Boycott Sanctions Divestment

In recent years the call for Boycotting Israel has grown.

BDS campaigns have had little success on the ground, but their effectiveness rests on their ability to penetrate public political discourse and blur the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and Israel itself. Israeli products, companies doing business with Israel, are accused by NGOs of being involved in war crimes or other alleged illegal activities.

BDS activists are encouraging others not to buy Israeli products and to advertise them in stores.

Artists, musicians, authors, and academics encourage colleagues that they not perform with or collaborate with an Israeli institution

BDS supporters deny that Israel's right to exist as a "Jewish state" has led its leaders to label the movement an anti-Semitic existential threat.

Clearly statements of BDS leaders who advocate the end of Israel and the existence of a Jewish state are direct evidence of anti-Semitism.

The BDS movement is supported by many people, including Jews and Israelis, who do not want a change in Israeli policy towards the Palestinians but want to see the destruction of Israel.

BDS supporters deny Israel the right to self-determination and engage in anti-Semitic activities.

Boycotting Israeli companies that boycott Palestinian workers employed by them unintentionally harms the people the BDS movement purports to support.

Argument number one is that it is anti-Semitic to boycott Israel when you boycott other governments that commit the same or more serious human rights violations.

Now Palestinians and their supporters hope the outcry will lead to an expansion of their campaign to boycott Israel, turning the country into an international pariah. The BDS movement is trying to put economic pressure on Israel by boycotting goods, universities, and cultural institutions, and punishing individuals and companies that do business with the "Jewish state."

BDS supporters are seeking three main ways to put pressure on Israel: by boycotting Israeli goods and services, by selling companies that supply vital equipment to the Israeli military, and by calling on countries to ease sanctions against Israel. To prevent further harassment of the BDS movement, companies can boycott Israel to make themselves popular with "Arab states" or to protest against a particular Israeli policy.

The aim of boycotts and divestments, as stated in a statement issued by the Durban NGO Forum in 2001, is the "destruction of Israel and the Jewish state," with Israel being "exploited" to demonize and isolate it, according to the motion.