London – Since the onset of the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip, the global attention to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has increased. It has become a means to express solidarity with Palestine and condemn the support of major companies for the unprecedented aggression faced by the people of Gaza.
This global public will aligns with the goals the movement has been working on for years. Fatima Badr, the media coordinator, reveals an increase in awareness of the importance of boycotts and the achievements accomplished since October 7, 2023.
Badr spoke to Al Jazeera Net about the fierce war that the "Israeli lobby" is waging to clamp down on the movement. She mentions that Tel Aviv treats BDS as "an existential threat that must be confronted."
British unionists block the road in front of an Israeli arms factory, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza (Al Jazeera)
What are the latest developments in the boycott movement after October 7, 2023, and the current situation in Gaza?
Since the beginning of the Israeli genocidal war on our people in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian National Committee for Boycotting Israel – the widest coalition in Palestinian society and the leadership of the BDS movement – has called for participation in all popular events and campaigns supporting our people in Gaza.
It also called for continued mobilization and pressure, raising demands for an immediate ceasefire, opening the Rafah land crossing, and delivering emergency aid to the sector immediately, including fuel and electricity, and providing international protection for our people in Gaza.
The boycott campaigns against Israel were intensified on all levels, starting from boycotting companies complicit in the Israeli colonial and apartheid system, extending to academic, cultural, artistic, and sports boycotts of this "enemy."
The committee has intensified popular responses to all forms of normalization in the Arab world and escalated campaigns for military embargo internationally, mobilizing activists and providing them with effective tools to pressure decision-makers in their countries.
What are the key achievements of the boycott movement during the past period? Are there any numbers that show the success of boycotting certain products and brands?
It's too early to obtain numbers and statistics, but we can give examples of the movement's global impact, especially in recent months. At the beginning of last month, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), an important part of the BDS movement, announced its years-long campaign partnership with global solidarity movements against the German sporting clothing company "Puma," resulting in the company announcing the end of its contract with the Israeli Football Association.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, imposed a ban on all ships owned by "the Israeli enemy," especially the Israeli shipping company "Zim," and those headed to Israeli ports, as "a response to Tel Aviv's actions that violate fundamental humanitarian principles and international laws." This decision came after the persistent work of the Malaysian Boycott movement in building support for it.
The city of Barcelona fully broke its relations with Israel due to war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza, becoming the first European city to do so.
Jordan's foreign minister announced that his country would not sign an energy and water exchange agreement with Israel, previously unveiled at Expo Dubai 2020 and known as "electricity for water," following significant public pressure from the Jordanian street where our partners "Jordan Boycott" played a key role.
The BDS movement's campaigns against complicit companies have also expanded in the Arab world. The Jordanian company "Amid Coffee" announced the closure of all its branches in "Carrefour," which is complicit with the mass extermination crime against our people in the Gaza Strip.
The American University in Cairo's career fair's administration excluded "AXA" insurance company from its list of sponsors, responding to calls from students demanding the company's boycott and exclusion due to its investments in Israeli banks.
The movement has encouraged organic boycott campaigns initiated by Arab activists against giant American companies such as "McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King," and others because their Israeli branches supported the Israeli military during the ongoing extermination in Gaza.
Has the awareness of the importance of boycott increased after October 7, 2023? How successful have the boycott campaigns been?
The boycott campaigns have received significant engagement since October 7, 2023. We've seen a broad popular rise aiming to make all companies complicit in Israeli crimes pay for their involvement through the activation of the boycott weapon against entities that supported our people's extermination in besieged Gaza.
We now have fertile ground to spread awareness about the targeted campaigns of the BDS movement, which means focusing on a specific number of the most complicit and most important targets to amplify impact, rather than unfocused boycotts.
For example, the movement launched a call for Carrefour's boycott due to its complicity in occupation crimes; it became apparent during the ongoing genocide through thousands of personal shipments donations to occupation army soldiers. Other campaigns include boycotting "HP," "Puma," "AXA," and others.
Since its inception, the movement has achieved many successes, especially in boycotting complicit companies. For instance, the security company "G4S" completely pulled its investments from the Israeli colonial and apartheid system after sustained boycott campaigns with support from allies around the world.
The French telecommunications giant "Orange" withdrew from the Israeli market, ending its dealings with "Partner" Israeli company following the threat of a popular campaign for boycotting Israel in Egypt to boycott the Egyptian company "Mobinil," which "Orange" owns 98% of.
The Kuwaiti government and the municipality of Kabad excluded "Veolia" from two contracts worth over a billion dollars, leading – together with global pressure and the BDS movement's inflicted losses on the company – to its complete withdrawal from the Israeli market in late 2015.
After years of pressure campaigns and boycotts, "General Mills" American company announced selling its share in its joint project with "the Israeli enemy."
What are the current projects or targets you are focusing on?
The movement's priority is to direct all the collective strength built with our partners worldwide over the years towards pressuring decision-makers into forcing the American-Israeli genocidal camp, supported by Europeans, to stop the genocide and end the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Part of this pressure comes from escalating boycott and divestment campaigns and direct pressure on complicit members of parliaments, governments, companies, and media through peaceful "occupation" of their headquarters to disrupt their regular and ongoing complicity in peaceful ways.
For example, we work closely with trade unions, particularly those in maritime shipping, to obstruct weapons shipments to Israel, which several unions have done in Belgium, Catalonia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and even California in the United States.
We are also intensely pressuring friendly governments to our people to impose a military embargo on Israel and work to expel it from the membership of the United Nations General Assembly and the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), among others.
Do you face any problems or harassment during your work?
Definitely, as the Israeli government has designated for years an entire ministry to fight the BDS movement, considering it since 2014 a "strategic threat" that could amount to an "existential threat," as stated by leading Israeli officials.
Israel, along with its lobbying groups, especially in the United States, works to suppress all BDS activities and allocates vast budgets reaching hundreds of millions of dollars over a few years.
Several countries are working to clamp down on the boycott movement, how do you deal with this?
Israel and its allies wage a legal war worldwide against the BDS movement, attempting to pressure and restrict activists and their pursuit, specifically through laws that demonize the movement and attempt to suppress some of its aspects, which undermines freedom of expression and the democratic rights of Palestinian cause supporters.
However, this only reflects the state of bankruptcy and frustration that the occupation government has reached. The BDS movement has demonstrated its ability to overcome these obstacles, continue to grow and spread, increase its impact, achieve more successes, and enhance the isolation of the Israeli regime, an indicator of its effective tools.
Moreover, the Israeli war against the BDS movement, such as banning activists from entering occupied Palestine and passing anti-boycott laws, even provokes previously unsupportive liberal currents and inspires fighting spirit in supporters, especially youth.
