Effective BDS actions more important than ever to support Palestinians in Gaza and hold Israel to account
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
Smoke seen over the sky of Gaza following an Israeli air strike, July 8, 2014. © Yotam Ronen/ActiveStills
Occupied Palestine, 10 July – In light of the on-going brutal military assault on Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on supporters of human rights to take effective actions, particularly in the shape of BDS campaigns, to show solidarity and pressure Israel to end its regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
In particular, we urge people of conscience to intensify their pressure on governments to impose a military embargo on Israel and to suspend free trade and bilateral agreements with it until it fulfils its obligations under international law. Governments across the world must be held to account for their complicity with Israeli crimes. As South African Nobel laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Exactly ten years ago the International Court of Justice ruled that the international community had a legal obligation to end Israel’s grave breaches of peremptory norms of international law. A decade later, governments continue to enable an environment of Israeli impunity.
This lack of accountability has encouraged Israel to first unleash its racist violence on Palestinians in the West Bank, most notably in Hebron and Jerusalem, and now in Gaza. Since Tuesday, Israel’s occupation forces have killed more than 80 Palestinians and injured hundreds in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. Israel’s indiscriminate air, land and sea bombing of the world’s most densely populated zone, which has annihilated whole families and devastated civilian homes and infrastructure, amounts to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
Our people in Gaza hold are steadfastly holding against one of the most powerful armies in the world, and Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in Jerusalem, and across Israel are rising up in protests against Israel’s unfolding massacre.
Nine years on from the historic Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), issued by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian society on July 9 2005, the BDS movement has opened the most crucial and empowering space for effective international solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
Significant recent BDS-related developments include:
• The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to divest its holdings from HP, Motorola Solutions and Caterpillar due to their complicity in the Israeli occupation and denial of Palestinian human rights.
• Private security company G4S announced it is considering ending its role in Israel’s prison system after grassroots campaigning cost the company millions of dollars in contracts and persuaded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the US United Methodist Church to divest from the company.
• Dutch pension giant ABP divested from two Israeli arms companies, following on from similar decisions by other major institutional investors across Europe and North America.
• Major UK retail chain John Lewis stopped stocking SodaStream and a SodaStream shop in Brighton closed following high profile campaigns over SodaStream’s role in illegal settlements in the West Bank and ethnic cleansing in the Naqab desert inside Israel.
• 17 European governments have issued guidance warning businesses to avoid links with illegal Israeli settlements following civil society campaigning.
Aware of the way in which BDS is raising awareness of Palestinian rights and eroding the international support on which its impunity depends, Israel today views BDS as a “key strategic threat” to its regime of oppression. Even the White House is now warning that Israel faces increasing isolation.
Grassroots BDS actions and strategically-developed campaigns are therefore urgently needed to hold Israel to account and stop this and future assaults on the Palestinian people in Gaza and elsewhere.
Effective international solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for rights spells BDS!
It is time to end Israel’s impunity! Join the BDS movement now!
Mobilize for an immediate military embargo and an end to free trade and bilateral agreements with Israel!
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9 ways to get involved in the BDS movement
Farmers in Gaza march on the buffer zones in Gaza to demand a boycott of Israeli agribusinesses (Photo: Joe Catron)
Initiated by an overwhelming majority of Palestinian grassroots organisations in 2005 and inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is now a widespread international movement.
BDS is proving capable of winning mass support and persuading companies, cultural institutions, artists and governments to join or observe the boycott of Israel.
The successes and growth of the global BDS movement has only been possible because of the creative and determined action by conscientious people and organizations and unions across the world.
The BDS movement is supported and led by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), and we’ve put together this set of ideas on how to support in the BDS movement.
Get involved today and help to build the international BDS movement against Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
- Boycott goods of Israeli companies as well as international companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations
The most basic step is to stop buying products and services of Israeli companies and, whenever feasible, of international companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations. Try to encourage your friends, family and community to join you in doing so.
It differs from country to country, but the most common Israeli exports include:
- fresh fruit and vegetables such as Jaffa citrus fruits and Israeli Medjoul Dates
- Ahava cosmetics- SodaStream drinks machines- Eden Springs bottled water
- Golan Heights Wineries and other Israeli wines
- Ahava cosmetics- SodaStream drinks machines- Eden Springs bottled water
- Golan Heights Wineries and other Israeli wines
There are many international companies that are complicit in Israeli violations of international law. Examples include HP, Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, among many others.
Trying to boycott the products of every single company that participates in Israeli apartheid is a daunting task that has a slim change of having a concrete impact.
It makes more sense to focus on optimal targets that are being targeted as part of national or international campaigns. Consumer boycotts are most effective when part of a broader campaign against a particular product or aiming to pressure a retailer to stop selling a particular Israeli product.
Get in contact with a BDS organisation in your area to find out what companies and products are being targeted and how to support local campaigns. If no such organization exists, start your own campaign, in coordination with well-recognized BDS organizations.
- Follow us on social media and help spread the word
There are new BDS successes and developments nearly every day. Help to magnify the impact of the BDS movement by following us on Twitter and Facebook and sharing news of BDS successes on social media.
You can also sign up for our regular newsletter and email updates.
- Learn more and share information about the BDS movement
Check out and consider sharing the pages in the Learn section of this website, including theIntroduction to BDS, and the list of successes of the BDS movement since 2005.
You can Tweet about the BDS movement and follow developments using the hashtag #BDS.
- Get involved in your area
There are vibrant organisations and campaigns in towns and cities all over the world that make an enormous contribution to boycott campaigns and the BDS movement as a whole.
Enter your details into our Get involved with a local BDS campaign form to be put in touch with a nearby group and start getting involved in local campaigning today.
- Take action online
Online petitions and letter writing actions can be an important part of building pressure, especially when they are part of vibrant local campaigning too.
Check out bdsmovement.net/takeaction to find out about on-going online actions. If you have your own suggestions for BDS campaigns, please share them with us through email.
- Campaign against your own community’s complicity in Israel’s violations of international law
Israel is only able to maintain its occupation and apartheid system because of the massive, unconditional support it receives from international governments, companies and institutions, such as universities.
Get in touch for ideas on how to research and campaign against links between your local community and the companies and institutions that enable Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies. Divesting pension or investment funds from companies involved in Israel’s human rights violations is a major component in many such campaigns.
- Encourage an organisation you are a member of to endorse BDS
All across the world, trade unions, student unions, NGOs, faith groups and other organisations are getting behind the BDS movement, launching their own BDS campaigns and divesting any shares they hold in Israeli companies or international companies such as Veolia, G4S and HP that are implicated in Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Persuading a union or association that you are a member of to endorse the Palestinian civil society’s BDS call can be a long-term project but is a particularly effective way to reach large numbers of people and build mainstream support for the boycott movement.
- Organise a boycott action at a retailer that sells Israeli goods
Boycott actions such as a protest or creative flashmob can be a great way to build awareness and support for the boycott of Israel and to pressure a retailer to stop stocking a particular product or Israeli goods in general.
Check out CODEPINK’s guide to organising a creative boycott action targeting Israeli cosmetics company Ahava. The guide works well for actions targeting other complicit products and companies too.
- Share this list
Help to inspire others to take action by sharing this list via social media.
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