[lbo-talk] SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) suit against Olympia Co-op boycott of Israel dismissed

[Gar Lipow]

The food co-op in my little hick (if granola) town joined the Boycott,
Divest and Sanction movement to oppose Israeli Apartheid. A minority
of co-op members, after being roundly defeated in board elections,
decided to use the courts to punish the co-op. At the time of the
election they threatened the co-op: if you don't rescind the boycott
you will face a "burdensome and expensive legal process". And with the
help of StandWithUs, and Israeli funded hate group that opposes
Palestinian rights they did indeed file a lawsuit which has now been
dismissed (though undoubtedly there will be an appeal).

 To read more about the lawsuit and its dismissal:

 http://www.theolympian.com/2012/02/27/2007774/judge-tosses-lawsuit-that-sought.html
short Url: http://bit.ly/yWNknc
To read more about role of Israel in this:
http://www.alternet.org/story/154256/is_israeli_government_involved_in_harassment_lawsuit_against_washington_food_cooperative_?page=entire
Short url: http://bit.ly/wBulCE
To read more about olympia BDS
http://www.olympiabds.org/

A picture of me at a recent BDS demonstration. (I don't know why the
photographer isolated me from the other participants. It was fairly
well attended for an early morning demo before a court hearing)
https://twitter.com/#!/tescdivest/status/172717828858843136/photo/1/large
short url: http://bit.ly/wtiOPT

Anyway, at this point the filers of the lawsuit have incurred a
liability of $50,000 penalty plus legal costs for defending against
their now dismissed suit. Some on this list suggested that BDS was not
worth the effort, but the Israeli consulate and the Israeli funded
hate group StandWithUs certainly seems to think it worth some effort
to oppose.

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