tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/bds-3455/articlesBDS – The Conversation2023-10-10T16:03:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2153492023-10-10T16:03:32Z2023-10-10T16:03:32ZIsrael-Palestine conflict divides South African politicians – what their responses reveal about historical alliances<p>Hamas’ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-10-10-23/index.html">brazen and deadly</a> attack on Israel on October 7 elicited varied responses within the South African political scene. These diverse reactions reflect the long history, <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-and-israel-new-memorial-park-in-the-jewish-state-highlights-complex-history-199997">since before democracy in 1994</a>, of South African engagement with the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The conflict holds symbolic significance for many in the country. </p>
<p>As with the war in Ukraine, taking sides on the issue also allows the different parties to highlight their position on the struggle for or against global western dominance</p>
<p>The South African government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), <a href="https://www.dirco.gov.za/south-africa-calls-for-the-immediate-cessation-of-violence-restraint-and-peace-between-israel-and-palestine/">characterised</a> the recent events as a “devastating escalation”. However, it primarily attributed the situation to Israeli policies, including “the continued illegal occupation of Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people”.</p>
<p>It called for</p>
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<p>the immediate cessation of violence, restraint, and peace between Israel and Palestine.</p>
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<p>It also urged Israel to embrace the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-state-solution">two-state solution</a> as a means of resolving the conflict. The two-state solution suggests the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-push-led-by-south-africa-to-revoke-israels-au-observer-status-is-misguided-168013">Why the push led by South Africa to revoke Israel’s AU observer status is misguided</a>
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<p>For its part, the ANC put out its own statement in the name of the party. This gave even bolder support for Hamas. The party’s national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, defended Hamas’ actions, invoking the enduring solidarity between the ANC and the Palestinian cause. </p>
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<p>It can no longer be disputed that South Africa’s apartheid history is occupied Palestine’s reality… the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising.</p>
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<p>The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a far-left pan-Africanist party which was formed after a split from the ANC, and is now the third largest party in parliament, <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-10-09-sa-calls-for-end-to-violence-and-peace-in-the-middle-east/">endorsed</a> Hamas’ use of violence. Drawing parallels with the anti-apartheid struggle, the party’s spokesperson squarely placed the blame on Israel.</p>
<p>Conversely, several movements offered their solidarity with Israel. The liberal Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, vehemently <a href="https://www.da.org.za/2023/10/da-condemns-hamas-unprovoked-attack-urges-immediate-end-to-violence">condemned</a> the “unprovoked attack” by Hamas. It decried the </p>
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<p>senseless violence and all acts of terror against innocent civilians, women and children. </p>
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<p>Some centrist or traditionalist parties, such as the <a href="https://votepa.org.za/">Patriotic Alliance</a> and the <a href="https://www.ifp.org.za/newsroom/ifp-calls-for-immediate-cessation-of-hostilities-and-resumption-of-dialogue-in-israel-palestine-conflict/">Inkatha Freedom Party</a>, also <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/israel-hamas-war-sa-political-parties-divided-on-who-is-to-blame-for-deadly-violence-20231010">voiced their criticism</a> of the attacks. South Africa’s principal Jewish organisations also <a href="https://www.sajbd.org/index.php?p=media/south-african-jewish-community-stands-with-israel">extended their support for Israel</a>. </p>
<h2>Historical roots</h2>
<p>Unwavering support for Palestinian nationhood has remained a steadfast element of South African foreign policy since the ANC came into power in 1994. This stance has seen the country become one of the most prominent voices critical of Israel globally. </p>
<p>The ANC has thrown its <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/anc-international-conference-backs-boycott">support</a> behind the <a href="https://www.bdssouthafrica.com/about-bds/">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions</a>, a movement aiming to replicate the iconic anti-apartheid boycott campaign. South African officials have consistently accused Israel of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/26/south-africa-calls-for-israels-proscription-as-apartheid-state">practising apartheid</a>. The country’s parliament recently <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/03/south-africas-parliament-votes-downgrade-diplomatic-ties-israel">voted</a> to formally downgrade the country’s relations with Israel from embassy to a liaison office.</p>
<p>I have been researching the history of the relationship between South Africa and Israel for nearly a decade. My <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/34de28522e0359b9d2ca887862f1e942/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y&casa_token=mfc7qIH5at8AAAAA:441hYgFkv6raDND0C7Zk68iygkPWyCeaZe8HaVA4coMR5JsmaBJu6ROeWkZ1C4pAcCDizWn_">research</a> has found that both the ANC and some pan-Africanist formations once held more complex perspectives on Israel and Zionism. </p>
<p>They generally expressed support for Jewish statehood from the 1940s to the 1960s. For instance, in the early 1960s, both the ANC and its primary rival in the anti-apartheid struggle, the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), considered Israel as a potential ally in their battle against apartheid. The PAC also received substantial financial assistance from Israel until 1970.</p>
<p>However, the ANC’s resentment towards Israel for its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons">collaboration with white minority rule</a> during the 1970s and 1980s, coupled with the perception of Palestinians suffering an apartheid-like oppression, has come to shape the party’s perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.</p>
<p>Since the late 1960s, the ANC has cultivated strong ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). By the 1980s, these ties had evolved into a strategic and operational alliance between the two movements. In recent years, with the weakening of the PLO, the ANC has <a href="https://www.sajr.co.za/humus-with-hamas-what-is-the-anc-thinking/">shifted</a> its support towards the PLO’s erstwhile rival, Hamas. The Muslim constituency in South Africa, <a href="https://alqalam.co.za/survey-shows-anc-losing-muslim-support/">many of whom are ANC supporters</a> and activists, further contributes to the party’s pro-Palestinian stance.</p>
<p>The DA’s support of Israel also has historical roots. Historically, liberal or so-called “moderate” parties and individuals in South Africa have been the most consistent pro-Israeli political voice in the country. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-and-israel-new-memorial-park-in-the-jewish-state-highlights-complex-history-199997">South Africa and Israel: new memorial park in the Jewish state highlights complex history</a>
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<p>Unlike the post-1970s ANC, many liberals have <a href="https://hsf.org.za/publications/focus/issue-40-fourth-quarter-2005/israel-is-a-democracy-in-which-arabs-vote">regarded</a> Israel as a democracy with a decent record in treating minorities. In the Western Cape, which is the only province governed by the DA, there has been a greater willingness to explore <a href="https://www.sajr.co.za/growing-agricultural-partnership-between-western-cape-and-israel/">collaboration</a> with Israel. </p>
<p>In addition, in recent decades, various Christian and traditionalist forces have also strongly tended towards pro-Israeli views.</p>
<p>South Africa last asked people for their religious affiliation in a household survey in 2013. The figures <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/hts/v73n2/01.pdf">at the time showed there were</a> just over 1 million Muslims and just over 101,500 people of the Jewish faith. More recent data indicates that the Jewish population in the country was <a href="https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/what-is-the-future-of-the-jews-of-south-africa-677031">dropped</a> to about 50,000 people. The latest census puts the entire population at <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16711">62 million</a>.</p>
<h2>Long legacy of international alliances</h2>
<p>The diverse perspectives of South Africa’s political parties on Israel/Palestine also mirror their distinct international allegiances. Having <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-may-explain-south-africas-refusal-to-condemn-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-178657">valued the assistance of the Soviet Union</a> and China in their struggle against apartheid, and nurturing deep-seated grievances against the western role in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4187823">supporting apartheid</a>, the ANC and more radical movements have tended to stand beside actors that challenge the US on the global stage.</p>
<p>This policy has been particularly evident in South Africa’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-pact-with-russia-and-its-actions-cast-doubt-on-its-claims-of-non-alignment-206020">sympathetic stance towards Russia</a>, even amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Conversely, the opposition DA has aligned itself with pro-western stances.</p>
<p>However, it’s uncertain whether most South Africans support the ANC’s approach to contemporary foreign relations issues. A <a href="https://www.thebrenthurstfoundation.org/news/brenthurst-survey-shows-vast-majority-of-south-africans-condemn-russia/">poll</a> from November 2022 found that 74.3% of citizens condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. </p>
<p>It is likely that the Palestinian cause enjoys higher levels of popular support. But, there are indications that views on Israel/Palestine are far from clear-cut. A <a href="https://humanities.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/content_migration/humanities_uct_ac_za/715/files/FINAL_%2520NarrativeReport_FINAL_March2017.pdf">study</a> from 2017, for instance, found that there was similar support in South Africa for both Israelis’ and Palestinians’ “rights to a homeland” (54% and 53%, respectively). But the study also concluded that actual knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was limited, with only 29% having “heard of” the conflict.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-search-of-advantages-israels-observer-status-in-the-african-union-165773">In search of advantages: Israel’s observer status in the African Union</a>
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<p>South Africa’s official stance on Israel-Palestine is one of the most critical in Africa, particularly compared to other states south of the Sahara. Over the past decade, Israel has seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-search-of-advantages-israels-observer-status-in-the-african-union-165773">increasing bilateral relations</a> with various African states. Several opinion <a href="https://globescan.com/2017/07/04/sharp-drop-in-world-views-of-us-uk-global-poll/">polls</a> indicate that public perception of Israel in sub-Saharan Africa is among the most favourable worldwide.</p>
<h2>Lingering divide</h2>
<p>South African politicians have framed the recent escalation between Hamas and Israel within the broader context of their perspectives on global dynamics. As with the war in Ukraine, the governing ANC and more radical elements unequivocally support the Palestinians – their longstanding allies. They view Hamas as representing the Palestinian cause, and perceive Israel as an apartheid state.</p>
<p>The liberal DA’s support for Israel is also shaped by historical and contemporary factors. It mirrors the enduring liberal backing of Israel in South Africa. It also allows the party to align itself with western governments that have recently expressed support for Israel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asher Lubotzky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Support for the Palestinian cause has remained a steadfast element of South African foreign policy since the ANC came into power in 1994.Asher Lubotzky, Scholar in Residence, University of HoustonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1743932022-01-06T03:56:48Z2022-01-06T03:56:48ZSydney Festival boycott: when arts organisations accept donations, there is always a price to pay<p>The Sydney Festival opens today under a cloud. Several artists and arts organisations have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/escalating-boycott-over-israeli-embassy-funding-disrupts-23-shows-at-sydney-festival-20220105-p59lxz.html">withdrawn</a> from the festival over the Israeli Embassy’s sponsorship of the dance work Decadance, by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.</p>
<p>The crazy thing is the value of the sponsorship in question. A$20,000 is very small in the context of the festival’s <a href="https://issuu.com/sydneyfestival/docs/annualreview-sf20_p1-60">overall budget</a>.</p>
<p>Why, then, did the festival accept the <a href="https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/stories/board-statement-4-jan-2022">funding agreement</a> for Decadance, given the overall size of its budget and the potential community reaction?</p>
<p>It’s true it is common, when a festival invites an arts performance from another country, for the country of origin to provide financial support for the project. They do this because they see an advantage for their culture to be presented internationally. </p>
<p>But critics have <a href="https://junkee.com/sydney-festival-israeli-embassy/318836">said</a> this particular funding arrangement “serves to artwash the Israeli regime’s violent control over the lives of Palestinians”.</p>
<p>This is not an isolated incident but part of a broader global debate around sources of arts funding. If an arts organisation accepts money from a donor, there is always a price to pay. It’s a question of how high the price is. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-biennale-transfield-and-the-value-of-boycott-24155">The Biennale, Transfield, and the value of boycott</a>
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<h2>Is a donation ever free?</h2>
<p>Arts organisations can sometimes demonstrate a strange naivety when asking for or accepting donations. It’s as though the gift is more precious than its actual monetary value. Certainly, government funders and bodies such as <a href="https://creativepartnerships.gov.au/">Creative Partnerships Australia</a> provide rewards such as matched funding to arts organisations for attracting private donations. </p>
<p>Ironically, too, there are expectations from governments that arts organisations must find outside funders, to justify receiving government support. A recent arts minister, George Brandis, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/george-brandis-urges-penalty-for-arts-organisations-rejecting-corporate-sponsorship-20140314-34s2v.html">threatened</a> in 2014 that if arts organisations or artists rejected private donations, they should be banned from receiving any government grants.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the donor, in this case the Israeli Embassy, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/04/sydney-festival-boycott-more-than-20-acts-withdraw-over-israeli-funding">insists</a> it’s not about politics but that</p>
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<p>culture is a bridge to coexistence, cooperation and rapprochement and should be left out of the political arena.</p>
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<p>But are there ever any “free” donations? And can we separate the “giver” from their brand or past actions?</p>
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<h2>A history of protest over arts sponsorship</h2>
<p>There was an <a href="https://theconversation.com/principles-or-pragmatism-does-it-matter-where-arts-sponsorship-comes-from-163430">outcry</a> at the 2014 Sydney Biennale about an art sponsor, Transfield, and its connection with offshore asylum seeker processing centres. That did not go well for either party, with both suffering negative press and eventually breaking ties.</p>
<p>In December 2021 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York finally <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-met-sackler-removal-opiods-20211209-yqcyjjvd65ce3egxwlt3arq6py-story.html#:%7E:text=NYC%20Metropolitan%20Museum%20of%20Art%20scrubs%20Sackler%20name%20over%20opioid%20ties,-By%20Leonard%20Greene&text=The%20big%20pharma%20family%20at,Mortimer%20Sackler%2C%20Dr.">removed the Sackler</a> name from seven of its exhibition spaces, given that family’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-17/us-judge-overturns-us4-5b-deal-shielding-sackler-family-from-opi/100710280">association</a> with producing the drug at the centre of the US opioid crisis, OxyContin.</p>
<p>The museum’s board seemingly took this action reluctantly, thanking the family for their gracious donations, despite the community havoc wrought by their drug. </p>
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<p>The Fringe World festival in Perth provoked an outcry in 2020 for insisting on accepting a large sponsorship from fossil fuel giant Woodside, and then later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/dec/18/perths-fringe-festival-under-fire-for-gag-order-clause-in-artist-contracts#:%7E:text=1%20year%20old-,Perth's%20fringe%20festival%20under%20fire%20for,order'%20clause%20in%20artist%20contracts&text=Performers%20who%20spoke%20to%20Guardian,climate%20change%20to%20local%20politics.">stipulating</a> artists “not do any act or omit to do any act that would prejudice any of Fringe World’s sponsorship arrangements”.</p>
<h2>Artists put in a difficult position</h2>
<p>Artists are always desperately searching for money to make their art happen. </p>
<p>Yet it was the artists who stood up and withdrew their labour during the 2014 Sydney Biennale. It was the artists who protested the sponsorship of the Fringe World festival, and it is the artists again who are protesting and withdrawing their labour from the 2022 Sydney Festival. </p>
<p>When artists protest about the sources of arts funding, they are often framed as ungrateful brats rather than people standing up for their beliefs. </p>
<p>Artists are some of the poorest people in our community, and yet are prepared to forgo their limited income to support fellow artists from other countries – in this case Palestine. This is not meant as a criticism of artists from Israel, for example the dancers involved in Decadance, but a criticism of their government. </p>
<p>Arts organisations are not separate from life or politics. And arts and cultural practices more broadly are not independent of any political association or connections. Nations around the world use arts and culture to promote their views, or to project a more benign image of their culture. </p>
<p>It is true, as the Israeli Embassy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/dec/24/arts-organisations-pull-out-sydney-festival-protest-israeli-embassy-sponsorship">states</a>, that arts and culture are a bridge for creating better cultural understanding.</p>
<p>But the protesters would argue that arts or cultural practices can be used cynically to drive a political or cultural agenda, hence the accusation of “<a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/performers-have-been-boycotting-this-month-s-sydney-festival-here-s-why/c419b014-a92f-427e-a76c-d46c73252538">artwashing</a>”.</p>
<p>So where does this leave the Sydney Festival? </p>
<p>So far, according to a <a href="https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/stories/board-statement-4-jan-2022">statement</a>, the festival’s board has said it wishes to: </p>
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<p>affirm its respect for the right of all groups to protest and raise concerns […] All funding agreements for the current Festival – including for Decadance - will be honoured, and the performances will proceed. At the same time, the Board has also determined it will review its practices in relation to funding from foreign governments or related parties.</p>
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<p>But it may have been wiser if the board had been more careful about its funding arrangements. Arts organisations, like artists, must be vigilant about the contracts they enter into.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-value-the-biennale-protest-not-threaten-arts-funding-24333">We should value the Biennale protest, not threaten arts funding</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of NAVA and the Arts Industry Council (SA).</span></em></p>Artists are some of the poorest people in our community, and yet are prepared to forgo their limited income to support fellow artists from other countries – in this case Palestine.Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1649802021-07-29T12:24:59Z2021-07-29T12:24:59ZWhy Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the West Bank rattled Israel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413284/original/file-20210727-12-53z9x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=306%2C355%2C7873%2C5101&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Israelis have long had a sweet tooth for Ben & Jerry's. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IsraelBenJerrys/36fca80a45eb400890010fe0c7955700/photo?Query=ben%20&%20jerry%27s=&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=142&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2018, I was living in Israel while researching a book about the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Israels-Securitization-Dilemma-BDS-and-the-Battle-for-the-Legitimacy/Olesker/p/book/9780367551674">country’s fight against groups that challenge its legitimacy</a>. </p>
<p>Every Wednesday, a new batch of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream arrived at my local supermarket, and I would snap up as many tubs of vanilla as I could. By Thursday, there’d be none left. Clearly, Israelis love their Ben & Jerry’s – <a href="https://finance.walla.co.il/item/3442683">which makes up about 75%</a> of the premium ice cream market in Israel. </p>
<p>Still, even I was surprised by the ferocity of the Israeli reaction to <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/palestine-statement">Ben & Jerry’s announcement</a> on July 19, 2021, that it would no longer sell its ice cream in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Many Israelis <a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/digital/internet/article/b11qeme000">on my social media feed</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/likuduk/status/1417363134839468040">were outraged</a>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/19/ben-jerrys-israel-west-bank/">Politicians condemned</a> Ben & Jerry’s as “anti-Israel” and urged American lawmakers to sanction the South Burlington, Vermont-based company. Some states <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/22/texas-gets-involved-in-israels-fight-with-ben-jerrys-over-west-bank-boycott.html">are already preparing to do just that</a>. </p>
<p>Could it be that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement – which <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/faqs#collapse16231">targets the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza</a> – has finally found Israel’s soft spot? </p>
<h2>What is the BDS movement?</h2>
<p>The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, known as the <a href="https://bdsmovement.net">BDS movement</a>, began in 2005. That’s when 170 Palestinian civil society organizations called for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel for its <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-178825">violation of international law</a> and <a href="https://www.btselem.org/topic/settlements">Palestinian rights</a>, as well as its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. </p>
<p>The movement, which soon included a loose network of activists based all around the world, also urged companies, universities and others to divest from Israel and countries to sanction it.</p>
<p>Inspired by the <a href="https://www.aamarchives.org/campaigns/boycott.html">success of the global movement to end apartheid</a> in South Africa, the BDS campaign seeks to enlist academics, countries, companies and others in its effort to punish and isolate Israel. Its biggest gains so far have been in getting some <a href="https://amchainitiative.org/academic-associations-endorsing-academic-boycott-of-israel">academic groups</a> and <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/us-churches-advance-effective-solidarity-palestinian-freedom-justice-and-equalit">churches</a> to support its boycott.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protestor in the foreground holds up a sign that reads 'no pride in apartheid' while others carry signs such as free Palestine during a protest outside the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413354/original/file-20210727-12-1y6i01i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The BDS movement says it was inspired by the anti-apartheid protests against South Africa in the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IsraelEurovisionSongContest/81537dbadab24fa19466b3f3e82a314d/photo?Query=boycott,%20divestment%20and%20sanctions&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=39&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Oded Balilty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Minimal impact on Israel</h2>
<p>But the BDS movement appears to have <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/gdp">had little impact</a> on Israel’s economy or its diplomatic standing. </p>
<p>One reason for this is that Israel <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/162679">has faced boycotts</a> since before it even became a state in 1948. As a result, its <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/01/26/how-much-does-bds-threaten-israels-economy/">economy has become adept</a> at producing high-quality, cutting-edge and specialized products for export, making boycotts less effective because trade partners can’t easily substitute goods from other countries. </p>
<p>Israel has also successfully lobbied some countries and lawmakers to condemn boycotts against it. In 2019, for example, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bds-israel/germany-designates-bds-israel-boycott-movement-as-anti-semitic-idUSKCN1SN204">German Parliament designated the BDS movement as antisemitic</a>. And U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has said it <a href="https://eurojewcong.org/news/communities-news/united-kingdom/queens-speech-includes-measures-to-stop-council-boycotts/">plans to pass a measure to curb boycotts against Israel</a>.</p>
<p>In the U.S., some are boycotting the boycotters. <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-bds-legislation/">Thirty-five states have passed anti-BDS laws, executive orders and resolutions</a> since 2005. These typically limit state authorities from doing business with anyone who is actively boycotting Israel and prevent state pension funds from investing in BDS-linked companies. Officials in Florida and Texas <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/florida-texas-threaten-ben-jerrys-032000298.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJmB4NRzk29KpIYOonj7Zp3jViWAnlZmeoxFxWakSonqEcrzfDE7SiGZj5-Z8JjMxu4g7mHuHBIZ033PtvQv0FbtSjMpeEEbyjmOPuu8bG0SRR7osua-qsCMqHsKdT5sDf427bfMXBjNTj0N-8xoqwj1EBE_UFt4vKf1fNuAFldJ">have already threatened</a> to add Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, to a blacklist of businesses that are ineligible for investments. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons why the anti-apartheid movement succeeded in isolating South Africa in the 1980s is that it convinced major companies, such as <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-18-mn-11241-story.html">Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/c0d9a736cc6fbd382d00adfaf7d82895">Pepsi-Co</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/7b9a662a5728d811aa5bbc8c19c224a1">Reebok</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/25/world/ford-completes-divestment-in-south-africa.html">Ford</a>, to stop doing business with the country. </p>
<p>While French telecom group Orange <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-orange-partner-comm/israels-partner-comms-to-terminate-orange-brand-license-agreement-idUSKBN0UJ1GB20160105">ended its licensing agreement</a> with an Israeli company in 2016, few other big companies have embraced the movement. In 2018, Airbnb said it would remove the listings of properties in Israeli settlements, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/world/middleeast/airbnb-israel-west-bank.html">but reversed itself a few months later</a> after a flurry of anti-discrimination lawsuits were filed against it.</p>
<p>But despite the lack of substantive economic or diplomatic impact, I believe it would be a mistake to label the BDS movement as a failure. Rather, Ben & Jerry’s decision hints at a watershed moment in the BDS campaign. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="remove a cloth that was covering a cardboard cutout of a new ice cream flavor, Justice ReMix'd, in a cup" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413622/original/file-20210728-17-fq78q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have been outspoken in their support for some social causes and often turn them into ice creams. Here they unveil Justice ReMix’d, which contains cinnamon and chocolate Ice cream with ‘gobs of cinnamon bun dough and spicy fudge brownies.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BenJerrysJusticeRemixdFlavorHighlightsCriminalJusticeReform/479aa06025bb428497385eb95f302378/photo?Query=ben%20&%20jerry%27s=&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=142&currentItemNo=26">Eric Kayne/AP Images for Ben & Jerry's</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shifting views of Israel</h2>
<p>The company, <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/about-us#1timeline">founded by Jewish friends</a> Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978, <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/values/issues-we-care-about">has long embraced a liberal social mission</a> – which it frequently <a href="https://psmag.com/news/the-history-of-ben-jerrys-progressive-politics">expresses through its ice cream flavors</a>, such as <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2018/02/social-mission-flavors">Save Our Swirled</a> and <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/flavors/justice-remixd-ice-cream">Justice ReMix’d</a>. Even after Unilever bought the company in 2000, Ben & Jerry’s <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/ben-jerrys-got-bought-without-selling/">remained independent</a> in pursuing its progressive values. </p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/palestine-statement">statement announcing the shift</a>, Ben & Jerry’s said selling ice cream in the West Bank and Gaza “is inconsistent with our values.” Cohen and Greenfield <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/opinion/ben-and-jerry-israel.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage">defended the company’s decision</a> in an op-ed in The New York Times on July 28, 2021. </p>
<p>While I don’t doubt the company’s values were behind the decision, I also believe something else was at work: Israel is losing the battle for public opinion.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/350393/key-trends-views-israel-palestinians.aspx">Israel currently has a net favorability</a> of just 3% among Democrats and voters who lean Democratic, down from 31% in the early 2000s. Among liberal Democrats, Israel has a net unfavorability of 15%, as more of these voters express support for Palestinians. The trend is especially strong with younger Americans, who are much less supportive than their older counterparts. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://criticalissues.umd.edu/sites/criticalissues.umd.edu/files/UMCIP%20Middle%20East%20Questionnaire.pdf">separate 2019 poll</a> found that, although most Americans had never heard about the BDS movement, 48% of Democrats who were familiar with it said they support it. And almost three-quarters of all respondents of that survey said they opposed laws that punish people for engaging in a boycott.</p>
<p>During the anti-apartheid fight, big companies didn’t join the movement until <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/protest-divestment-south-africa.asp">public opinion</a> began to seriously shift in response to vibrant grassroots activism, typically led by college students.</p>
<p>Ben & Jerry’s has faced a <a href="https://vtjp.org/boycott-ben-jerrys/">similar campaign</a> from pro-Palestinian activists for years. The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396">fighting in Gaza in May 2021</a> that left <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-strip-escalation-hostilities-10-21-may-2021">253 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead</a> seems to have accelerated the pressure as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/boycott-israel-no-ben-and-jerrys-is-boycotting-social-media-671245">social media activists bombarded</a> the company with demands to boycott Israel. This prompted a 20-day silence by Ben & Jerry’s on social media, followed by the new policy just a few weeks later. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A blast of smoke and debris rises from a building that was just hit by an Israeli missile strike in a densely populated area of Gaza City" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413352/original/file-20210727-13-1r7sc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Israel airstrikes demolished many buildings like this one in Gaza City during its fight with Hamas in May. The conflict may have been a factor in Ben & Jerry’s decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IsraelGazaWarCrimes/9cb16eada82f45a5aa0d6cdc23ccbfb8/photo?Query=gaza%20AND%20may&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4320&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Hatem Moussa</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shared values</h2>
<p>In other words, public sentiment among a group of U.S. voters – including many American Jews – who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/29/will-divisions-over-israel-fracture-democratic-party/">used to be stalwart supporters of Israel</a> has shifted, and they are increasingly turning their backs on the Jewish state. </p>
<p>For instance, while most Americans <a href="https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/commentary-and-analysis/blogs/americans-favor-two-state-solution-more-israelis-and-palestinians-do">support a two-state solution</a> that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories it occupies, the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/05/14/this-is-what-the-death-of-the-two-state-solution-looks-like/">Israeli government</a> and <a href="https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/2021413_new_all_population_israeli_palestinian_survey">its citizens</a> increasingly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/11/what-do-israelis-think-about-settlements-turns-out-age-matters">do not distinguish</a> between Israel and the territories it has occupied since 1967. </p>
<p>The rhetoric of Israeli politicians condemning companies like Ben & Jerry’s that join the boycott of settlements – such as calling it a <a href="https://twitter.com/yairlapid/status/1417169814867484676">form of antisemitism</a> or <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/citing-ben-jerrys-snub-herzog-says-israel-boycotts-a-new-kind-of-terrorism/">equating it with terrorism</a> – makes the problem worse. In my own research, I found that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Israels-Securitization-Dilemma-BDS-and-the-Battle-for-the-Legitimacy/Olesker/p/book/9780367551674">it validates and perpetuates</a> the illiberal image of Israel that the BDS movement paints. </p>
<p>In an <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/01/why-ben-jerrys-speaks-out">interview in January</a>, Christopher Miller, Ben & Jerry’s head of global activism strategy, said the “strongest bond you can create with customers is around a shared set of values.”</p>
<p>That’s why I believe Ben & Jerry’s is likely to stay the course – and why more American companies will follow suit. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 109,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronnie Olesker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ben & Jerry’s decision to no longer sell ice cream in the occupied territories comes as Israel continues to lose the support of a group of Americans who once were stalwart allies.Ronnie Olesker, Associate Professor of Government, St. Lawrence UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1497962020-11-15T14:03:49Z2020-11-15T14:03:49ZNew human rights order risks restricting criticism of Israel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369188/original/file-20201112-17-12r8j2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C149%2C1174%2C519&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontario's new order in council adopting the IHRA definition on antisemitism risks stifling criticism of Israel.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/5363515370">(Newtown grafitti/flickr)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, Ontario became the latest jurisdiction to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. In the process, the province has sown division within and between communities. </p>
<p>This is because the IHRA approach conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.</p>
<p>The IHRA approach to antisemitism is hotly debated within the Jewish community. <a href="https://www.noihra.ca/">Independent Jewish Voices</a> and well-known personalities like <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-saturday-debate/2020/11/07/the-saturday-debate-is-the-ihra-definition-the-right-way-to-fight-anti-semitism.html">Michele Landsberg and Avi Lewis</a> oppose the IHRA approach. Even the original author of the IHRA’s definition, Kenneth Stern, says that it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect">has been weaponized</a> to suppress criticism of Israel. </p>
<p>Groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and <a href="https://www.bnaibrith.ca/jewish_community_applauds_ontario_ihra">B’nai Brith argue in favour</a>. They say that legitimate criticism of Israel is permissible but they do not say who gets to decide what is permissible.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, those whose argue against the IHRA, including Jewish community members, have been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-923X.12883">equated with supporters of</a> antisemitism. </p>
<h2>IHRA definition</h2>
<p>In May 2016, <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism">IHRA defined antisemitism</a> as forms of hatred towards Jewish people. The IHRA also included a list of illustrative examples. Several examples portray criticism of Israel as antisemitism. For example, suggesting that Israel is “a racist endeavour” amounts to antisemitism.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ontario.ca/orders-in-council/oc-14502020">Ontario adopted the IHRA definition</a> of antisemitism by resorting to an order-in-council. The order-in-council was used as an alternative to <a href="https://www.ola.org/sites/default/files/node-files/bill/document/pdf/2019/2019-12/b168_e.pdf">Bill 168</a>, which was abandoned on the eve of scheduled public hearings. The order-in-council circumvented these hearings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ontario premier Doug Ford gives a speech." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368922/original/file-20201111-23-8yl0i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Ford government’s adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism risks undermining free speech and academic freedom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bill 168 included the illustrative examples put forth by the IHRA in 2016. However, the order-in-council did not include them. Still, some insist that the illustrative examples are now part of Ontario’s law. </p>
<p>Against this context, <a href="https://www.ijvcanada.org/open-letter-from-canadian-academics-opposing-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism/">scholars</a> and <a href="https://bccla.org/our_work/fight-antisemitism-not-freedom-of-expression/">human rights groups</a> worry about the suppression of academic freedom and free speech in favour of a foreign state. </p>
<h2>The Palestinian perspective on the IHRA</h2>
<p>It is a fundamental principle of Canadian human rights law that the communities that are most affected by a law should have their perspectives taken into account in its interpretation and application. </p>
<p>I am the first and only tenured law professor in Canada with a Palestinian background. I can attest that conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism deeply affects Palestinians. </p>
<p>The conflation silences the ability to bear witness to the Israeli government’s atrocities against Palestinians at precisely the time when such witnessing is urgently needed. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-constitutes-fair-and-unfair-criticism-of-israel-128342">What constitutes fair and unfair criticism of Israel?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>As more jurisdictions adopt the IHRA approach to antisemitism, Israel continues to systematically <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/">subjugate and dispossess</a> Palestinians. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/35529102/Phosphorus_and_Stone_Operation_Cast_Lead_Israeli_Military_Courts_and_International_Law_as_Denial_Maintenance">Israeli military courts</a> unjustly sentence thousands of civilians without due process. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/10/1076572">Illegal settlements</a> continue to be built. Palestinian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54823660">homes continue to be demolished</a>. </p>
<p>This silencing represents a pattern of <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs-1.7435103">erasure of Palestinian suffering</a>. For example, Israel was created through the expulsion of Palestinians. Historians, including Israeli historians, have documented this reality. But Israel’s official narrative denies or justifies it. </p>
<p>The IHRA approach lends support to those who seek to silence Palestinian perspectives. In September David E. Spiro, a Tax Court judge and a former CIJA co-chair, was <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-tax-court-judge-accused-of-pressuring-u-of-t-law-school-not-to-hire/">alleged to have interfered</a> with hiring at the University of Toronto’s law faculty. According to reports, Spiro objected to Valentina Azarova’s criticisms of Israel. Though these criticism were grounded in <a href="https://ecfr.eu/publication/israels_unlawfully_prolonged_occupation_7294/">international law</a>, Spiro allegedly urged the dean to end the hiring process.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2020/10/25/controversies-at-u-of-t-law-york-university-highlight-escalating-suppression-of-moderate-voices-criticizing-israel.html">Other Canadian institutions</a> are also accused of similar discrimination. Sometimes the denunciations are public. At other times they are advanced quietly. Either way, they reveal that some will <a href="https://www.ijvcanada.org/ihra-definition-at-work/">not tolerate legitimate criticism of Israel</a>.</p>
<p>Conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism renders Palestinian-Canadians second-class citizens. If the IHRA approach were to be given the full force of law, we would be the only group in Canada prevented from criticizing the state that dehumanizes us and violates our rights.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man waves a Palestinian flag in front of a a wall with graffiti that reads: no to the wall. Israeli soldiers can be seen behind the wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368917/original/file-20201111-15-o1xfs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of Israeli troops during a protest against Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The IHRA’s Canadian context</h2>
<p>The IHRA definition is being advanced against other developments in Canada. </p>
<p>Canadian-Palestinian community members worry about the exportation of lawfare to Canada. <a href="https://jewishcurrents.org/waging-lawfare/">Lawfare</a> involves harnessing legal processes to deter Israel’s critics.</p>
<p>We see our allies labelled as <a href="https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/sum-som-eng.aspx?cas=38614">terrorist sympathizers</a>. </p>
<p>We note that <a href="https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/canada-backs-israel-in-icc-challenge">Canada has supported Israel</a> internationally while <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ambassadors-ministers-israel-west-bank-netanyahu-trudeau-1.5594205">remaining silent</a> about Palestinian rights. </p>
<p>We wonder why the attorney general is trying to <a href="http://claihr.ca/interventions/kattenburg-v-canada-attorney-general-2019/">overturn a Federal Court ruling</a> that required wines from Israeli settlements not to be misleadingly labelled as products of Israel. </p>
<p>We listened in disbelief as the CBC <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2020/08/palestine-deleted/">apologized for simply using the word “Palestine.”</a></p>
<p>And we question the fact that opinions about Israel have been turned into a <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2014/2014onsc6153/2014onsc6153.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAjInRyZWF0bWVudCBvZiByYWRpY2FsaXphdGlvbiBzY2FsZSIAAAAAAQ&resultIndex=1">radicalization litmus test</a></p>
<h2>Where does Ontario law stand?</h2>
<p>I was part of a group invited to a meeting with Conservative MPP, Kaleed Rasheed. He explained that Ontario’s order-in-council excludes the IHRA’s illustrative examples. Criticisms of Israel are not prohibited. Statements by other Conservatives <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-42/session-1/2020-10-28/hansard#P430_90209">suggest otherwise</a>. </p>
<p>Given these contradictions, some will continue to equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Some will also work as though only their perspective is relevant to the IHRA. This is inaccurate. The IHRA approach is so broad that it impacts the rights, reputations and livelihoods of multiple groups, Palestinians included.</p>
<p>In contrast to the IHRA, <a href="https://www.noihra.ca/our-definition.html">Independent Jewish Voices proposes a definition</a> of antisemitism. This definition does not restrict criticisms of Israel. Rather, it recognises that our fates are interdependent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reem Bahdi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ontario’s recent order-in-council adopting the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism has been lauded by some. However, critics fear that it could be used to curtail criticism of the Israeli government.Reem Bahdi, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/953112018-04-22T09:54:34Z2018-04-22T09:54:34ZWhy South Africa’s DJ Black Coffee left a bitter taste by performing in Israel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215618/original/file-20180419-163991-1cuwtx0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">DJ Black Coffee</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instagram</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was a coincidence that South African house DJ <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/black-coffee-mn0002006338/biography">Black Coffee’s</a> <a href="https://www.news24.com/Video/SouthAfrica/News/outcry-over-black-coffees-performance-in-israel-20180404">recent performance</a> in Tel Aviv took place on the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/30/palestinians-march-to-gaza-border-for-start-of-six-week-protest-israel">same weekend</a> that saw more than a dozen Palestinian protesters shot dead, and more than a thousand wounded, by Israeli forces. But he was nevertheless <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/tshisa-live/tshisa-live/2018-04-03-dj-black-coffee-responds-to-israel-backlash--adds-fuel-to-the-fire/">criticised sharply</a> for the visit which came in the wake of <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/civil-society-organizations-around-world-urge-hp-companies-end-all-involvement-violations">calls</a> by political movements and civil society organisations to respect the boycott campaign against Israel.</p>
<p>Criticism was levelled against him from a number of fronts. This included South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) which <a href="https://www.channel24.co.za/The-Juice/News/anc-deeply-concerned-by-black-coffees-performance-in-israel-20180404">issued</a> a call on artists to remember the role played by the international <a href="http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=65-259-13">anti-apartheid solidarity movement</a> in the isolation of apartheid South Africa:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The people of Palestine are in a just cause for self determination and we urge our artists not to form part of the normalisation of Israeli’s suppression of the Palestinian people in their quest for self determination and statehood that mirrors our very own struggle. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In response, the artist asserted his right to work as an entertainer and feed his family.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"980743272577544192"}"></div></p>
<p>Born Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo, the hugely popular, multiaward winning Black Coffee is seen as the flag-bearer of South African Afro-house music. In 2015 he won the “Breakthrough DJ Of The Year” <a href="https://djawards.com/past-editions/dj-awards-2015/">award</a> in Ibiza and the next year he became the first South African to <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7423180/black-coffee-first-south-african-bet-awards-dance">win a BET award</a> in the “best international act Africa” category. </p>
<p>Accolades like these, and many others, paved the way to international stardom with major DJ gigs and even more album sales. Because of this rising global profile, his decision to play in Israel caused a major stir.</p>
<h2>The case for the boycott</h2>
<p>Cases like Black Coffee’s aren’t rare. Many internationally renowned artists have faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/25/lorde-cancels-israel-concert-after-pro-palestinian-campaign">campaigns</a> to convince them not to perform in Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. The logic used has echoes of the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/86-non-racial-sport">sports boycott campaigns</a> during the anti-apartheid struggle when the mantra was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>no normal sport in an abnormal society. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This approach should be particularly effective with South African artists. Theirs was a society that imposed the same kind of restrictions and segregationist policies currently pursued by Israel towards Palestinians. </p>
<p>But some artists have responded by arguing that they don’t get involved in politics. Or, they claim that their politics require that they treat all audiences equally. Some argue that music and art are forces that bring people together and therefore play a positive role regardless of politics. </p>
<p>These claims do not address the core issue: performing in a society experiencing intense conflict, against the wishes of a central constituency, which is largely prevented from attending, is itself a political statement. </p>
<p>Whether they intend it or not, artists who defy the boycott call are aligning themselves with the oppressive Israeli regime.</p>
<p>A common objection to this argument is that there are many oppressive regimes of various kinds, and that there’s therefore no reason to single out Israel for special treatment. </p>
<p>While the first part of this argument is true, the second doesn’t follow. The call to boycott Israel as a destination for artists, academics, sports people and cultural activists, does not stem from its oppressive policies as such. It stems from the fact that Israel runs a regime that amounts to <a href="http://jwtc.org.za/resources/docs/salon-volume-3/RanGreenstein_Israel.pdf">what I’ve described as</a> an apartheid of a special type. </p>
<p>Although not identical to the South African version, it meets the <a href="https://watermark.silverchair.com/cht045.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAbMwggGvBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggGgMIIBnAIBADCCAZUGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMUKYRXVKys30SZbJYAgEQgIIBZl7v-IakvmCDjecXyc8ir6wueY1azdb7dKTkXRPZMrUE41QAB20cgWpMPcntQ4wrxUFyo6i-ap0BmotAeOnbmm5du9qKMgUXJfCah057wB3DbW4hM9qKuW55oLpW-q8Al0qI-4EFHLLuvjuNxjEI1nVW0fxpkhFWDxVGb0IyyqbukGoKJ6RXUWCc36GkvHsPqULbR8_E1zx6bfHowBLgvch5Yc-rRHW035uNICuV6_JEPb3Vga_X7UsmC2cO3duZ8uRHDNgIXyBaOERV5FbyWKLZh66ueKvGofXm9VXERUeFWCij9N4mMmM7Ht1Rpem5x5RC56Yah18aajTQwKKC5LDrhEFRIDBfuHdHBKFVRwQtef_Bp6_ukl5ZC2I6szcIEdzf8lDRy7Ic0w5jZRu6LpQKgoO4GCtexqWWKVYQ1ZikSjiyb_wRFr-2G__fioJh3QyF20vQ4qmlqBaTh8ldsFsh4FhJMwU">definition</a> of apartheid in international law: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In specific terms, Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/12/19/separate-and-unequal/israels-discriminatory-treatment-palestinians-occupied">forcibly dominated</a> by Israel <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29123668">since 1967</a>, cannot vote in elections to Israeli representative institutions. They have no say in the way they are <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/">ruled by Israel</a>, cannot move, trade and engage in normal economic activity freely. Their land, water and natural resources are <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/gaef3485.doc.htm">controlled by Israel</a>, which uses them to benefit its own (Jewish) citizens at their expense. </p>
<p>Needless to say, Palestinians couldn’t attend DJ Black Coffee’s performance in Tel Aviv. Only <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161228-explained-palestinian-citizens-of-israel/">15%</a> of the overall Palestinian population have Israeli citizenship and access to basic political rights. They too are subject to a range of formal and informal discriminatory mechanisms. </p>
<h2>The role of boycotts</h2>
<p>What role can culture play in global solidarity campaign against Israel? </p>
<p>Boycotting academic, cultural and sports activities in Israel is an essential part. But total avoidance may not be the most useful political strategy. It should be combined with activities that take place as part of political dissent and resistance efforts from within the country.</p>
<p>For example, a number of possible contributions can be made to Palestinian cultural freedom struggle. These can take a number of forms such as invitations to perform and exhibit, alternative funding to allow independence from state support, and activities that would help cultural workers to organise locally and spread their messages globally.</p>
<p>This can be done by: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Forging links with Palestinians and Israeli artists, performers and academics, who follow progressive programmes of action, and </p></li>
<li><p>Renouncing any links with the Israeli state and its funding mechanisms. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This would allow for an effective counter to official policies of segregation and the isolation of critical voices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ran Greenstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Boycotting academic, cultural and sports activities in Israel is an essential part, but total avoidance may not be the most useful political strategy.Ran Greenstein, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/774892017-06-05T16:38:07Z2017-06-05T16:38:07ZHow divestment campaigns can change the rules in a profit-driven world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168961/original/file-20170511-32607-1cgksvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spanish activists protest against retailers using factories in a building in Bangladesh which collapsed, killing more than 600 people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Albert Gea</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a globally integrated economy where national governments are often unwilling or unable to control corporations. How then can governments, trade unions or environmental groups protect people and environments from exploitation or abuse? What mechanisms might prevent the proverbial <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/race-bottom.asp">“race to the bottom”</a>? </p>
<p>Strong institutional mechanisms for restricting corporate power rarely cross national borders. So activists working on global issues have increasingly turned to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122414540653">“shaming movements”</a> – broad public campaigns that seek to punish unethical corporations by urging people to reject tainted products or profits. </p>
<p>Shaming campaigns generally take the form of consumer boycotts. Individual consumers are asked to avoid specific products or brands. Divestment campaigns, which call on individuals and institutions to sell or dump their shares in a particular company or industry, are another method. </p>
<p>Shaming movements have a long history. In the late 18th century, British abolitionists refused to drink tea sweetened with <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Bury_the_Chains.html?id=YYsGlsSGRy8C&redir_esc=y">sugar</a> grown on slave plantations. During India’s independence struggle in the 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi urged his countrymen to boycott <a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago">commercially-produced salt</a> rather than pay British taxes. </p>
<p>Half a decade later activists boycotted <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/121/4/1196/2581604/Milking-the-Third-World-Humanitarianism-Capitalism">Nestle chocolate</a>. They were protesting the company’s reckless promotion of infant formula to the world’s poorest women. And the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s showed that divestment campaigns could focus global attention on international issues, pushing powerful companies and even governments to change their behaviour. </p>
<p>The rise of globalisation, coupled with increased corporate power, has seen ever more calls for consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns. But do they work? The answer is neither a simple yes nor an outright no. </p>
<p>Consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns have certainly been successful in attracting attention to global issues. In some cases they have forced profit-seeking companies to adopt new norms. But the challenge for activists today is what to do once the shaming has succeeded. Will companies actually adhere to these new norms, or will they simply return to business as usual?</p>
<h2>Fickle consumers and voluntary agreements</h2>
<p>Over the past 30 years most global brands have shifted to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2013.873369">global supply chains</a>. This involves outsourcing production to different suppliers around the world. There have been repeated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india">scandals</a> about working conditions and environmental degradation among those suppliers – scandals often highlighted by transnational “shaming campaigns”.</p>
<p>The threat of “shaming” has prompted many brands to voluntarily adopt corporate codes of conduct, promising to respect national labour laws and basic safety codes. Global brands began to hire <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-myth-of-the-ethical-shopper/">factory monitors</a> to assess working conditions at supplier factories and certify that goods are ethically produced.</p>
<p>But do these voluntary corporate monitoring schemes really change the treatment of workers or the environment? Increasingly, the answer appears to be “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Limits-Private-Power-Comparative/dp/1107670888">no</a>”. Even corporations which boast about a strong commitment to social responsibility can easily <a href="http://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/seidman">overlook</a> suppliers’ violations. This sometimes happens with the complicity of factory monitors. </p>
<p>When a scandal occurs, the threat of a consumer boycott may prompt global brands to act. But once the world’s eyes turn away, the commitment to ethical production tends to fade. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Now that the world’s attention has turned away, many brands have failed to fulfill post-disaster pledges to help the families of Rana Plaza’s dead and injured workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Andrew Biraj</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bangladesh’s 2013 <a href="http://www.globallabourrights.org/campaigns/factory-collapse-in-bangladesh">Rana Plaza collapse</a>, which killed over 1000 workers, is a tragic reminder. Despite clear evidence that “codes of conduct” and even national building codes were being violated, brands continued to rely on suppliers who regularly endangered their workers. The disaster and accompanying scandal prompted <a href="https://business-humanrights.org/en/the-accord-on-fire-and-building-safety-in-bangladesh">loud promises</a> from companies around the world. Consumers were assured that Bangladeshi factory conditions would be transformed. </p>
<p>But many of those post-disaster pledges remain <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/30/525858799/4-years-after-rana-plaza-tragedy-whats-changed-for-bangladeshi-garment-workers">unfulfilled</a>. Workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry remain vulnerable and unprotected. </p>
<p>This raises real questions about voluntary monitoring schemes, prompting many activists to explore <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100250150&fa=author&person_ID=5324">new mechanisms</a> that might subject multinational brands to legal controls or regulatory mechanisms. </p>
<h2>Divestment: challenging global rules</h2>
<p>Successful divestment campaigns have a different dynamic from consumer boycotts. Instead of urging individual consumers not to buy particular brands or products, these campaigns mobilise local communities to put pressure on institutional investors. </p>
<p>Universities, municipalities or pension funds are urged to reject profits from specific locations linked to amoral activities, or from controversial industries such as tobacco, fossil fuels or private prison companies. </p>
<p>Divestment campaigns make collective, institutional demands. In doing so, they prompt community discussions about whether specific business practices – and profiting from them – can be ever be considered acceptable. They mobilise global support for new norms, reshaping collective understandings. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loosing-Bonds-Robert-Kinloch-Massie/dp/0385261675">anti-apartheid divestment campaign</a> offered a remarkably successful example. Students, church groups and trade unions called on local institutions to sell any shares tied to apartheid-linked companies. </p>
<p>Communities around the world were forced to debate the morality of profiting from investments that involved businesses operating under apartheid, accepting the system’s legalised racism. </p>
<p>Corporate boards spent hours debating the moral and financial value of their South African ties. Corporate directors faced questions about apartheid from their children over the dinner table. As public pressure mounted, banks and multinational companies cut once-profitable ties, and pushed national governments to impose mild sanctions on South Africa. And in South Africa itself, business leaders who feared international isolation began to support a transition to democracy. </p>
<p>The power of divestment campaigns is that they stigmatise both immoral behaviours and those who would profit from them. It’s a strategy that often infuriates business leaders, as it can push policymakers to rewrite the rules of ordinary capitalism.</p>
<p>The anti-apartheid campaign, as well as the pro-Palestinian <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/">Boycott Divestment and Sanctions</a> (BDS) movement and today’s surprisingly effective <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13549839.2015.1009825?needAccess=true">fossil fuel divestment movement</a> show the power of this approach. </p>
<h2>Shaming is only the first step</h2>
<p>To be truly successful, “shaming movements” must move beyond mobilising public opinion to reach a point where national governments or international agencies are forced to adopt and enforce new norms, both within national boundaries and beyond. </p>
<p>This means that transnational activists must ensure that new mechanisms are designed to protect communities and environments. </p>
<p>Shaming may be a first step in challenging global corporate practices, but it is only a <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1eEADQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA351&dq=Naming,+Shaming,+Changing+the+World+Gay+Seidman&ots=RIxWbeJiEp&sig=mHo1tsdbu2pSFX9-_fPwAPljkHQ#v=onepage&q=Naming%2C%20Shaming%2C%20Changing%20the%20World%20Gay%20Seidman&f=false">first step</a>. </p>
<p>Increasingly, we need to think harder about what comes next. How do we create global institutions to protect all of us from what the great political economist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/economics-creditcrunch">Karl Polanyi</a> might have called the ravages of “savage capitalism”? How do we prevent the drive for private profit from destroying the communities and the environment on which we all rely?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gay Seidman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Shaming campaigns” have been successful in attracting attention to transnational issues like inhumane working conditions and environmental degradation. But shaming guilty corporations is only the first step.Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/447082015-08-20T04:07:01Z2015-08-20T04:07:01ZIsrael and the BDS debate: two academics respectfully agree to differ<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91872/original/image-20150814-3570-1wq8sva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Deciding whether or not to support academic BDS action should not be reduced to being 'for or against' injustice.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/4671068929/">Takver/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From Australia, we watch Israel at a great distance, safe in the knowledge that the regular and horrific levels of violence in the region are far from our shores. But we still find ourselves, like most of the world, asking: what can we do? One response is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which protests against <a href="http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/BA123CDED3EA84A5852560E50077C2DC">documented</a> human rights abuses perpetrated by Israel, such as settlement expansion on Palestinian land. </p>
<p>The purpose of economic BDS is to put pressure on nation states that are consistently in breach of international law and the principles enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. </p>
<h2>The implications of academic BDS</h2>
<p>Our focus here is the implications of academic BDS. This is the call to academia to disengage from Israeli education institutions that endorse, participate in or benefit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal settlement expansion and the blockade of Gaza.</p>
<p>We are colleagues who share many views and identify ourselves as academic-activists. Our pedagogy is shaped by social justice principles. But, when it comes to academic boycott, we hold different positions, which are more complex than simply withdrawing custom from Israeli businesses. </p>
<p>One of us has chosen to support academic BDS. That support is founded on the democratic principle that academic BDS is a people’s movement of legitimate non-violent alternatives, because international and state institutions have failed to hold Israel to account. </p>
<p>The other rejects the academic boycott, but stresses that individuals and organisations have the right to support academic boycott without being professionally pressured or accused of anti-Semitism. </p>
<p>It should go without saying that BDS specifically rejects anti-Semitism in any form. Academic BDS operates at the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/10/31/3880687.htm">institutional level</a> – it is not about condemning individuals for their <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/11/04/3883595.htm">Jewish identity</a>. </p>
<h2>Academic integrity and freedom</h2>
<p>The best of intellectual traditions seek co-operation and dialogue, in a free flow of ideas, to find solutions to intractable problems. To the principles of academic integrity and freedom, we add awareness-raising as <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/oclc/4736792">integral to teaching</a>. </p>
<p>This includes standing against abuse, apathy and inaction. As the then Australian Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, famously <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/army-chief-deserves-acclaim/story-e6frgd0x-1226669007789">said</a> of sexism and sexual assault in the armed forces: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91862/original/image-20150814-11482-icd0hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A neighbourhood in the Gaza strip on the 13th day of Operation Protective Edge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://one.aap.com.au/#/asset/20140721000999039470">Eloise Bollack/AAP</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The double harm argument</h2>
<p>The case against academic BDS questions whether it derails effective alternative activism. This is <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/180492/israel-palestine-and-bds">explored</a> by Noam Chomsky, who eschews the centring of academic freedom (and themselves) by BDS proponents: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Failed initiatives harm the victims doubly – by shifting attention from their plight to irrelevant issues (anti-Semitism at Harvard, academic freedom etc) and by wasting current opportunities to do something meaningful. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While BDS potentially ignores constructive Israeli voices, the more destructive voices build up their platform in the breach. When the Israeli Defence Force bombed United Nations buildings in Gaza, The Australian <a href="http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=5394">reported</a> that Zionist law firm Shurat HaDin warned that academics who supported BDS would be “next in the firing line” for a lawsuit. </p>
<p>This became their story, when Israel was bombing international humanitarian infrastructure.</p>
<p>The question here is whether we compromise one form of solidarity for another. The findings of Israeli academics who work for human rights, who document the conflict and who theorise resolution cannot be devoid of all merit. We cannot incorporate their conclusions if we opt against working together. </p>
<h2>A risk of losing sight of the key concerns</h2>
<p>All too often, the debate is lost in a cacophony of anti-Semitism accusations and the focus shifts to Western institutions instead of Palestinian rights. Our answer is neither to shout back, nor to go quietly into the relatively gentle Australian night.</p>
<p>BDS, and resistance to it, are founded in passionate commitment. As academics, we must locate reason in the actions, the words and the many complex human transactions that make up a campaign and a bilateral friendship. </p>
<p>Whether we support BDS and commit to promoting it, or decide to support the rights of those who do so, we are making a moral and ethical decision that is integral to our practice.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is based on a chapter written by the authors in the new book <a href="http://www.sussex-academic.com/sa/titles/jewish_studies/BurlaLawrence.htm">Australia and Israel</a>: A Diasporic, Cultural and Political Relationship (Sussex Academic, 2015).</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Ingrid and James will be one hand for an Author Q&A between 9 and 9:50 am on Friday, August 21. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Matthews is enrolled as a Masters research student at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at the University of Sydney.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Arvanitakis receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Office of Learning and Teaching. He is a board member of the Australian Public Education Foundation, a member of the Australian Research Council: Excellence in Research for Australia 2015 Evaluation Committee, Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT): Committee Member: Awards Committee, a member of the panel of experts for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA and a research fellow at The Centre for Policy Development. </span></em></p>All too often, the debate around the BDS movement is lost in a cacophony of anti-Semitism accusations and the focus shifts to Western institutions instead of Palestinian rights.Ingrid Matthews, Lecturer, UWS School of Law; Researcher, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityJames Arvanitakis, Professor in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427152015-06-03T16:39:52Z2015-06-03T16:39:52ZAnti-boycott movement is a smokescreen for Netanyahu’s far-right agenda<p>In a recent interview with Israeli television the US president, Barack Obama, warned that the stance adopted by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, towards the Palestinians <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-stance-palestine-endangers-israels-credibility-183732522.html">erodes Israel’s credibility</a>. Preventing the formation of a Palestinian state was Netanyahu’s <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.647212">campaign promise</a> and – while he has since <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/19/binyamin-netanyahu-israel-palestine-two-state-solution">backed off</a> – Obama argued that the list of caveats that Netanyahu provided made the chances of any sort of agreement with the Palestinians unlikely. </p>
<p>The fourth Netanyahu government is his most <a href="https://theconversation.com/rightward-lurch-keeps-netanyahu-in-power-but-for-how-long-41467">right-wing</a>. Avigdor Lieberman’s withdrawal from coalition negotiations at the very last minute inflated the seat-value of the thin majority government and the Likud’s partners took advantage of their immense bargaining power to acquire sectarian benefits. </p>
<p>The eight-member Jewish Home Party gained control over the ministries of education and justice – both prestigious portfolios with far-reaching effects on the shape of Israeli society, namely <a href="http://972mag.com/bennett-as-education-minister-less-science-more-judaism/106519/">curriculum changes</a> and the <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4658285,00.html">restraining</a> of the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>But their gains for the settlement movement are particularly interesting and have the effect of further institutionalising the settlement project. First, the minister of agriculture, settler leader Uri Ariel, <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/west-bank-settlers-optimistic-over-new-government/">gained control</a> over the settlement division in the world Zionist organisation, an amorphous non-governmental body that supports settlement activity in the West Bank. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TA-1Nl-5PX0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">barack Obama interviewed on Israeli television, June 2015.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the Jewish Home was allocated a new post of a deputy security minister with responsibility for the civil administration in the West Bank. Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett has been pushing Netanyahu to <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/In-wake-of-talks-collapse-Bennett-to-present-PM-with-proposal-to-annex-Area-C-352444">annex</a> Area C in the West Bank (which is already subject to full Israeli civil and security control) and – while there has as yet been no annexation – the creation of this new post gives direct control over that area directly to a Jewish Home representative. </p>
<p>Third, according to the coalition agreements, a special <a href="http://english.dohainstitute.org/release/973cb664-d9f2-4329-9f67-2ec0c4831b8b">task force</a> is drafting a plan to retroactively legitimise “structures and neighbourhoods in the Jewish Settlements in Judea and Sumaria”. Plenty there to raise the ire of the world community. </p>
<p>As Israeli NGO Peace Now <a href="http://peacenow.org.il/eng/sites/default/files/JewishHomeAgreement100515.pdf">demonstrates</a>, the expansion of settlements is ingrained in the coalition agreements that allowed Netanyahu to form the government. As defence minister Moshe Ya'alon <a href="https://youtu.be/EBORMroqtMo?t=45m2s">stated</a>, expansion has in effect been institutionalised as policy, setting Israel on a collision course with the international community.</p>
<p>But what has emerged from both the bureaucratic chaos and the dire diplomatic prospects is a rather clear stance that is extended from the domestic sphere all the way to the state’s foreign policy – anti-boycott.</p>
<h2>The threat of boycott</h2>
<p>Following the <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.659004">FIFA incident</a>, in which the Palestinians withdrew a motion to expel Israel from the organisation, but still subjected it to support a harsh resolution with operational consequences, the threat of boycott has taken tangible form.</p>
<p>It has since become the biggest item on Israel’s foreign policy agenda. Here’s how <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/netanyahu-slams-palestine-over-israel-boycott-campaign/">Netanyahu articulated the danger</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are in the midst of a great struggle being waged against the state of Israel, an international campaign to blacken its name. It is not connected to our actions; it is connected to our very existence. It does not matter what we do; it matters what we symbolise and what we are. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is nothing new. Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians have in the past lambasted the hypocrisy of world opinion and alluded to the anti-Semitic underpinning of <a href="http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechpre170214.aspx">boycott campaigns</a>, but the current level of anxiety in Israel – or rather the level of fanning of anxiety by Israel’s politicians and media – is unprecedented.</p>
<p>After being criticised for its anti-Netanyahu stance during the election campaign, Yedioth, Israel’s second largest daily newspaper, has <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4663436,00.html">launched</a> a campaign against boycotts, declaring that it is “mobilising for war, in the form of a series of exposés, articles and reports in the coming weeks and months”. </p>
<p>A series of OpEds introduced a repertoire of possible responses to the boycott movement, which, the paper said, was “creating a virtual world” and “following Goebbels”. There were separate reports on the dangers of academic and economic boycotts – and even a debate on whether the citizenship of Israeli citizens who support boycott should be revoked. Other media outlets have followed suit.</p>
<p>In fact, the thrust of the anti-boycott campaign has even reached opposition parties – the head of centrist party, Yesh Atid, the journalist Yair Lapid, explained Monday’s vote of no confidence, set to topple Netanyahu’s government, in terms of the governments’ inability to face up to the threat of boycott, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/YairLapid/videos/vb.107836625941364/950635781661440/?type=2&theater">writing</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is a campaign against the very existence of Israel. Anti-semitic groups, mostly on the left, are leading a campaign that is not against Israeli products. That is not against the settlements. It is against the idea that Jews will have their own state. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>At a recent press conference in Canada, Netanyahu <a href="http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Events/Pages/eventkanada030615.aspx">lambasted Britain’s National Union of Students</a> for its support of the BDS movement: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Israel has an exemplary democracy. We have academic freedom, press freedom, human rights. ISIS tramples human rights to the dust. It burns people alive in cages and the national student groups in Britain refuse to boycott ISIS and have boycotted Israel. It tells you everything you want to know about the BDS movement.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, in an emergency Knesset debate on the issue the justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, attributed the success of the boycott to “classical antisemitism, radical Islam and naivity”, while Ofir Akounis, minister without portfolio, added: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps when radical Islam will take over Britain and Europe they will understand the meaning of occupation. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Moral panic</h2>
<p>The BDS campaign, Palestinian appeals to international organisations and denouncements from foreign diplomats no doubt offer challenges to Israel’s diplomatic efforts. But lumping such disparate acts together and severing them completely from Israeli actions is an attempt to frame any sort of outside pressure as a priori illegitimate. </p>
<p>If Israeli foreign policy is articulated as merely a response to this pressure, it would leave very little room for diplomacy, let alone open debate – which is already restricted in Israel, where public calls for boycott, even if limited to the West Bank, are already a <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/High-Court-rules-on-boycott-law-398206">potentially punishable offence</a>. </p>
<p>The campaign is rather one of moral panic. Boycotters, boycotting and anything that is argued to be within their vicinity are framed as a dangerous existential threat. It is a pre-emptive calibration of public opinion that filters both criticisms from the outside as well as dissenting voices from within.</p>
<p>This well-rehearsed chant being played in the media war-drums does as much to create an atmosphere of crisis as the <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4663968,00.html">wailing sirens</a> of the annual emergency drill heard all across Israel. The boycott scare will render any and all criticisms of government policy as part of this existential crisis – which handily enables Netanyahu’s government to continue with its projects. For example, it has been <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.659278">reported</a> that a recent purchase of a large church compound in the West Bank through a straw company for the purpose of establishing a new settlement near Hebron will be scrutinised by the civil administration – the responsibility over which is, of course, in the hands of the Jewish Home. </p>
<p>With the government committed to the settlement project, the “look-over-there-ness” of the boycott panic may come in handy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yoav Galai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Israel’s prime minister is using boycott fears to distract attention from his government’s increasingly right-wing agenda.Yoav Galai, PhD candidate in the School of International Relations, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/84412012-07-26T04:27:58Z2012-07-26T04:27:58ZIs the Max Brenner protestors’ court victory an Australian legal watershed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13454/original/vhrxr9ws-1343268619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Israeli chocolatier Max Brenner in Sydney in 2009. A Victorian court has ruled people do have a right to protest his support for the Israel armed forces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/">Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement</a> against Israel is controversial on at least two levels. First, it targets businesses, which some (<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/israeli-boycotts-accc-called-in/story-fn59niix-1226110465124">including the Victorian Government</a>) see as an illegitimate means of political protest. Secondly, it targets Israel, which <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2906664.html">some see as inherently anti-Jewish</a>.</p>
<p>This is not an article about the merits of the BDS movement. It is an article about eleven BDS demonstrators who were arrested in Melbourne on July 1 last year for protesting outside a Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar in the QV Square shopping space. They were charged with the delightfully archaic-sounding offences of “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s52.html">besetting premises</a>” and “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s9.html">wilful trespass in a public place</a>.” It is also an article about the right to protest and the public/private divide.</p>
<p>On Monday, Magistrate Garnett of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria dismissed the case against the 11 protestors. According to his judgment, private corporations own QV Square and the laneways around it, but they are bound by an agreement with Melbourne City Council to allow 24/7 public access, with very limited exceptions. This makes it legally a “public place,” and means the owners did not have authority to put conditions on the protestors’ entry, nor to have them removed for failing to comply with those conditions. Yet in the weeks leading up to the July 1 protest (which had been flagged on social media), the business owners had a number of meetings with Victoria Police to explore their options for doing just that.</p>
<p>On July 1, 132 police officers (including <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/strong-arm-of-the-law-overlands-armourclad-swat-squads-to-tackle-urban-troublemakers-20110609-1fv70.html">special Public Order teams</a>) blocked QV Square and <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/arrested-at-anti-israel-protest/story-fn7x8me2-1226086248954">shut down the protest</a>. 16 demonstrators were eventually charged with besetting and trespass; five faced additional charges relating to resisting arrest.</p>
<p>After 17 days of evidence involving no fewer than 26 police witnesses (compared with only four civilian witnesses), the Court found that the 11 had no case to answer. It found that in fact the police were more to blame for blocking public access (which is effectively what “besetting” a business means) to QV than the protestors.</p>
<p>The arguments over the trespass charges were complicated, but suffice it to say that, if the prosecution had had its way, it would be
“wilful trespass” to enter a public place with the intention of voicing political views, if it interfered with the rights of others to perform “normal activities”. The court found this interpretation would be contrary to the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cohrara2006433/">Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities</a>, which only allows for <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cohrara2006433/s7.html">limitations</a> on freedoms of speech and assembly where there is a genuine need – for example where there is a serious threat to public order or safety. The Magistrate noted that customers had continued to eat at Max Brenner’s throughout the protest, and were not prevented from leaving. He concluded that, “[w]hilst the actions of the protestors may have caused some inconvenience to members of the public, the nature and extent of it was not such as to warrant a prohibition of their right to demonstrate and express their political opinions”.</p>
<p>Although not reflected in the decision, it seems clear that the protestors’ disruption to trading within the QV precinct was what the business owners and police found particularly repugnant. This was certainly the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/doyle-defiant-as-protesters-plan-legal-action-20111022-1mdvu.html">case put forward by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne</a> for breaking up the Occupy protests late last year, and is the reason the Victorian Government <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/israeli-boycotts-accc-called-in/story-fn59niix-1226110465124">called on the ACCC</a> to investigate the BDS protests.</p>
<p>Now that the criminal law, along with the Charter, has proven to be on the protestors’ side, the Victorian Government has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/baillieu-seeks-to-toughen-protest-laws/story-e6frgczx-1226434242358">promised to investigate “whether tougher legislation is needed to prevent political protests closing down businesses</a>”.</p>
<p>Although the protestors have been <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/arrested-at-anti-israel-protest/story-fn7x8me2-1226086248954">accused of targeting Max Brenner’s shops simply for being an Israeli-owned business</a>, there are in fact <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/protesters-target-max-brenner-cafe-20110826-1jeec.html">allegations</a> that the its <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/anti-israel-bullies-hard-centre-bites-in-chocolate-shop-campaign/story-e6frgd0x-1226118406097">parent company</a> supports certain controversial brigades of the Israeli Army by sending them free food. These brigades have been <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/a-hrc-12-48.pdf">criticised in a UN</a> report in relation to the invasion of Gaza in 2009.</p>
<p>Whether or not these allegations are true, the law is not meant to shut down peaceful political protests. For those who are sceptical about the peaceful nature of the protest, or who are just interested to see what it looked like, there is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZrCloJzNZw&feature=player_embedded">footage on Youtube</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/HCA/1992/45.html">highest court in the land agrees</a> with the protestors’ lawyer Rob Stary when he <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/peaceful-max-brember-protesters-justified/story-e6frfhqf-1226434238048">says</a> that freedom of speech, particularly on political matters, is essential to the maintenance of our democracy. The law recognises that there needs to be some limitations on this freedom – that is why acts such as incitement to violence are prohibited. However, while the right to make an honest dollar is inherent in our market‑based economic and societal structures, it is not the sort of right which displaces our fundamental human rights when they are exercised in public places.</p>
<p>This case could set an important precedent for the right to protest peacefully in Australia. Admittedly, the fact that QV Square is legally a public place and that Victoria has a Charter of Rights played a role in the decision. If, for example, a similar protest were to be held at a Max Brenner’s inside a Westfield mall in NSW, neither of these factors would be in play. Nevertheless, this victory in court over corporate interests and public authorities who cooperated to silence a legitimate expression of free speech is legally important and powerfully symbolic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Fletcher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is controversial on at least two levels. First, it targets businesses, which some (including the Victorian Government) see as an illegitimate…Adam Fletcher, PhD Candidate, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.