By Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
As painful and devastating as the ongoing massacres are, the failure of Israel’s live-streamed genocide to force Palestinians to surrender, compounded with its fast growing worldwide isolation, is a sign that its 76-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid is shaking, and we are closer to liberation. With miraculous steadfastness and determination, the Palestinian people continue to fight for justice, liberation, and our inalienable rights.
The impact of the BDS movement in fighting state, corporate and institutional complicity with apartheid Israel has grown immensely in these times of carnage. Below is just a brief sample of over 100 BDS impacts in the second half of 2024. With our collective agency, your solidarity, our intersectional coalitions, we CAN and shall rise again. We must end this. Let’s end this!
1. BDS pressure to affect policy change – including by mainstreaming the analysis of Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid and military occupation and the obligation to impose sanctions on it – has begun to show real impact:
In July 2024, over 30 UN human rights experts called on states to respect the ICJ ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal by imposing sanctions and a military embargo on Israel.
In September, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted for imposing sanctions on Israel for the first time in 42 years.
In November, 52 states called for a military embargo on Israel, an initiative later adopted by the joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the League of Arab States.
Also in November, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, South Africa, Belize, among others, called for the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid which has been a demand of the BDS movement since 2020.
In November, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights responded to BDS calls and adopted the first resolution on Palestine in 24 years calling on African states to end complicity and ensure accountability.
2. In September, the Chairman of the Israeli Export Institute stated: “BDS and boycotts have changed Israel’s global trade landscape.” He added, “Economic boycotts and BDS organizations present major challenges, and in some countries, we are forced to operate under the radar.” Israel’s projected annual GDP growth rate for 2024 is 0%, according to leading credit rating agency S&P.
3. In response to Palestinian calls for the cessation of all energy transfers to Israel, the Colombian government in August issued a decree prohibiting the export of coal to Israel. Colombia was the largest exporter of coal to Israel.
4. The United Church of Canada, the second largest denomination across Canada, in November adopted BDS strategies in November, “rejecting Israel’s apartheid system.”
5. Complicit corporations are feeling the BDS heat more than ever, canceling or suspending projects that aid and benefit from apartheid Israel:
Chevron, a priority target of the BDS movement, halted a $429 million expansion of an Israeli-claimed fossil gas field amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and its brutal bombings in Lebanon, Syria and beyond.
Global sales of McDonald’s, a prime BDS target, “fell by 1.5% between July and September, the biggest decline in four years, more than twice the size forecast by analysts. It followed a 1% drop in the April to June period.” “McDonald’s has faced boycotts and protests over its perceived pro-Israeli stance and alleged financial ties to the country.”
Carrefour closed all branches in Jordan due to BDS pressure. Carrefour’s partner in most of the Arab World, the Majid Al Futtaim Group, reacted to BDS Jordan’s boycott pressure by ending all business with the French retailer in Jordan.
Following relentless BDS campaigns worldwide, the German company PUMA was forced to end its complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime and in its #GazaGenocide.
6. USS, the UK’s biggest private pension fund, divested over $100 million of Israeli assets, including Israel Bonds, following sustained pressure from its members and the academic union, UCU.
7. The academic boycott has continued to grow at an inspiring rate:
The American Association of University Professors reversed its long-held position against academic boycotts.
The National Tertiary Education Union, representing 27K university workers in Australia, voted to support the boycott of complicit Israeli universities.
Dozens of universities, academic associations and faculty unions took measures to end complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide and underlying apartheid regime.
The American Sociological Association agreed to divest from weapons manufacturers following a proposal by Sociologists for Palestine.
The International Olympiad in Informatics voted by more than 67% not to recognize future Israeli delegations. The Italian Society for Middle East Studies voted by 96% to adopt the academic boycott.
8. Over 1,000 writers and publishing figures, including Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy, called in October for boycotting Israel’s complicit cultural institutions and pledged not to work with any publishers, festivals or publications “complicit in violating Palestinian rights.” A few weeks later, 5,000 more writers joined this cultural boycott initiative.
9. In August, the BDS movement discovered the MV Kathrin is traveling from Vietnam with 8 containers of explosives destined for use by Israel in its genocide against Palestinians. This #BlockTheBoat campaign, part of our global military embargo campaign, mobilized international solidarity groups from Malaysia to Slovenia and ensured significant delays for the shipment as for over two months the Kathrin was unable to dock anywhere. From Namibia and Angola to Montenegro and Malta, states refused to be complicit. The Kathrin eventually had to abandon the Portuguese flag. The inspiring efforts of UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese played an important role. This was just the beginning of a campaign that continues to target the maritime military and energy transfers to genocidal Israel.
11 December 2024
Source: bdsmovement.net