Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Encyclopedia
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organization
s in support of the Palestinian cause "... for Boycott
, Divestment
and Sanctions
against Israel
until it complies with International Law
and Universal Principles of Human Rights
." The three stated goals of the campaign are:
(OPGAI) presented a call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to the 5th World Social Forum
in Porto Alegre
, Brazil
(26 January and 31 January).
The launch of the campaign coincided with the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice
ruling on the Israeli West Bank barrier
.
Adalah-NY, held a demonstration in front of Lev Leviev
’s store in New York. Adalah-NY has been holding this demonstration annually since 2007. Activists doctored traditional carols and stories such as “The 12 Days of Boycott” and “The Grinch who Tried to Steal Palestine,” claiming that Leviev’s “dark task” and “true crime” are to “steal Palestine.” The song also blames Leviev for alleged human rights violations in Africa.
War on Want's campaign "Help win justice for the Palestinian people this Christmas" accuses Israel of "illegal Occupation," "daily human rights abuses," and "the siege on Gaza and the Apartheid Wall." As in previous years, this NGO calls for holiday donations in the form of "alternative gifts," in order to "launch a sustained campaign against UK companies that are profiting from the Occupation" and to "secure compensation for those who have lost land due to construction of the Apartheid Wall."
stores in Australia, saying, "BDS is a non-violent process and I don't think it's the right of anybody to use BDS as a violent action or to prevent people from buying from any place."
(AUT) Council voted to boycott
two Israeli universities: University of Haifa
and Bar-Ilan University
. The motions to AUT Council were prompted by the call for a boycott from Palestinian academics and others. The AUT Council voted to boycott Bar-Ilan because it runs courses at colleges in the occupied West Bank
(in Ariel
College) and "is thus directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". It boycotted Haifa because it was alleged that the university had wrongly disciplined a lecturer. The action against the lecturer was supposedly for supporting a student who wrote about attacks on Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel (he withdrew the claims when sued for libel
and the University denied having disciplined the lecturer). The boycott, which was not compulsory, was set to last until Haifa "ceases its victimisation of academic staff and students who seek to research and discuss the history of the founding of the state of Israel,".
The AUT's decision was immediately condemned by certain groups, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and members of the AUT. Critics of the boycott within and outside the AUT noted that at the council at which the boycott motion was passed the leadership had cut short debate citing a lack of time. The Board of Deputies of British Jews
and the Union of Jewish Students
accused the AUT of purposely holding the vote during Passover
, when many Jewish members could not be present. Israel's embassy in London issued a statement criticizing the AUT's vote as a "distorted decision that ignores the British public's opinion", and condemning the resolutions for being "as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted." Zvi Ravner, Israel’s deputy ambassador in London, said that "[t]he last time that Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany." Abraham Foxman
of the Anti-Defamation League
issued a statement condemning the "misguided and ill-timed decision to boycott academics from the only country in the Middle East where universities enjoy political independence".
The AUT said that members had voted for the boycott in response to a plea for action by a group of Palestinian academics. It was condemned by the Israeli embassy in London, the British ambassador to Israel, by Jewish human rights
groups, by al-Quds University
in Jerusalem, by the National Postgraduate Committee
of the UK, and by Universities UK
.
After the great backlash and condemnation - both internal and external - members of the AUT, headed by Open University
lecturer Jon Pike - gathered enough signatures to call a special meeting on the subject. The meeting was held on May 26, 2005, at Friends Meeting House in London. At the meeting the AUT decided to cancel the boycott of both Israeli universities. Reasons cited for the decision were: the damage to academic freedom
, the hampering of dialogue and peace effort between Israelis and Palestinian
, and that boycotting Israel alone could not be justified.
At the 2006 annual conference of the United Kingdom
lecturers' union, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
(NAFTHE), members were asked to support a motion calling for a boycott of Israel
i academics and universities which failed to distance themselves from "apartheid policies". Although the motion was passed it ceased to be official policy just two days later when the union merged with the Association of University Teachers.
Prior to the NAFTHE debate the Federation of Unions of Palestinian University Professors and Employees and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel described the campaign in a letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement as "the only non-violent forms of action available to people of conscience the world over" adding, "We salute those who recognise that, since justice for Palestinians cannot be expected from the international centres of world power, they must organise to further the cause of justice and genuine peace." In contrast, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg
argued that "it is never a good idea for academics to boycott colleagues in other countries on political grounds. During the Cold War, American and Soviet scientists were careful to keep intellectual communication open; this not only served the cause of science, but promoted personal relationships that led to initiatives in arms control. In a similar spirit, when I ran the Jerusalem Winter School of Theoretical Physics we did what we could to recruit Arab students from Muslim countries whose governments discriminated against Jews. We never dreamt of boycotting them."
At its first annual conference (in 2007) the new British academic union (UCU) voted in favour of discussing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but not individuals .
In June 2009, several French organisations gathered to organize a French BDS campaign against specific targets like Carrefour
, Ahava
, Agrexco-Carmel, Veolia Transport
and Alstom
.
Olivia Zemor, of the group EuroPalestine, was summoned to appear in French court in 2011 for posting a video to the internet of Palestinian and French activists wearing t-shirts that called for a boycott of Israel. Zemor says she was not present but only published the video on the internet. The court has ruled that "The call for the boycott of the products of a State by a citizen is not forbidden under French law" and is part of the freedom of expression.
, originally started in Toronto in 2005.
A three-day BDS conference held at the Université du Québec
à Montréal in October 2010 was "a dismal failure" according to Quebec-Israel Committee
(QIC) executive director Luciano Del Negro.
decided to suspend ties with Israeli Ben-Gurion University, while still allowing "individual faculty" to continue cooperating with the Israeli University on a water purification project, citing the University's support for the Israeli military. The decision was seen to affect projects in biotechnology and water purification.
However, two days later, Ihron Rensburg, vice chancellor and principal of the university issued a statement saying that "UJ is not part of an academic boycott of Israel...It has never been UJ's intention to sever all ties with BGU, although it may have been the intention of some UJ staff members."
Australian pro-Palestinian groups have targeted, in particular, the Israeli-owned business Max Brenner
. In Victoria
in 2011, a picket was staged of a Max Brenner store located in the Queen Victoria Village
, in Melbourne
's central business district, for the company's alleged support for the Israeli Defense Forces. 19 activists were arrested during the protest. 16 were charged and bailed on offences including assaulting police
, riotous behaviour
, besetting premises and trespass
. The Australian Jewish News reported the protesters were not peaceful and that no member of the public was injured, however The Palestine Telegraph
reported that the protest was peaceful and that a protester suffered a dislocated shoulder from police. The incident led conservative blogger and author, Pamela Gellar, to label Students for Palestine
(one of the groups involved in the protest) a "terrorist organization". Noam Chomsky
, Norman Finkelstein
and Gerry Conlon were signatories to the petition to defend those arrested, known as the "Boycott Israel 19".
Though Max Brenner is targeted by some Australian Palestinian activists the Australian Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
said, “I don't think in 21st-century Australia there is a place for the attempted boycott of a Jewish business.” In addition, the Reverend Jim Barr, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, while supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, disagreed with the protest, saying, "that stuff just discredits the whole movement."
In New South Wales
in 2011, Walt Secord
of the Labor Party
's NSW Legislative Council
, called on the NSW Minister for Police
, Michael Gallacher, to "provide assurances for the protection of businesses with Israeli links" after two BDS protesters were arrested outside a Max Brenner store. Also in New South Wales, on April 19, 2011, the town council of Marrickville reversed its decision of December 2010 to boycott Israeli goods and to support the global BDS campaign.
has called on the international community to treat Israel as it treated apartheid South Africa and supports the divestment campaign against Israel.
reported that many artists, academics and celebrities have supported and participated in the cultural boycotting of Israel. Artists who have voiced support for the campaign or cancelled appearances in Israel citing political reasons include musicians Elvis Costello
, Brian Eno
, Gil Scott Heron, Pete Seeger
, The Pixies, Roger Waters
, writers Eduardo Galeano
and Arundhati Roy
, filmmakers Ken Loach
and Jean-Luc Godard
. Artists who have voiced oppposition to the campaign include writers Umberto Eco
, film makers Joel and Ethan Coen, and musicians John Lydon
and Gene Simmons
. Many musicians such as Elton John
, Leonard Cohen
, Lady Gaga
, Rihanna
, Metallica
, Madonna
, Paul McCartney
and Ziggy Marley
have chosen to perform in Israel in recent years. Novelist Ian McEwan
, upon being awarded the Jerusalem Prize, was urged to turn it down, but said that "If I only went to countries that I approve of, I probably would never get out of bed...It's not great if everyone stops talking."
In August 2011, the American National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) endorsed the BDS campaign against Israel.
The Irish Dance production Riverdance
performed in Israel in September 2011, and despite requests that it boycott Israel, Riverdance posted this statement on their website: "Riverdance supports the policy of the Irish Government and indeed the policy of every other EU state that cultural interaction is preferable to isolation."
The show then proceeded as planned.
argued that by what they perceive as singling out Israel and applying double standards, the BDS movement delegitimizes Israel. These groups and individuals argue that regardless of whether or not the participants in boycotts seek to threaten Israel's legitimacy, the movement itself and the organizers behind it have the same goal: isolate Israel like South Africa. Although BDS has tried to finesse the question of whether the movement is seeking a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many of its leaders have gone on the record as seeking the anathema-to-Israelis "secular binational Palestine", including Omar Barghouti.
Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz
asserted that the BDS movement abets terrorism. "People who advocate boycotts and divestiture will literally have blood on their hands," he said. "They encourage terrorism and discourage the laying down of arms."
Martin Raffel, who oversees the Israel Action Network, argued in March 2011 that Israel's supporters can respectfully debate artists who choose to boycott the West Bank town of Ariel
, but that "not recognizing Israel as a Jewish democratic state is a completely different story."
The pro-Israeli NGO Monitor
has produced "the “BDS Sewer System” which provides detailed information, in graphic form, on the sources of delegitimization campaigns against Israel."
The new law drew a lot of criticism, including a petition by 32 Israeli law professors arguing that the law is unconstitutional and does grievous harm to the freedom of political expression and freedom of protest. Other pro-Israel advocates who are fully opposed to BDS, including Gerald Steinberg from NGO Monitor
and Morton Klein from the Zionist Organization of America
, have criticized the law by saying that there are many better avenues with which to counter BDS.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s in support of the Palestinian cause "... for Boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
, Divestment
Divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for either financial or ethical objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm...
and Sanctions
International sanctions
International sanctions are actions taken by countries against others for political reasons, either unilaterally or multilaterally.There are several types of sanctions....
against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
until it complies with International Law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and Universal Principles of Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
." The three stated goals of the campaign are:
- An end to Israel's "occupationIsraeli-occupied territoriesThe Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
and colonization of all ArabArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
lands", as well as "dismantling of the WallIsraeli West Bank barrierThe Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
;" - Israeli recognition of the "fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of IsraelArab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
to full equality;" and, - Israeli respect, protection, and promotion of "the rights of Palestinian refugees to returnPalestinian right of returnThe Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
to their homes and properties as stipulated in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194."
Background
In January 2005 the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy InitiativeOccupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative
The Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative is a common platform for NGOs working in the West Bank and the Golan Heights to coordinate their activities for the World Social Forum and beyond....
(OPGAI) presented a call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to the 5th World Social Forum
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...
in Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(26 January and 31 January).
The launch of the campaign coincided with the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
ruling on the Israeli West Bank barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
.
BDS and the use of Christmas
Friends of Sabeel-North America circulated a list of ten companies to boycott titled “All I want for Christmas is an End to Apartheid,” stating that “While there are many Israeli and multinational companies that benefit from apartheid, we put together this list to highlight ten specific companies to target.”- AhavaAhavaAhava is an Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures skin care products made of mud and mineral-based compounds from the Dead Sea. The company's administrative headquarters are located in Holon but the main manufacturing plant and showroom are in Mitzpe Shalem, an Israeli settlement located on...
- Delta Galil IndustriesDelta Galil IndustriesDelta Galil Industries is an Israeli textile firm headquartered in Tel Aviv with plants around the world. The owner is Israel Prize laureate Dov Lautman. Delta Galil Industries has an annual turnover of $700 million and is traded on NASDAQ....
- MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
- L'Oreal / The Body ShopL'OréalThe L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
- Dorot Garlic and Herbs
- Estee LauderEstée LauderEstée Lauder may refer to:* Estée Lauder * Estée Lauder Companies...
- Intel
- SabraSabra (company)Sabra Dipping Company, LLC is a U.S.-based company which produces Middle Eastern Style-style food products, including hummus, eggplant dip, baba ghanoush, and Mediterranean salsa. All Sabra products are certified kosher and vegetarian, and are available throughout the U.S. and Canada...
- Sara LeeSara LeeSara Lee Corporation is a global consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. It has operations in more than 40 countries and sells its products in over 180 nations worldwide...
- Victoria's SecretVictoria's SecretVictoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
Adalah-NY, held a demonstration in front of Lev Leviev
Lev Leviev
Lev Avnerovich Leviev is a Bukharian-Israeli billionaire businessman, with a net worth of roughly $1.5 billion following the 2008 global financial crisis. Leviev is one of the most prominent Mizrahi Jewish individuals in the world and has been a major philanthropist for Jewish causes in Eastern...
’s store in New York. Adalah-NY has been holding this demonstration annually since 2007. Activists doctored traditional carols and stories such as “The 12 Days of Boycott” and “The Grinch who Tried to Steal Palestine,” claiming that Leviev’s “dark task” and “true crime” are to “steal Palestine.” The song also blames Leviev for alleged human rights violations in Africa.
War on Want's campaign "Help win justice for the Palestinian people this Christmas" accuses Israel of "illegal Occupation," "daily human rights abuses," and "the siege on Gaza and the Apartheid Wall." As in previous years, this NGO calls for holiday donations in the form of "alternative gifts," in order to "launch a sustained campaign against UK companies that are profiting from the Occupation" and to "secure compensation for those who have lost land due to construction of the Apartheid Wall."
Palestinian Delegate to Australia
In October 2011, Izzat Abdulhadi, head of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia said that he is against the "full-scale" BDS campaign, and in particular expressed his anger over the occasionally violent protests at the Max BrennerMax Brenner
Max Brenner is an Israeli chocolate shop chain. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strauss Group, Israel’s second-largest food and beverage company. Max Brenner chocolates are marketed as "Chocolate by the Bald Man."-History:...
stores in Australia, saying, "BDS is a non-violent process and I don't think it's the right of anybody to use BDS as a violent action or to prevent people from buying from any place."
United Kingdom
On April 22, 2005, the Association of University TeachersAssociation of University Teachers
The Association of University Teachers was the trade union and professional association that represented academic and academic-related staff at pre-1992 universities in the United Kingdom...
(AUT) Council voted to boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
two Israeli universities: University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
and Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
. The motions to AUT Council were prompted by the call for a boycott from Palestinian academics and others. The AUT Council voted to boycott Bar-Ilan because it runs courses at colleges in the occupied West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
(in Ariel
Ariel (city)
Ariel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank. Ariel was established in 1978. Its population at the end of 2009 was 17,600, including 7,000 immigrants who came to Israel after 1990. It is the fourth largest Jewish settlement city in the West Bank., after Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit,...
College) and "is thus directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". It boycotted Haifa because it was alleged that the university had wrongly disciplined a lecturer. The action against the lecturer was supposedly for supporting a student who wrote about attacks on Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel (he withdrew the claims when sued for libel
Alexandroni Brigade
The Alexandroni Brigade is an Israel Defense Forces brigade that fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Along with the 7th Armoured Brigade both units had 139 killed during the first battle of Latrun - Operation Ben Nun Alef .The unit is currently a reserve unit.-Katz controversy:In 1998, Teddy Katz...
and the University denied having disciplined the lecturer). The boycott, which was not compulsory, was set to last until Haifa "ceases its victimisation of academic staff and students who seek to research and discuss the history of the founding of the state of Israel,".
The AUT's decision was immediately condemned by certain groups, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and members of the AUT. Critics of the boycott within and outside the AUT noted that at the council at which the boycott motion was passed the leadership had cut short debate citing a lack of time. The Board of Deputies of British Jews
Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is the main representative body of British Jews. Founded in 1760 as a joint committee of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities in London, it has since become a widely recognised forum for the views of the different sectors of the UK Jewish...
and the Union of Jewish Students
Union of Jewish Students
The Union of Jewish Students of the United Kingdom and Ireland was established in 1919, when it was known as the Inter-University Jewish Federation...
accused the AUT of purposely holding the vote during Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, when many Jewish members could not be present. Israel's embassy in London issued a statement criticizing the AUT's vote as a "distorted decision that ignores the British public's opinion", and condemning the resolutions for being "as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted." Zvi Ravner, Israel’s deputy ambassador in London, said that "[t]he last time that Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany." Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
issued a statement condemning the "misguided and ill-timed decision to boycott academics from the only country in the Middle East where universities enjoy political independence".
The AUT said that members had voted for the boycott in response to a plea for action by a group of Palestinian academics. It was condemned by the Israeli embassy in London, the British ambassador to Israel, by Jewish human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups, by al-Quds University
Al-Quds University
Al-Quds University is a Palestinian university with campuses in Jerusalem, Abu Dis, and al-Bireh. It was founded in 1984, but its official constitution was written in 1993 when Mohammed Nusseibeh, its first Chancellor and Chancellor of the College of Science and Technology, announced its...
in Jerusalem, by the National Postgraduate Committee
National Postgraduate Committee
The National Postgraduate Committee of the United Kingdom represents postgraduates at UK universities. Since 2002 it has held charitable status...
of the UK, and by Universities UK
Universities UK
Universities UK began life as the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century when there were informal meetings involving Vice-Chancellors of a number of universities and Principals of university colleges...
.
After the great backlash and condemnation - both internal and external - members of the AUT, headed by Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
lecturer Jon Pike - gathered enough signatures to call a special meeting on the subject. The meeting was held on May 26, 2005, at Friends Meeting House in London. At the meeting the AUT decided to cancel the boycott of both Israeli universities. Reasons cited for the decision were: the damage to academic freedom
Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
, the hampering of dialogue and peace effort between Israelis and Palestinian
Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
Projects working for peace among Arabs and Israelis have been operating for years in different fields.- Policy groups:Organizations or institutions which address and analyze policy issues in a wide range of areas...
, and that boycotting Israel alone could not be justified.
At the 2006 annual conference of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
lecturers' union, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education was the British trade union and professional association for people working with those above statutory school age, and primarily concerned with providing education, training or research...
(NAFTHE), members were asked to support a motion calling for a boycott of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i academics and universities which failed to distance themselves from "apartheid policies". Although the motion was passed it ceased to be official policy just two days later when the union merged with the Association of University Teachers.
Prior to the NAFTHE debate the Federation of Unions of Palestinian University Professors and Employees and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel described the campaign in a letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement as "the only non-violent forms of action available to people of conscience the world over" adding, "We salute those who recognise that, since justice for Palestinians cannot be expected from the international centres of world power, they must organise to further the cause of justice and genuine peace." In contrast, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles....
argued that "it is never a good idea for academics to boycott colleagues in other countries on political grounds. During the Cold War, American and Soviet scientists were careful to keep intellectual communication open; this not only served the cause of science, but promoted personal relationships that led to initiatives in arms control. In a similar spirit, when I ran the Jerusalem Winter School of Theoretical Physics we did what we could to recruit Arab students from Muslim countries whose governments discriminated against Jews. We never dreamt of boycotting them."
At its first annual conference (in 2007) the new British academic union (UCU) voted in favour of discussing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but not individuals .
France
Following the Gaza War in 2008-2009, in February 2009, a call for an academic boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli institutions was published.In June 2009, several French organisations gathered to organize a French BDS campaign against specific targets like Carrefour
Carrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
, Ahava
Ahava (company)
Ahava is an Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures skin care products made of mud and mineral-based compounds from the Dead Sea. The company's administrative headquarters are located in Holon but the main manufacturing plant and showroom are in Mitzpe Shalem, an Israeli settlement located on...
, Agrexco-Carmel, Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement...
and Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
.
Olivia Zemor, of the group EuroPalestine, was summoned to appear in French court in 2011 for posting a video to the internet of Palestinian and French activists wearing t-shirts that called for a boycott of Israel. Zemor says she was not present but only published the video on the internet. The court has ruled that "The call for the boycott of the products of a State by a citizen is not forbidden under French law" and is part of the freedom of expression.
Canada
The most visible face of organizing in support of BDS in Canada is Israeli Apartheid WeekIsraeli Apartheid Week
Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual series of university lectures and rallies held in February or March. According to the organisation "[t]he aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns as part of a...
, originally started in Toronto in 2005.
A three-day BDS conference held at the Université du Québec
Université du Québec
The University of Quebec is a system of ten provincially-run public universities in Quebec, Canada. Its headquarters are in Quebec City. The university coordinates university programs for more than 87,000 students. It offers more than 300 programs...
à Montréal in October 2010 was "a dismal failure" according to Quebec-Israel Committee
Quebec-Israel Committee
The Quebec-Israel Committee is an organization in the Canadian province of Quebec. Devoted to pro-Israel advocacy, it is a member of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy and an affiliate of the Canada-Israel Committee .The committee's activities include missions to Israel and media...
(QIC) executive director Luciano Del Negro.
South Africa
In 2011 the University of JohannesburgUniversity of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...
decided to suspend ties with Israeli Ben-Gurion University, while still allowing "individual faculty" to continue cooperating with the Israeli University on a water purification project, citing the University's support for the Israeli military. The decision was seen to affect projects in biotechnology and water purification.
However, two days later, Ihron Rensburg, vice chancellor and principal of the university issued a statement saying that "UJ is not part of an academic boycott of Israel...It has never been UJ's intention to sever all ties with BGU, although it may have been the intention of some UJ staff members."
Australia
Australia held its first national BDS conference in 2010.Australian pro-Palestinian groups have targeted, in particular, the Israeli-owned business Max Brenner
Max Brenner
Max Brenner is an Israeli chocolate shop chain. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strauss Group, Israel’s second-largest food and beverage company. Max Brenner chocolates are marketed as "Chocolate by the Bald Man."-History:...
. In Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in 2011, a picket was staged of a Max Brenner store located in the Queen Victoria Village
Queen Victoria Village
Queen Victoria Village, generally known as QV Village or just QV, is a precinct in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
, in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
's central business district, for the company's alleged support for the Israeli Defense Forces. 19 activists were arrested during the protest. 16 were charged and bailed on offences including assaulting police
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
, riotous behaviour
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
, besetting premises and trespass
Trespass
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land.Trespass to the person, historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, mayhem, and maiming...
. The Australian Jewish News reported the protesters were not peaceful and that no member of the public was injured, however The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph is the first online newspaper based in the Gaza Strip. Its staff is composed of Palestinians and international volunteers, both professional journalists and, "citizen journalists who do not take assignments from editors or paychecks from corporate controlled media."Sameh...
reported that the protest was peaceful and that a protester suffered a dislocated shoulder from police. The incident led conservative blogger and author, Pamela Gellar, to label Students for Palestine
Students for Palestine
Students for Palestine is a network of pro-Palestinian student activists based on various Australian university campuses. The group was set up in response to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict...
(one of the groups involved in the protest) a "terrorist organization". Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Norman Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University...
and Gerry Conlon were signatories to the petition to defend those arrested, known as the "Boycott Israel 19".
Though Max Brenner is targeted by some Australian Palestinian activists the Australian Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
said, “I don't think in 21st-century Australia there is a place for the attempted boycott of a Jewish business.” In addition, the Reverend Jim Barr, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, while supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, disagreed with the protest, saying, "that stuff just discredits the whole movement."
In New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in 2011, Walt Secord
Walt Secord
Walter "Walt" Secord is a Canadian-born Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since May 2011, when he was elected to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Eddie Obeid...
of the Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
's NSW Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
, called on the NSW Minister for Police
New South Wales Ministry for Police
The New South Wales Ministry for Police is a ministry of the Government of New South Wales. It has responsibility for three government agencies:*New South Wales Crime Commission*New South Wales Police*New South Wales Police Integrity Commission...
, Michael Gallacher, to "provide assurances for the protection of businesses with Israeli links" after two BDS protesters were arrested outside a Max Brenner store. Also in New South Wales, on April 19, 2011, the town council of Marrickville reversed its decision of December 2010 to boycott Israeli goods and to support the global BDS campaign.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond TutuDesmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
has called on the international community to treat Israel as it treated apartheid South Africa and supports the divestment campaign against Israel.
Other
In March 2011, HaaretzHaaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that many artists, academics and celebrities have supported and participated in the cultural boycotting of Israel. Artists who have voiced support for the campaign or cancelled appearances in Israel citing political reasons include musicians Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Gil Scott Heron, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, The Pixies, Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
, writers Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
and Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
, filmmakers Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
and Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
. Artists who have voiced oppposition to the campaign include writers Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
, film makers Joel and Ethan Coen, and musicians John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
and Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, actor, and rock bassist. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s.-Early life:...
. Many musicians such as Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Ziggy Marley
Ziggy Marley
David "Ziggy" Marley is a Jamaican musician and leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. He is the oldest son of famed reggae musician Bob Marley...
have chosen to perform in Israel in recent years. Novelist Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
, upon being awarded the Jerusalem Prize, was urged to turn it down, but said that "If I only went to countries that I approve of, I probably would never get out of bed...It's not great if everyone stops talking."
In August 2011, the American National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus (NMEPC) endorsed the BDS campaign against Israel.
The Irish Dance production Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
performed in Israel in September 2011, and despite requests that it boycott Israel, Riverdance posted this statement on their website: "Riverdance supports the policy of the Irish Government and indeed the policy of every other EU state that cultural interaction is preferable to isolation."
The show then proceeded as planned.
BDS and delegitimization
Analysts, journalists, and policy groups have argued that the BDS movement promotes the delegitimization of Israel. In the Jerusalem Post, Gil Troy argues that the BDS movement does not target Israel's polices, but rather targets Israel's legitimacy. Similarly, The Reut InstituteReut Institute
The Reut Institute is a policy group in Tel Aviv designed to provide real-time long-term strategic decision-support to the Government of Israel....
argued that by what they perceive as singling out Israel and applying double standards, the BDS movement delegitimizes Israel. These groups and individuals argue that regardless of whether or not the participants in boycotts seek to threaten Israel's legitimacy, the movement itself and the organizers behind it have the same goal: isolate Israel like South Africa. Although BDS has tried to finesse the question of whether the movement is seeking a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many of its leaders have gone on the record as seeking the anathema-to-Israelis "secular binational Palestine", including Omar Barghouti.
Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
asserted that the BDS movement abets terrorism. "People who advocate boycotts and divestiture will literally have blood on their hands," he said. "They encourage terrorism and discourage the laying down of arms."
Martin Raffel, who oversees the Israel Action Network, argued in March 2011 that Israel's supporters can respectfully debate artists who choose to boycott the West Bank town of Ariel
Ariel
Ariel may refer to:-Film:*Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award*Ariel , a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki-People:*Ariel , any of several real or fictional people of that name...
, but that "not recognizing Israel as a Jewish democratic state is a completely different story."
The pro-Israeli NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem, Israel whose stated aim is to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community for the benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations and the...
has produced "the “BDS Sewer System” which provides detailed information, in graphic form, on the sources of delegitimization campaigns against Israel."
Israeli response
On July 11, 2011, the Knesset passed a law making it a civil offence to publicly call for a boycott against the State of Israel, defined as "deliberately avoiding economic, cultural or academic ties with another person or another factor only because of his ties with the State of Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, in such a way that may cause economic, cultural or academic damage". According to the law, anyone calling for a boycott can be sued, and forced to pay compensation regardless of actual damages. At the discretion of a government minister, they may also be prevented from bidding in government tenders.The new law drew a lot of criticism, including a petition by 32 Israeli law professors arguing that the law is unconstitutional and does grievous harm to the freedom of political expression and freedom of protest. Other pro-Israel advocates who are fully opposed to BDS, including Gerald Steinberg from NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem, Israel whose stated aim is to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community for the benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations and the...
and Morton Klein from the Zionist Organization of America
Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
, have criticized the law by saying that there are many better avenues with which to counter BDS.
See also
- Economic and political boycotts of IsraelEconomic and political boycotts of IsraelBoycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel...
- Academic boycotts of IsraelAcademic boycotts of IsraelProposals for an academic boycott of Israel have been inspired by the historic academic boycotts of South Africa which were an attempt to pressure South Africa to end its policies of Apartheid....
- Arab League boycott of IsraelArab League boycott of IsraelThe Arab League boycott of Israel is a systematic effort by Arab League member states to isolate Israel economically to prevent Arab states and discourage non-Arabs from providing support to Israel and adding to Israel's economic and military strength...
External links
Supportive of BDS
- Global BDS Campaign
- BRICUP (the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine) the body that promotes the academic boycott in the UK
- PACBI (Palestinian campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel)
- Palestinian United Call for BDS against Israel by the Boycott National Committee
Critical of BDS
- Debate between Omar Barghouti and Rabbi Arthur Waskow on Democracy Now!
- BDSISRAEL Canadian Anti-BDS Association - Countering BDS Movement
- NGO Monitor BDS Sewer System Graphic
- Jiulio Meotti, Is BDS campaign working?, YnetnewsYnetnewsYnetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...
, August 31, 2011