List of organizations that support the BDS movement include organizations that either has supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement or has endorsed comprehensive boycotts of Israel. Comprehensive is here defined as a boycott that is not tied to a particular industry (e.g weapons embargo) or exclusive to goods from the Israeli settlements. The list does not include organizations that support BDS' right to call for a boycott of Israel but does not themselves support the boycott. The year column indicates when the organization first professed support for BDS.
Organization | Type | Members | Region | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edinburgh University Students' Association [1] [fn 1] | Student union | 41,300 | UK | 2016 |
The Harvard Crimson Editorial Board [2] [3] | Editorial board | 87 | US | 2022 |
Teaching Assistants Association [4] | Trade union | 9,000 | US | 2016 |
Muslim Student Union [5] | Student union | ? | US | 2010 |
National Lawyers Guild [6] | Bar association | ? | US | 2020 |
Union of Agricultural Work Committees [7] | Farmers' union | ? | Palestine | 2012 |
Canadian Union of Postal Workers [8] | Trade union | 54,000 | Canada | 2018 |
Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante [9] | Student union | ? | Canada | 2008 |
Fédération des femmes du Québec [10] | Feminist organization | ? | Canada | 2010 |
Centrale des syndicats du Québec [11] | Trade union | 180,000 [11] | Canada | 2018 |
Democratic Socialists of America [12] | Political organization | ? | United States | 2017 |
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions | Trade union | 290,000 | Palestine | ? |
Socialist Left Party [13] | Political party | ? | Norway | 2019 |
ARIJ [fn 2] | Think tank | ? | Palestine | 2005 |
Addameer [fn 2] [14] | Prisoner support | ? | Palestine | 2005 |
Palestinian NGOs Network | Umbrella org. for NGOs | 134 [15] | Palestine | ? |
Movement for Black Lives [16] | Coalition of human rights groups | 50+ | US | 2016 |
Boycott from Within [17] | Political group | ? | Israel | ? |
New Profile [17] | Political group | ? | Israel | 2019 |
Women in Black [17] | Anti-war group | 10,000 | International | ? |
BRISMES [18] | Scholarly organization | ? | UK | 2019 |
LO [19] | Trade union | 900,000 | Norway | 2017 |
Ma'an News Agency [fn 2] [20] | Wire service | n/a | Palestine | 2005 |
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions [21] | Human rights NGO | ? | Israel | 2010 |
War on Want [22] | Anti-poverty charity | ? | UK | 2018 |
National Union of Journalists [fn 3] [23] | Trade union | 40,000 | UK | 2007 |
Union of Students in Ireland [24] | Student union | 374,000 | Ireland | 2018 |
Irish Congress of Trade Unions [25] | Trade union | 600,000 | Ireland | 2009 |
Scottish Trades Union Congress [26] | Trade union | 560,000 | UK | 2009 |
University and College Union [27] | Trade union | 120,000 | UK | 2010 |
National Union of Students [28] | Student union | Millions | UK | 2015 |
National Campus and Community Radio Association [29] | NGO of radio stations | ? | Canada | 2011 |
Mennonite Church Canada [30] | Church | 31,000 | Canada | 2016 |
Unifor [31] | Trade union | 310,000 | Canada | 2017 |
Concordia Graduate Students Association [32] | Student union | 8,000 | Canada | 2013 |
Concordia Student Union [32] | Student union | ? | Canada | 2014 |
York Federation of Students [33] | Student union | ? | Canada | 2013 |
Scarborough Campus Students' Union [34] | Student union | 14,000 | Canada | 2020 |
American Friends Service Committee [35] | Religious society | Thousands | US | 2019 |
NATFHE [fn 4] [36] | Trade union | 69,000 [36] | UK | 2006 |
CUT [37] | Trade union | 20 million | Brazil | ? |
Trades Union Congress [37] | Trade union | 7 million | UK | ? |
Canadian Union of Public Employees [37] [38] | Trade union | 700,000 | Canada | 2006 |
UE [39] | Trade union | 35,000 | US | 2015 |
Hampshire College [37] | Private college | n/a | US | 2009 |
Jewish Voice for Peace [40] | Human rights NGO | ? | US | 2015 |
American Studies Association [41] | Scholarly organization | 5,000 | US | 2013 |
Association for Asian American Studies [41] | Scholarly organization | ? | US | 2013 |
American Anthropological Association [42] | Scholarly organization | 10,000+ | US | 2023 |
Association for Humanist Sociology [41] | Scholarly organization | ? | US | ? |
NACCS [41] | Scholarly organization | ? | US | ? |
NAISA [41] | Scholarly organization | ? | US | ? |
Middle East Studies Association of North America [41] | Scholarly organization | ? | US | ? |
National Women's Studies Association [41] [43] | Scholarly organization | 2,350 | US | 2015 |
Congress of South African Trade Unions [44] | Trade union | ? | South Africa | 2011 |
National Union of Teachers [45] | Trade union | ? | UK | 2014 |
Unite the Union [46] | Trade union | ? | UK | 2014 |
UAW Local 2865 [fn 5] [47] | Trade union | 14,000 | US | 2014 |
Confédération des syndicats nationaux [48] | Trade union | 325,000 | Canada | 2015 |
African National Congress [49] | Political party | 769,000 | South Africa | 2012 |
Green Party of England and Wales [50] | Political party | ? | England and Wales | 2014 |
Scottish Greens [51] | Political party | ? | Scotland | 2015 |
Green Party of Canada [52] | Political party | ? | Canada | 2016 |
Socialist International [53] | ? | ? | ? | 2018 |
Greens New South Wales [54] | Political party | 3,000 | Australia | 2010 |
Québec solidaire [55] | Political party | ? | Canada | ? |
Students for Justice in Palestine | Human rights NGO | ? | International | ? |
All India Kisan Sabha [56] | Peasant movement | 16 million | India | 2017 |
Canadian Federation of Students [57] | Student union | 500,000 | Canada | 2018 |
Association des Travailleurs Grecs du Québec [58] | Immigrant labor organization | ? | Canada | ? |
NDN Collective [59] | Human rights NGO | ? | US | 2021 |
Students' Federation of India [60] | Scholarly organization | 4,300,405 [61] | India | 2018 |
Latin American Council of Social Sciences [62] | Scholarly organization | ? | International | 2022 |
University of Melbourne Student Union [63] | Student union | ? | Australia | 2022 |
National Conference of Black Lawyers [64] | Human rights NGO | ? | US | 2021 |
Green Party of California [65] | Political party | 85,828 | US | 2022 |
Anglican Church of Southern Africa [66] | Church | ? | South Africa | 2019 |
United Church of Christ [67] | Church | 773,500 | United States | 2015 |
Northern Independence Party [68] | Political party | 1,400 [69] | United Kingdom | 2023 |
Fourth International [70] | Political organisation | ? | International | 2010 |
Muslim Students Federation (Kerala state) | Student union | 200,000 | International | 2006 |
Plaid Cymru [71] | Political party | 10,000 | Wales | 2024 |
Disoccupied | Boycott website | ? | International | 2023 |
Jewish Voice for Peace is an American Jewish anti-Zionist and left-wing advocacy organization. It is critical of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
Jeff Halper is an Israeli-American anthropologist, author, lecturer, and political activist who has lived in Israel since 1973. He is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a co-founder of The One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC). He is a Jewish Israeli.
StandWithUs (SWU) is a nonprofit right-wing pro-Israel advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer.
Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign that aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment campaign is related to other economic and political boycotts of Israel.
The Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy is an Israeli government ministry responsible for leading the campaign of expanding the Abraham Accords and the handling of ties on White House matters.
The Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel since 2006. Their stance has encountered opposition from the Canadian Jewish Congress and parts of the press but also widespread support from university professors, Independent Jewish Voices, Palestine House, Canadian Arab Federation and labour unions. In 2009 the CUPE Ontario university workers' committee proposed to extend the campaign to boycott any joint work with Israeli institutions that carry out military research. That resolution became the focus of extensive controversy and was modified in response to pressure from the CUPE national president; the amended version was brought before the CUPE Ontario conference in May 2009 and passed with a 2/3 majority.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations under international law, defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties". The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
Omar Barghouti is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. He received the Gandhi Peace Award in 2017.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals in Ramallah, in the West Bank. PACBI is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals. The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians.
Anti-Jewish boycotts are organized boycotts directed against Jewish people to exclude them economical, political or cultural life. Antisemitic boycotts are often regarded as a manifestation of popular antisemitism.
Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and calls to refusal of having commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to influence Israel's practices and policies by means of using economic pressure. The specific objective of Israel boycotts varies; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for boycotts of Israel "until it meets its obligations under international law", and the purpose of the Arab League's boycott of Israel was to prevent Arab states and others from contributing to Israel's economy. Israeli officials have characterized the BDS movement as antisemitic.
The current campaign for an academic boycott of Israel was launched in April 2004 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals. Since then, proposals for academic boycotts of particular Israeli universities and academics have been made by academics and organisations in Palestine, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians.
Students for Justice in Palestine is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Founded at the University of California in 2001, it has campaigned for boycott and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel and organized events about Israel's human rights violations. In 2011, The New York Times called it "the leading pro-Palestinian voice on campus". As of 2024, National SJP has over 350 chapters in North America.
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, commonly known as Boycott from Within, is an association of Jewish and Arab Israelis who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Founded in 2008, it describes itself as following the guiding principles and sharing the goals of the Palestinian BDS movement, as delineated by Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Reactions to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refer to the views of international actors on the BDS movement.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (IABA) was a proposed anti-BDS law and amendment to the Export Administration Act of 1979 designed to allow U.S. states to enact laws requiring contractors to sign pledges promising not to boycott any goods from Israel, or their contracts would be terminated, and to make it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for American citizens to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
With regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict, many supporters of the State of Israel have often advocated or implemented anti-BDS laws, which effectively seek to retaliate against people and organizations engaged in boycotts of Israel-affiliated entities. Most organized boycotts of Israel have been led by Palestinians and other Arabs with support from much of the Muslim world. Since the Second Intifada in particular, these efforts have primarily been coordinated at an international level by the Palestinian-led BDS movement, which seeks to mount as much economic pressure on Israel as possible until the Israeli government allows an independent Palestinian state to be established. Anti-BDS laws are designed to make it difficult for anti-Israel people and organizations to participate in boycotts; anti-BDS legal resolutions are symbolic and non-binding parliamentary condemnations, either of boycotts of Israel or of the BDS movement itself. Generally, such condemnations accuse BDS of closeted antisemitism, charging it with pushing a double standard and lobbying for the de-legitimization of Israeli sovereignty, and are often followed by laws targeting boycotts of Israel.
Anti-Palestinianism or anti-Palestinian racism refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination directed at the Palestinian people for any variety of reasons. Since the mid-20th century, the phenomenon has largely overlapped with anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians today are Arabs and Muslims. Historically, anti-Palestinianism was more closely identified with European antisemitism, as far-right Europeans detested the Jewish people as undesirable foreigners from Palestine. Modern anti-Palestinianism—that is, xenophobia or racism towards the Arabs of Palestine—is most common in Israel, the United States, Lebanon, and Germany, among other countries.
In May 2010, the Muslim Student Union (MSU) held its annual anti-Israel event at UC Irvine (UCI), titled "Israeli Apartheid Week: A Call to Boycott, Divest and Sanction,"
A lawsuit intended to harass the National Lawyers Guild over its support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights has been voluntarily dismissed by the anti-Palestinian litigant who filed it.
The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) has endorsed the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, in a vote taken at its AGM in Leeds on Monday. According to reports on social media, the resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign was easily passed, with almost 80 percent support (final numbers to be confirmed).
Norway's largest and most influential trade union organization has called for a full boycott of Israel. Last Friday, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) voted to endorse a statement that embraces the entire slate of demands in the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) was the first Israeli organisation to endorse a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign and to formulate a statement, issued in January 2005, calling on the international community to support it. The statement was updated in January 2010 and reaffirms ICAHD's support for BDS as an instrument of Palestinian liberation and brings our call into the framework of the Unified Palestinian Civil Society Call of 2005.
Banning groups, such as War on Want, that support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is a desperate attempt to silence human rights defenders
The fact that BBC journalist Alan Johnston was still missing, presumed held by a Palestinian group, at the time of the conference, increased the anti-boycotters' sense of incredulity. Witness Jonathan Freedland's Guardian column: " 'So, besides holding a special session on Johnston, what is the NUJ's response? To spring into action and boycott, er, Israel. Does someone need to give those 66 NUJ activists who voted for a boycott (as opposed to the 54 who voted against) a quick refresher course in the Middle East conflict, so they can tell which side is which?'"
An amendment supporting the BDS movement was proposed by the School of Oriental and African Studies. This too passed, with 19 voting in favor, 14 against and three abstained
This year the membership upheld an AMARC motion supporting the BDS movement in solidarity with Palestine, changed Women in Radio day to Equity in Radio day, set in motion a national campaign supporting CKLN and reserving its frequency in Toronto and struck committees for social justice and anti-racism work.
The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement claimed a landslide victory in Canada on the weekend of July 9 as the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly overwhelmingly supported a resolution backing the boycott of Israel.
Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union with more than 310,000 members across the country, adopted a motion in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement at its recent convention.
Concordia University president Alan Shepard has denounced academic boycotts in principle in the wake of undergraduates at his school narrowly voting in favour of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. ... In January 2013, the Concordia Graduate Students Association passed a pro-BDS resolution at its general assembly. Its membership is about 8,000.
On Thursday in Toronto, York University's undergraduate student union — the York Federation of Students — passed a resolution in favor of the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. The York Federation of Students is the largest student union in Canada. The resolution demands that the university administration "abides by the BDS call" and urges York to "withdraw its investments from Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Amphenol and other companies that are selling weapons and military equipment to Israel."
After a chaotic Annual General Meeting that left many items on the agenda unaddressed due to a room-booking issue, the Scarborough Campus Students' Union (SCSU) voted to reaffirm its support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel at its January Board of Directors meeting on January 22.
The United Church of Christ, one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday calling for divestment from companies that profit from Israel's occupation or control of Palestinian territories, and a boycott of products from Israeli settlements.