Why Goodbye Moto, Motorola, BDS, Israel

Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and the solidarity of the international community in the form of boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns, Palestinian civil society organizations have called on the world to say no to Israeli apartheid.

Since the founding of Israel in 1948, Motorola has been involved in assisting the state in carrying out its repressive policies towards Palestinians. Motorola established Motorola Israel as its first wholly owned subsidiary outside of the United States in 1964.

Motorola Israel profits handsomely from Israel's militarism and ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands, earning over $1 billion in annual revenues in 2007. As Motorola's chief operating officer Mike Zafirovski put it: “Our investment in Israel is one of the most successful we have made”.

Motorola today enables Israeli apartheid as Motorola South Africa once enabled South African apartheid. Forty percent owned by its American parent, Motorola South Africa supplied mobile radio transmitters to the South African police. These radio transmitters helped police suppress protest against white rule. Motorola’s dealings with the apartheid regime came to an end in 1985, when Motorola sold its South African operations to South African electronic company Allied Technologies Ltd. (Altech) on the condition that the latter cease equipment sales to South African agencies. The agreement was a win for US anti-apartheid activists, who had pressured Motorola to break its ties with the South African regime and had helped to pass municipal laws, in New York and elsewhere that prohibited city governments from doing business with companies supplying equipment used to enforce apartheid in South Africa.

Motorola enables Israel’s apartheid policies and violations of international law through the development and sale of products specifically designed for and used by the Israeli Army to maintain its settlements and perpetrate war crimes in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and elsewhere. There are 3 basic categories of Motorola products that are integral to sustaining the state of Israel’s criminal policies:

1. Munitions and components for munitions.?
2. Specialized communications equipment and systems
3. Specialized ‘surveillance and security’ equipment and systems

The word “apartheid” is the Afrikaans word for “apartness” or “separate.” In 1948, apartheid became the official policy of the white South African government, referring to the laws, policies, and practices established by the South African government to maintain the supremacy of the white minority over the non-white majority.

In 1973, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, defining apartheid as a crime against humanity, not specific to South Africa. The crime of apartheid is defined by “inhuman acts” committed with the purpose of imposing racial segregation and discrimination on a targeted group, and establishing domination of one group over another. The Convention specifically prohibits acts “designed to divide the population...by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages...the expropriation of landed property.” The Convention also prohibits measures that deprive people and organizations of their basic human rights including “the right to work, …the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence.