Challenges to Israel's Draconian Anti-BDS Law
There has been a steady march towards ever-increasing measures of brutal repression and censorship by the Israeli state. The recent anti-BDS law is another step in that direction. Amnesty International was quick to condemn it, saying it would have "a chilling effect on freedom of expression." Even the New York Times criticized it. Reactions from the BDS National Committee (BNC), Boycott from Within, the Coalition of Women for Peace, Zochrot, MK Ahmad Tibi, among others, have shown defiance and determination in standing up to this repression until the structures of oppression come crashing down.
The BNC noted that "repressive acts such as these will only offer further evidence of the undemocratic and oppressive nature of Israeli political life and motivate even more people of conscience to join our global BDS movement for freedom, justice and equality". Israeli citizens who are members of Boycott from Within, risking persecution, reiterated in a strong statement their support for BDS against Israel, until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.
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Indigenous and Women of Color feminists endorse BDS
Each and every one of us – including those … who grew up in the Jim Crow South, in apartheid South Africa, and on Indian reservations in the US – was shocked by what we saw. [W]e unequivocally endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign.
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Indian Artists Boycott Tel Aviv Museum Show
The Boycott, inspired by the earlier successful international boycott against Apartheid South Africa, is a peaceful, non-violent Gandhian campaign, which is directed at mainstream institutions and not at individuals, to pressurize Israel to recognize the rights of the Palestine people.
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IGLYO Cancels Tel Aviv Conference; Barbara Hammer drops Israeli fellowship
This month has seen two significant BDS victories within the LGBT community. Earlier the filmmaker Barbara Hammer pulled out of an Israeli fellowship. More recently, an IGLYO conference in Tel Aviv was canceled due to pressure from PQBDS and International Queer groups.
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PACBI Editorial
Israel’s Anti-BDS Law: Proving the Effectiveness of the Boycott
We in PACBI strongly condemn the anti-BDS law as the latest indicator of Israel's decades-old repression and apartheid policies. We firmly stand in solidarity with our Israeli BDS partners, such as the Coalition of Women for Peace and Boycott from Within, among others, who may, as a result of this law, face punitive measures for supporting the Palestinian-led BDS campaign.
Far from being deterred by such cynical attempts to instill fear in the movement, we shall carry on and intensify our civil resistance to Israeli apartheid and colonial oppression with unprecedented resolve. We see the passing of the law as a clear sign of the irrefutable effectiveness of the BDS movement and of the failure of Israel's other potent weapons, such as intimidation, bullying and smear campaigns, to counter the movement.
The BDS movement's slogan, "Freedom, Justice, Equality," its creative and de-centralized global tactics, the Palestinian consensus around it, and its foundation in respect for international law and universal human rights, have all made BDS a formidable strategy of resistance that has rendered much of Israel's might, with all its nuclear weapons, largely ineffective.
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