From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Sun Apr 10 17:59:31 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2016 17:59:31 -0700 Subject: Help protect our right to boycott Israeli apartheid & human rights abuses - Your action needed now! Message-ID: Please help stop AB 2844 ! This CA Assembly bill violates free speech and attacks efforts to end Israel?s occupation, apartheid, and violations of human rights by penalizing companies that are identified as observing a boycott of Israel. Share on facebook. 1) This Wed., April 13, 2016, 9am please attend the Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee hearing on the bill, State Capitol Room 437. A couple of main speakers will speak against the bill and all others can briefly state their opposition. The more the better to show legislators how many of us care. If AB 2844 passes at this first hearing, it will be considered by the Judiciary Committee April 19. Save the date. 2) Please send an email now to the members of the AAR committee telling them to vote against AB 2844. Ask them to enter your opposition as part of the public record. You can copy and paste their emails below into one message: Accountability and Administrative Review: assemblymembergarcia at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberburke at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberfrazier at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberirwin at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymembermedina at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberrodriguez at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberlackey at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymemberbrough at assembly.ca.gov, assemblymembergaines at assembly.ca.gov, Please copy and paste as a cc: Legislative directors: Ashley.medina@@asm.ca.gov , allison.ruff at asm.ca.gov, robert.simpson at asm.ca.gov, brett.williams at asm.ca.gov, erica.costa at asm.ca.gov, philip.horner at asm.ca.gov, tim.townsend at asm.ca.gov, christina.hulick at asm.ca.gov, danny.martinez at asm.ca.gov Please bcc: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com Sample message: Dear Members of the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review: I call on you and your committee to oppose AB 2844, an unconstitutional attack on free speech with provisions that would be impossible to implement in any rational manner. Whether or not one agrees with any particular boycott or divestment campaign aimed at pressing Israel to end its occupation, obey international law and respect Palestinian human rights, participation in such activities, in response to a call from Palestinians using nonviolent methods to secure their freedom, is a legitimate form of expression, protected by the U.S. and state constitutions. The state must not deny financial relationships to people or organizations on account of their political views. California can lead the way in stopping a wave of such illegal legislation around the country. I look forward to hearing your commitment to oppose AB 2844 or anything like it. Please register my opposition to AB 2844 as part of the public record. Sincerely, 3) Email your own Assembly member and tell her or him to speak out now against AB 2844. Here are emails for some Sacramento area Assembly members; if yours isn?t on the list or you aren?t sure who it is, click here . Assemblymember Kevin McCarty Assemblymember.McCarty at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Jim Cooper assemblymember.cooper at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Ken Cooley assemblymember.cooley at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Bill Dodd assemblymember.Dodd at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Beth Gaines assemblymember.gaines at assembly.ca.gov (If Gaines is your Assembly member, please call her also, as she is on the Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review (916) 319-2006 4) Spread the word and Share on facebook. MORE INFORMATION Remember California Assembly Bills 1551 and 1552? Introduced in January, they would have barred state pension fund investment in and state/local government contracting with companies, churches, unions, etc. that were thought to be engaged in boycott of Israel, in some form. Many of you helped kill these bills by telling legislators that they were an unconstitutional infringement on political speech, were impossibly vague and had a hidden agenda of legitimizing illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The bills languished in limbo until last week, but after a complex set of parliamentary maneuvers, they have reemerged with a new name and number: AB 2844 . It was hastily assigned to two committees: Accountability and Administrative Review will hear it Wed., April 13. If it passes there, Judiciary will consider it April 19. AB 2844 is narrower in scope and some ways less extreme (e.g. it applies only to for-profit corporations), but it is still unconstitutionally violates free speech and remains loaded with vagueness and arbitrariness. Either of these committees can kill AB 2844, and with your encouragement, they will. Thanks! Together we?ll stop AB 2844. If you have not already done so, please sign these pettions to support Palestinian rights: ? Tell the IRS to Investigate the Charity Status of the JNF. ? Sign the petition: Protect Palestinian human rights defenders. ? Tell Santana not to play in Israel. More petitions at: www.sacbds.org/petitions Upcoming events: Tuesday, April 12, 2016: National day of Action: Tell Ben & Jerry's to stop selling in Israel's illegal Settlements. Location and time TBA. FMI: SacramentoBDS at gmail.com Tuesday, April 12, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Panel on BDS Movement. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. No Way to Treat a Child. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Friday, April 15, 2016, 6pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Palestinian Food Night. Location TBA, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 4 - 6pm, Vigil for Palestinian Rights. End U.S. aid to Israel. & Boycott companies aiding Israel's abuses . Sign petitions for Palestinian rights . 16th & J, Sacramento. 916-448-7157. Saturday, April 30, 2016, 6pm, Benefit Dinner for the needy people of Palestine . Guest Speakers: Hussam Ayloush (CAIR Executive Director LA) and Imam Sh. Abdeljalil Mezgouri. Valley Oak Ballroom, Wackford Acquatic Complex, 9014 Bruceville Rd Elk Grove. FMI: hjamali at irusa.org; 916-230-8887 Sunday, May 15, 2016, 12:30pm Protest Annual Celebrate Israel i Apartheid event, Raley Field, West Sacramento. FMI: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com For more Sacramento Area Events on Peace, Justice and the Environment, please see the online community calendar: www.SacPeace.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or for questions or comments, email: SacReg4PalestiniaRights at gmail.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Sun Apr 10 23:57:39 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2016 23:57:39 -0700 Subject: Protect our right to free speech, boycot & economic activism - corrections to previous message Message-ID: Some of the assembly email addresses were misformatted in the previous message. They have been corrected here: Protect free speech & economic activism: Please help stop AB 2844! CA Assembly bill AB 2844 violates free speech and attacks efforts to end Israel?s occupation, apartheid, and violations of human rights by penalizing companies that are identified as observing a boycott of Israel. Share on facebook. 1) This Wed., April 13, 2016, 9am please attend the Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee hearing on the bill, State Capitol Room 437. A couple of main speakers will speak against the bill and all others can briefly state their opposition. The more the better to show legislators how many of us care. If AB 2844 passes at this first hearing, it will be considered by the Judiciary Committee April 19. Save the date. 2) Please send two emails now: one to the AAR committee members, ccd to their staff and one to the Judiciary committee members, ccd to their staff. You can just copy and paste emails below. Tell the committee members to vote against AB 2844. Ask them to enter your opposition as part of the public record. Please bcc: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com (Note: Assembly member Garcia is on both committees.) Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee Assemblymember.Garcia at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Burke at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Frazier at assembly.ca.gov,Assemblymember.Irwin at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Medina at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Rodriguez at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Lackey at assembly.ca.gov ; Assemblymember.Brough at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Gaines at assembly.ca.gov, CC: AAR Legislative directors and committee secretary: Ashley.medina@@asm.ca.gov , allison.ruff at asm.ca.gov, robert.simpson at asm.ca.gov, brett.williams at asm.ca.gov, erica.costa at asm.ca.gov, philip.horner at asm.ca.gov, tim.townsend at asm.ca.gov, christina.hulick at asm.ca.gov, danny.martinez at asm.ca.gov; elizabeth.delgado at asm.ca.gov Judiciary Committee Assemblymember.Stone at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Wagner at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Alejo at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chau at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chiu at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Gallagher at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Garcia at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Holden at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Maienschein at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Ting at assembly.ca.gov Cc Judiciary Committee Legislative directors and committee secretary: arianna.smith at asm.ca.gov; david.scheidt at asm.ca.gov; paco.torres at asm.ca.gov; garret.bazurto at asm.ca.gov; ashley.medina at asm.ca.gov; erin.donnette at asm.ca.gov; katja.townsend at asm.ca.gov; eric.guerra at asm.ca.gov; Irene.ho at asm.ca.gov; nicholas.liedtke at asm.ca.gov; cindy.morante at asm.ca.gov; Sample message: Dear Committee members: I call on you and your committee to oppose AB 2844, an unconstitutional attack on free speech with provisions that would be impossible to implement in any rational manner. Whether or not one agrees with any particular boycott or divestment campaign aimed at pressing Israel to end its occupation, obey international law and respect Palestinian human rights, participation in such activities, in response to a call from Palestinians using nonviolent methods to secure their freedom, is a legitimate form of expression, protected by the U.S. and state constitutions. The state must not deny financial relationships to people or organizations on account of their political views. California can lead the way in stopping a wave of such illegal legislation around the country. I look forward to hearing your commitment to oppose AB 2844 or anything like it. Please register my opposition to AB 2844 as part of the public record. 3) Email your own Assembly member and tell her or him to speak out now against AB 2844. Here are emails for some Sacramento area Assembly members; if yours isn?t on the list or you aren?t sure who it is, click here . Assemblymember Kevin McCarty Assemblymember.McCarty at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Jim Cooper assemblymember.cooper at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Ken Cooley assemblymember.cooley at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Bill Dodd assemblymember.Dodd at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Beth Gaines assemblymember.gaines at assembly.ca.gov (If Gaines is your Assembly member, please call her also, as she is on the AAR Committee (916) 319-2006 4) Share the above information! Share on facebook. MORE INFORMATION Remember California Assembly Bills 1551 and 1552? Introduced in January, they would have barred state pension fund investment in and state/local government contracting with companies, churches, unions, etc. that were thought to be engaged in boycott of Israel, in some form. Many of you helped kill these bills by telling legislators that they were an unconstitutional infringement on political speech, were impossibly vague and had a hidden agenda of legitimizing illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The bills languished in limbo until last week, but after a complex set of parliamentary maneuvers, they have reemerged with a new name and number: AB 2844 . It was hastily assigned to two committees: Accountability and Administrative Review will hear it Wed., April 13. If it passes there, Judiciary will consider it April 19. AB 2844 is narrower in scope and some ways less extreme (e.g. it applies only to for-profit corporations), but it is still unconstitutionally violates free speech and remains loaded with vagueness and arbitrariness. Either of these committees can kill AB 2844, and with your encouragement, they will. Thanks! Together we?ll stop AB 2844. If you have not already done so, please sign these pettions to support Palestinian rights: ? Tell the IRS to Investigate the Charity Status of the JNF. ? Sign the petition: Protect Palestinian human rights defenders. ? Tell Santana not to play in Israel. More petitions at: www.sacbds.org/petitions Upcoming events: Tuesday, April 12, 2016: National day of Action: Tell Ben & Jerry's to stop selling in Israel's illegal Settlements. Location and time TBA. FMI: SacramentoBDS at gmail.com Tuesday, April 12, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Panel on BDS Movement. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. No Way to Treat a Child. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Friday, April 15, 2016, 6pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Palestinian Food Night. Location TBA, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 4 - 6pm, Vigil for Palestinian Rights. End U.S. aid to Israel. & Boycott companies aiding Israel's abuses . Sign petitions for Palestinian rights . 16th & J, Sacramento. 916-448-7157. Saturday, April 30, 2016, 6pm, Benefit Dinner for the needy people of Palestine . Guest Speakers: Hussam Ayloush (CAIR Executive Director LA) and Imam Sh. Abdeljalil Mezgouri. Valley Oak Ballroom, Wackford Acquatic Complex, 9014 Bruceville Rd Elk Grove. FMI: hjamali at irusa.org; 916-230-8887 Sunday, May 15, 2016, 12:30pm Protest Annual Celebrate Israel i Apartheid event, Raley Field, West Sacramento. FMI: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com For more Sacramento Area Events on Peace, Justice and the Environment, please see the online community calendar: www.SacPeace.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or for questions or comments, email: SacReg4PalestiniaRights at gmail.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Tue Apr 12 10:40:16 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:40:16 -0700 Subject: Please send a message now to CA Assembly to stop AB 2844 & protect our right to free speech & economic activism Message-ID: Please click to send a message to the CA Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee to VOTE no on AB 2844. From: Palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2016 Subject: Protect our right to free speech, boycott & economic activism - corrections to previous message Protect free speech & economic activism: Please help stop AB 2844! CA Assembly bill AB 2844 violates free speech and attacks efforts to end Israel?s occupation, apartheid, and violations of human rights by penalizing companies that are identified as observing a boycott of Israel. Share on facebook. 1) This Wed., April 13, 2016, 9am please attend the Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee hearing on the bill, State Capitol Room 437. A couple of main speakers will speak against the bill and all others can briefly state their opposition. The more the better to show legislators how many of us care. If AB 2844 passes at this first hearing, it will be considered by the Judiciary Committee April 19. Save the date. 2) Please send two emails now: one to the AAR committee members, ccd to their staff and one to the Judiciary committee members, ccd to their staff. You can just copy and paste emails below. Tell the committee members to vote against AB 2844. Ask them to enter your opposition as part of the public record. Please bcc: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com (Note: Assembly member Garcia is on both committees.) Accountability and Administrative Review (AAR) Committee Assemblymember.Garcia at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Burke at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Frazier at assembly.ca.gov,Assemblymember.Irwin at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Medina at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Rodriguez at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Lackey at assembly.ca.gov ; Assemblymember.Brough at assembly.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Gaines at assembly.ca.gov, CC: AAR Legislative directors and committee secretary: Ashley.medina@@asm.ca.gov , allison.ruff at asm.ca.gov, robert.simpson at asm.ca.gov, brett.williams at asm.ca.gov, erica.costa at asm.ca.gov, philip.horner at asm.ca.gov, tim.townsend at asm.ca.gov, christina.hulick at asm.ca.gov, danny.martinez at asm.ca.gov; elizabeth.delgado at asm.ca.gov Judiciary Committee Assemblymember.Stone at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Wagner at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Alejo at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chau at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chiu at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Gallagher at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Garcia at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Holden at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Maienschein at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Ting at assembly.ca.gov Cc Judiciary Committee Legislative directors and committee secretary: arianna.smith at asm.ca.gov; david.scheidt at asm.ca.gov; paco.torres at asm.ca.gov; garret.bazurto at asm.ca.gov; ashley.medina at asm.ca.gov; erin.donnette at asm.ca.gov; katja.townsend at asm.ca.gov; eric.guerra at asm.ca.gov; Irene.ho at asm.ca.gov; nicholas.liedtke at asm.ca.gov; cindy.morante at asm.ca.gov; Sample message: Dear Committee members: I call on you and your committee to oppose AB 2844, an unconstitutional attack on free speech with provisions that would be impossible to implement in any rational manner. Whether or not one agrees with any particular boycott or divestment campaign aimed at pressing Israel to end its occupation, obey international law and respect Palestinian human rights, participation in such activities, in response to a call from Palestinians using nonviolent methods to secure their freedom, is a legitimate form of expression, protected by the U.S. and state constitutions. The state must not deny financial relationships to people or organizations on account of their political views. California can lead the way in stopping a wave of such illegal legislation around the country. I look forward to hearing your commitment to oppose AB 2844 or anything like it. Please register my opposition to AB 2844 as part of the public record. 3) Email your own Assembly member and tell her or him to speak out now against AB 2844. Here are emails for some Sacramento area Assembly members; if yours isn?t on the list or you aren?t sure who it is, click here . Assemblymember Kevin McCarty Assemblymember.McCarty at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Jim Cooper assemblymember.cooper at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Ken Cooley assemblymember.cooley at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Bill Dodd assemblymember.Dodd at assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember Beth Gaines assemblymember.gaines at assembly.ca.gov (If Gaines is your Assembly member, please call her also, as she is on the AAR Committee (916) 319-2006 4) Share the above information! Share on facebook. MORE INFORMATION Remember California Assembly Bills 1551 and 1552? Introduced in January, they would have barred state pension fund investment in and state/local government contracting with companies, churches, unions, etc. that were thought to be engaged in boycott of Israel, in some form. Many of you helped kill these bills by telling legislators that they were an unconstitutional infringement on political speech, were impossibly vague and had a hidden agenda of legitimizing illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The bills languished in limbo until last week, but after a complex set of parliamentary maneuvers, they have reemerged with a new name and number: AB 2844 . It was hastily assigned to two committees: Accountability and Administrative Review will hear it Wed., April 13. If it passes there, Judiciary will consider it April 19. AB 2844 is narrower in scope and some ways less extreme (e.g. it applies only to for-profit corporations), but it is still unconstitutionally violates free speech and remains loaded with vagueness and arbitrariness. Either of these committees can kill AB 2844, and with your encouragement, they will. Thanks! Together we?ll stop AB 2844. If you have not already done so, please sign these pettions to support Palestinian rights: ? Tell the IRS to Investigate the Charity Status of the JNF. ? Sign the petition: Protect Palestinian human rights defenders. ? Tell Santana not to play in Israel. More petitions at: www.sacbds.org/petitions Upcoming events: Tuesday, April 12, 2016: National day of Action: Tell Ben & Jerry's to stop selling in Israel's illegal Settlements. Location and time TBA. FMI: SacramentoBDS at gmail.com Tuesday, April 12, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Panel on BDS Movement. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 6:30pm, Palestine Awareness Week. No Way to Treat a Child. Wellman 226, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Friday, April 15, 2016, 6pm, Palestine Awareness Week. Palestinian Food Night. Location TBA, UC Davis campus, Davis. FMI: sjpatucd.gmail.com Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 4 - 6pm, Vigil for Palestinian Rights. End U.S. aid to Israel. & Boycott companies aiding Israel's abuses . Sign petitions for Palestinian rights . 16th & J, Sacramento. 916-448-7157. Saturday, April 30, 2016, 6pm, Benefit Dinner for the needy people of Palestine . Guest Speakers: Hussam Ayloush (CAIR Executive Director LA) and Imam Sh. Abdeljalil Mezgouri. Valley Oak Ballroom, Wackford Acquatic Complex, 9014 Bruceville Rd Elk Grove. FMI: hjamali at irusa.org; 916-230-8887 Sunday, May 15, 2016, 12:30pm Protest Annual Celebrate Israel i Apartheid event, Raley Field, West Sacramento. FMI: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com For more Sacramento Area Events on Peace, Justice and the Environment, please see the online community calendar: www.SacPeace.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or for questions or comments, email: SacReg4PalestiniaRights at gmail.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Sun Apr 17 14:40:54 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2016 14:40:54 -0700 Subject: Calls & emails needed now to stop anti-BDS bill AB 2844 to be heard this Tues. 4/19/16 Message-ID: Calls and emails are needed to the CA Assembly Judiciary Committee that will hear anti-BDS AB 2844 this Tuesday, 4/19/16, 8:30am in Room 437, California State Capitol. AB 2844 would restrict activism to end Israel's occupation and violations of human rights by penalizing companies that choose not to do business with Israel. Over 100 groups have signed on in opposition to this bill, but it still passed the Administrative and Accountability Review committee last week. Despite the claims of AB 2844 author Assemblymember Richard Bloom, this bill has nothing to do with protecting Jewish students - it has everything to do with muzzling those who challenge Israel's violations of human rights and international law. Our legislators need to hear that Californians don't want their tax payer dollars wasted on bills like this that seek to defend Israel's abuses and silence human rights activists. Please take action: 1) Please send an email now telling the committee members to vote against AB 2844 (sample message below). Ask them to enter your opposition as part of the public record. You can copy and paste emails below and/or click to send a message . Judiciary Committee Assemblymember.Stone at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Wagner at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Alejo at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chau at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Chiu at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Gallagher at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Garcia at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Holden at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Maienschein at assembly.ca.gov; Assemblymember.Ting at assembly.ca.gov Cc Judiciary Committee Legislative directors and committee secretary: arianna.smith at asm.ca.gov; david.scheidt at asm.ca.gov; paco.torres at asm.ca.gov; garret.bazurto at asm.ca.gov; ashley.medina at asm.ca.gov; erin.donnette at asm.ca.gov; katja.townsend at asm.ca.gov; eric.guerra at asm.ca.gov; Irene.ho at asm.ca.gov; nicholas.liedtke at asm.ca.gov; cindy.morante at asm.ca.gov; cc Your Assembly member. Please bcc: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com 2) On Monday, 4/18, please call the committee members: Judiciary committee members Mark Stone (Chair) Dem (916) 319-2029 Donald P. Wagner (Vice Chair) Rep (916) 319-2068 Luis A. Alejo Dem (916) 319-2030 Ed Chau Dem (916) 319-2049 David Chiu Dem - (916) 319-2017 James Gallagher Rep - 03 (916) 319-2003 Cristina Garcia Dem - (916) 319-2058 Chris R. Holden Dem - (916) 319-2041 Brian Maienschein Rep (916) 319-2077 Philip Y. Ting Dem; (916) 319-2019 3) This coming Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 8:30am please attend the Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill, Room 437, California State Capitol, 1315 10th St, Sacramento to show your opposition to the bill. Sample message: Dear Committee members: I call on you to oppose AB 2844, an unconstitutional attempt to silence opponents of Israel's occupation of Palestine and its well-documented human rights violations by penalizing companies for not doing business with Israel. The author of AB 2844 states that this bill is about protecting the state of Israel from the "BDS movement," which he claims is trying to destroy Israel and protecting Jewish students at California colleges who are allegedly under assault "because of BDS." Neither of these claims is fact based. Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) are non-violent tools being used by human rights activists around the world to change the policies of the Israeli government, in the same way these tools were used to end the apartheid regime in South Africa. UC and Anti-Defamation League surveys have documented a long downward trend in incidents of anti-Semitism and found that Jewish students as a whole feel safe and secure in their religious and/or ethnic identities. Of course any anti-Semitic manifestations need to be confronted, but the deliberate conflation of criticism of Israeli policy with anti-Semitism is just plain wrong. Campaigns for divestment resolutions by student governments have made clear that their demand is for policy change, not directed against Jews, whether in Israel or on campus. Many of the most active supporters are themselves Jewish students and faculty. If anything, they, along with other Palestine rights activists, have been subjected to physical and academic threats, unsubstantiated accusations in the media and excessive scrutiny by administrations. AB 2844 would deny businesses the ability to make even economic decisions. In fact, the state of Illinois is now facing possible lawsuits from businesses due to similar legislation it has passed. Whether or not one agrees with any particular boycott or divestment campaign aimed at pressing Israel to end its occupation, obey international law and respect Palestinian human rights, participation in such activities, in response to a call from Palestinians using nonviolent methods to secure their freedom, is a legitimate form of expression, protected by the U.S. and state constitutions. The state has no right to deny financial relationships to people or organizations on account of their political views. Vote no on AB 2844. Sincerely, Support Palestinian rights: Sign petitions & take actions www.sacbds.org/petitions -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: