Boycott Divestment Sanction Committee

What is BDS?

In 2005, 170 Palestinian civil society organizations called for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a form of non-violent pressure on Israel until it 3 demands are met:

1. An end to Israel’s occupation of all Arab lands and dismantling the illegal apartheid Wall;

2. Full equality for Palestinian citizens of present-day Israel; and

3. The right of return for Palestinian refugees.

BOYCOTTS involve withdrawing support from Israel's apartheid regime, complicit Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions, and from all Israeli and international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights.

DIVESTMENT campaigns urge banks, local councils, churches, pension funds and universities to withdraw investments from the State of Israel and all Israeli and international companies that sustain Israeli apartheid.

SANCTIONS campaigns pressure governments to fulfill their legal obligations to end Israeli apartheid, and not aid or assist its maintenance, by banning business with illegal Israeli settlements, ending military trade and free-trade agreements, as well as suspending Israel's membership in international forums such as UN bodies and FIFA.

BDS is the most effective way for us to put our solidarity with Palestinian liberation into action. 

Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel, committing genocide in Gaza, and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes, all in contravention of international law. Israel is only able to maintain its oppressive regime over the Palestinian people and avoid accountability for its genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip because of international state, corporate and institutional complicity.

BDS is rooted in decades of Palestinian popular resistance to British colonialism and Zionist settler-colonialism. It is inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, during which international boycotts and sanctions played a major role in bringing about the eventual fall of apartheid.  

Who is involved in the BDS campaign?

BDS is an inclusive, anti-racist human rights movement that is opposed on principle to all forms of discrimination, including anti-semitism and Islamophobia.

The BDS movement is supported by unions, churches, NGOs and movements representing millions across every continent and there are vibrant BDS campaigns in communities across the world. Progressive Jewish groups play an important role in the movement. Public figures including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein, Roger Waters, Angela Davis and Judith Butler back BDS.

It seems like there are too many companies that are in some way complicit with Israel’s apartheid regime. How can we choose who to boycott?

People of conscience around the world are rightfully shattered, enraged, and sometimes feeling powerless about Israel’s Gaza Genocide. Many feel compelled to boycott any and all products and services of companies tied in any way to Israel. The proliferation of extensive “boycott lists” on social media is a result of this. The question is how to make boycotts effective and actually have an impact in holding corporations accountable for their complicity in the suffering of Palestinians? 

The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts. We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. We need to target companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben &Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling large, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”

Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians. Many do not have clear demands to the companies as to what we expect them to do to end the boycott, making them ineffective.

We have split these targets into four sections:

1. Consumer boycott targets - The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands carefully selected due to the company's proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid.

2. Divestment and exclusion targets - The BDS movement works to pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from, as the case may be, as many complicit companies as practical, especially arms companies and banks. We rely on the following authoritative sources:

• AFSC list of companies that have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its #GazaGenocide.

• AFSC Investigate database of companies enabling the occupation.

• UN database of businesses involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

• WhoProfits database of Israeli and international corporations profiting from the ongoing Israeli occupation.

• Don’t Buy Into Occupation list of businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the OPT in which European financial institutions have investments.

3. Pressure targets - The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these targets. This includes boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.

4. Organic boycott targets - The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but supports them due to these brands’ complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.