Economic hits, military embargoes, global isolation: How BDS movement aims to take down Israel

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – In the wake of its deadly and devastating war on Gaza, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has intensified its efforts to confront Israel through a combination of economic pressure and global isolation.

“What we are really trying to do in the BDS movement is end international support for Israel and isolate it from being a participant in the global economy as long it is committing these crimes of genocide, apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism,” Olivia Katbi, the North America coordinator for the Palestinian-led movement, told Anadolu.

Along with a permanent cease-fire and access to humanitarian aid, she said their urgent objectives include an economic boycott, pressuring governments to impose targeted and lawful sanctions on Israel, and a military security embargo.

BDS is also seeking the “expulsion or suspension of Israel from international forums,” she said, citing the UN General Assembly and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) as examples.

Launched in 2005, BDS is the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society groups, inspired by South Africa’s anti-apartheid and the US civil rights movement.

According to Katbi, they focus on non-violent tactics to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian human rights, with BDS activists and organizations working to challenge and disrupt economic and business ties.

“So, whether that be states, institutions or other spaces, we really need to escalate boycott and divestment campaigns against strategic complicit targets, disrupting arms shipments as we’re seeing happen around the world right now,” she said.

This includes pressuring investment or pension fund institutions, such as city councils, to adopt specific policies or procurement guidelines, and pushing for divestment at all levels from companies that BDS holds complicit in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

“If Israel no longer has international support, that means they no longer have access to the global economy and all of the governments and corporations that are helping to prop up their illegal, illegitimate, racist settler society,” Katbi asserted.

- Economic boycott

Previous BDS campaigns have hurt the Israeli economy, according to Katbi.

“Massive companies, over the years, stopped doing business with Israel and hundreds of millions of dollars were divested from Israel through the BDS movement activism,” she said.

Citing examples, she said firms such as French telecommunications giant Orange and another French transnational company specialized in water management, waste management and energy services, were targeted in major divestment and boycott campaigns that forced them to pull out hundreds of millions of dollars from Israel.

According to Katbi, Israel is “terrified” of hurting its brand and because of the public relations damage that the movement has inflicted over the years, it has established a dedicated agency to combat the BDS.

She pointed out that even before the current Gaza crisis, the Israeli economy was taking a huge hit because of the spiraling unrest over the government’s contentious judicial reforms, with Israeli startups and investors pulling out funds because of the political instability.

“Israel is the one causing injury to its own economy through its violence and war crimes,” she added.

- BDS targets

The BDS boycott campaign is divided into four categories: consumer boycott targets, divestment targets, pressure (non-boycott), and organic boycott targets.

Their current campaigns against consumer products include boycotts of a leading sportswear manufacturer that sponsors the Israel Football Association, which “governs teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.”

It also includes Hewlett-Packard, which according to Katbi, helps run the biometric identification system that Israel uses to restrict Palestinians’ movement, as well as Sabra Hummus, whose parent company provides financial support to the Israeli army.

As for the divestment targets, they include a large list of companies such as Elbit, the largest arms company of Israel, American energy behemoth Chevron, which facilitates Israel’s “illegal gas extraction off the Gaza Strip,” and Caterpillar, whose bulldozers and equipment are used to demolish Palestinian homes.

With organic products, BDS aims for boycotts of major fast food chains, which it says support Israel, including with “generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current offensive.”

- ‘Goal isn’t to boycott as many companies as possible’

For the BDS, one of the main criteria in identifying countries is the level of the firm’s complicity with Israel, and whether the campaign is actually feasible.

“If it’s Boeing, for example, it’s probably not going to stop making bombs, that’s what they do. But we can end these sort of secondary partnerships that Boeing has, we can actually disrupt the flow of weapons for a time,” Katbi explained.

The movement also tries to ascertain if they can build an intersectional campaign around it, and have some broad public awareness around the campaign. They urge activists to pick a boycott campaign that is specific to their context.

“Rather than boycotting the most number of companies possible, we really ask our supporters to again work within their communities, their workplaces, unions, civil society organizations to make these boycott and divestment campaigns, popular, strategic and winnable,” she said.

She said consumer boycotts are most effective when there is collective action, but stressed that BDS is not just about consumer goods.

“When you see these massive lists of dozens and dozens of companies to boycott that is going around on social media, please keep in mind that the goal isn’t to boycott as many companies as possible. The goal is to strategize, pick a few targets and exert enough collective pressure to actually win a campaign,” she added.

- ‘Keep the pressure on’

Katbi said the current strategies are working as more people around the world are learning about BDS and responding to Palestinians’ call for international solidarity.

Labor unions around the globe are also playing a critical part in pressuring their governments for sanctions or to cut ties with Israel, she added.

Last month, Palestinian groups called on trade unions around the world to refuse to cooperate with any work that involves shipments of weapons or cargo to Israel.

“We saw all of the major trade unions in India, representing over 100 million workers, issuing a statement calling on the Indian government to cancel all agreements with Israel,” said Katbi.

Dock workers in Barcelona and Italy walked out and refused to handle cargo and weapons bound for Israel, while major trade unions in Belgium, representing 3 million workers, are also refusing to transport weapons heading to Israel, she added.

“It’s time for workers in countries like the UK and the US, who offer so much support to Israel, to really push their union leaderships in their workplaces to end their complicity in Israeli genocide,” said Katbi.

“We have seen trade unions all over the US, and even some city councils, join the call for a cease-fire, which is big in the US,” she added.

Apart from calling for a cease-fire, activists have also directly disrupted the shipment of weapons at major ports in San Francisco and Tacoma, Washington, while there have been massive protests against weapons companies in the US, including Boeing and Elbit.

They are pushing for a military embargo and “ending our country’s $3.8 billion a year in military sales to Israel, making it illegal for US companies to continue to supply Israel with weapons and imposing sanctions … which sometimes feels like might be an insurmountable task,” said Katbi.

The BDS movement sees hope as more members of Congress are heeding people’s calls in support of a cease-fire.

Katbi said they are now planning for longer-term BDS campaigns.

“Assuming this genocide does stop, that’s not going to be the end of our campaigning,” she said.

“We have to keep the pressure on our government and to push our government to end their support of this genocidal, racist settler colonial country once and for all.”​​​​​​​