Over 120 Finnish scholars and 20 org. call to end Israeli apartheid

Helsinki (QNN)- Over 120 scholars and artists, and 20 cultural organizations and academic institutions have pledged support for the Palestinian call for an academic and cultural boycott of complicit Israeli institutions.
“We condemn Israel’s colonialism, occupation and violence against Palestinian people,” they said in a statement published in June.
“The human rights organizations B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch this year concluded that the Israeli government’s policies amount to the crime of apartheid as defined in international law. International civil society has risen to widely support Palestinian rights,” they continued.
“The international media has begun to shift from normalizing the occupation of Palestinian lands and the persecution of Palestinians, and silencing the critics, towards reporting openly about the situation.”
“Defense of human rights has been energised by the global antiracist movement, in particular the change in atmosphere engendered by the Black Lives Matter movement.”
“Now it is time to take action!” The statement read.
The Finnish scholars and institutions have also expressed solidarity and support to the cultural and academic boycott of Israel as part of the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“BDS is a Palestinian-led nonviolent anti-racist movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity,” they wrote.
The Finnish scholars and institutions have also pledged “not to accept any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel nor to accept any funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel.”
“We will not present or distribute artworks or publications commissioned by the state of Israel. We pledge to follow the guidelines of the BDS-movement. We commit to this boycott until Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights,” they stressed while calling the State of Finland to “respect human rights and immediately end all arms trade with Israel and ban the import of products from the illegal settlements.”
They have also urged Finnish and Finland-based artists, cultural workers and academics as well as cultural organizations and academic institutions to join the boycott.