BDS is the global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and upholds Palestinian rights. BDS was initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005. The BDS call was endorsed by 171 Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions, and movements. The signatories represent refugees, Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The campaign is coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), established in 2007.

The strategy of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equal rights. Now in its 17th year, the BDS movement can count hundreds of major victories around the world and in the US.

In the US, BDS actions involving community activists as well as student and faith-based groups have educated and mobilized thousands of people, resulting in the passage of resolutions endorsing BDS by universities, professional associations, political and church bodies.  The Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church have voted to divest their portfolios from companies targeted by the BDS movement.  The Association for Asian American Studies, the American Studies Association, the American Anthropological Association, and the American and Indigenous Studies Association have voted in favor of an academic boycott.  Roger Waters, Rage against the Machine, and Patti Smith are among the 600 performers who in 2021 signed a letter asking artists to observe the cultural boycott and decline to perform in Israel.  Among other economic successes, worldwide campaigns in which US activists have participated forced the British security company G4S and the French transportation company Veolia to withdraw their substantial business from Israel.   

Globally, especially in Western countries, the momentum of the BDS movement has triggered a well-funded effort to push back against BDS advocacy. After Ben & Jerry’s announced in 2021 that its ice cream would no longer be sold in Israeli settlements, its decision was overruled in 2022 by a US federal judge. As depicted in the Just Vision film “Boycott”, some 35 states have adopted anti-BDS laws, executive orders, or resolutions. In Massachusetts the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine in successive years helped organize statewide campaigns to prevent anti-boycott bills from being passed by the state legislature.  

To see whether your state is under threat of this unconstitutional violation of free speech, click here.