Why No One Ignores The Boycott Israel Movement Anymore

BY BEENISH AHMED AUG 11, 2015 8:00AM
.
For ten years, pro-Palestine activists have attempted to push back at Israel’s expansion into the West Bank by taking a stand against the companies doing business there. The popularity of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — or BDS — reached new heights last year with the 50-day long conflict between Israel and the militant Palestinian political organization, Hamas. As evidenced by a Congressional hearing on the topic last month, many on either side of the debate have their reservations about the boycott effort’s ethics and efficacy.
.
BDS, which bills itself as “a truly global movement against Israeli Apartheid,” began in July 2005 when nearly 30 Palestinian civil society organizations issued a call to action to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. In the intervening decade, the effort has grown into a real threat to the Israeli economy since it started a decade ago. Some have even described BDS as “an existential threat to the Jewish state.”
.
Drawing its strategy in large part from the Anti-Apartheid Movement, BDS’ stated aims are to pressure Israel into ceding to three demands: the end of occupation of Palestinian territories according to the 1967 borders, equal treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel, and, most controversially, the right of return for Palestinian refugees as per the United Nations’ Resolution 194.
Even if those demands are unlikely to be met anytime soon, the boycotts and protests have forced Israeli officials and business owners to take BDS seriously.
.
“There is absolutely no doubt that our reputation as individuals and as a company was compromised because of our association with the lies and allegations directed at us from the BDS,” Daniel Birnbaum, the head of SodaStream, said during the hearing before the House Oversight Committee.
Even so, he maintained the decision to move its factory from Israeli-occupied territory in the West Bank was part of a “global restructuring” effort and not the result of protests. Birnbaum was also hesitant to attribute a 42 percent decline in U.S. sales to boycott efforts, although BDS claims credit for the company’s falling profits.
.
Other companies have denied BDS’ claims of their involvement with Israel, amid growing pressure from the movement.
.
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/08/11/3688653/bds-israel/