Israeli Settlements

Pro-Palestine activists declare victory after shipping giant Maersk divests from Israeli settlements

Spread the love

Original article by Peoples Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Maersk’s decision follows over a year of pressure by the “Mask off Maersk” campaign, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement

Danish shipping giant Maersk has become the first global shipping company to divest from companies in Israeli settlements following a concerted pressure campaign by pro-Palestine activists across the globe. The company has stated that it will cut ties with companies linked to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

This decision follows over a year of pressure by the “Mask off Maersk” campaign, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), an international Palestinian diaspora organization. Since launching the campaign in the summer of 2024, the PYM has aimed to shed light on Maersk’s role in supplying Israel with military shipments as it continues its genocide in Gaza. In January of 2025, PYM released a report detailing Maersk’s role in facilitating exports from Israeli settlements. 

PYM noted in a statement that “this marks the first time in history that a global shipping company has committed to full compliance with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) database,” which documents “all business enterprises involved in certain specified activities related to the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” according to the OHCHR. 

Divestment from Israeli settlements has been a popular demand of the pro-Palestine movement for decades. “Maersk’s decision proves that divestment from occupation is not only possible – it’s necessary,” said Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “This sends a clear message to the global shipping industry: compliance with international law and basic human rights is not optional. Doing business with Israel’s illegal settlements is no longer viable, and the world is watching to see who follows next.” 

“Still, as Israel escalates its military aggression across the region, Maersk continues to profit from the genocide of our people – regularly shipping F-35 components used to bomb and massacre Palestinians,” Aisha added. “The Mask Off Maersk campaign is far from over. We will continue to build pressure and mobilize people power until Maersk cuts all ties to genocide and ends the transport of weapons and weapons components to Israel.” 

Since its launch, the “Mask Off Maersk” campaign has spread across the globe, with Palestine solidarity protests in Morocco delaying a Maersk ship reportedly bound for Israel back in April. In February, activists shut down Maersk headquarters in Copenhagen through a demonstration of nearly 1,000 people. Last fall, the Spanish government decided to block Maersk ships bound to Israel following pressure from activists.

Original article by Peoples Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingPro-Palestine activists declare victory after shipping giant Maersk divests from Israeli settlements

Israeli Minister Threatens to Turn Occupied West Bank Into Ruins ‘Like in the Gaza Strip’

Spread the love

Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, speaks during a rally with supporters in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 26, 2022.
 (Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)

One advocate responded: “Take this seriously. If extremists like Smotrich get their way they will do to the West Bank exactly what they have done to Gaza.”

Israel’s forces have killed at least 36,224 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in less than eight months, and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday threatened to similarly attack the illegally occupied West Bank.

Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, shared on social media a video he recorded in Bat Hefer, following similar posts a day earlier. The Times of Israel reported that the minister’s comments came after Palestinians’ gunfire from Tulkarem in the West Bank toward the Israeli settlement.

“Our message to the neighbors beyond the fence in Tulkarem, Nur Shams, Shuweika, and Qalqilya: We will turn you into ruined cities like in the Gaza Strip if the terror you are exerting on the settlements continues,” Smotrich said in Hebrew, according to a translation from Al Jazeera.

NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy pointed out that not only is Smotrich an advocate of illegal Israeli settlements—he has a home near Kedumim—but also “his role as finance minister means he oversees budgets, like police and army.”

Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns of the U.K.-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, said of Smotrich’s remarks: “Take this seriously. If extremists like Smotrich get their way they will do to the West Bank exactly what they have done to Gaza. Starting with the refugee camps and Area C communities (to a certain extent it has already begun).”

Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 500 Palestinians in the West Bank.

Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, issued a statement about multiple recent events, including the minister’s comments.

“Every day, we see Israel’s far-right government targeting civilian infrastructure vital to the lives of ordinary Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank,” Hooper said. “This ongoing destruction has one goal—to make life unbearable for the Palestinian people and to force their removal from the land of Palestine.”

CAIR also “condemned the far-right Israeli government’s destruction of a vegetable market in the West Bank city of Ramallah,” explaining: “During a raid, Israeli stun grenades and tear gas canisters ignited the blaze that consumed a large portion of the market. Some 200 shops and stalls were impacted.”

The group further pointed out that the devastation in Ramallah followed Israeli forces bombing a pair of encampments in and near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, attacks that killed dozens of Palestinians displaced by the war—which over 30 countries have argued to the International Court of Justice amounts to genocide.

Smotrich has come under fire for other statements since Israel launched its retaliation for the October 7 attack. Just last month, in what critics called blatantly genocidal language, he advocated for “total annihilation” of Gaza.

In January, Smotrich said that the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza would be a “humanitarian solution” and “a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where, four minutes away from our settlements, there is a hotbed of hatred and terror, where there are 2 million people who wake up every morning with the desire to destroy the state of Israel.”

Smotrich made similar remarks before the current escalation, declaring in March 2023 that an entire Palestinian town should be “wiped out” by Israel and that “there’s no such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as a Palestinian people.”

Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingIsraeli Minister Threatens to Turn Occupied West Bank Into Ruins ‘Like in the Gaza Strip’