Boycott Divestment and Sanctions

BDS
Type	Non-profit organisation
BDS winning justice for the Palestinian people

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a global campaign to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to end its occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land and the Golan Heights, provide full and equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel, and respect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

The campaign, which is organised and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, was started on 9 July 2005 by over 170 Palestinian NGOs in support of the Palestinian cause for boycotting, divestment and international sanctions against Israel. Citing a body of UN resolutions and specifically echoing the anti-apartheid campaigns against white minority rule in apartheid-era South Africa, the BDS campaign called for "various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law".

Tory threat to BDS

In October 2015, David Cameron's Conservative government announced it planned to stop ‘divisive’ town hall boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Among the examples it cited was a 2014 decision by Leicester City Council to boycott goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The proposals indicated that Israel’s supporters were perturbed about the growth of the BDS movement and followed a successful targeting of Veolia, a major corporation that has been involved in building a light rail network for Israel’s settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. Veolia has been excluded from municipal contracts collectively worth billions of dollars because of decisions taken by councils in the UK and further afield. Because of that pressure, Veolia was forced to sell its investments in Israel.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he wants to stop authorities where the Labour Party has a majority from influencing the UK’s international relations. At an event held last year by Conservative Friends of Israel, a lobby group within his party, Hammond said:

“Under a Conservative government, our foreign policy will be made in the Foreign Office and not in hundreds of Labour-controlled town halls.”

In January 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox called the Conservative government’s legal threats to curtail the boycott of Israel "a gross attack on democratic freedoms. It is our right to boycott unethical companies.”

Three days before the EU Referendum vote, David Cameron spoke at a fundraising dinner for Jewish Care:

“When Europe is discussing its attitude to Israel, do you want Britain - Israel’s greatest friend - in there, opposing boycotts, opposing the campaign for divestment and sanctions, or do you want us outside the room, powerless to affect the discussion that takes place?”

Green Party support

In a statement issued in June 2016, Dr Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for the 2016 US presidential election called on Washington to end its support for Israel and Saudi Arabia citing war crimes and massive human rights violations as a reason:

"With regard to Israel, the United States has encouraged the worst tendencies of the Israeli government as it pursues policies of occupation, apartheid, assassination, illegal settlements, demolitions, blockades, building of nuclear bombs, indefinite detention, collective punishment, and defiance of international law.

"Instead of allying with the courageous proponents of peace and human rights within Palestine and Israel, our government has rewarded consistent abusers of human rights.

"In addition, the Stein campaign supports actions of nonviolent resistance to the policies of the occupation and of the Israeli apartheid regime, including those of the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign, which was endorsed by the Green Party of the United States in 2005 and is supported by thousands of civil society peace activists and organisations.

Facebook challenge

On 19 June 2016, Jordana Cutler, Chief of Staff at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and former Advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, was reported to have joined Facebook’s Israel office to oversee the planning and execution of measures taken to combat the BDS campaigns.

Cutler’s new post was applauded by Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, who announced in June 2016 a series of legislative measures taken by his government against promoting the boycott of Israel:

“If we want to convince the world that de-legitimation of Israel is something wrong and that there should be consequences, we must start here in Israel. There will now be a real price to pay for someone working to isolate Israel from the rest of the world. I set up a legal team, together with the ministry of justice, that will promote governmental legislation on the matter.

“There has been an advance in dialogue between the state of Israel and Facebook which realises that it has a responsibility to monitor its platform and remove content. I hope it will be regulated for good.”

 

A document sourced from Boycott Divestment and Sanctions

Title	Type	Subject(s)	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:UK Government Should Cancel Prince William’s Visit to Apartheid Israel	Article	Israel Theresa May Palestine William Mountbatten-Windsor BDS	18 April 2018	BDS National Committee (BNC)	UK Government Should Cancel Prince William’s Visit to Apartheid Israel

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