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Semplified BDS >>>
As well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.
Brands complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians
Consumer Boycott
Organic Boycott
Pressure Target
Divestment and exclusion targets - The BDS movement works to pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from, as the case may be, as many complicit companies as practical, especially arms companies and banks. We rely on the following authoritative sources:
• AFSC list of companies that have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its #GazaGenocide.
• AFSC Investigate database of companies enabling the occupation.
• UN database of businesses involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.
• WhoProfits database of Israeli and international corporations profiting from the ongoing Israeli occupation.
• Don’t Buy Into Occupation list of businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the OPT in which European financial institutions have investments.
"Towers of Ivory and Steel"
Maya Wind:
“Genocide is structural to the Israeli State and is sustained by its most liberal institutions, including its universities.
It is not only that Israeli universities have sustained apartheid and violence against Palestinians for decades, but they are currently participating in this genocide.
Hebrew University among others, are training intelligence soldiers to create target banks in Gaza, they are producing knowledge for the state”
"No Normal Support
in Abnormal Society"
in Abnormal Society"
from successful South Africa Boycott campaign
Councillors hand in a petition calling for sanctions against South Africa at Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street residence on March 18, 1985. The petition was supported by 42 councils.
Sheffield AAM supporters outside Tesco on 13 October 1989. Over 2,000 shoppers signed Sheffield AA Group’s petition asking Tesco to stop selling South African goods. Earlier in the year, 320 of Tesco 380 stores all over Britain were picketed in a special Day of Action on 22 April
‘Don’t Buy South African Goods’ was the message on Tyneside AA Group’s float at the May Day carnival in 1989
More than 15,000 people marched through central London on 27 March 1960 to protest against the massacre of 69 unarmed demonstrators at Sharpeville. The march was organised by the Boycott Movement, with the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the Committee of African Organisations
The Boycott Movement’s Month of Action in March 1960 was launched with a march through central London on 28 February. The march was followed by a rally in Trafalgar Square, at which the main speakers were the Leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe and Tennyson Makiwane of the ANC. The rally was chaired by Father Trevor Huddleston
Women Against Apartheid
ANC ‘Year of the Women’ meeting. South Africa Women’s Day was marked by a packed meeting in Hackney Town Hall on 9 August 1984. The meeting was organised by the ANC’s London Women’s Committee. In the picture (l. to r.) are ANC Women’s Section representatives Florence Maleka and Felicia Mzamo, Glenys Kinnock. and Labour MP Joan Lestor 1984 was designated the Year of the Women by the African National Congress
Local Authorities Against Apartheid
ANC President Oliver Tambo was the main speaker at the London Against Racism rally held at Friends Meeting House by the Greater London Council on 21 March 1984. In December 1983 the GLC launched an Anti-Apartheid Declaration pledging that it would discourage all links between London and apartheid South Africa
Trade Unions Against Apartheid
British trade unionists supported a worldwide Week of Trade Union Action against Apartheid in January 1977
Professions Against Apartheid
Lawyers Against Apartheid held its first meeting in April 1987. The group campaigned against the abuse of the law by the apartheid regime. Left to right: Van Meevan, Martin Mabdetson (ANC), Lord Gifford, Bience Gavanas (SWAPO), Adrienne Barnett (Chair, Lawyers Against Apartheid)
Multi-Faith Action
A Sikh contingent on the AAM’s March and Festival for Freedom in Namibia and South Africa, 28 June 1986. The march was the culmination of a month-long campaign for sanctions against South Africa. 250,000 people came to Clapham Common for a star-studded concert organised by Artists Against Apartheid
Local Anti-Apartheid Groups
Hackney and Tower Hamlets AA Group protesting outside an exhibition sponsored by Barclays Bank in Tower Hamlets Town Hall, east London in 1985. Barclays was the biggest high street bank in South Africa
Cultural Boycott
Marlon Brando asked film directors, actors and producers to forbid the screening of their films before segregated audiences in South Africa on a visit to London in 1964. In the photograph he is at a press conference with the AAM’s Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty. He also took part in a vigil outside South Africa House calling for the release of political prisoners
Lobbying Government
AAM Secretary Abdul Minty, Chair Bob Hughes MP and Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe deliver a ‘No arms for apartheid’ petition to the Labour Government on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, 21 March 1977
Divestment
A supporter of End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA) at a Barclays cashpoint on Victoria Street, central London, 16 June 1985
Oil Embargo
Picket of a local Shell garage
No Arms for South Africa
AAM march and rally in central London 17 March 1963
Poster produced for the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s campaign against the resumption of arms sales to South Africa by the 1970–74 Conservative government
Poster exposing western nuclear collaboration with South Africa
Sport Boycott
Disabled AAM supporters picketed the opening day of the International Stoke Mandeville Games, forerunner of the Paralympics, in July 1981. They were calling for South Africa to be barred from the Games
Poster for the campaign to stop the 1970 Springbok cricket tour
BDS in details
1.
Consumer Boycott Targets
Consumer Boycott Targets
The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands carefully selected due to the company's proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid.
HP Inc (US) provides services to the offices of genocide leaders, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Financial Minister Smotrich. HPE, which shares the same brand, provides technology for Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, a pillar of its apartheid regime.
Chevron (including Caltex and Texaco brands)
US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron generates billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system, exacerbating the climate crisis and Gaza siege, and is complicit in depriving the Palestinian people of their right to sovereignty over their natural resources. Chevron has thousands of retail gas stations around the world under the Chevron, Caltex, and Texaco brand names.
Siemens (Germany) is the main contractor for the Euro-Asia Interconnector, an Israel-EU submarine electricity cable that is planned to connect Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory to Europe. Siemens-branded electrical appliances are sold globally.
Since 2018, we have called for a boycott of PUMA (Germany) due to its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA), which governs teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. In a major BDS win in December 2023, PUMA leaked news to the media that it will not be renewing its IFA contract when it expires in December 2024. Until then, it is still complicit, so we continue to #BoycottPUMA until it finally ends its complicity in apartheid.
Carrefour (France) is a genocide enabler. Carrefour-Israel has supported Israeli soldiers partaking in the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with gifts of personal packages. In 2022, it entered a partnership with the Israeli company Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which are involved in grave violations against the Palestinian people.
Insurance giant AXA (France) invests in Israeli banks financing war crimes and the theft of Palestinian land and natural resources. When Russia invaded Ukraine, AXA took targeted measures against it. Yet, Axa has taken no action against Israel, a 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid, despite its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.
SodaStream
SodaStream is an Israeli company that is actively complicit in Israel's policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of present-day Israel in the Naqab (Negev) and has a long history of racial discrimination against Palestinian workers.
Ahava
Ahava cosmetics is an Israeli company that has its production site, visitor center, and main store in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.
RE/MAX
RE/MAX (US) markets and sells property in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land, thus enabling Israel’s colonization of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli produce in your supermarkets
Boycott produce from Israel in your supermarket and demand their removal from shelves. Beyond being part of a trade that fuels Israel’s apartheid economy, Israeli fruits, vegetables, and wines misleadingly labeled as “Product of Israel” often include products of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. Israeli companies do not distinguish between the two, and neither should consumers.
2.
Grassroots Organic Boycott Targets
Grassroots Organic Boycott Targets
The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but supports them due to these brands’ complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.
McDonald’s (US), Burger King (US), Papa John’s (US), Pizza Hut (US), WIX (Israel), etc. are now being targeted in some countries by grassroots organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement. BDS supports these boycott campaigns because these companies, or their branches or franchisees in Israel, have openly supported apartheid Israel and/or provided generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current genocide. If these grassroots campaigns are not already organically active in your area, we suggest focusing your energies on our strategic campaigns above.
Recently, McDonald’s franchisee in Malaysia has filed a SLAPP lawsuit against solidarity activists, claiming defamation. Instead of holding the Israel franchisee to account for supporting genocide, we are now witnessing corporate bullying against activists. For both these reasons, we are calling to escalate the boycott of McDonald’s until the parent company takes action and ends the complicity of the brand.
3.
Pressure Targets
Pressure Targets
The BDS movement calls for pressure against these companies, including boycotts, if reasonable alternatives exist.
Google and Amazon (US)
In May 2021, as the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in occupied Jerusalem, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By supporting Israeli apartheid with vital technologies, Amazon and Google are directly implicated in its entire system of oppression, including its unfolding genocide in Gaza. Join the #NoTechForApartheid campaign.
Airbnb/Booking/Expedia
Airbnb (US), Booking.com (Netherlands) and Expedia (US) all offer rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.
Disney
The Disney-owned Marvel Studios (US) is promoting in the next Captain America film a “superhero” that personifies apartheid Israel. Both companies are therefore complicit in “anti-Palestinian racism, Israeli propaganda, and the glorification of settler-colonial violence against Indigenous people,” as Palestinian cultural organizations have stated.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Teva is an Israeli pharmaceutical company and the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer. Teva benefits from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands allowing the company to exploit the captive Palestinian market.
4.
Divestment & Exclusion Targets
Divestment & Exclusion Targets
Though the BDS movement calls for divesting from and excluding from procurement/investment all the companies in the four authoritative databases listed above, we are focusing on the following targets:
Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems is apartheid Israel’s largest arms company. It “field-tests” its weapons on Palestinians, including in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. On top of building killer drones, Elbit makes surveillance technology for Israel's apartheid wall, checkpoints and Gaza fence, enabling apartheid. The US and EU use Elbit's technology to militarize their borders, violating refugee and indigenous peoples' rights.
Intel
Intel has announced that it will invest $25 billion in apartheid Israel as Israel’s #GazaGenocide continues, signaling its commitment to bolstering apartheid. The company’s first development center outside the US was opened in Haifa in 1974. For decades, Intel has invested in apartheid Israel. Its plant at “Qiryat Gat” is built on Palestinian land within the boundaries of the Palestinian village of Iraq al Manshiya, which was ethnically cleansed and razed to the ground and then replaced by the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Gat.
HD Hyundai/Volvo/CAT/JCB
Machinery from HD Hyundai (South Korea), Volvo (Sweden/China), CAT (US), and JCB (UK) has been used by Israel in the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians through the destruction of their homes, farms, and businesses, as well as the construction of illegal settlements on land stolen from them, a war crime under international law.
Barclays
Barclays Bank (UK) holds more than £1 billion in shares of, and provides more than £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians.
Basque transport firm CAF builds and services the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), a tram line that serves Israel's illegal settlements in Jerusalem. CAF benefits from Israel’s war crimes on stolen Palestinian land.
US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main international corporation extracting gas claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron and Chevron-owned Noble Energy generate billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system as well as exacerbating the climate crisis.
HikVision
Amnesty International has documented high-resolution CCTV cameras made by Hikvision (China) installed in residential areas and mounted to Israeli military infrastructure for surveillance of Palestinians. Some of these models, according to Hikvision’s own marketing, can plug into external facial recognition software.
TKH Security
Amnesty International has identified cameras made by TKH Security (Netherlands) used by Israel for surveillance of Palestinians. TKH provides Israeli police with surveillance technology that is used to entrench apartheid.
Remember, all Israeli banks and virtually all Israeli companies are complicit to some degree in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid, and hundreds of international corporations and banks are also deeply complicit. We focus our boycotts on a small number of companies and products for maximum impact.
HP:
Active Israel's Partner
in Maintaining Apartheid System
Active Israel's Partner
in Maintaining Apartheid System
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a nonviolent, grassroots movement that advocates for various forms of boycott and economic pressure on Israel until it complies with international law and respects Palestinian rights. BDS targets Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, its system of apartheid, and the denial of Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes.
Co-resistance vs Normalisation
BDS describes "normalization" as a process by which Palestinians are compelled to stop resisting and to accept their subjugation. BDS analogizes it to a "colonization of the mind", whereby the oppressed comes to believe that the oppressor's reality is the only reality and that the oppression is a fact of life. BDS opposes normalization as a means to resist oppression.
Normalization, BDS says, can arise when Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories meet without the Israeli side acknowledging the fundamental injustices Israel inflicts on the Palestinians, corresponding to the BDS's three demands. BDS calls it "co-existence" and argues that it feeds complacency and privileges the oppressor at the expense of the oppressed.
Instead, BDS encourages "co-resistance", where "anti-colonial Jewish Israelis" and Palestinians come together to fight against the injustices afflicting the Palestinians. BDS denounces dialogue projects bringing Palestinians and Israelis together without addressing the struggle for Palestinian rights. Such projects, it asserts, "serve to privilege oppressive co-existence at the cost of co-resistance" regardless of their intentions. It also denounces projects that portray the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians as symmetrical.
One example of a project BDS denounces is OneVoice, a joint Palestinian-Israeli youth-oriented organization that brings Israelis and Palestinians together under the slogan of ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state. Since OneVoice concerns itself with neither Israeli apartheid nor Palestinian refugees' rights, BDS concludes that it serves to normalize oppression and injustice.
Critics of "anti-normalization" rhetorically ask how BDS is supposed to win over the hearts and minds of unconvinced Jewish Israelis if a precondition for dialogue is that they first commit to BDS's principles. They believe that dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians can convince Jewish Israelis that BDS's demands are just.
BDS contends that the "peace industry", the many dialogue initiatives launched in the 1990s in the aftermath of the Oslo Accords, has not helped the Palestinians at all because they are based on the idea that the conflict is between two equals, rather than about one group oppressing another.
BDS believes that dialogue needs to be based on freedom, equality, democracy, and ending injustice, or else it is at best a form of negotiation between a stronger and weaker party.
"No Normal Support in Abnormal Society"
from successful South Africa Boycott campaign
