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What is BDS?

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.

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Updates from the palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

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Update

In a letter to Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, Palestinian artists remind the band it's never too late to come round to the right side of history.

July 17, 2017
Update

Over 200 Latin American organizations, coalitions, social movements and personalities published a July 9 letter addressed to the Board of Directors of Cemex, the Mexican multinational company, calling on it to end the company’s complicity in Israel’s human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Update

On Saturday, July 15, tune in on Facebook and join us for a live, hour-long conversation on the cultural boycott of Israel with one of today’s leading musicians!

Update

The Spanish parliament has unanimously passed a motion recognizing the right to advocate for BDS as protected under the right to freedom of expression and association.

Update

Last month, Egged Bus Systems (EBS), a subsidiary of Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society, Israel’s largest public transportation operator, lost a bid for a decade-long contract to run public transportation in the North-Holland region of the Netherlands.

Update

The BNC warmly welcomes a historic open letter by the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine (NCCOP) urging the World Council of Churches (WCC) to “recognize Israel as an apartheid state,” support the nonviolent, Palestinian-led global BDS movement, help intensify BDS campaigns and actively refuse Christian complicity in ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.

With G4S losing dozens of contracts with UN agencies and private companies in Jordan and Lebanon and investments in Kuwait, Medjoul Dates boycott adopted by whosale markets in Morocco, and active campaigns in Egypt and Gulf states, the BDS campaign is intesifying in the Arab World. 

BDS campaigns intensify in the Arab World

BDS was a major factor behind the 46% drop in foreign direct investment in Israel in 2014, according to a UN report. Israeli exporters have repeatedly complained that it is getting harder to export products to Europe.

Experts say BDS having a growing economic impact

French multinational Veolia completely withdrew from Israel after a BDS campaign over its role in Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian land cost it billions of dollars in lost contracts.

Multinational Veolia sells Israel business

G4S provides security services and equipment to Israeli checkpoints, illegal settlements and prisons where Palestinian political prisoners are held without trial and subjected to torture.

G4S announces plans to sell Israeli subsidiary

Thousands of artists and cultural figures including Roger Waters, Marcel Khalife and Alice Walker support the cultural boycott of Israel and stars including Lauryn Hill, Elvis Costello and Vanessa Paradis have canceled shows in Israel following requests from the BDS movement.

Thousands of artists support cultural boycott

Academic associations in the US, Canada, Ireland, Qatar, South Africa and the UK have voted to support BDS. Supporters include the Teachers Union of Ireland and the American Studies Association in the US.

Academic associations and student unions support BDS

US churches including the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church (UMC) and several Quaker bodies have voted to divest from Israeli and international companies targeted by the BDS movement.

Major churches divest

Investors to have divested from companies targeted by the BDS movement include government pension funds in Sweden, Norway, New Zealand and Luxumbourg and investors including George Soros, the Bill Gates Foundation, the huge TIAA-CREF public sector pension fund in the US, Dutch pension giant PGGM

Divestment by governments and banks

Israel regards BDS as a “strategic threat” to its ongoing oppression of Palestinians and spending millions of dollars on sabotaging BDS and persuading supportive governments to repress BDS activism.

BDS seen as a "strategic" challenge to Israel's oppression

French telecoms giant Orange left the Israeli market after campaigning in France and Egypt over the role its Israeli franchise holder played in supporting the Israeli military and its attacks on Gaza and its involvement in illegal Israeli settlements.

Orange leaves Israeli market