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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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Action Alert
Let Puma know you will respect the call from Palestinian athletes to #BoycottPuma until it ends support for illegal Israeli settlements pushing Palestinian families off their land.
Update

On April 10, Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian human rights defender and a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement for Palestinian rights, was denied entry into the United States at Ben Gurion Airport despite having valid travel documents.

Update

Israel wants to build the longest submarine electricity cable to Europe via Cyprus and Greece. UNICEF is a “proud supporter” of this shameful project.

Update

Today, Palestinian civil society renews its call for a military embargo against Israel and amplifying BDS campaigns to end Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for its crimes.

Update

The Council of the University of Cape Town, Africa's top university, votes to reserve the right to disassociate itself from academic institutions that support or enable, directly or indirectly, the violation of human rights.

Update

The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) urge the University of Cape Town (UCT) to vote in favor of the boycott of Israeli academic institutions in support of our nonviolent struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

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