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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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The Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality needs your support. It's simple to get involved with the BDS movement today.

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Updates from the palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

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Update

The prestigious Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium has announced its withdrawal from a controversial EU-funded research cooperation project with the Israeli police and the Israeli Ministry of Public Security.

Update

The Trump administration's anti-Palestinian and illegal act reverses decades of official U.S. policy regarding Jerusalem and contradicts the international consensus. Trump’s policies on Palestine underscore that it is long past time for the world to apply concrete pressure on Israel to respect Palestinian rights through support for our struggle for rights and dignity.

BNC Statement

Palestinian BDS leadership welcomes Colombian movements joining BDS and calls for deepening solidarity between the two peoples and redoubling our efforts to enact a military embargo on Israel now.

Update

Hundreds of elected officials in the Spanish State endorse BDS for Palestinian rights, setting a new BDS precedent in Europe. They include mayors, city councillors, members of congress, presidents of regional parliaments and members of the European Parliament.

Update

After Israeli ministers threatened to withdraw sponsorship from the Giro d'Italia over use of the term "West Jerusalem," race organizers chose to recognise Israel’s illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem.

Open Letter

“You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being.

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