1. Sara Lee campaign launched
   
   
2. New guilty companies identified
   
   
3. Photo Report: 100,000 march for Palestine
   
   
4. May 18th Rally
   
   
5. Poster for download
   
   
6. A Christians plea from Bethlehem
   
   
7. Day of Comments
   
   
8. Boycott News launched
   
   
9. Chat rooms on Islam - an investigation
   
   
10. Save Baqir Campaign Update
    
    
11. I am Israel
    
    
12. Quote for the day
    
    

First we wish to thank all the people who have sent us messages of support and solidarity with regards to our web site being shut down. Inshallah, www.inminds.com should be up and running sometime next week. In the meantime our mirror site at www.inminds.co.uk is available.

Our collective efforts must be hurting the zionists badly for them to have gone to such lengths, using gangster tactics of intimidation and threats to bully our host and their bandwidth provider in to shutting down our site.

When the tanks rolled in to Jenin on 3rd April, the israeli army expected a swift victory. It had overwhelming military superiority - 1,000 infantrymen accompanied by Merkava tanks, armoured vehicles, bulldozers and Cobra helicopters, armed with missiles and heavy machine guns. Ranged against this force were about 200 Palestinians armed with Kalashnikovs. The fight put up by the courageous Palestinians sent shock waves through israel. Only after the Palestinians had run out of ammunition, eight days later, did Jenin finally fall. It was eight days that the zionist regime hadn't counted on and can not afford. Israeli finance ministry is calling for a highly unpopular "war tax" of 5% on all income to be introduced in order to pay for those eight days!

Money matters. Their bankrupt economy cannot even sustain eight days of war. It is propped up artificially by the bankroll it receives from Uncle Sam and by the investments these collaborating companies make to the Israeli economy. The boycott matters. It can make a difference.

We were not at Jenin, Nabulas, or Bethlehem with our brave brothers and sister as the Zionist tanks rolled over their homes and slaughtered their families, but we can still do something to make a difference. Start boycotting today to prevent a Jenin from repeating tomorrow.

Editor

A basic requisite of a successful boycott campaign is that the companies you are boycotting must be made aware of the boycott. This is where letter writing campaigns become essential. In order to maximize the impact we choose to focus on one company at a time, starting with Selfridges. But that was back in December, and unfortunately due to other commitments we never moved on from there.

Starting with this newsletter with your support, inshallah, we aim to get back on track. For the next 3-5 weeks we will focus on Sara Lee. You may be aware from the research page on Sara Lee ( http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-sara-lee.html ) that Sara Lee is the world's largest clothing manufacturer. It owns 30% of Israel's leading textile company Delta Galil., this opens the worlds markets to Israel, with cloths originating in Israel being sold around the world under one of the many famous Sara Lee brands (Hanes, Champion, Leggs, DIM, Bali, Lovable, Outer Banks, Wonderbra, Gossard, Playtex, Just My Size ...).

A sample letter to send to Sara Lee is provided at:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-sara-lee-letter.html

Though please consider composing an original letter using the points mentioned in ours if possible, as the impact of individual letters is far greater. Please forward us a copy of any original letters and all replies that you receive.

Also provided on the campaign page is a "Boycott Sara Lee for supporting apartheid Israel" sticker design. Activists can paste stickers at strategic locations to alert shoppers about Sara Lee's support of the oppression of Palestinians. The idea for the stickers was not ours, our thanks to those who had written in with the suggestion.

There are no prizes for guessing which two new companies we have added to our list to boycott: Starbucks and Timberland. The CEOs of both have been very vocal recently in there support of Israel during its current slaughter of Palestinians.

Howard Shultz the chairman of Starbucks responded to the atrocities committed by the Israeli army at Jenin by blaming the Palestinians for "terrorism". But this is not an isolated incident, in 1998 he was honored by Israel with "The Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award" for his services to the Zionist state, and more recently he has been fingered by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as being key to Israels long term PR success. Starbucks is also in partnership with Dalek, an Israeli company to open a Starbucks chain in Israel (Shalom Coffee Co).

Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz in a four day "solidarity" visit to Israel advised Israel to send 100 IDF thugs to the US as ambassadors for Israel suggesting that they were "simple average people" who Americans could relate to. Although Timberland is a publicly traded company, his family holds approximately 47% of the stock and has approximately 81% of the voting power.

We urge you to boycott both companies. Nearly 5000 Starbucks Coffee stores are open all around the world including many Muslim countries. Check the following page for full details on the Starbucks boycott:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-starbucks.html

Timberland are best known for their shoes and backpacks. They are found in over 55 countries around the world including many which are Muslim. For full details, including store locations, please check out the page:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-timberland.html

Where were you on April 13th?

London saw one of its largest demonstrations ever. Over 100,000 people attended a rally in support of Palestine. The march started at Hyde park and culminated in a rally at Trafalgar Square.

Tony Ben, the veteran politician and demonstrator in his address to the crowds confirmed that he had never in all his years seen so many people in Trafalgar Square. In fact an hour after his speech ended the tail end of the demonstration still hadn't reached the finish at Trafalgar Square! See our photo-account of the event with audio of George Galloways (MP) speech. Be warned there are a lot of images so it might take a while to load:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/palestine-rally-13apr02.html

As I write this, Israeli troops are massing for an attack on Gaza. Their hands still soaked in the blood of the innocent of Jenin, Nabulas, Bethlehem and Ramallah the IDF (Israeli Death Force) are poised to attack Gaza. They are just waiting for the green light.

Our children and grandchildren will ask us what did we do on the day Jenin fell and the slaughter began. Why is it that we are alive whilst they were slaughtered? What did we do to help? What will we answer them?

Let them not ask the same of Gaza.

This is a critical time, its a time of action, we must not sit idly by and let it happen again. There is at least one thing each one of us can do - come out on to the streets and declare our solidarity with Palestine. Show the Palestinians that they are not alone, and show our governments that the people demand an end to Israeli terrorism.

In London on 18th May (tomorrow) there will, inshallah, be a huge demonstration starting at 12 noon from Hyde Park and culminating in a rally at Trafalgar Square. If you are in the UK on Saturday, please show your support for Palestine by attending.

Remember to regularly check our Events Calendar to keep abreast of what's happening around you - demos, seminars and other relevant events. The calendar is regularly updated:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-calendar.html

We have designed several posters for use on placards in demonstrations.

All the posters are in PDF format and print tiled across 6 pages. Once assembled the posters measure 57cm x 60cm. All the posters are in colour but still look great if printed in black.

So if you still don't have a placard for May 18th then here's your opportunity to make your own:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-posters.html

Step by step instructions are included - have fun!

8th April 2002

Please help us, -

I am Anthony Razook, I am writing to you tonight, the local time here is 9:49pm in the night time, in Bethlehem, Palestine. I came with some friends to the camp of the Antiochian Orthodox in the United  States, some few years back, and now I am writing to you all in distress for some help for our peoples in Palestine.

Last night, the Israeli tanks and military personal, broke into our homes, they entered my sister and her husband's home around 2:30 in the morning this morning. They proceeded to attack my sister, one of the military men made attacks on her that were not appropriate, he violated her in more than one way. My sister is 4 months pregneat,and for sure she has most likely lost the baby, when he was finished violating her, two other army men did the same thing. When she refused and tried to fight them off, they beat her, more in the stomach, her husband Marwahn was shot three times in the back of the neck, when he tried to stop them, this morning at around 5 in the morning he died from the wounds. When they stopped violating my sister they then threw her on the bed, all of this horrible things were witnesse by her seven year old son, my nephew Michel.  At the end of them beating and violating my sister,  they then stole her jewelry, her monies, and some other things, at that point they went and totally destroyed different things in her apartment home.

As of this morning, she feels that she had a miscarriage of the baby, also, these same solidiers came into our home, and we were blessed from God that my father had cash (almost two thousand shekals (this is the money of Israel)  and he gave it to the soliders, he also took gold from his own neck, from myself, and my younger sister and my mother. The soliders in hebrew, (we understand hebrew) told my father that his wife was too old and un attractive to have sexually things with, and that we should feel lucky about this- but that they had all shared the woman in the apartment before ( my sister) - then my mother asked to please allow the soliders to bring medicine or my sister, and to please help to remove my brother in law body, from the apartment, they would not, my poor mother was to afraid to cry, as to what had happend because they would kill us too-

Please, you must help us, we are orthodox greek christian, we are not muslim, we are your peoples from your religion. We are being persecuted and their is not an end in sight. Your country doesn't allow you to know the news of what is really  happening to our peoples.

In Nablus, their were calls made from cell phones that tell us that over 86 womans were raped and beaten and theirs is manys of people men, their husbands that have been killed when they are trying to stop these soliders.

Your government is standing and allowing this to happen. None of the arabic countries are helping us? What are we to do?

Please help us, I must go- i was gracious from God to have enough batteruy in my lap computer to send u this e-mail. i am scared that i will not be able to read ur responses, please help us, plese, send this email to anyone who care I must go, before i get into trouble, of or someone to find me (the soliders come into the homes in the night, that is when we are most scared-)

+anthony (please help)

If you doubt the authenticity of this report please read the discussion on alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox.

The email was initially sent to Nick Kourey (nickourey@hotmail.com) who forwarded it on with the following words:

To my non-Orthodox friends, the camp mentioned bellow is the camp I have attended for 6 summers now, and will be a councelor at this summer. I have recived many things through e-mail much like this, but this one hit way too close to home, to not send out to everyone. Please read, and realize just what is going on in the middle east.

NIck

and was then distributed by St. Mary Orthodox Church:

Subject: Fwd: THIS IS THE TRUTH, PLEASE HELP

Please post this letter received from a young Orthodox Christian from Bethlehem. His words speak for themselves.

F. Antony Hughes
St. Mary Orthodox Church
Cambridge, MA

 

We receive several hundred messages regarding the boycott everyday. In case you every wondered what sort of comments we receive, we decided to share with you a sample from a 24 hour period. Have a peek at:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-comments.html

When you read the comments two things will strike you:

Firstly, whilst the pro-boycott comments originate from a dozen different nations around the world including many non-Muslims countries, all the anti-boycott comments seem to emanate from what George Galloway (MP) calls the "gruesome twosome" - USA and Israel.

The second thing to note is the language used by the zionists -

"sand niggers ... filthy ... palestinian barbarians ... scum of the earth ... you are all animals ... rag heads ... tear you into small pieces ... get our dogs to eat you ... die a painful slow death ... good arab is a dead arab ... ".

And this isn't all from one deranged nazi, but rather forms the core of all the zionist emails we received on the day. Such blind hatred, inability to recognise Palestinians as human beings ... it gives us an insight into the Zionist mind.

We have opened a "Boycott News" section. There you will find an archive of news articles relating to the boycott of Israel.

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-news.html

Currently the archive has around 80 articles, from media around the world, arranged in chronological order. Have a look to see how widespread the boycott is and the universal momentum its gathering in all its forms. The archive is regularly updated.

If there is a boycott related news article that you feel would find a home in our archive, please email it to boycottnews@inminds.com . Remember to include details of the source of the article (e.g. which newspaper/date/author) - thank you.

A few months back we investigated chat rooms with Islamic themes. Here's what we found.

Firstly there was the predictable anti-Islam sentiments fueled by 9-11:

We enter a chat room called "Islam in America - Good or Bad?". The main conversation or should I say a string of monologues were filled with childish hate against Islam mixed with an almost fascist following of everything americana.

Someone with the name tag "Adlolyn" proudly announce:

"I run muslims over with my car, i call my car islambasher"

Upon investigating "Adolyns" profile, it revealed that she is a American woman of Hispanic origin aged 40+. Of course a profile is formed from volunteered information, not necessarily the facts. Even if we assume she doesn't really run Muslims over (although there have been several such cases post 9-11), its still alarming to find a mature adult with these sentiments.

After a few attempts at "joining" this type of conversation we gave up. Instead we opened individual conversations with two of the members of the room who had shown "on the fence" reactions or reactions of "ignorance" rather than blind hatred. After about an hour of discussion the chat room was closing, by then both members had shifted their positions somewhat: one towards a willingness to appreciate that the Islamic position deserves respect, and the other to a position of wanting to know more about Islam to the extent of asking (not us volunteering) if they could have a copy of the Holy Quran, alhamdullah.

With the post 9-11 interest in Islam reaching new heights chat rooms have become an excellent method for non-Muslims to talk in anonymity to Muslims one to one and ask about Islam. It gives Muslims to opportunity to explain at a personal level exactly what is Islam and what is not Islam - an opportunity to shatter the lies.

In fact we met some Muslims who had reverted to Islam via the chatrooms. And for some new Muslims the chatrooms was their only contact with fellow Muslims as in their remote locations they did not know of other Muslims or otherwise they hadn't taken the step of visiting the local Mosque or declared themselves Muslims to other Muslims.

In all honesty we were quiet surprised that amongst all this hatred and ignorance that people had still managed to find the light of Islam. We have read in an English newspaper of the person who became a Muslim after being impressed by the few lines of the Quran that they had found on a discarded scrap of paper in a dustbin. If the light of Islam can even be found in a dustbin of trash so why not in a chatroom of ignorance?

But it was not all good news, next we entered a chat room titled "Anti-Zionism".

Even in the midst of a war against Islam, Muslims still managed to find time for sectarianism:

Muslim1: "Hizbullah and Hamas will bring victory to the Muslims against the Zionists"
Muslim2: "Hamas yes, but not Hizbullah"
Muslim1: "Why? Hizbullah defeated israel in lebanon"
Muslim2: "Yes but they are shia ... Iran supports them ..."

How shameful that this sort of conversation still continues today. Was it not over 20 years ago that Imam Khomeini taught us that

"Today, world peace is such that all countries are under the political influence of the superpowers; they observe a control everywhere and have schemes for defeating every group. The most important of these is sowing discord among brothers.

Muslims should be awake, Muslims should be alert that if a dispute takes place among Sunni and Shi'ite brothers, it is harmful to all of us, it is harmful to all Muslims. Those who want to sow discord are neither Sunni nor Shi'ite, they are agents of the superpowers and work for them."

His full speech is available at :
http://www.inminds.co.uk/imam-khomeini-on-unity.html

But perhaps the saddest and most painful episode we encountered was when someone in the room with the nickname "Arab Prince" asked

"What is zionism?"

The others in the room thinking he must be joking, how can someone in this room where the finer points of the Palestinian struggle are being discussed not know? They ask for more details:

"Brother, where are you from, how old are you?"

The reply was shocking:

"1 am 27 years old student from Canada, my father is Palestinian and my mother is Lebanese, I hear my parents refer to it [zionism] in anger all the time but I'm afraid to ask them". A child of the two nations that have suffered the most under Zionism doesn't know what is the source of the suffering...how can we fight the enemy when we can not even recognise it?

Those of us who have the privilege of being parents must understand that parenthood entails a responsibility. That responsibility doesn't stop with a plate of food on the table and a roof over their heads. Our children have a right to know their history. How can a Muslim child be raised without knowing the words Der Yassin, Sabra, Shatila, Qana, Srebrinica, Kashmir, Gujrat, Jenin... ?

We launched the Save Baqir Campaign back in August 1998. We had approached World Wide Welfare, a small but energetic charity helping Iraqi refugees at the time, and asked if they had a project we could make our own. The project was to raise money for the cutest 2 year old we'd ever seen. Baqir an Iraqi refugee, born and still living in a refugee camp suffers from a blood disease and will require a bone marrow transplant. Being a software house, we created an Islamic screen saver and marketed it as charityware - suggesting people donate money to the fund. The target was to raise £3500.

Nearly four years later, with your generous contributions the fund has collected £ 4780.02 (UK Sterling) [ 3rd May 2002 ]. The scope of the project was extended to help other children suffering similar conditions. So far seven Iraqi children in the refugee camps are now benefiting from the fund. We have several recent reports regarding the project including a report on the conditions at Baqirs refugee camp and also on the wonderful work "World Wide Welfare" are doing around the world and how you can help.

See Baqirs' page at:

http://www.inminds.co.uk/baqir/index.html

Baqir is nearly six years old now - the right age for a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow transplantation from an HLA identical sibling donor offers the only hope of long-term survival. Such an operation will need additional funds and needs to be carried out in the west. Baqir being a refugee has no passport or documents to travel with. A legal means of bringing him to the UK for the operation has to be found. If anyone can help with any of these issues, please contact World Wide Welfare (contact details are on the Baqir page). Thank You.

This article was written by a young Palestinian student in Washington State University. Its a classic - a short, succinct article that tells a lot.

After pressure from the Zionist lobby the newspaper was forced to issue an apology for printing the article - an all too common occurrence which itself says a lot.

I am Israel

By Hashem Said

The Daily - Washington State University, Feb. 25, 2002

I am Israel - I came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Those people who happened to be here, had no right to be here, and my people showed them they had to leave or die, razing 480 Palestinian villages to the ground, erasing their history.

I am Israel - some of my people committed massacres and later became Prime Ministers to represent me. In 1948, Menachem Begin was in charge of the unit that slaughtered the inhabitants of Deir Yassin, including 100 men, women, and children. In 1953, Ariel Sharon led the slaughter of the inhabitants of Qibya, and in 1982 arranged for our allies to butcher around 2,000 in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla.

I am Israel - carved in 1948 out of 78% of the land of Palestine, dispossessing its inhabitants and replacing them with Jews from Europe and other parts of the world. While the natives whose families lived on this land for thousands of years are not allowed to return, Jews from all over the world are welcome to instant citizenship.

I am Israel - in 1967, I swallowed the remaining lands of Palestine - the West Bank and Gaza - and placed their inhabitants under an oppressive military rule, controlling and humiliating every aspect of their daily lives. Eventually, they should get the message that they are not welcome to stay, and join the millions of Palestinian refugees in the shanty camps of Lebanon and Jordan.

I am Israel - I have the power to control American policy. My American Israel Public Affairs Committee can make or break any politician of its choosing, and as you see, they all compete to please me. All the forces of the world are powerless against me, including the UN as I have the American veto to block any condemnation of my war crimes. As Sharon so eloquently phrased it, "We control America".

I am Israel - I influence American mainstream media too, and you will always find the news tailored to my favor. I have invested millions of dollars into PR representation, and CNN, New York Times, and others have been doing an excellent job of promoting my propaganda. Look at other international news sources and you will see the difference.

I am Israel - and you Palestinians want to negotiate "peace!?" But you are not as smart as me; I will negotiate, but will only let you have your municipalities while I control your borders, your water, your airspace, and anything else of importance. While we "negotiate," I will swallow your hilltops and fill them with settlements, populated by the most extremist of my extremists, armed to the teeth. These settlements will be connected with roads you cannot use, and you will be imprisoned in your little Bantustans between them, surrounded by checkpoints in every direction.

I am Israel - with the fourth strongest army in the world, possessing nuclear weapons. How dare your children confront my oppression with stones, don't you know my soldiers won't hesitate to blow their heads off? In 17 months, I have killed 900 of you and injured 17,000, mostly civilians, and have the mandate to continue since the international community remains silent. Ignore, as I do, the hundreds of Israeli soldiers who are now refusing to carry out my control over your lands and people; their voices of conscience will not protect you.

I am Israel - and you want freedom? I have bullets, tanks, missiles, Apaches, and F-16's, to obliterate you. I have placed your towns under siege, confiscated your lands, uprooted your trees, demolished your homes, and you still demand freedom? Don't you get the message? You will never have peace or freedom, because
I am Israel .

Why Israel ?

A revealing quote of 1902 from Sir Campbell Bannerman, the Prime Minister of Britian [1905-08]:

" There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another ... if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state, it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects."

 

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