Rachel Giora's webpage: http://www.tau.ac.il/~giorar/. Email: giorar@post.tau.ac.il
BRICUP is an organisation of UK based academics, set up in response to the Palestinian Call for Academic Boycott. Its twin missions are:
- to support Palestinian universities, staff and students, and
- to oppose the continued illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands with its concomitant breaches of international conventions of human rights, its refusal to accept UN resolutions or rulings of the International Court, and its persistent suppression of Palestinian academic freedom.
http://www.bricup.org.uk/doc'uments/history/IsraeliBDS.pdf
1
Milestones in the history of the Israeli BDS movement: A brief
chronology
Rachel Giora
18 January 2010
The emergence of the Israeli boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement
has been influenced by a number of factors. In essence, however, the movement
in Israel has been basically reactive - a response to (a) international calls
following traumas, and to (b) ideas, primarily those introducing the South African
model into the international and Israeli discourse; and perhaps most significantly,
it has evolved in response to (c) calls by Palestinians to the international
community to boycott Israel, divest and disinvest from it, and sanction it.
Although the history of the BDS movement in Israel is reviewed here
chronologically, the assumption is that all these factors have worked interactively
and in tandem to influence the development of the BDS movement worldwide as
well as in Israel.
The major role of the Israeli BDS movement has been to support international
BDS calls against Israel and legitimize them both as clearly not anti-Semitic, as
not working against Israelis but against Israeli governmental policies, and as
supporting a legitimate nonviolent means by which Palestinian civil society can
reclaim and re-own its people’s rights and freedoms. Alongside solidarity with the
Palestinians, the driving force behind the Israeli BDS movement has been the
realization that the criminal occupation and repression of the Palestinian people,
as practiced by Israeli governments, will not be redressed without significant
international pressure.
1. The awakening
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The first BDS call in Israel was initiated by Gush Shalom. Launched in September
1997, it asked Israelis as well as the U.S., the European countries, and others
having trade treaties with Israel to boycott products of the Jewish settlements in
the occupied Palestinian territory. The call proffered a provisional list in Hebrew,
Arabic, and English of products produced in the settlements.1
However, the first Israeli initiatives supporting international calls for
comprehensive boycott against Israel emerged only following the outbreak of the
second intifada known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, in September 2000. They were
mostly responses, by a few individuals, to international calls for BDS against
Israel. At the time, support for such calls did not come from Israeli organizations.
On the whole, the Israeli left shunned such initiatives. The first boycott support
1 http://israelipalestinianpeace.org/issues/81toi.htm#Consumers
http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/boycott_eng.htm
2
action by Israelis that I recall, which again attracted few other Israelis, was the
one initiated by the late Tel Aviv University linguist, Professor Tanya Reinhart,
and myself, in April 2001, demanding that the city of Ann Arbor divest itself of
Israeli investments.2
In April 2001, 35 Israelis published a call for boycotting Israel. The authors of
this appeal are Israeli citizens and Jews of other nationalities whose families
have been victims of racism and genocide in past generations, and who feel they
cannot remain silent:
“We call on the world community to organize and boycott Israeli industrial
and agricultural exports and goods, as well as leisure tourism, in the hope
that it will have the same positive result that the boycott of South Africa
had on Apartheid.
“This boycott should remain in force as long as Israel controls any part of
the territories it occupied in 1967. Those who squash the legitimate
aspirations of the Palestinians must be made to feel the consequences of
their own bitter medicine.
“We urge every recipient of this appeal, irrespective of origin and
nationality, to:
“1. Start practicing the boycott on a personal level immediately, and make
sure that the steps taken are known in the community (for example: tell
your shopkeeper why you will not buy Israeli products; avoid leisure travel
to Israel).
“2. Add your name to the appeal, circulate it to your friends, and do
whatever you can to have it endorsed by groups concerned about human
rights.
“3. Organize activities to put pressure on your government to cut
economic and commercial ties with Israel and to rescind preferential
economic treaties with Israel”.
Original signatures:
2 http://www.think-israel.org/leftists.html ;
(http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:QOQqY2MK6UEJ:www.matzpun.com/+%22After+six+months+of+relentless+military+oppression+of+Palestinians+in+the+Israeli+occupied+territories,+the+government+of+Israel+has+made+daily+life+even+more+intolerable+for+the
+Palestinians+by+imposing+a+physical+siege+on+their+villages+and+towns%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=il )
3
1. Meir Amor, Toronto, Canada
2. Yael Arbel, Tel-Aviv, Israel
3. Dita Bitterman, Tel-Aviv, Israel
4. Hagit Borer, Los Angeles, USA
5. Ouzi Dekel, Paris, France
6. Esty Dinur, Arena, USA
7. Aviva Ein-Gil, Tel-Aviv, Israel
8. Ehud Ein-Gil, Tel-Aviv, Israel
9. Arie Finkelstein, Paris, France
10. Rachel Giora, Tel-Aviv, Israel
11. Zamir Havkin, Givataim, Israel
12. Zvi Havkin, Tel-Aviv, Israel
13. Haggai Katriel, Haifa, Israel
14. Irit Katriel, Haifa, Israel
15. Justin Kodner, Princeton Junction, USA
16. Helga Kotthoff, Fulda, Germany
17. Miri Krasin, Tel-Aviv, Israel
18. Debby Lerman, Tel-Aviv, Israel
19. Mely Lerman, Tel-Aviv, Israel
20. Moshe Machover, London, UK
21. Yael Oren Kahn, Warwickshire, UK
22. Akiva Orr, Kfar Shmaryahu, Israel
23. Rachel Ostrowitz, Tel-Aviv, Israel
24. Eran Razgour, Tel-Aviv, Israel
25. Eyal Rozenberg, Haifa, Israel
26. Hilla Rudich, Givataim, Israel
27. Herzl Schubert, Tel-Aviv, Israel
28. Ilan Shalif, Tel-Aviv, Israel
29. Oz Shelach, New York, USA
30. Ur Shlonsky, Geneva, Switzerland
31. Toma Sik, Budapest, Hungary
32. Ehud Sivosh, London, UK
33. Gideon Spiro, Jerusalem, Israel
34. Guy West, Herzliyya, Israel
35. Adeeb Yaffawy, Yaffa, Israel
The 35 original signatories were supported by 994 signatures worldwide.3
Then, in May 2001, as a keynote speaker before a nationwide meeting of Jewish
anti-occupation activists in Chicago, Rela Mazali, an Israeli feminist and writer,
3 http://www.matzpun.com/
4
one of the outstanding founders of New Profile4, called for suspension of US
military aid to Israel.5
Jenin Jenin6
The year 2002, however, may be singled out as a turning point triggered by the
Israeli army’s large-scale assault on cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps in
the West Bank in late March (titled Operation Defensive Shield but often referred
to as the Jenin Massacre). This ferocious attack unleashed a wave of protest in
the Arab world, Europe, the United States, and beyond. At this stage, it looked
like the citizens of the world, including those sheltered in their ivory towers,
could no longer be indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians. “Academics,
artists, and intellectuals launched a number of initiatives, among them a
movement to isolate Israel in the international arena through moratoria,
boycotts, and a divestment campaign”.7 The ferocious assault combined with the
construction of the Apartheid Wall in July, which turned the West Bank into
bantustans, affected some change among Israelis. On the whole, a growing
number of activists protested the occupation, and some also voiced support of
such boycott and divestment campaigns.
In March 2002, supporting the Suspend Aid Campaign of the Jewish Voice for
Peace, the Israeli feminist author, Rela Mazali, wrote: “Arms are the motor of
militarization. Please reciprocate the young people inside Israel saying “NO” to
the deployment of their bodies and souls, in the service of the occupation. Please
join them by saying “NO” to arming it with your dollars”. 8 Her call to suspend
military aid to Israel earned the full support of the members of the feminist
organization New Profile.
In April 2002, a call for a Moratorium on EU and European Science Foundation
support for Israel was launched. The call was initiated by Professor Steven Rose
(Physics, Open University) and Professor Hilary Rose (Bradford University) and
was published in the Guardian on 6 April 2002.9 More than 120 academics signed
this call, among them about 10 Israeli academics: 10 11
4 http://www.newprofile.org/english/
5 Mazali, Rela (2001). “Someone Makes a Killing off War’: Militarization and Occupation in Israel-
Palestine,” Bridges, A Journal for Jewish Feminists and our Friends, Volume 9, Number 1, Fall 2001,
special insert.
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenin,_Jenin
7 (Mona Baker, 2009. Chronology of Boycott. Ms. in preparation).
8 www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
9 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4388633,00.html
10 According to Tamara Traubman (2002), over 270 European scientists, including about 10 Israelis signed
this letter. http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-news-0033.html
11 One should note that the idea of an academic boycott against Israel first originated at the "World
Conference against Racism" in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059775.html
5
Professor Amit, Daniel, Hebrew University
Bar, Iris, Haifa University
Professor Farjoun, Emmanuel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem12
Professor Giora, Rachel, Tel-Aviv University
Professor Jablonka, Eva, Tel-Aviv University
Dr Katriel, Haggai, Haifa University
Professor Lavie, Smadar, Tel-Aviv
Dr Pappe, Ilan, Haifa University
Professor Razi, Zvi, Tel-Aviv University
Professor Reinhart, Tanya, Tel-Aviv University
Dr Shlonsky, Tuvia, Hebrew University, Jerusalem13
The letter had an immediate effect. It was soon followed by a unanimous
decision made by the board of directors of the organization for professors and
teachers in higher education in England to call for a more sweeping boycott.
“The decision calls on all the British institutions of higher education to weigh -
with the goal of severing - any future academic connection with Israel. It insists
that such relations should be resumed only after a full withdrawal of all the
Israeli forces, the beginning of negotiations to implement UN resolutions, and
the promise of full access for all Palestinians to institutions of higher learning”.14
In April 2002, an Art boycott petition was launched too, appealing “to all artists
of good conscience around the world to cancel all exhibitions and other cultural
events that are scheduled to occur in Israel, to mobilize immediately and not
allow the continuation of the Israeli offensive to breed complacency”. It was
endorsed by many signatories (more than 180) from Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway,
Palestine, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and US, and Israel.15
At the same time, several hundred students and about 100 staff at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University signed a
divestment petition which was also supported by professors at several Israeli
universities.16
In April 2002, a US-initiated boycott letter called for Boycotting Israeli Academics
and Research.17 In June, Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology (Umist) dismissed two Israeli linguists from
12 http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=155710&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=155710
13 http://www.think-israel.org/leftists.html ; http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-news-0033.html
14 http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-news-0033.html
15 http://oznik.com/petitions/020407.html
16 http://www.merip.org/mer/mer223/223_urbina.html
17 http://is.gd/5IG1y
6
the editorial board of the translation journal she edited. Such acts did not go
unnoticed and stirred a heated debate among Israelis, giving the boycott
movement a lot of visibility here.
In May 2002, Professor Tanya Reinhart published an article inYediot Aharonot,
the then most popular Israeli daily, in which she endorsed a boycott of Israeli
academic institutions for being complicit in the Palestinians’ oppression by
turning a blind eye to their plight, not least the plight of Palestinian academic
colleagues: “Never in its history did the senate of any Israeli university pass a
resolution protesting the frequent closure of Palestinian universities, let alone
voice protest over the devastation sowed there during the last uprising”. The
type of academic boycott she endorsed drew on a model used effectively in
South Africa. “The economic pressure on South Africa”, she said, “was combined
with another aspect of pressure -- cultural boycott and social isolation: South
Africa was kicked out of international sports; professional and academic
organizations did not cooperate with South-African organizations; there was a
ban on conferences and cultural events. All these helped. South Africa was
forced to change”.18
A comparison of the occupation with South African Apartheid was also brought
up by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in October 2002. “If apartheid
ended”, he said, “so can this occupation, but the moral force and international
pressure will have to be just as determined. The current divestment effort is the
first, though certainly not the only, necessary move in that direction”.19 The
analogy to the South African case, made explicit by various thinkers,20 will affect
the minds of many Israeli leftists. Not only will the numbers of Israeli boycott
supporters increase, but more importantly, the Israelis’ attempts to resist the
occupation will be geared towards collaborating with the Palestinian resistance
movement, thus modeling their action after the joint struggle for liberation of
South Africans.
Earlier that autumn, when interviewed in September 2002 for Labournet, Dr. Ilan
Pappe, a renowned historian and boycott supporter at Haifa University, had
expressed his views on his support for boycott, including academic and cultural
boycott: “a cultural and academic boycott can drive the message to good Israelis
that there is a price to be paid for being indifferent. Not only for doing the things
themselves, but even for being silent in Israel itself”. 21
18 http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php?id=96_0_1_12_M5
19 http://www.counterpunch.org/tutu1017.html
20 “The Israeli left has been discussing this comparison since at least the late 1980s, when Israeli
anthropologist Uri Davis published his famous work, Israel: An Apartheid State. At the September 2001
UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, calls to compare occupation with apartheid were
drowned out by the more incendiary claim that "Zionism is racism," and therefore received little
substantive or even-handed coverage in the press”. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer223/223_urbina.html
21 http://www.labournet.net/world/0209/pappe1.html
7
Before the year was out, in December 2002, the administrative council of Marie
Curie University - Paris VI - “demanded that the European Union (EU) not renew
its 1995 Association Agreement with Israel, giving that country commercial
concessions, but also providing funds for infrastructure and research. The
university's motion called on Israeli academics to adopt positions on the
measures being taken against Palestinian universities, whose work has been
rendered impossible, and called on the university's president to foster contacts
with academics from both sides, in order to promote a peaceful solution”.22
In January 2003, this decision was endorsed by Palestinian academics who
issued a letter of support to French colleagues. In the same spirit, in February
2003, Professor Tanya Reinhart also expressed support for this resolution.23
Inspired by the South African resistance movement, Anarchists Against the Wall
(AATW) – an Israeli direct action group - was founded in 2003 to oppose the
Apartheid Wall Israel had started building on Palestinian land in the Occupied
West Bank. The group is essentially Palestinian led. It works in cooperation with
Palestinians in a joint popular struggle against the occupation.24 Many of its
members will later make up the nucleus of BOYCOTT! Supporting
the Palestinian BDS Call from Within25 - an Israeli group of Palestinians, Jews,
Israeli citizens and residents resisting Israeli Apartheid by supporting BDS
initiatives against Israel.
In May 2003, Dr. Ilan Pappe called for divestment, boycott, anti-Apartheid
campaigns against Israel. Expressing his views on the analogy to the South
African case, he declared: “it is difficult to compare Israel’s apartheid system
with the one that existed in South Africa”… “Conditions the Palestinians live
under are much worse than South Africa’s”.26
2. The impact of the Palestinian Civil Society calls for BDS against Israel on the
BDS movement
The Palestinian calls for BDS against Israel affected the BDS movement
worldwide. These calls were a significant milestone, inducing a much more
22 http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:X_fMyDQsuOAJ:www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php%3Fid%3D155_0_1_0_M5+%22demanded+that+the+European+Union+(EU)+not+renew+its+1995+Associatio
n+Agreement+with+Israel%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=il
23 http://www.phrconline.org/articles.php?ArtID=377
http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php?id=96_0_1_12_M5
24 http://www.awalls.org/
25 http://boycottisrael.info/
26 http://www.washington-report.org/archives/may03/0305063.html
8
sweeping support for BDS against Israel than observed earlier. The most
influential Palestinian calls for BDS against Israel emerged in August 2002 when
a group of Palestinian organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory called
for a comprehensive economic, cultural, and academic boycott of Israel: “For the
sake of freedom and justice in Palestine and the world, we call upon the
solidarity movement, NGOs, academic and cultural institutions, business
companies, political parties and unions, as well as concerned individuals to
strengthen and broaden the global Israel Boycott Campaign”.27 Then, in October
2003, Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in
the Diaspora called for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. These calls
were later followed by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals who
launched the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of
Israel (PACBI) in Ramallah in April 2004, highlighting the institutional nature of
the boycott.28
These calls mobilized many academics worldwide, including in Israel. In March
2004, an Open Letter addressed to the Israeli academic leadership was released
to the press. Nearly 300 academics from around the world, including Israel,
called for “leaders of Israeli universities to lay their political cards on the table
and reveal whether they support the government's policies on the border
conflict”.29
In January, 2005, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
issued a statement supporting sanctions against Israel.
“Since sanctions are a powerful, non-violent, popular means of resisting the
Occupation, a campaign of sanctions seems to us the next logical step in
international efforts to end the Occupation. While it will develop over time,
ICAHD supports the following elements at this time:
• “Sales or transfer of arms to Israel conditional upon their use in ways that do
not perpetuate the Occupation or violate human rights and international
humanitarian law, violations that would end if governments enforced existing
laws and regulations regarding the use of weapons in contravention of
human rights;
27 http://www.badil.org/en/press-releases/55-press-releases-2002/330-press268-02
28 http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=868
http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1051
See also Professor Mona Baker “On the distinction between institutions and individuals in relation to
academic boycott”. On targeting institutions rather than individuals and on how the only joint projects
Palestinians and Israelis can consider are those resisting injustice, see Omar Barghouti
Lisa Taraki April 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1463752,00.html
http://www.monabaker.com/BakerLondonConference.htm
29 http://phrconline.org/articles.php?ArtID=808
9
• “Trade sanctions on Israel due to its violation of the “Association
Agreements” it has signed with the European Union that prohibit the sale of
settlement products under the “Made in Israel” label, as well as for violations
of their human rights provisions;
• “Divestment from companies that profit from involvement in the Occupation.
In this vein ICAHD supports initiatives like that of the Presbyterian Church of
the US which targets companies contributing materially to the Occupation and
certainly the campaign against Caterpillar whose bulldozers demolish
thousands of Palestinian homes;
• “Boycott of settlement products and of companies that provide housing to the
settlements or which play a major role in perpetuating the Occupation; and
• “Holding individuals, be they policy-makers, military personnel carrying out
orders or others, personally accountable for human rights violations, including
trial before international courts and bans on travel to other countries.
“ICAHD calls on the international community – governments, trade unions,
university communities, faith-based organizations as well as the broad civil
society – to do all that is possible to hold Israel accountable for its
Occupation policies and actions, thereby hastening the end of this tragedy.
While we also call on the Palestinian Authority to adhere to human rights
conventions, our support for selective sanctions against Israel's Occupation
policies focuses properly on Israel which alone has the power to end the
Occupation and is alone the violator of international law regarding the
responsibilities of an Occupying Power”.30
In April 2005, Dr. Ilan Pappe appealed to the British Association of University
Teachers (AUT), expressing support of a prospective resolution to boycott the
Israeli universities, Haifa and Bar-Ilan. Publishing his appeal in the Guardian he
explained that “outside pressure is effective in a country where people want to
be regarded as part of the civilized world, but their government, with their
explicit and implicit help, pursues policies which violate every known human and
civil right. Neither the UN, nor the US and European governments, and societies,
have sent a message to Israel that these policies are unacceptable and have to
be stopped. It is up to the civil societies, through organizations like yours, to
send messages to Israeli academics, businessmen, artists, hi-tech industrialists
and every other section in that society, that there is a price tag attached to such
policies”.31 To Haaretz, Dr. Pappe said that he hoped that his support of the
boycott had contributed to the boycott decision imposed on Haifa and Bar-Ilan
universities by the British Association of University Teachers.32
30 http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=218
31 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/apr/20/highereducation.uk3
32 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=569361
10
In May 2005, Professor Tanya Reinhart published an article explaining why
Israeli academia deserved to be boycotted.33
In July 2005, the Palestinian United Civil Society (involving about two hundred
organizations) call for BDS was launched, stating:
“We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international
civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to
impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel
similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to
you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and
sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support
this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.
“These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel
meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people‘s inalienable right
to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international
law by:
“1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and
dismantling the Wall;
“2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality; and
“3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian
refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN
resolution 194”. 34
This call for BDS against Israel was endorsed by 171 organizations and
individuals.35
Among the welcoming followers were the British Committee for the Universities
of Palestine (BRICUP), which was formed in 2005 in the UK in response to the
Palestinian Call for an Academic Boycott,36 and Professor Mona Baker, translation
and intercultural studies specialist and ardent British activist and writer,
supporting the BDS movement against Israel.37 These initiatives have been
endorsed by a growing number of Israeli academics and activists.
33 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3879.shtml
34 http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=66
35 http://www.fosna.org/content/palestinian-civil-society-divestment
36 http://www.bricup.org.uk/
37 http://www.monabaker.com/
11
In August 2005, in their 13th International Conference in Jerusalem under the
title “Women Resist Occupation and War”, Women in Black expressed support for
the Palestinian call on the international community to impose ‘non-violent and
effective measures such as divestment and sanctions on Israel, for as long as
Israel continues to violate international law, and continues the occupation and
the oppression of the Palestinian people’.38 In that conference, at the workshop
on Sanctions, Boycott and Divestment, Dr. Dalit Baum “was emphasizing the
importance of knowledge-building as a condition for such a campaign. Of
compiling a list of institutions and companies to be divested from or boycotted”.
Rela Mazali too raised her voice in support of endorsing BDS against Israel,
asking the international community: “Please, boycott me. Boycott my country.
Sanction it till it stops committing these crimes. And sanction as well those
outside it who are profiting”.39
In March 2006, Shir Hever from The Alternative Information Center (AIC)
published an in-depth analysis of the dependence of Israel on the global
economy and its vulnerability to the effect of BDS campaigns against it. The
conclusion of his analysis is straightforward: “International reluctance to buy
Israeli arms or to sell arms to Israel will encourage Israel to find non-violent
ways of dealing with the Palestinians”.40
In May 2006, following the Palestinian call, I expressed support for
comprehensive boycott of Israel including academic boycott (published by Yediot
Acharonot).41
In May 2006, the feminist organization, New Profile, sent a letter of support to
the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), initiated by New Profile activist Dr.
Dorothy Naor, for contemplating adopting a policy of selective divestment as a
means of bringing peace to Palestinians and Israelis. “We fervently support such
an endeavor, and hope that PCUSA will indeed adopt divestment as a non-violent
means of ending Israel’s Occupation of Palestinians and their lands”.42
In the same month, New Profile also expressed support for selective divestment.
Given that economic pressure is a non-violent means of ending this catastrophic
Occupation, they argued, “New Profile welcomes and supports selective
38 http://gilasvirsky.com/declaration.html
39 http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/events/women_in_black_0805/conf_participants/rela_mazali
40 Shir Hever (2006). The Economy of the Occupation Part 6:
The Question of Sanctions and a Boycott against Israel.
http://www.alternativenews.org:80/publications/econoccupation.html
41 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3257291,00.html
42 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=14061
12
divestment aimed at divesting from companies that contribute to the
continuation of the Occupation by supplying arms, other equipment, or staff”.43
In June 2006, about 100 Israeli individuals, organizations, and movements
expressed their support of the Ontario wing of Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE)44 who, in May, had voted unanimously to pass a resolution in
support of the “international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions
against Israel until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to selfdetermination”.
Endorsing the July 2005 Palestinian call, the CUPE Ontario
resolution demands the dismantling of the Apartheid wall as well as the right of
return for all Palestinian refugees.45
In June 2006, Reuven Abergel, founder of Israel's Black Panthers, expressed
support for the academic boycott of Israel.46 At the same time, Gideon Levy,
Haaretz journalist, published an op-ed supporting boycott resolutions.47
Also in June 2006, a group of more than 50 Israeli citizens supporting BDS
against the occupation was formed issuing a statement to this effect later on in
June 2007.48
In May 2007, Professor Kenneth Mann of Tel Aviv University, the chairperson of
the advisory council of Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, called
upon Israeli university presidents to protest the government's restrictions
imposed on Palestinian university students in 2000. Only four university
presidents signed the appeal to Defense Minister Amir Perez to lift the ban: Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev President Professor Rivka Carmi, Technion
Institute of Technology President Professor Yitzhak Apeloig, Hebrew University
President Professor Menachem Megidor, Haifa University President Professor
Aharon Ben Zeev.49
In June and July 2008, open letters were issued by Palestinian and Israeli BDS
groups to Snoop Doggy Dog, Branford Marsalis, and Mercedes Sosa, all of whom
were scheduled to perform to Israeli audiences. During that month, over 100
European Organizations, including the Israeli Committee against House
43 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=14061
44 http://www.cupe.on.ca/aux_file.php?aux_file_id=241
45 http://www.icl-fi.org/english/spc/supplements/cupe.html
46 http://boycott-occupation.mahost.org/?q=node/19
47 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=722611
48 http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=540
49 http://www.inminds.co.uk/article.php?id=10115
13
Demolitions, joined the Palestinian BDS National Campaign (BNC)50 in calling for
suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.51
In September 2008, Dr. Kobi Snitz and Roee Harush published a report about a
working group’s discussions on how to build the BDS campaign by Israeli
citizens.52 They were docu'menting the way the Israeli BDS group, called
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, was formed during
that year.
In October 2008, Shir Hever from the Alternative Information Center called for
“economic resistance to the occupation through divestment”.53
3. Gaza's Guernica54
Following the Gaza offensive by the Israeli army in December 2008, titled
Operation Cast Lead, over 540 Israelis (backed by more than 5000
internationals) issued a call initiated by the philosopher, Dr. Anat Matar, the
publisher Yael Lerer, and other members of BOYCOTT! Supporting
the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, for “support of the Palestinian human rights
community call for international action”:
“We are calling on the world to stop Israeli violence and not allow the
continuation of the brutal occupation. We call on the world to condemn
and not become an accomplice in Israel's crimes…
“In light of the above, we call on the world to implement the call by
Palestinian human rights organizations which urges:
• “The UN Security Council to call an emergency session and adopt
concrete measures, including the imposition of sanctions, in order to
ensure Israel's fulfillment of its obligations under international
humanitarian law.
• “The High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfil their
obligation under common Article 1 to ensure respect for the provisions of
the Conventions, taking appropriate measures to compel Israel to abide
by its obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular
placing pivotal importance on the respect and protection of civilians from
the effects of the hostilities.
50 http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/126
51 http://www.badil.org/en/al-majdal/item/1250-over-100-european-organizations-join-bnc-in-calling-for-suspension-of-eu-israel-association-agreement
52 http://www.badil.org/en/al-majdal/item/91-israeli-citizens-for-a-boycott-of-israel
53 http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=757
54 http://www.odsg.org/co/index.php/Statements/1071-gazas-guernica-enough-is-enough.html
14
• “The High Contracting Parties to fulfil their legal obligation under Article
146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to prosecute those responsible for
grave breaches of the Convention.
• “EU institutions and member states to make effective use of the
European Union Guidelines on promoting compliance with international
humanitarian law (2005/C 327/04) to ensure Israel complies with
international humanitarian law under paragraph 16 (b), (c) and (d) of
these guidelines, including the adoption of immediate restrictive measures
and sanctions, as well as cessation of all upgrade dialogue with Israel“.55
In January 2009, members of BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call
from Within, including Prof. Yoram Carmeli, Dr. Anat Matar, Jonathan Pollak, Dr.
Kobi Snitz, myself, and another 17 members published a call in The Guardian
appealing to EU leaders to “use sanctions against Israel's brutal policies and join
the active protests of Bolivia and Venezuela”. We also appealed to the citizens of
Europe: “please attend to the Palestinian Human Rights Organisation's call,
supported by more than 540 Israeli citizens (www.freegaza.org/en/home/658-acall-
from-within-signed-by-israeli-citizens): boycott Israeli goods and Israeli
institutions; follow resolutions such as those made by the cities of Athens,
Birmingham and Cambridge (US). This is the only road left. Help us all, please!”56
In April 2009, BOYCOTT! called on musician Leonard Cohen to cancel his
planned concert in Israel: “We see our society becoming more and more
calloused and racist and given your longstanding, vocal commitment to justice,
we cannot envision you cooperating with continued Israeli defiance of justice and
morality; we cannot envision you playing a part in the Israeli charade of selfrighteousness.
We appeal to you to add your voice to those brave people the
world over who boycott Israel. We urge you to cancel your planned performance
in Israel”.57
In May 2009, I sent a letter of support to BRICUP’s pre University and College
Union (UCU) Congress 2009 meeting, which said, in part:
“in spite of the growing plight of their Palestinians colleagues,
universities’ senates and heads have never spoken up against the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territory or against the oppression of the
Palestinians; nor have they protested the destructive damage inflicted on
Palestinian academic institutions by the Israeli military; nor have they
shown any concern for or solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues. And
when given the chance to protest “the policy of the Israeli government
which is causing restrictions of freedom of movement, study and
55 http://www.petitiononline.com/freegaza/petition.html
56 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/17/gaza-israelandthepalestinians1
57 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10493.shtml
15
instruction, and […] call upon the government to allow students and
lecturers free access to all the campuses in the Territories, and to allow
lecturers and students who hold foreign passports to teach and study
without being threatened with withdrawal of residence visas”, only very
few (407 out of over 5000) faculty have chosen to sign this petition.58 Is
“academic freedom” only the prerogative of the powerful?
These are only shreds of evidence testifying to the complicity of Israeli
academic institutions in the state's apartheid policies against the
Palestinians”. 59
Also in May 2009, BOYCOTT! appealed to the European Union via its embassies
in Israel to suspend existing trade agreements with Israel and to “implement the
human rights clause that is part of your trade agreement with Israel and suspend
the existing trade agreements with Israel until it upholds international and
humanitarian law”.60
In the same month, BOYCOTT! sent a message to Madonna asking her to cancel
her planned performance in Israel: "A performance here would imply that Israel
is behaving in an acceptable manner, and would be interpreted by Israelis as
moral support for the illegal and inhumane policies, described by many as war
crimes and crimes against humanity".61
Also, during May 2009 BOYCOTT! joined the Coalition of Women for Peace in
calling on Norway to divest from the Israeli occupation. Twenty Israeli
organizations urged the Norwegian pension fund to “remove from the fund’s
investment portfolio all corporations that support and maintain the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territory”.62
In the same month, BOYCOTT! sent a message to the Barcelona Department for
International Cooperation wondering if Barcelona is still cooperating with Tel
Aviv, even after the Gaza massacres. The letter reminded Barcelona that
“keeping up the business as usual charade will only encourage Israel to proceed
with its illegal, atrocious, and unjust practices that have been going on for the
past 42 years without much interference from the international community”.63
58 http://academic-access.weebly.com/
59 http://www.bricup.org.uk/doc'uments/israel_unis/Giora.pdf
60 http://www.israel-academia-monitor.com/index.php?type=large_advic&advice_id=7065&page_data%5Bid%5D=174&cookie_lang=en
61 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418563695&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
62 http://boycottisrael.info/content/israeli-organizations-call-norway-divest-israeli-occupation
63 http://boycottisrael.info/content/barcelona-still-cooperating-tel-aviv-even-after-gaza-massacres
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In July, 2009 BOYCOTT! sent a message to UNICEF on the issue of their
partnering with Motorola, letting them know that we consider it “is immoral for
UNICEF to partner with a company which undermines UNICEF’s efforts by its
actions. We ask that UNICEF end its partnership with Motorola until Motorola
stops selling equipment used by the Israeli army to violate the rights of
Palestinian children along with those of many others”.64
In the same month, BOYCOTT! joined PACBI’s call on Amnesty to follow their
appeal to boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions and withdraw their
support from Cohen’s concert in Israel.65
In July 2009, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Israel decided on joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Campaign against Israel: “Taking into account that up till now our calls for
significant international pressure on Israeli policy have not been answered, and
in spite of having utilized all the means we have had available to us, these
actions have not brought about change in Israeli policies, we, therefore join the
call for BDS on Israel.66
In August 2009, Dr. Neve Gordon, a longtime peace activist and head of the
political science department at Ben-Gurion University, published an op-ed in the
Lost Angeles Times, endorsing the Palestinian call for BDS against Israel.67
In September 2009, BOYCOTT! also joined the Toronto declaration68 supporting
the call to protest the Toronto International Film Festival's City-to-City Spotlight
on Tel Aviv. Filmmaker, writer, and visual artist, Udi Aloni and the artist David
Reeb69 were also among the supporters of the declaration.70
In October 2009, Michel (Mikado) Warschawski a prominent member of The
Alternative Information Center, published a reply to Uri Avnery titled “YES to
BDS!” in which he states:
“For us Zionism is not a national liberation movement but a colonial
movement, and the State of Israel is and has always been a settler's
colonial state. Peace, or, better, justice, cannot be achieved without a
total decolonization (one can say de-Zionisation) of the Israeli State; it is a
precondition for the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians –
64 http://boycottisrael.info/content/unicef-and-motorola-partnership
65 http://boycottisrael.info/content/entertaining-apartheid-israel-deserves-no-amnesty
66 www.wilpf.int.ch/PDF/Statement%20on%20BDS%20Movement.pdf
67 http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/20/opinion/oe-gordon20
68 http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/
69 http://opedisrael.blogspot.com/2009/10/attacking-conscience-corporate-owned.html
70 http://www.counterpunch.org:80/aloni08282009.html
http://www.haaretz.com:80/hasen/spages/1116151.html
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whether refugees, living under military occupation or second-class citizens
of Israel… any attempt for reconciliation before the fulfillment of rights
strengthens the continuation of the colonial domination relationship.
Without a price to be paid, why should the Israelis stop colonization, why
should they risk a deep internal crisis?
“This is where the BDS campaign is so relevant: it offers an international
framework to act in order to help the Palestinian people achieving its
legitimate rights, both on the institutional level (states and international
institutions) and the civil society's one… The BDS campaign was initiated
by a broad coalition of Palestinian political and social movements. No
Israeli who claims to support the national rights of the Palestinian people
can, decently, turn his or her back to that campaign”.71
In the same month, Uri Yacobi Keller from The Alternative Information Center
published a docu'ment justifying the academic boycott of Israeli universities titled
“The Economy of the Occupation: Academic Boycott of Israel”. He further argues
that “An academic boycott of Israel represents a threat that could damage one of
the most important cultural connections between Israel and the western
world”.72
In November 2009, The Coalition of Women for Peace73 passed a motion to join
the BDS movement in Israel. It’s the first such endorsement by a major Israeli
organization, representing thousands of activists. This initiative has been
preceded by a three year long project it had run (initiated in November 2006),
titled Who Profits: Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry, coordinated by Dr.
Dalit Baum, Merav Amir and other members of the Coalition. Who Profits aims to
expose Israeli and international corporations which are involved in the
construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in
the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, and in the supply
of specific equipment used in the control and repression of the civilian population
under occupation. The question Who Profits investigates is not the traditional
complaint about the costs incurred by the occupation but the extent to which
those involved in it benefit: Who profits from Control of Population, Economic
Exploitation, and The Settlement Industry.74 The Who Profits data base has
become a mainstay of the international BDS movement, providing much of the
71 http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1733
http://toibillboard.info/144boyc.html
72 http://kanan48.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/the-economy-of-the-occupation-academic-boycott-of-israel-by-uri-yacobi-keller/
73 http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english
74 http://www.whoprofits.org/
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research and information that is vital for worldwide economic activism against
companies and corporations benefitting directly from Israel's occupation.
In the same month, BOYCOTT! sent an Open Letter to the Board of Governors of
Trondheim University, asking them to follow the Palestinian call to boycott the
Israeli academy. “Indeed, it has to be recognized by academics the world over
that Israeli universities are part and parcel of the structures of domination and
oppression of the Palestinian people. They have played a direct and indirect role
in promoting, justifying, developing or supporting the state‘s racist
policies and persistent violations of human rights and international law”.75
BOYCOTT! also joined Adalah-NY’s call on others to tell the New York Mets that
they should refrain from supporting Hebron’s settlers.76
In December 2009, members of BOYCOTT!, “including Emmanuel Farjoun,
Hebrew University; Rachel Giora, Tel Aviv University; Anat Matar, Tel Aviv
University; Kobi Snitz, Technion; and Ilan Pappe now at Exeter” supported the
US campaign for academic boycott against Israel who issued a statement calling
for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.77
In January 2010, ICAHD issued a renewed statement titled “in support of a
campaign of BDS based upon the fundamental principles of the Palestinian civil
society call:
• “Ending Israel’s occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and
dismantling the Wall;
• “Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality; and
• “Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees
to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution
194”.
It then goes on to give details about ICHAD’s support of BDS not mentioned in
the original statement, such as:
• “Boycott of Israeli academic institutions, which have not fulfilled their
responsibility of upholding the academic freedoms of their Palestinian
counterparts. Our call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities is
targeted at the institutions, opposing, for example, the holding of
international academic conferences in Israel or funding joint research
75 http://usacbi.wordpress.com/category/israeli-organizing/
76 http://boycottisrael.info/content/tell-new-york-mets-say-no-hebron%E2%80%99s-racist-violent-settlers
77 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10967.shtml
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ventures. It does not call for boycotting individual scholars or researchers in
any way”.78
In the same month, filmmaker and artist Udi Aloni published an article in Ynet,
explaining why BDS is the right tool to level against the occupation:
“[W]e must try to create the preconditions for non-violent resistance to
emerge, in order to render violent resistance unnecessary.
“The most provably-effective form of pressure known to us so far is BDS.
Thus, BDS action does not amount to negative, counter-productive action,
as many propagandists try to portray it. On the contrary, BDS action is a
life-saving antidote to violence. It is an action of solidarity, partnership
and joint progress. BDS action serves to preempt, in a non-violent
manner, justified violent resistance aimed at attaining the same goals of
justice, peace and equality.79”
4. Impact: Israel is losing its legitimacy
The BDS movement against Israel is growing worldwide. The Israeli public and
policy-makers, including military officers, cannot ignore it any longer.80 Israelis
are witnessing the loss of Israel’s legitimacy and beginning to grasp the cost of
continued Israeli disregard of international law.
In September 2009, in his article, “The third threat”, Gabriel Siboni registers the
impact of the BDS movement against Israel:
“In recent years, however, an additional threat has been developing. Its main
thrust: attempts by pro-Arab organizations to destroy Israel's legitimacy
as a political entity. There are many examples of this such as accusations of
an apartheid policy, Holocaust denial and the claim that the state's
establishment was an illegal act, as well as accusations that Israel has
committed war crimes. These lead to boycotts of Israeli companies and
products, academic and cultural boycotts and ultimately calls to destroy the
Zionist entity” (emphasis added, R.G.).81
In October 2009, Aluf Benn, Haaretz correspondent testifies:
78 http://www.icahd.org/eng/
79 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3829694,00.html
80 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0106/1224261731116.html
81 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1117739.html
20
“Only one thing does bother the Israelis, according to the polls: fear of a
diplomatic embargo and an international boycott. The Goldstone Report
and the International Court of Justice in The Hague are arousing concern
and interest, far more than Obama's peace speeches. However, as long
as relations with the rest of the world are satisfactory, Israelis
see no reason to emerge from indifference and listen to the
president of the United States” (emphasis added, R.G.).82
During the same month, in his article “Israel needs legitimacy to wage war and
peace”, Haaretz mainstream journalist, Ari Shavit, counts the threats to Israel’s
loss of legitimacy, including the BDS movement against Israel:
“But things are not all right - they really are not. Why? Because
underneath those still waters on which Israel's ship is sailing lurks an
iceberg. The Goldstone report marked the iceberg's first appearance.
Turkey turning its back on Israel was the second. Attempts by European
courts to try Israel Defense Forces officers were the third; the boycott of
Israeli products and companies in various places round the world was the
fourth”.83
In November 2009, mainstream journalist, Sever Plocker, admits that
“Israel’s image has hit a nadir; it is isolated, unwanted, and perceived as
bad. The world is telling us that should we continue along the same
contemptible path, we will lose our legitimacy” (emphasis added,
R.G.).84
In the same month, in his article titled “How we became a night unto the
nations”, Haaretz mainstream columnist Yoel Marcus laments Israel’s loss of
legitimacy:
“Israel is … described as a strong country, aggressive and domineering, as
Charles de Gaulle once said. President Shimon Peres was recently greeted by
angry demonstrations in Argentina and Brazil. Many countries boycott Israeli
products, and Israeli lecturers on college campuses throughout the West
endure catcalls. During Ehud Olmert's recent lecture tour of the United
States, he was greeted almost everywhere he went with cries such as ’child
killers!’
“Ever since Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, officers in the Israel Defense
Forces have been at risk every time they land in an international airport. … it
82 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1116923.html
83 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121263.html
84 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3798761,00.html
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would be preferable for our government to discuss how we got to where we
are - no longer a light unto the nations - and what needs to be done to stop
the freefall in our international image before it's too late” (emphasis
added, R.G.).85
Still, in the same month, Yoav Karny writes in Globes:
“Israel will not continue to exist if the educated middle class of the West
turns against it. The experience of South Africa has taught all the
boycotters in the world that there isn’t a more effective tool to
weaken a society's stamina than the withdrawal of foreign
investments” (emphasis added, R.G.).86
In January 2010, Gidi Grinstein, the founder and president of the Reut Institute,
a policy group designed to provide real-time long-term strategic decision-making
support to the Government of Israel, 87 acknowledges the de-legitimization
threat:
“And so, our politicians and military personnel are threatened with
lawsuits and arrest when they travel abroad, campaigns to boycott our
products gain traction, and our very existence is challenged in academic
institutions and intellectual circles. The country is increasingly isolated”. 88
The BDS movement against Israel, supported by a growing number of
Israelis, is biting. It threatens to undermine Israel’s position in the civilized
world. It holds up a mirror to the ugly face of Israel as Oppressor. Sooner or
later, mainstream Israelis will have to acknowledge the face in the mirror as
their own. The sooner they do, the sooner they will press for a drastic course
correction in partnership with Palestinians that will bring justice for all and will
set the country on the path to regaining its legitimacy.
Acknowledgements
I am really grateful to anyone who sent me comments and helped in shaping
up this docu'ment. I am most indebted to Reuven Abergel, Mona Baker, Dalit
Baum, Jeff Halper, Shir Hever, Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, Debby Lerman, Rela
Mazali, Dorothy Naor, Ofer Neiman, Ilan Pappe, Deb Reich, Aliyah Strauss,
Gila Svirsky, Mikado Warschawski, and Beate Zilversmidt.
85 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1130262.html
86 http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?QUID=1056,U1259349558910&did=1000517467
87 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reut_Institute
88 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142739.html
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