Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (also known as BDS and the BDS Movement) is a campaign attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to end what it describes as violations of international law. The BDS calls for "various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law".The stated goals of BDS are: the end of Israel's occupation and settler colonization of Palestinian land and the Golan Heights, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and acknowledgment of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

Opposing it is a high priority for the very influential Israel Lobby.

Criminalization efforts

A 2017 article stated that "The criminalization of political speech and activism against Israel has become one of the gravest threats to free speech in the West. In France, activists have been arrested and prosecuted for wearing T-shirts advocating a boycott of Israel. The U.K. has enacted a series of measures designed to outlaw such activism. In the U.S., governors compete with one another over who can implement the most extreme regulations to bar businesses from participating in any boycotts aimed even at Israeli settlements, which the world regards as illegal. On U.S. campuses, punishment of pro-Palestinian students for expressing criticisms of Israel is so commonplace that the Center for Constitutional Rights refers to it as “the Palestine Exception” to free speech.

But now, a group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison."

See also

• Hasbara
• Israel lobby
• Jewish influence
• American Anthropological Association - the section "Failed Israel boycott"
• South Africa - the section "Jewish influence and relations with Israel"