Timeline: International attempts to boycott BDS

MEMO

March 16, 2017 at 12:07 pm

2016- present

04 September 2019: The ARTIS Cinema in the Austrian capital Vienna cancels the premiere of ‘¡Yallah! ¡Yallah!’, an Argentinian-Palestinian co-production, because of the ‘politically controversial statement’ the movement behind it is, in reference to BDS
15 August 2019: Israel bans outspoken Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entry due to their support for the BDS movement
03 August 2019: London Borough of Tower Hamlets refused to host the closing rally of the annual bike ride raising money for Palestinian children in the besieged Gaza over claims it would breach the IHRA’s anti-Semitism criteria, a report reveals
30 July 2019: Notorious Israel advocacy group Shurat HaDin files a petition to an Israeli courtto see US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar barred from visiting Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) because of what it says is her support for the BDS movement
15 July 2019: US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos describes the boycott of Israel as a ‘pernicious threat’, saying ‘we all know that BDS stands for antisemitism’
14 July 2019: 7 human rights groups based in Israel tweet a letter to Germany’s parliament saying it is ‘a disservice to the true fight against antisemitism to equate it with BDS’

8 July 2019: The European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation (ENMESH) has cancelled plans to hold a conference in Israel ‘over fears of a backlash from the international boycott movement’
19 June 2019: Two London-based pro-Israel activists plead guilty to harassing Palestine solidarity campaigners and now face fines and a community order
16 June 2019: Jordan cancels the concert of US rapper Bhad Bhabie in response to BDS activists’ protests after the artists announces she will be playing in both Amman and Tel Aviv during her tour of the Middle East
17 June 2019: The US state of Florida adopts a new definitions of anti-Semitism which limits discussions of the plight of the Palestinian people and underscoring the brutality of Israel’s occupation
13 June 2019: A senior legal advisor to the European Union’s top court says that products from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory should be clearly labelled as such
05 June 2019: A German music festival disinvites American hip hop singer Talib Kweli after he refused to condemn BDS
American hip hop singer Talib Kweli on 29 April 2012 [meghan.roberts/Flickr]
12 October 2019: 240 Israeli and Jewish academics and intellectuals send a letter to the Germany government urging it not to enact in to law a bill that would define the BDS movement as ‘anti-Semitic’
12 June 2019: Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad has been supporting initiatives against the BDS movement, information made public recently reveals
10 June 2019: Israel has forced 30 fundraising accounts associated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to close in the past two years, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs announces
03 June 2019: Israel’s Supreme Court postpones the deportation of regional Human Rights Watch (HRW) Director Omar Shakir, allowing him to remain in the country while he contests the expulsion order against him
23 May 2019: Israel embarks on a massive recruitment drive to support the country’s online propaganda campaign and improve the country’s image abroad
17 May 2019: Germany votes to define the BDS movement as anti-Semitic, becoming the first major European parliament to do so. Claiming the boycott campaign is ‘reminiscent of the most horrific phase in German history’
17 May 2019: A coalition of Palestinian NGOs urges local and international organisations to reject donations from Airbnb, in light of the company’s ongoing listing of homes in Israeli settlements
08 May 2019: The Palestinian Artists Association, based in the occupied Gaza Strip, calls on contestants taking part in Eurovision ‘to boycott the international music competition that Israel is hosting next week’ because it is used to ‘perpetuate oppression, promote injustice or whitewash a brutal apartheid regime’
2 May 2019: The Department of Social and Cultural Analysis of New York University (NYU) votes overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution of non-cooperation with the university’s Tel Aviv campus over what they say is ‘Israel’s long-standing discriminatory policies’
28 April 2019: The Israeli government is urged by right-wing activists to revoke the residency of Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement
25 April 2019: UK film-makers and screenwriters urge cinemas to boycott the Israeli film festival, Serret, which is partly funded by the Israeli government
25 April 2019: A federal court in Texas blocks the state’s law suppression of boycotts of Israel, ruling that the law violates the First Amendment
17 April 2019: French insurance firm AXA divests from Elbit Systems and several Israeli banks following pressure from BDS
16 April 2019: An Israeli court upholds a deportation order against regional Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Omar Shakir, citing Israel’s anti-BDS law
11 April 2019: The US denies entry to the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Washington-based advocacy group the Arab American Institute (AAI) reveals
08 April 2019: Online holiday rental giant Airbnb backtracks on its decision to delist properties situated on Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying instead it will donate the profits from these listings to charity
04 April 2019: South Africa downgrades its embassy to Israel, the first phase in reducing diplomatic relations between the two countries at the request of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party
03 April 2019: 171 Swedish artists and celebrities sign an open letter urging for the boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest which is to be held in Israel next month
04 March 2019: Three activists who protested against an Israeli politician appear in a German court, facing trial for trumped-up claims of trespassing and assault

The trio – Palestinian activist Majed Abusalama and Israeli activists Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai – are facing trial for their involvement in a June 2017 protest against Israel MK Aliza Lavie at Humboldt University [Stavit Sinai/Twitter]

26 February 2019: The chair of Israel’s association of university heads says education institutions have felt the pressure of the boycott movement
16 February 2019: The Dutch Green Left Party becomes the first mainstream political movement in the Netherlands to endorse a boycott of Israel
04 February 2019: A district court in Washington throws out a lawsuit a US student group which had endorsed a call to boycott Israeli academic institutions
04 February 2019: Israel launches a smear campaign against activists affiliated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, labelling them ‘terrorists in suits’
31 January 2019: Over 60 international NGO’s add their voices in protest against the plan to hold the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv this year
28 January 2019: The Israeli Knesset cancels an official visit to Ireland scheduled for March in protest against the latest Irish bill that supports a boycott of Israeli settlement goods
28 January 2019: The United States Senate votes to advance legislation that would crackdown on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign
10 January 2018: A pension firm in the Netherlands has removed five Israeli banks from a blacklist it previously created in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
09 January 2019: A Muslim civil rights group files a lawsuit seeking to block the US city of Maryland from enforcing an executive order that bans contracting with businesses that boycott Israel
09 January 2018: A Supreme Court panel in the UK granted the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision that a ban Local Government Pension Schemes joining BDS is lawful
06 January 2019: While in shutdown the US government tries to introduce a law which would ban support for BDS
23 December 2018: HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world, confirms that it fully divested from Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems, which sells weapons to the Israeli military used in attacks on Palestinians
20 December 2018: Israel allocates three million shekels ($0.79 million) to setup an international network of lawyers and financial legal groups to combat the Boycott, Divestment of Sanctions movement
20 December 2018: A US software company blocks the fundraising account of the Palestinian-led boycott movement following a complaint by a pro-Israel advocacy group
06 December 2018: Chile declares support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement illegal less than two weeks after saying it would support Palestinian rights
06 December 2018: The New York University (NYU) Student Government Assembly passed a resolution which calls for ‘divesting from corporations that violate Palestinian human rights and calls on NYU to adopt a socially responsible investment policy that upholds human rights for all’
03 December 2018: Democratic representative-elect Rashida Tlaib says she supports BDS describing it as a way to bring attention to ‘issues like the racism and the international human rights violations by Israel right now’
29 November 2018: Pressure from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists leads South Africa’s University of Stellenbosch to withdraw invitations for Israeli academics to attend a major conference
28 November 2018: A bill calling for a ban on the import of Israeli settlement goods passes its first reading in the Irish Senate
27 November 2018: The Chilean parliament votes in favour of a resolution which calls on its government to review agreements with Israel to ensure that there are specific references to the borders of the State of Israel and their applicability to the 1967 borders in accordance with Security Council resolution 2334
27 November 2018: Faculty at Pitzer College in California ‘overwhelmingly voted to pass two motions providing support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights’
16 November 2018: Kentucky becomes the 26th US State to bans contracts with companies that support a boycott of the State of Israel
19 November 2018: The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) – which consists of more than 500,000 members and oversees 64 member unions across Canada – denounces Israel’s ‘atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza and reaffirmed the Federation’s commitment to BDS and anti-war organising’
19 November 2018: Quakers in Britain become the first church in the UK to announce it will not invest any of its centrally-held funds in companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine
19 November 2018: Airbnb removes listings of properties which are located in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank ahead of a damming Human rights Watch report which says such policies ‘make West Bank settlements more profitable and therefore sustainable’
13 November 2018: Two leading chefs pull out of the Tel Aviv-hosted Round Tables food festival following pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign
11 November 2018: Representative-elect Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minneapolis and one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, says she will fight to make sure people’s right to support the BDS movement is not criminalised
01 November 2018: University of Leeds makes the decision to divest from three companies which were found to be complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights: Airbus, United Technologies and Keyence Corporation
30 October 2018: Denmark announces that it will no longer provide any funding to groups that endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaig
25 October 2017:Israel is reported to have set aside a war chest of $72 million to counter the global BDS campaignAttachments area
19 October 2018: Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation ‘will discuss a bill on Sunday that would subject activists convicted of promoting a boycott of Israel to prison terms of up to seven years’
11 October 2018: Israel orders two New Zealand activists to pay 45,000 shekels ($12,000) in damages for persuading pop-star Lorde to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv
10 October 2018: A group of Irish celebrities call on songwriters to boycott Eurovision 2019 which is scheduled to be held in Israel next May
10 October 2018: Israeli authorities refuse entry to the occupied Gaza Strip to two members of a US medical delegation because of their alleged involvement in BDS
03 October 2018: France will no longer label products produced in illegal Israeli settlements after it is sued for ‘discrimination’ by a pro-Israel think tank
02 October 2018: US student, Lara Alqasem, is being held at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport over her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
30 September 2018: Ireland’s national broadcaster ‘will not be sanctioning any staff members who refuse to travel to Israel for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019’ on conscious grounds
27 September 2018: Court in Arizona suspended a state-sponsored law requiring contractors to to sign up to BDS Attachments area
16 September 2018: 15,000 Jews storm the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron ahead of Yom Kippur
14 September 2018: Israel announces that next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Tel Aviv not Jerusalem after global calls to boycott the competition
11 September 2018: Newly appointed official in the US administration re-opens a seven-year-old case over alleged anti-Semitism in an American university, one which was dismissed by Barack Obama’s government, in an effort to stifle BDS support on campus
10 September 2018: Tel Aviv’s famed clubbing scene is feeling the impact of BDS as top international DJs are staying away
07 September 2017: More than 100 international artists, including famous singers and musicians, calls for the boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest which is to be hosted by Israel next year
06 September 2018: Itay Tiran, ‘widely considered Israel’s leading theatrical actor-director’, declares his support for BDS in an interview with Haaretz
05 September 2018: US Indie group of Montreal join the boycott of the Meteor Festival in Tel Aviv saying ‘to ignore the call to stand up in support of an oppressed group of humans is one of the worst things one can do’
31 August 2018: A number of scholars from universities in the United States, UK, Finland, Belgium, and the occupied Palestinian territories denounce the conference on cosmology and particle physics taking place in the illegal settlement university of Ariel this week, and urge colleagues to boycott the institution
02 September 2018: 15 bands including Lana Del Rey have cancelled their performance at the Meteor Festival in Tel Aviv in support of Palestinian rights
24 August 2018: US producers DJ Python and Volvox join a growing list of artists who have pulled out of the Meteor Festival in Israel
22 August 2018: American singer Lana Del Rey says she’ll visit Palestine too but will not boycott an Israeli music festival next month
21 August 2018: Two municipalities in Spain rescind their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement after a pro-Israel group threatens them with legal action
21 August 2018: Palestinian solidarity groups in South Africa welcome the decision by music duo Black Motion not to perform in Israel, while US singer Lana Del Rey defends her decision to play at the Meteor Festival

Lana Del Rey [Flickr]

21 August 2018: An Israeli court rejects a petition by human rights activists who sought to force the state to reveal the names of lawyers helping to fight Palestine solidarity activism worldwide as this ‘could seriously undermine Israel’s ‎foreign ‎relations’
14 August 2018: Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports that the country’s public broadcasting corporation has taken out ‘BDS insurance’ with the government agreeing to cover the cost of hosting the event ‘ if the competition is ultimately not held in Israel, due to extenuating circumstances such as earthquake, war or a boycott organized by BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement’
03 August 2018: BDS activists claim another victory after German sports brand Adidas ends its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA)
03 August 2018: BDS activists are urging the Irish Football Association to cancel the 11 September friendly with Israel to show support for Palestinian rights
31 July 2018: A London council is taking steps to outlaw BDS using a controversial definition of anti-Semitism to support its plans
30 July 2018: Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari refuses to be honoured by the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, USA, in protest against Israel’s nation-state law
25 July 2018: South African model and actress Shashi Naidoo, receives a ten-year ban from Israel after trying to visit the occupied territories as part of ‘re-education’ programme by BDS activists
24 July 2018: Israel bans prominent Spanish BDS activist Ana Sanchez Mera from entering the country, accusing her of aiming ‘to cause great damage to Israel’
17 July 2018: BDS movement reported that a number of major cities in Spain announced their strong support last month for the rights of the Palestinian people

16 July 2018: At the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in US, six resolutions on Israel-Palestine made it through both the House of Deputies and House of Bishops
11 July 2018: Ireland’s Senate votes to boycott Israeli settlement produce
10 July 2018: Israel’s Labor Party informs Socialist International that it is leaving the global alliance with immediate effect following the organisation’s recent endorsement of BDS

05 July 2018: Socialist International (SI), a global association of 140 political parties – including 35 parties currently in government – endorses the BDS movement
03 July 2018: The Israeli embassy in Ireland has claims that a draft bill calling for a ban on the sale of goods made in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) will ’empower terrorists’
03 July 2018: Leicester City Council wins ‘its long-running legal battle’ against a pro-Israel advocacy group over a motion backing a boycott of Israeli settlement produce
01 July 2018: European car rental giant Europcar closes its Israeli franchisee’s branches in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
26 June 2018: UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announces that it has succeeded in stopping Citibank and the Arab Bank from allowing donations to be transferred to the NGO Defence for Children International Palestine (DCI-P) claiming the group has connections with ‘terrorists’
27 June 2018: Pro-Israel advocacy organisations urge the Co-operative Group to end its policy of refusing to engage with Israeli produce suppliers that source from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory
27 June 2018: Irish Senator announces that parliament is to discuss a bill which calls for boycotting illegal Israeli settlement products on 11 July
26 June 2018: Scottish band Young Fathers disinvited from the German arts festival Ruhrtriennale as a result of their support for BDS. The group was later reinvited following intentional outcry which saw Hollywood stars speak out against the repression of freedom of speech and expression

Scottish band Young Fathers [Ash link/Wikipedia]

22 June 2018: The Presbyterian Church (USA), which represents 1.5 million Americans, votes overwhelmingly in support of BDS
19 June 2018: British Board of Deputies of British Jews’ Chief Executive Gillian Merron attended an Israeli government-hosted conference intended to mobilise and strategise efforts to undermine and sabotage the Palestinian-led BDS movement
10 June 2018: City Council of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, votes to join the BDS campaign and declares itself an ‘Israeli apartheid-free zone’
06 June 2018: The UK Court of Appeal overturns a High Court ruling which found the UK government acted improperly by curtailing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel’s violations of international law
05 June 2018: Argentina cancels its up coming ‘friendly’ match against Israel in occupied Jerusalem following international pressure

Argentina cancels football match with Israel – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

03 June 2018: The Arab League and a number of international organisations including BDS urge Argentina not to play a pre-World Cup game against Israel in Jerusalem
29 May 2018: Grammy award winning singer Shakira will no longer be holding a concert in Tel Aviv
23 May 2018: University of Cambridge student societies demand authorities cut ties with Caterpillar Inc. and BAE Systems, claiming that the partnership makes the university ‘complicit in war crimes’
22 May 2018: Brazilian music legend Gilberto Gil cancels a performance in Tel Aviv originally scheduled for 4 July in protest against Israel’s attack on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

21 May 2018: Turkey says it may ban the entry of products from illegal settlements as part of OIC action against Israel’s massacre in Gaza on 14 May 2018

21 May 2018: Portuguese director and playwright Tiago Rodrigues pulls out of the Israel Festival taking place next month because ‘it is the only guarantee that my artistic work will not be used to condone and promote a government that deliberately violates human rights and is currently violently attacking the Palestinian people’
18 May 2018: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) repeats a call for countries to ban ‘products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets’, referring to goods produced in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Golan Heights
17 May 2018: An Israeli court rejects a request by Human Rights Watch (HRW) for its country Director Omar Shakir to remain in Israel until an appeal against his expulsion is heard
17 May 2018: Irish TV host Mike Murphy and former Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan call ‘for Ireland to boycott next year’s song contest in Israel’
17 May 2018: BDS supporters claim a major victory following the news that an engineering company reported a loss of over $4 million on the back of a campaign exposing its alleged links with Israel Aerospace Industries
17 May 2018: The UK government appeals an earlier court decision which found that the government cannot restrict Local Government Pension Schemes from boycotting foreign nations and UK defence companies
15 May 2018: Tunisian General Labour Union, the country’s largest union, joins BDS
08 May 2018: American rapper Azealia Banks vows she will never visit Israel again after experiencing racism while in the country for her Tel Aviv show. She had previously resisted called to cancel her concert in support of BDS
09 May 2018: Actors, filmmakers, artists and journalists urge UK cinemas to ‘ uphold basic ethical standards’ by boycotting an Israeli government-sponsored film festival because the regime ‘is guilty of systematic and large-scale human rights violations’
07 May 2018: Israeli authorities revoke the work permit of Human Rights Watch (HRW) official Omar Shakir and order him to leave the country within 14 days, citing his alleged support for BDS

Human Rights Watch (HRW) official Omar Shakir [Twitter]

05 May 2015: African-American singer Lauryn Hill cancels her concert in Israel after coming under pressure from social media activists

30 April 2018: 4 members of an US human rights delegation to Israel and Palestine arrive back in America following their deportation from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv after being accused of ‘promoting BDS in Palestine’
22 April 2018: MK Yousef Jabareen files a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court appealing a decision by the Knesset Ethics Committee to ban him from conducting a US speaking tour sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
19 April 2018: The chairman of BDS South Africa’s board will receive the Order of Luthuli (Silver) award from President Cyril Ramaphosa for “his brilliant contribution to academic research and to the fight against race, gender, class and religious oppression”.
18 April 2018: Students at Barnard College, a prestigious liberal arts institution based in New York, vote in favour of divestment from companies complicit in Israeli occupation
16 April 2018: Patrice Leclerc, mayor of the French suburb of Gennevilliers, is detained for several hours on the crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, before being denied entry due to his support for BDS
13 April 2018: Some 40 academics at the University of Sydney declare their support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
09 April 2018: 50 New York University student groups pledge to back BDS
10 April 2018: Ghanaian Member of Parliament, Ras Mubarak, is returned to Jordan after being refused entry to the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) by Israel

10 April 2018: Dublin Lord Mayor Micheál MacDonncha arrives in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah in spite of a ban on entry by Israeli occupation forces after a “typo”

09 April 2018: Dublin City Councillors vote to back the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and urge the Irish government to expel Israel’s ambassador over the recent killings of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip
05 April 2018: The US city of Durham rejects ‘military-style training’ by the Israeli police following a local campaign by a wide coalition of human rights activist

29 March 2018: The BDS movement calls for a boycott of the Netflix series ‘Fauda‘ which it describes as ‘racist propaganda for the Israeli occupation army’

Fauda, an Israeli thriller show

28 March 2018: Sweden’s ambassador to Israel has rejected claims that the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign is ‘antisemitic’, and said that there is a tendency in Israel to “demonise” his country and its approach to the conflict
25 March 2018: An Israeli government panel for higher education adopts ‘a code of ethics…that moves to bar academics from calling for a boycott of Israel’
21 March 2018: Students at Trinity College Dublin overwhelmingly vote to support the BDS campaign, with the referendum result announced to cheers and chants
14 March 2018: The Knesset Ethics Committee bans Arab parliamentarians Yousef Jabareen and Haneen Zoabi from traveling abroad on a trip paid for by groups supportive of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement
13 March 2018: A motion endorsing the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at the University of Ottawa receives a majority of the votes despite losing out to the anti-BDS camp

08 March 2018: Palestinian academic Hatem Bazian says Arizona State University asked him to sign a contract in which he pledges not to criticise Israel at a university event

06 March 2018: The University of Cambridge has apologised to a Palestinian academic who officials removed as chairperson from a November 2017 event on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement

27 February 2018: The Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yuval Rotem, says anti-BDS officials are operating without transparency
20 February 2018: The South African government intends to cut diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of its treatment of Palestinians, the country’s Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor announces

People come together in South Africa to protest against Israeli violations on the Palestinian people [BDSsouthafrica/Twitter]

16 February 2018: Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is ‘set to approve in the coming days new regulations to prevent organisations and individuals who support a boycott of Israel from receiving various tax breaks or from participating in government bids’
12 February 2018: Seven women’s organisations which represent ten million people in India call for joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and for the release of Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi and other minors held in Israeli jails
12 February 2018: In response to Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel the PLO announces it is organising a conference to spread the idea of boycotting US goods and companies

12 February 2018: Over 1,000 mental health workers and professionals have signed a petition protesting the decision of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) to hold its 2019 international conference in Tel Aviv
08 February 2018: Lawmakers in Florida call for New Zealand singer Lorde’s upcoming concert to be cancelled in protest of her support of the BDS campaign
06 February 2018: University of Manchester’s shop removes Sabra Hummus from its shelves after a petition by student BDS groups on campus as a result of the company’s support for elite Israeli occupation forces are implicit in crimes against Palestinians
5 February 2018: BDS committees call for an Arab boycott of the new film “The Reports of Sarah and Saleem” which is being released this year and is the work of Palestinian director Muayad Alayan, as it encourages normalising relations with the occupation
05 February 2018: Israel holds an international legal conference against BDS, it as been described by organisers as ‘ another step in fulfilling our policy of going on the offensive’
05 February 2018: Calls for Palestinian markets to boycott Israeli goods as the Palestinian Union of Consumer Protection reveals that 90% of goods being sold in the occupied West Bank which are not suitable for consumption are made in Israel
31 January 2018: The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
31 January 2018: An US district judge temporarily suspends a law that criminalises the boycott of Israel in the State of Kansas
31 January 2018: To date the UN has identified 206 companies which operate in illegal settlements located in the occupied West Bank
31 January 2017: An Israeli legal rights group is to sue two New Zealanders for their part in encouraging singer Lorde to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv last month
15 January 2018: Chairman of the Knesset House Committee Yoav Kish proposes a bill that prevents BDS movements from financing trips made by Members of the Knesset abroad
15 January 2018: The Israeli government is looking to ‘apply Israeli law to institutions of higher learning in the West Bank’, with a draft bill that has already passed its preliminary vote in the Knesset
10 January 2018: Mental health workers have described as ‘disconcerting’ the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy’s refusal to consider calls to move its next conference away from Israel, saying the body is ‘stack[ing] the deck in favour of the official Israeli view at every level’
10 January 2018: The France-Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS) and BDS-France denounce the Israeli government’s decision to include them on a list of 21 foreign NGOs whose members are banned from entry into Israel
07 January 2018: Pro-Israel organisation NGO Monitor claims UNICEF is working with BDS activists to blacklist the Israeli army and list it as a body which violates children’s rights in an effort to discredit a UN report due to be published soonAttachments area

07 January 2018: US-funded projects in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) are facing a grassroots backlash following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
07 January 2017: Israel publishes a “blacklist” of 22 NGOs from Europe, the United States, South America and Africa whose activists are barred from entry
28 December 2017: The Israeli government establishes a specific ‘public relations commando unit’ which would launch campaigns against pro-Palestinian projects such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign
27 December 2017: Mental health experts have called on the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy’s to reconsider its decision to hold its 2019 international meeting in Israel because of the latter’s aggression towards Palestinians
27 December 2017: Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand Itzhak Gerberg calls on singer Lorde to meet him to discuss her ‘regrettable’ decision to cancel her gig in Tel Aviv in support of BDS
24 December 2017: New Zealand singer Lorde cancels show in Israel after open letter from fans who called on her to join the boycott as ‘an effective way of speaking out against these [Israeli] crimes’
22 December 2017: Pop star Lorde considers cancelling her planned concert in Israel in response to calls for her to respect the Palestinian call for boycott

Pop star Lorde performing at Coachella in 2014 [Thomas Hawk/Flickr]

20 December 2017: The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, resolves to downgrade the South African embassy in Israel to a liaison office
13 December 2017: South Africa’s Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) officially endorses the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel, and imposes a ban on ties with Israel and Israeli institutions
07 December 2017: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) files a federal lawsuit on behalf of attorney Mikkel Jordahl ‘challenging an Arizona law prohibiting state contractors from supporting boycotts against Israel, saying it violates his right to free expression’

4 December 2017: More than 400 Israelis, including former attorney general Michael Ben-Yair, former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Alon Liel, former Israeli ambassador to South Africa Ilan Baruch, have signed a petition urging the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to publish a list of companies involved with West Bank settlements
29 November 2017: A new draft bill sponsored by members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition calls for activists who promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) campaign to face criminal charges and jail time
22 November 2017: More than 120 human rights organisations, unions, ethical tourism associations, sports and faith-based groups from over 20 countries urge premier cycling event Giro d’Italia to move its 2018 “Big Start” from Israel over the latter’s violations of international law and Palestinians’ human rights

A photo of a flyer urging the famed cycling race Giro d’Italia to relocate the start of its 2018 race from Israel

22 November 2017: New Israeli legislation that “would allow anyone harmed by calls to boycott Israel to sue without proof of damages” passes its preliminary reading in the Knesset
07 November 2017: US faith groups have published a statement asserting that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is protected by the First Amendment.
5 November 2017: Ron Brummer, executive director for operations of the Israeli Ministry for Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, says that activists in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign are doing a “great job”, but warned that there “will be a price tag” for their actions
5 November 2017: A new measure targeting the BDS campaign, a bill which, if ultimately passed into law, will make it easier to sue ‘people encouraging boycotts of Israel or the settlements’ by removing the need for ‘proof of damages’, receives the backing of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation
02 November 2017: Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan seeks to advance a ‘Boycott Bill’ that would ‘render a body or person working to encourage the boycott of Israel eligible to be sued for 100,000 shekels [$28,500] without proof of damages – or 500,000 shekels [$142,500] with proof of damages’

Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan [Avi1111/Wikipedia]

01 November 2017: US President Donald Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, Kenneth Marcus, equates ‘the movement to boycott Israel with anti-Semitism’
30 October 2017: Israeli authorities deny entry to a senior official at Amnesty International USA, citing ‘public security’ considerations after questioning Palestinian Raed Jarrar about Amnesty’s calls for a boycott of Israel
28 October 2017: Wisconsin becomes the latest US state that prohibits ‘any entity in state government or local government from adopting a rule, ordinance, policy, or procedure that involves the entity in a boycott of Israel
27 October 2017: FIFA announces that it will “refrain from imposing any sanctions or other measures on either the Israel FA or the Palestinian FA” in an effort to remain ‘neutral’ this comes as calls for the sports body to take action against 6 Israeli teams which contravene FIFA rules by operating in occupied Palestinian territory without permission
24 October 2017: Israel has secretly been using a US law firm Sidley Austin in order to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Europe, North America, and elsewhere
20 October 2017: Texas refuses aid to supporters of BDS following the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey

Homes in ruin due to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, US [Climate Central‏/Twitter]

11 October 2017: Danish pension fund Sampension, excluded four companies for their ties to Israeli settlements in, and the extraction of natural resources from, the occupied Palestinian territory

2 October 2017: A major Danish pension fund excludes four companies for their ties to Israeli settlements in, and the extraction of natural resources from, the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
27 September 2017: The UN sends letters to 150 companies, informing them of their potential inclusion in a database of companies doing business in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory

26 September 2017: Renowned Israeli doctor and human rights activist Ruchama Marton, says BDS is ‘the only nonviolent lever that can cause Jewish-Israeli society to feel the yoke and pain of the occupation’
22 September 2017: Famed cycling race Giro d’Italia has been urged to “steer clear of apartheid” by relocating the start of its 2018 race from Israel. Israel will be the first non-European country to host the start of a Grand Tour.
17 September 2017: The Jerusalem Post reports that Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa says he is tired of the Arab world’s boycott of Israel
12 September 2017: Israeli reports that the government is to take punitive measures against the country’s branch of Amnesty International as a result of its call for BDS in a new campaign

8 September 2017: British police arrested a pro-Palestinian human rights activist during protests against one of the largest arms expos being held in the London. British Palestinian, Huda Ammori, was highlighting the ongoing persecution of Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces who are selling arms used to kill and maim civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank as ‘battled tested weapons’

Image of a BDS rally in Washington, US [Elvert Barnes/Flickr]

29 August 2017: Manchester University has been accused of breaching the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to share details concerning its relation with Israeli institutions
29 August 2017: Israeli Diaspora Minister Naftali Bennett says the sight of Nazi flags at a rally in Charlottesville, US, as well as white supremacist slogans ‘Jews will not replace us’, were not as significant a form of anti-Semitism as the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign
23 August 2017: Switzerland suspends funding of a Palestinian NGO which supports the BDS movement, claiming it has links to “terrorism”
30 July 2017: The head of Mexico’s Social Encounter Party, Hugo Cervantes, condemns BDS and says of the occupied West Bank: ‘There is no territory that is more Israeli than here’

28 July 2017: Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon working to introduce a set of measures to revoke tax benefits from Amnesty International’s supporters, in accordance with the Boycott Law.
26 July 2017: Calls for escalating G4S boycott over its involvement in Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque
24 July 2017: Jewish Rabbi Alissa Wise is banned from entering Israel due to her work in support of Palestinian human rights and the BDS movement.
21 July 2017: The Texas Senate passed a bill to outlaw BDS efforts against Israel. No senators spoke in opposition to the bill.
17 July 2017: Israel advances law which will make its efforts to combat BDS exempt from the Freedom of Information Act thus making them a secret, as bodies working on the campaign “do not want to expose their connection with the state”.

11 July 2017: South Africa’s Council of African Independent Churches (CAIC) pledges its support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The organisation called Israel’s activities ‘appalling’ adding that it had ‘mastered’ apartheid.
7 July 2017: The Mennonite Church USA votes overwhelmingly in support of a resolution to ‘withdrawing investments from companies that are profiting from the occupation.’
7 June 2017: Amnesty International launched a new campaign calling for a ban on settlement-made products, urging the international community to ‘put an end to the multimillion dollar profits that have fuelled mass human rights violations against Palestinians’

June 2017: Egged Bus Systems loses a tender worth €190 million ($216 million) to the public transport department in northern Holland after a BDS campaign against it because of its involvement in the Israeli apartheid regime.
1 July 2017: Spain officially recognises activists’ right to “promote the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns”.
22 June 2017: UK government loses bid to ban BDS
16 June 2017: Move to criminalise BDS blocked by Swiss parliament
12 May 2017: The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), representing close to one million workers, endorsed a full boycott
3 May 2017: Israel refuses to extend the visa of Dutch journalist Derk Walters forcing him to leave the country by July. Walters has been critical of the occupation and of Israel’s anti-BDS laws
28 April 2017: Leaked documents name Head of Israel’s anti-BDS efforts as Shai Har-Zvi, according to the Electronic Intifada.
19 April 2017: Spain’s Barcelona’s City Council passed an official declaration in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
31 March 2017: Nearly 1,500 attend first anti-BDS summit held by Israel in the UN
29 March 2017: Israel holds second anti-BDS summit at UN headquarters in New York
20 March 2017: Co-founder of the BDS movement Omar Barghouti is arrested by Israel for alleged tax evasions. Activists believe this to be a new way in which Israel is attacking rights campaigners.

14 March 2016: South African human rights activist, Mpho Masemola, is held for nine hours at the King Hussein Bridge between Jordan and Israel before he is sent back to Amman. He was on his way to speak at a conference on Palestinian prisoners.
12 March 2017: Former chairman of BDS Hugh Lanning denied entry into Israel

10 March 2017: Arcotel Kaisserwasser cancels a talk by lawyer and consultant for the human rights group Al-Haq Salma Karmi-Ayyoub after allegations of anti-Semitism
8 March 2017: Israeli activist and author Jeff Harper detained by Israeli police in the illegal Ma’aleh Adumim settlement for suspected incitement. Police said they acted on a complaint he had ‘materials related to BDS’ in his possession

8 March 2017: Swiss parliament passes a law to prevent the state financing any organisation which supports racism, anti-Semitism or BDS
7 March 2017: Israel’s parliament approved new law banning anyone found to support the BDS movement

4 March 2017: WUK, a cultural institution in Vienna, barred BDS Austria from holding an event during Israel Apartheid Week

3 March 2017: Senior officer in Britain’s National Union of Students (NUS) censured for his role in the scandal to oust NUS President Malia Bouattia

Image of NUS President Malia Bouattia [Friends of Al Aqsa/Facebook]

24 February 2017: Israel denies a work permit for Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, on the grounds that the organisation engaged in ‘politics in the service of Palestinian propaganda’
24 January 2017: French BDS activist appeared in court in Metz because an Israeli pharmaceutical company TEVA blames BDS for encouraging French pharmacists not to sell their medicine
12 January 2017: Israeli parliamentary committee advances a draft new law that allows the Interior Minister to ban anyone who supports BDS
10 January 2017: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signs bills HB-5821 and 5822 to ensure that Michigan state agencies don’t enter into contracts with people unless the contract says they are not involved in a boycott with a ‘strategic partner’
19 December 2016: Ohio Governor John Kasich signed bill HB-476 to ban agents from entering into or renewing contracts with companies that don’t contractually declare they are not boycotting or disinvesting from Israel
12 December 2016: UK government announces it will formally adopt a definition of what constitutes anti-Semitism, which will include criticism of Israel.
1 December 2016: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed a resolution that ‘calls on the legislature to stand against any movement that promotes hate, prejudice and racism’ and reject the differential treatment of Israel by the BDS movement
4 November 2016: Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania signed HB2107 prohibiting the government of Pennsylvania from contracting with any entity that engages in BDS activity
16 October 2016: Cross-party committee of the UK House of Commons writes an open letter to President of the NUS Malia Bouattia to issue a full and formal apology to Jewish students accusing her of racism, anti-Semitism and of referring to Birmingham University as a ‘Zionist outpost’
16 August 2016: New Jersey Governor Christ Christie signs law S-1923 requiring state public worker pension funds to divest from companies that boycott Israel
11 July 2016: Israel passes the controversial ‘NGO transparency law’ which critics have said is a blow to groups who target human rights groups critical of Israeli government policy

Protestors outside John Lewis, protesting against the sales of ‘Soda Stream’ a product from an Illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank

5 June 2016: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issues executive order requiring state agencies to divest from organisations and companies that participate in Israeli boycotts stating: ‘If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you’
10 May 2016: Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signs bill SB81 preventing Alabama government entities from contracting with companies engaged in Israeli boycotts
27 April 2016: Iowa State Senate approves SF-2281 making it illegal for a public entity in Iowa to invest or enter into a contract worth over $1,000 with a company that boycotts Israel
26 April 2016: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed bill SB-327 which prohibits the state from entering into contracts or agreements with companies involved in BDS
18 March 2016: Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed law HB-2617 which prohibits state investment in companies that participate in BDS
10 March 2016: Both Virginia House of Delegates passed identical resolutions condemning BDS as ‘inherently antiethical’ and damaging for peace, equality and human rights
10 March 2016: Florida House of Representatives passes HB-527 to create a list of companies that engage in boycotts of Israel and instructing government entities to divest from them
10 March 2016: Florida’s Governor Rick Scott signed SB-86 calling for the repeal of US customs and border protection’s requirements that West Bank products are not marked ‘Made in Israel’
1 March 2016: Indiana State Senate approves bill HB-1378 requiring mandatory state divestment from any company that participates in BDS
26 February 2016: Colorado House of Representatives passes law HB-16-284 to add all companies that participate in BDS to a list of restricted companies, sends notices to them to stop supporting BDS within 180 days and if they don’t, to divest from that company
24 February 2016: The Iowa House of Representatives votes to block the state from investing in companies that support BDS
16 February 2016: Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signs law SJR-6 states the BDS movement in Alabama is ‘harmful to the state’s relationships with Alabama’s Jewish citizens’, and unequivocally denounces and rejects BDS
20 January 2016: New York State Senate approves bill prohibiting the state and state entities from doing business with companies that support the BDS movement

2011-2015

30 December 2015: California-Israel Commerce Protection Act passes; it requires the State of California and all public entities to divest from companies that participate in boycotts against Israel
9 December 2015: Four activists who support BDS tried in a court in Toulouse, France, under a month-old precedent that rendered the movement illegal
20 October 2015: France’s court of appeals confirms rulings that people promoting a boycott against Israel are guilty of inciting hate or discrimination

File photo from the UK, where the supermarket giant, Tesco, is seen specifying Israeli settlements as a source for a pack of dates

3 October 2015: The UK Conservative party press release announces government’s intention to introduce ‘new rules to stop politically-motivated boycott and divestment campaigns by town halls against UK defence companies and against Israel’
23 June 2015: Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner becomes the first state leader to sign the first anti-BDS legislation, considered the first state-based concrete action against BDS. It targets taxpayer funded public pension funds that invest in companies that have adopted a BDS stance towards Israel
22 June 2015: New York State Assembly passes resolution denouncing BDS
4 June 2015: South Carolina’s state legislature passes legislation banning the state from entering into contracts with companies that participate in certain kinds of boycotts
22 April 2015: The Tennessee General Assembly pass a resolution condemning BDS
18 July 2014: French authorities ban pro-Palestinian groups from holding a rally in Paris planned for that coming Saturday against the war in Gaza
14 April 2012: 200 activists on a silent protest on bicycle, foot and bus, were stopped by Israeli forces near Highway 90 and asked not to continue for their own safety. Four activists sustained face and back injuries
11 July 2011: Israeli Knesset passes a law to make it a civil offence to call publicly for a boycott of the State of Israel. A 2015 ruling on the law upheld most provisions

2006-2010

31 May 2010: American journalist Emily Henochowicz lost her left eye after being struck by a tear gas canister whilst protesting near Qalandiya checkpoint
16 May 2010: Noam Chomsky denied entry into Israel on his way to lecture at Palestinian university Bir Zeit. Interrogators told the professor he had written things the Israeli government did not like
24 April 2010: Maltese activist Bianca Zammit shot in the thigh by Israeli forces during a demonstration in Gaza
3 April 2010: Israel bans Apple’s iPad on the grounds it is too powerful. The ban is later lifted
December 2009: Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened the third conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, which focused efforts on fighting BDS and Palestinian activism
26 September 2009: French activists accused of taking part in a demonstration at a Carrefour shop in Illzach, near Mulhouse, calling for a boycott of Israel
13 March 2009: American demonstrator Tristan Anderson critically wounded after being shot by Israeli forces with a tear gas canister near Nil’in. In hospital he underwent brain surgery and had to have a portion of his front lobe and fragments of shattered bones removed
14 December 2008: Then UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk is denied entry to Israel

24 October 2008: Yusuf Islam uninvited to a peace conference in Tel Aviv

Yusuf Islam

23 May 2008: Norman Finkelstein barred from entering Israel
May 2008: Former US President Jimmy Carter’s request to visit Hamas in the Gaza Strip is denied
December 2007: The Cour de Cassation in France officially ruled that boycotting Israeli companies in France is illegal and criminal

1990-2005

11 August 2005: Israeli ex-solider who killed Tom Hurndall jailed for eight years
13 January 2004: Tom Hurndall dies
1 December 2003: Stefan Christoff, member of ISM and media activist, barred from entering Israel after being deemed a ‘security threat’
5 April 2003: Israeli forces shoot ISM volunteer Brian Avery in the face, seriously disfiguring him
5 April 2003: British photography student and volunteer for ISM Tom Hurndall is shot in the head by an Israeli sniper and left clinically brain dead
16 March 2003: Rachel Corrie crushed under a bulldozer in Rafah during the Second Intifada

2003: French Lellouche law introduced which is later used to convict BDS activists. A person calling for a boycott in France can be fined up to €45,000 ($47,850) and jailed for up to a year
22 November 2002: Irish ISM volunteer shot and injured by Israeli forces in Jenin
22 November 2002: UNRWA relief project manager Iain Hook shot and killed at a protest in Jenin
2 April 2002: Australian International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Kate Edwards sustained internal injuries from rounds fired by Israeli forces at a protest in Beit Jala. Edwards later succumbed to her injuries
30 December 2001: Israeli forces prevented 300 international peace activists from entering Hebron
13 January 2000: Yusuf Islam deported from Israel for allegedly backing a militant Islamic group
1990: Yusuf Islam turned away from Israel along with his eight-year-old son