<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 1:51 PM, geoffrey mendelson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:geoffreymendelson@gmail.com" target="_blank">geoffreymendelson@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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On Oct 24, 2011, at 1:56 AM, Amos Shapira wrote:<div><br>
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I wrote:<br>
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The FSF is struggling to regain some semblance of public support after RMS's<br>
disastrous FSF boycott of Israel and his comments about Steve Jobs. Do the<br>
world a favor and let the FSF die with dignity, instead of being remembered<br>
as a bunch of racist FUDslinging lunatics.<br>
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Amos wrote:<br>
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Were there echoes of this argument outside Israel?<br>
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Yes, the hi-tech field is both heavily invested in Israel and populated by Jews. It spread like wildfire even making the BBC and other media. So while people who support the "Palestinian cause", where cheering that he made a stand, everyone with investment in Israel, or a business dependent upon Israeli products, or Israeli developed technology was aghast.<br>
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It's one thing to not have a Jew in your country club or marry your children, but it's completely different to have your stock portfolio become worthless paper.<br>
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RMS's comments on Steve Jobs where much nicer than he was given credit for. However the press was looking for a way to get rid of him, and that was it.<br>
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I am a US citizen, I vote in US elections, and I file US tax returns. There some things I leave to US residents and if I were a resident of Massachusetts I would have filed complaints to the Secretary of State and the IRS that RMS's boycott, as President of the FSF, of Israel was cause to dissolve the corporation and revoke their tax exempt status.<br>
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The founders of the FSF tried to do a legal trick when they incorporated to get more ability to "spread their message", but it also restricts them from such activity.<br>
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I did not file those complaints, but I expect that other people also read their articles of incorporation (it's on their web site), spent 10 seconds with google looking up the law behind it, (wikipedia has a good article) and did file complaints.<div>
<br><br></div></blockquote><div><br>Sorry for not following up on the legal issues (getting too tired right now), but I thought that Israel was the country that tried to legislate a non-boycott law :-)<br><br>If US law forbade boycotts, how comes Pepsi or McDonnald's were not dissolved for participating in the Arab boycott? (and this was full boycott, not merely a<br>
single-visit-personal-compliance by the foundation's president).<br><br>I need to know that, because I'm considering boycotting emails from people that boycott organizations whose presidents boycott countries that pass laws against boycotting Israel. <br>
<br>If some of the people involved in this chain are US citizens (or Israeli, or both), would I get into trouble?<br></div><br></div> (yet another) AA<br><br>[Disclaimer: This message does not express a real intention, by the author or other associated parties, to participate in any form of boycott. Just mild confusion, some amusement, and moderate insomnia]<br>
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