

The Israel Law Center’s rationale was that the divestment resolution called for an unlawful “boycott.”

Continue reading on WAFA – Palestinian news service

BDS Movement Suffers Defeat in U.S. (Israel National News)

A resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli firms will not be put to a vote at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund’s (TIAA-CREF) upcoming shareholders meeting.

The move comes after the pension fund giant received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “take no action” on a submission by pro-Palestinian Authority Arab activists. This followed the company’s warning by an Israeli civil rights group that passage of the resolution would violate NY and Federal law.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, stressed that the development was “a major defeat for the extremist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement taking aim at Israel.”

Continue reading on Israel National News

Pension giant TIAA-CREF excludes Israel divestment resolution from shareholders meeting (JNS)

U.S. pension giant TIAA-CREF has announced that it will not vote on an Israel divestment resolution at its upcoming shareholders meeting.

The announcement by TIAA-CREF, a financial services company that manages retirement funds for more than 3.7 million people mainly in academic and medical fields, comes after it received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “take no action” regarding the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution as well as warnings from the Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, an Israeli civil rights group, that the passage of the resolution would violate New York State and federal anti-discrimination laws.

Continue reading on JNS

Pension Fund TIAA-CREF Declines to Vote for Israel Boycott (Algemeiner)

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement suffered a major defeat on Thursday when Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) said it will not bring a BDS motion to its upcoming shareholder meeting.

The asset management giant, which manages $520 billion in pension funds, received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “take no action” on a submission by the BDS activists. This followed a warning issued to the company by Shurat HaDin, an Israeli civil rights group, that passage of the resolution would violate New York and Federal law.

Continue reading on Algemeiner