What s the significance of the BDS movement ?
Boycotts are time-honored non-violent means through which citizens can influence governments to respect civil and human rights. In the United States, South Africa, and elsewhere boycotts have played a significant role in popular struggles.
The movement for Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (“BDS”) began in July 2005 when 170 Palestinian civil society organizations issued a call for international solidarity to press for BDS in order to compel Israel to abide by its legal obligations to: 1) establish equal rights for its Palestinian citizens; 2) respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes; and 3) end the occupations of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The boycott applies to Israeli institutions, not to individuals.
Boycotts within the United States are protected political speech under the First Amendment, and efforts to discourage or penalize a boycott of Israel are unconstitutional.
Yet, this has not stopped regressive political forces from pushing at the state and federal levels for bills to penalize or stigmatize BDS in the case of Palestine. Supporting the right to boycott Israel should not be controversial for anyone who supports free speech, non-violent protest, and the U.S. Constitution.
Some politicians in the U.S. have declined to support BDS, but it is very hard to discern a principled justification for this. Israel’s supporters in that country have made opposition to BDS a litmus test, even claiming that BDS is anti-Semitic.
Fear of such unjust and unfounded incendiary charges should not discourage elected officials from supporting one of the few effective non-violent means of protest that Palestinians have at their disposal.