Peter LarsonChair

National Education Committee

on Israel/PalestineNational Council on Canada-Arab

Relations (NCCAR)

Why is Israel

so worried about BDS?

Peter LarsonChair

National Education Committee

on Israel/PalestineNational Council on Canada-Arab

Relations (NCCAR)

Why is Israel “the only democracy in the middle east”

so worried about BDS?

“a legal, non-violent movement for human rights”

Outline

Background – what is the BDS movement? How did it originate?

The 3 demands or objectives

The 3 elements: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

BDS and Palestinian unity

Progress so far Victories

Israeli reaction

Dangers - can the BDS movement be “hijacked”?

The United Church of Canada and BDS

Conclusion

What is the BDS movement?

In 2005, Palestinian civil society

issued a call for a campaign of

• Boycotts,

• Divestment, and

• Sanctions

Endorsed by 170 Palestinian organizations in the West Bank, in Gaza,

inside Israel, in refugee camps and in the Palestinian Diaspora

Source: http://www.bdsmovement.net/

Some examples:

Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine

Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)

Global Palestine Right of Return Coalition

Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)

Federation of Independent Trade Unions

General Union of Palestinian Workers

Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions

General Union of Palestinian Women

Union of Palestinian Farmers

General Union of Palestinian Teachers

General Union of Palestinian Writers

Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and

Employees (PFUUPE)

Union of Public Employees in Palestine-Civil Sector

Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the

Wall)

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of

Israel (PACBI)…

……And 150 other organizations

The call

“We (…) call upon (…) people of conscience all over

the world to impose broad boycotts and implement

divestment initiatives against Israel (…) and pressure

your respective states to impose embargoes and

sanctions against Israel. (…).

2005 – First BDS Call by Palestinian civil society

The 3 objectives of the BDS movement

1. “Freedom” Ending Israel’s occupation and colonization of all Arab lands

and dismantling the wall

2. “Equality” Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian

citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. “Return” Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian

refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN

resolution 194.”

From BDS website

The logic of the 3 objectives

The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions

(BDS) is based on a rights-based approach and

highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian

people:

1. the refugees,

2. those under military occupation in the West Bank

and Gaza Strip, and

3. Palestinians in Israel.

Source: BDS website

The 1948 Nakba

scattered the

Palestinians around,

and out of, Mandate

Palestine

Where are the

Palestinians today?

1. West Bank* 2.4 M

2. Gaza* 1.6 M

3. Refugees in Lebanon,

Jordan, Syria 3.5 M

4. Israel 1.4 M

5. Diaspora 2. M

Total 10.9M

* - More than 1.4 M of the people

now living in the WB and Gaza

are refugees from what is now

Israel.

The Three BDS elements (or levers)

1. Boycott

2. Divestment

3. Sanctions

1 Boycott

Targets products and companies (Israeli and international)

that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as

Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions.

Who does it?

- mostly individuals

Examples:

• Individual consumer products

• Music groups/sporting events/academic events

NB: does not apply to:

• Individual academics who go to/come from Israel

• Touring Israel to see the situation in historic Palestine

2 Divestment

Targets corporations complicit in the violation of Palestinian

rights and ensuring that investment portfolios are not used to

finance such companies.

Who does it?

- mostly big money managers and institutions

Examples:

• Pension funds

• Banks

• Individuals (e.g. Israel bonds)

3 Sanctions

Targets Israel’s membership of various diplomatic and

economic forums.

Who does it?

- States and international organizations

Examples:

• International bodies – e.g. FIFA

• State-to-State agreements – e.g. Canada Israel Free Trade

Agreement

Growing support for BDS

2005 – BDS call

2007 – First Palestinian BDS Conference

2007 - Creation of BDS Coordinating Committee

2009 – “A moment of Truth” – Palestinian Christian

churches join in

2011 – Growing international support

Progress so far:

Boycott – growing rapidly

• Sodastream

• Stephen Hawking

• Musicians: Bono,

• Elvis Costello, and others

Divestment – some movement

• Dutch pension fund giant PGGM withdrawn its

investments from Israel's five largest banks.

• Norwegian government pension fund divests

Sanctions – early stages

• Debate over Palestinian representation at UN

• Question over Israeli participation in FIFA

Some Churches around the world have taken up a

partial “boycott”

e.g. United Church of Canada

GC41 August 2012

Calls on United Church members to take concrete actions to support

the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories

• Initiates “Unsettling Goods” campaign

• Focus on boycotting goods produced in illegal settlements

• Much attention on SODASTREAM

Main differences between BDS and UCC position

• UCC “unsettling goods campaign” limited to boycotting goods produced in

settlements, and not Israel as a political entity.

• “The church does not support the formal BDS Campaign, which calls not

only for a comprehensive boycott of all Israeli businesses and products,

but also for the full implementation of a Palestinian Right of Return.”

• “The Church recognizes Israel as a Jewish State”

- Statement of Church policy

Israel’s politicians sound rattled

by the campaign to isolate their country

Feb 8th 2014 | JERUSALEM |

ONCE derided as the scheming of crackpots, the campaign for

boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, widely

known as BDS, is turning mainstream.

(…)

That, at any rate, is the fear of a growing number of Israelis.

Israel’ is starting to notice….

Israeli reaction to BDS

• 2011 Knesset passes

“anti boycott” law

• debates “whether to

launch an aggressive

public campaign or

operate through quieter,

diplomatic channels.”

• Lobbies in Canada,

Australia and USA for

anti-boycott legislation in

other countries

2013 reaction stiffening

• BDS is “Immoral and anti-

Semitic” – Shimon Fogel, CEO

of CIJA

• Kenney’s “buycott”

Left – Jason’s “buycott” – the tweet that

went across Canada

Netanyahu’s speech in Washington, March, 2014

Mentioned BDS 14 times

“Netanyahu repeated several times that the BDS movement

would fail, but the more he elaborated on the issue, the more

he revealed just how worried he is that these activists will

actually succeed in their efforts to isolate Israel and portray it

as an apartheid state.”

Haaretz reporter Barak Ravid

“An academic boycott is against academic freedom”

“If Palestinians don’t boycott Israel, why should you?”

“The goal of BDS is the end of the State of Israel itself”

“A boycott will have negligible economic effect”

Main exports - high technology products, telecommunications

equipment, military equipment, pharmaceuticals, mechanical

machinery and machinery based equipment, cut diamonds and

jewelry, agricultural products and foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles and

apparel. Source: "Israel: Trade Statistics". Global Edge. Retrieved March 18, 2013.

The three main impacts of BDS

• Boycott – educational

• Divestment – economic

• Sanctions - political

=> All result in pressure building on Israel

Why is Israel so worried about BDS?

1. BDS arisen out of the lack of progress since Oslo in 20 years of

“negotiations”

2. BDS cannot be dealt with militarily

3. BDS is broadly based – its leadership cannot be bought off

4. The 3 BDS demands attack the fundamentals of the State of Israel

1. Freedom for Palestinians under occupation

2. Equality for Palestinians in Israel

3. Return for the refugees

5. The more Israel attacks it (e.g. recent laws in Israel), the more

support grows for BDS

Where will this end?

Why is Israel so worried

about BDS?

“As long as there is hope for a 2 state solution, Israel is safe.

But when that hope evaporates, the Palestinian struggle will

change. It will become a struggle for equality and human

rights. That is a struggle Israel cannot win in the court of

world opinion”

Jonathan Cook – Ottawa, March 2014