BOYCOTT ISRAEL

What can we do to stop Israel and the ongoing genocide in Gaza? This is the question many of us have been asking during these seemingly endless months of the Israeli offensive inside occupied Palestine, as we stand by, witnessing the complicit silence of our governments. The political and media system, functioning as its transmission belt, does everything to convince us that citizens are powerless in the face of injustice and the violence of power. They push us to believe that democracy means simply casting a ballot when asked and then passively watching what happens. Fortunately, that's not the case. We can do much more to take concrete action and accelerate the push that, sooner or later, history will inevitably give to the last great colonial occupation on Earth: the Zionist occupation of historical Palestine.

This text arrives at a crucial moment, when understanding reality and knowing how to act is a priority for us all. Boycott Israel not only provides a lucid reading of reality, but also offers a concrete tool for those who want to understand how to act consciously and responsibly, obviating the sense of impotence (and consequent guilt) that grips anyone who ardently wants the massacre in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine to end, but does not know how or what to do.

The genocide in Gaza continues because it is profitable for many. Numerous large companies, banks, insurance companies, and universities violate the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the most fundamental norms of international law. They become complicit in Israeli policies for economic convenience. This is revealed in the report by Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, entitled From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide. A document that opens the proverbial pandora's box, showing who profits from this two pronged operation of canceling and replacing Palestinians from their own land.

"Boycott" is a term we frequently encounter, one that evokes images of profound struggles, particularly those for liberation from oppressive, stringent, and unequal powers. But what does it truly mean to boycott? The etymology of the term originates precisely from the name of an oppressor: English Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott. After serving in Her Majesty's army, the captain relocated to Ireland, where he worked as a land agent for Lord Erne.

Since 2002, Israel has been constructing a wall within the occupied Palestinian territories to separate Palestinians from East Jerusalem, which UN resolutions designate as the capital of the state of Palestine. This wall continues to expand and has become a tool to facilitate the illegal annexation of additional lands and to physically segregate Palestinians living east of the wall from the rest of historic Palestine. Over 85% of the wall's perimeter is built illegally on occupied Palestinian land, often cutting through villages and separating families from one another and farmers from their fields.

More than anything else, the Israeli government’s intense focus on the BDS movement reveals that boycotts are a powerful and effective weapon. Israel fears BDS so deeply that it has taken a wide range of measures to suppress it:

• persecuting BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti;
• issuing public threats from figures like Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who in 2019 called for “targeted civil eliminations” of BDS leaders;
• and designating BDS as a strategic threat equivalent to terrorism.

When you go grocery shopping - When You Eat Out - When You Drink - When You Buy Electronic Devices - When You Browse the Internet - When You Go on Vacation - When You Look for a Home - When you travel and commute - When You Take Medication

Without money, Israel would be forced to halt its actions. Without capital, it could not afford the thousands of bombs, tanks, missiles, and drones it continues to deploy to destroy Gaza and colonize the West Bank. Without financing, the genocide would not be possible. Therefore, the role of banks and financial institutions in economically sustaining the State of Israel, its military policies, and the colonization of Palestinian territories is pivotal. This support manifests through loans, the purchase of bonds ("war bonds"), investments in arms manufacturers, and backing for Israeli economic activities and banking institutions operating in illegal West Bank settlements.

What happens when universities transform into colonial outposts on lands confiscated from a people? When technology, archaeology, jurisprudence, and political and social sciences are used to provide moral and legal justification for ethnic cleansing? In her book, Towers of Ivory and Steel, anthropologist Maya Wind levels a strong accusation against the involvement of Israeli universities in supporting the occupation. Debunking "the easy myths of liberalism and independence within the Israeli university system," Wind reveals how academia has been, and continues to be, a fundamental cog in the Israeli colonial machine through direct collaboration with the military, the militarization of research, and surveillance.

Among the three forms of action advocated by BDS, financial divestment is one of the most concrete and measurable. Financial divestment is the demand directed at pension funds, banks, religious institutions, universities, and public and private investors to withdraw their investments from companies that:

• Profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories;
• Supply products or services to the Israeli military or security forces;
• Participate in the construction or maintenance of illegal settlements, the separation wall, or infrastructure associated with the occupation.

Boycotting transcends individual choice; it is a profoundly political act that gains true power only when it becomes collective, public, and visible. While diligently avoiding products and companies complicit in the Israeli occupation system is a vital first step, it is just that – a beginning. To effectively dismantle complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime, we must exert consistent, visible, and sustained grassroots pressure on public institutions, businesses, universities, and civil society organizations worldwide. Therefore, boycotting is not merely a matter of personal conscience or an ethical gesture confined to private consumption. It is a potent tool of nonviolent resistance, achieving its full force when integrated into a shared strategy driven by clear objectives and a resolute political vision.

Boycotting is Just the Beginning

The BDS movement is international in scope, led by Palestinian civil society and founded on a fundamental political principle: governments, institutions, and corporations will not cease complicity with oppression unless compelled to do so. Pressure from the bottom up is the essential tool that generates this compulsion, fostering an environment that makes collaboration with Israel economically, politically, and reputationally unsustainable.

Within this framework, boycotting is not an end in itself; it is an integral part of a global political strategy of resistance, deeply rooted in communities and strengthened through collective organizing. It is insufficient to merely make ethical choices in one's daily life. We must transform individual choices into collective practices of struggle.

Twenty years of BDS: the ethical and legal imperative to end complicity with the oppressor

In the current perverse and horrific phase of the U.S./Israeli led genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza – a situation Jewish Voice for Peace has chillingly called Israel's "final solution" – we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the BDS movement. Today, more than ever, we assert our collective power to isolate the Israeli regime, which for 77 years has systematically imposed colonial apartheid on the Indigenous Palestinian people.