The comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa don't just relate to discriminatory treatment of Palestinians and human rights abuses in the occupied territories - or to the genocidal onslaught on Gaza - the ties are historical and very real.

During the apartheid era in South Africa, Israel and the South African racists were tight. Israel trained South African security forces and supplied the white regime in Pretoria with weapons.

One man who won't easily forget this is former South African intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils. He understands what persecution is about. At the beginning of the last century his parents escaped from the anti-Jewish pogroms in Tzarist Russia and immigrated to S.Africa.

Kasrils has been called "a self-hating Jew". This is what Zionists call Jews with a conscience and humanitarian convictions who don't buy into their agenda.

Kasrils is scheduled as one of the guest speakers in Toronto - the birthplace of Israel Apartheid Week.

Stateside Nir Harel of Israel's Anarchist's Against the Wall is in New York. Another prominent Israeli activist is Matan Cohen who has done great work in the drive to implement a divestment campaign against Israel at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile the boycott effort has been gathering steam. Some boycott updates from electronic intifada:

Professors and university employees in Quebec, Canada, endorsed the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees' call to boycott Israel.

SJP's actions at Hampshire College follow similar moves by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK.

In London, students held sit-ins at Goldsmith University and the London School of Economics, among other institutions. Similar protests have spread throughout the UK, with some winning concessions from university officials.

At Manchester University, about a thousand students joined a campaign equating Israel with apartheid-era South Africa, and called on the administration and student union to boycott Israeli companies and support Gaza and the BDS movement.

In Australia the University of Western Sydney's Student Association recently joined the international BDS campaign. International trade union support for political action against Israel has been seen from Spain to South Africa.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, under directive of the Council of South African Trade Unions, refused recently to unload an Israeli ship which docked in Durban, despite threats and pressure from both management and the Israeli lobby.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, with 600,000 members in 55 unions, is preparing to start a boycott of Israeli goods.

Meanwhile, the biggest trade union in Canada's Ontario province, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), was forced under pressure to moderate its call for a boycott of all academic institutions in Israel. Instead it called for a boycott of Israeli institutions engaged in research which aided the Israeli military.

Unfortunately a lot of the events associated with IAW will go underreported in a Canadian media that for the most part has chosen to demonize the event.

The Canadian media's pro-Israel bias is an insult to journalism worthy of the name.

The Toronto Star is a newspaper that sets itself up as an agent of justice, out for the little guy, ready to defend the rights of minorities in its own bailiwick. Yet the Star has done injustice to Canadians by failing to address the racism and the discrimination at the root of Israeli society in a serious in-depth manner. When was the last time they published anything close to an investigative report with a focus on the systemic discrimination and human rights violations in that country? And I don't mean a news story by Oakland Ross - there and gone - an investigative report worthy of the name.

In a sense it's ironical that there are some Star readers who view the paper as anti-Israel. A more careful look at the way they handle issues tells another story.

It's no surprise students on Canadian campuses have been stating their position strongly when major news outlets in this country fail to address their concerns in the manner they deserve to be addressed. You expect that from the National Post, but from the Star you expect better - not just an approach that allows for letters 'from all sides', Siddiqui's column, and other contributions to 'balance'. It's not good enough for a paper with the Star's track record.

Underneath are links to a few sites that are engaged in the boycott and divestment campaign. Get involved :

http://boycottisraelnow.com/list.htm

http://www.mylinkspage.com/israel.html

http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html

Also link here for Naomi Klein's January boycott call in the UK Guardian.