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<h1>Countering Israeli Greenwashing At The People’s Climate March</h1>
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<div class="cat-date-line"><big><big><span class="cat-date-line2"><a
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<span class="cat-date-line3"> <a
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<span class="cat-date-line4">By Gabriel Schivone, <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/gabriel-schivone/countering-israeli-greenwashing-peoples-climate-march"
target="_blank">www.electronicintifada.net</a><br>
September 22nd, 2014</span><br>
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<p><big><big>As a possibly historic People’s Climate March in New
York City approaches this weekend, a debate among
participants and the organizers over Israel-aligned
co-sponsors smolders below the surface.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Since the turn of the century especially, <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/apr/16/climate-change-justice-summit">climate
justice</a> activists have aimed to raise public awareness
and shift national policies regarding the catastrophically
growing buildup of carbon-based fuels (and the resulting
emission of carbon dioxide) overloading Earth’s atmosphere.
An international consensus among scientists maintains that
human societies must act before it is too late. In other
words, possible extinction of the species is imminent and
humanity may only have the span of a few years to do
something about it.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>In the US, poor communities (especially communities
of color) would likely feel the harshest effects first.
Societies in the Global South have already been <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights">enduring</a> climate
change emergencies while leading the world in protection
efforts.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Preceding the <a
href="http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/">UN Climate
Summit</a> on 23 September, activists organized the
People’s Climate March, <a
href="http://350.org/press-release/one-month/">expecting</a>
the turnout to be the “largest demonstration for climate
action in history.” More than twenty thousand people have
confirmed their attendance on the march’s <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/events/301805359975258/permalink/347734562049004/">Facebook
page</a>. In 2000, the term “climate justice” first
entered public discourse during the UN’s Climate Change
Summit at The Hague, when the Rising Tide network organized
an alternative summit, admonishing the “developed” nations
and urging efforts to fix the problem, since they caused the
mess.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The majority of fossil fuels are used in the
industrial nations, whose economies are overwhelmingly
dependent on coal- and oil-based energy.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>South Asian <a
href="http://www.akpress.org/undoing-border-imperialism.html">author</a>
and activist Harsha Walia posted on the upcoming climate
march’s page expressing concern about Israel-aligned groups
as event co-sponsors. “At a time when Israeli war crimes are
massacring Palestinian people, how is a climate justice
march (ostensibly rooted in social justice and human rights)
aligning themselves with Zionism?” <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/events/301805359975258/permalink/345102712312189/">asked</a>
Walia, who identifies as a migrant justice and Palestine
solidarity activist, on the march’s page.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>On their websites, several organizations
co-sponsoring the march indeed explicitly have expressed
support for Israel or Israel’s military.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The People’s Climate March organizers responded,
quoting their event website, that the march “will bring
together a spectrum of people with a broad range of
perspectives” who have “agreed to gather peacefully on
common ground to support the shared common goal: Solving the
climate crisis.”</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Unsatisfied by the response, a “Free Palestine!” bloc
has been organized as part of the march, to counter the
involvement of Israel-aligned groups. According to the
page’s description: “Given the current massacre of the
Palestinian people at the behest of a US/Israeli
military-industrial complex that is one of the largest
consumers of fossil fuels in the world,” the bloc’s Facebook
page reads, “having Zionists at a climate justice march
doesn’t seem to make sense.” Roughly 600 people have
confirmed attendance on the group’s <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/events/358174271001821/">Facebook
page</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h2><big><big><strong>Challenging “Green” Israel</strong></big></big></h2>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The story reaches far beyond several Israel-aligned
groups sponsoring a single climate march. Faced with
consistent negative global perceptions over state policies
in the occupied Palestinian territories and in the region,
the Israeli foreign ministry officially launched the “Brand
Israel” campaign in 2006. <a
href="http://forward.com/articles/2070/israel-aims-to-improve-its-public-image/">With
the help of US marketing executives</a>, the Israeli
government poured in enormous resources to “<a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/foreign-ministry-pr-firm-rebrand-israel-as-land-of-achievements-1.255073">rebrand</a>”
Israel in a positive light upon the world. By 2010, the
ministry allotted some $26 million for <a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/a-documentary-guide-to-brand-israel-and-the-art-of-pinkwashing">branding
efforts</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Part of the spin campaign comes under the guise of
protecting the environment. In June 2012, Israel, for the
first time, launched “an <a
href="http://www.israelemb.org/washington/NewsAndEvents/Pages/Israel-launches-green-branding-TV-campaign.aspx">international
television campaign</a> on CNN to brand itself as a green
country which pioneers ‘green technology,’” its US embassy
stated. “Israel advertises its green technology edge to
strengthen its image as a ‘Green Country,” according to the
<a
href="http://www.sviva.gov.il/English/ResourcesandServices/NewsAndEvents/NewsAndMessageDover/Pages/2012/06_June_2012/GreenIsrael_240612.aspx">Israeli
Ministry of Environmental Protection</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Efforts to rebrand Israel explicitly aim to divert
attention away from Israeli policy in the occupied
Palestinian territories, instead focusing on Israel’s
positively spun and <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israel-tech-site-paying-interns-covertly-plant-stories-social-media">frequently
overblown</a> “green” achievements. The mission of the
Green Zionist Alliance (GZA), a co-sponsor of the People’s
Climate March, harmonizes with Israel’s rebranding
campaigns.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Spokespeople from the Green Zionist Alliance were not
available for comment, directing inquiries to their website.
GZA’s <a
href="http://www.greenzionism.org/resources/articles/379">statement
on Gaza</a> this summer attempts to equalize the
disproportion of violence and calls for a two-state
solution. Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” that lasted
51 days killed more than 2100 Palestinians (mostly
civilians, including more than 500 children), as well as
five Israeli civilians (including one child), a Thai migrant
worker, and 66 Israeli soldiers.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>According to the <a
href="http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/environment/">Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)</a>,
Israel ranks at the bottom 33 out of 36 countries in “water
quality” and 25 out of 36 countries in air pollution.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>In order to mask Israel’s ongoing military occupation
and colonization of the occupied territories and to hide its
<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-green-israel-ads-cnn-greenwash-sewage-occupation-and-apartheid">poor
record</a> when it comes to adverse environmental impacts,
the Israeli government and its allies abroad continue to
pour enormous resources into branding projects.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h2><big><big><strong>Israel</strong><strong>: part of US failure
on climate change</strong></big></big></h2>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Countering Israeli “<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/greenwashing">greenwashing</a>”
can be an inroad to pressuring the United States as Israel’s
leading patron. During Israel’s summer 2014 assault on the
Gaza Strip, the US <a
href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/stop-us-shipment-fuel-israels-armed-forces-evidence-gaza-war-crimes-mounts-2014-08-04">delivered</a>
its latest shipment of jet fuel for the Israeli military.
Between 2013 and 2014 the US has delivered thousands of tons
of fuel to Israel for military purposes, along with $3
billion in yearly military aid and other unique economic and
political perks enjoyed by no other country.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The US is also a relevant target for social pressure
on climate change because its policies (and lack thereof)
represent perhaps the world’s single greatest prospect for
helping or harming the dismal climate situation. The fact
that the richest, most powerful country in the world has <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noam-chomsky/climate-change-nuclear-war_b_3383593.html">no
national policy limiting fossil fuel use</a> continues to
stifle any meaningful efforts to deal with climate change.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Nevertheless, there are countries whose national
commitments to environmental justice and holding Israel
accountable provide a model for other nations, including the
US, to emulate.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Bolivia has enacted unparalleled environmental
protection rights and leads the hemisphere (if not the
world) in its level of criticism of Israel. Bolivia <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/bolivia-cuts-ties-with-israel-seeks-genocide-charges-against-israeli-officials-1.268131">severed
diplomatic relations</a> with Israel in protest over
Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza that killed more than
1,400 Palestinians (again, the vast majority civilians) in
the winter 2008-2009.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Since that time Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has
called for international criminal genocide charges against
Israel. Most recently, Morales declared Israel a “terrorist
state” and <a
href="http://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-declares-israel-terrorist-state-184920411.html">canceled
a visa exemption</a> agreement that had formerly allowed
Israelis to travel freely in Bolivia without a visa.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>In 2010, Bolivia <a
href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/44900268/Ley-de-Derechos-de-la-Madre-Tierra-Estado-Plurinacional-de-Bolivia">passed</a> the
Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights">conferring
unprecedented rights</a> on nature equal to those of
humans. The conceptual building blocks for industrial
nations in Europe and North America to follow Bolivia’s
indigenous leadership can be found in the “Charter of the
Forests” traced to the thirteenth-century Magna Carta, the
origin of modern western constitutional law.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The People’s Climate March in New York City has the
power to demonstrate the widening groundswell of public
concern over climate change. With enough social pressure,
even the US can follow Bolivia’s lead, both in holding
Israel accountable and setting down the path to broad-based
environmental action on which a livable future depends.</big></big></p>
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