The writing on the wall: Why Apartheid Israel is on the threshold of defeat

They were both born in 1948 from the womb of European colonialism. Like conjoined twins, apartheid South Africa and Zionist Israel thrived on Western patronage and structures of racism. Three decades after the 1994 demise of South Africa’s apartheid regime, Zionist Israel is hurtling toward a similar inglorious end.

While the immediate catalyst for this dramatic turn of events has been the genocide in Gaza, a key turning point in this process was set in motion in July 2005 when the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched.

In the beginning, critics and naysayers claimed that it was wishful thinking to repeat what was accomplished in South Africa. They spared no effort to emphasize the specific differences between the two struggles instead of highlighting their commonalities.

Looking back at the South African experience, the end of the 1980s marked a defining period in their history. International outrage over the atrocities committed by the apartheid regime had reached a crescendo, to the degree that the political classes in Britain and the United States could no longer support the regime without jeopardizing their political and economic interests.

Their initial light ‘sanctions’ seemed sufficient to save face but not far-reaching enough to harm the investments of their multinational corporations. It was against this background of hesitancy that the global anti-apartheid movement intensified its boycott and sanctions campaign, which eventually forced the Western political and business elite to capitulate.

Today, a similar scenario is taking shape. Governments across Europe imposed sanctions against the Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank. While these measures are welcome steps in the right direction, they are clearly not enough because they do not target the institutions and structures that support the settler movement. And this is precisely why the cultural and sporting boycott against apartheid Israel has gathered momentum after the genocide.

In entertainment, the decision by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran to drop the American rapper Macklemore from his US tour after he made pro-Palestine statements has turned the latter into a cause celebre overnight. Irish musician Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham, US artist Finneas and Irish group Beoga all pulled out of the tour after Macklemore’s removal.

When Macklemore announced his “Free Palestine” tour with three concerts in Paris, Dublin and London, tickets sold out immediately. He has announced that all the proceeds will be going to organizations supporting Palestinians.

From the world of sport, seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton weighed in with his own support for Macklemore after he was removed from the US leg of Sheeran’s tour.

Hamilton commented on Macklemore’s Instagram post, writing: “Thank you for using your voice, standing with you.”

Tellingly, Macklemore explained that he does not view himself as a victim, and that the focus should instead remain on the human toll of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Still in sport, in early October 2026 fans from the Israeli football club Hapoel Be’er Sheva were banned by the Dutch authorities from attending their Europa League match against AZ Alkmaar. This move by the Dutch came exactly one year after Birmingham City Council in the UK banned supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv FC from attending a match in the city. Although the actions taken in both instances were based on public safety concerns and not boycott per se, they do, nonetheless, underscore the growing unwillingness in Europe to tolerate racist, anti-social and thuggish behavior by Israeli football fans in their cities.

Altogether, the list of influential individuals supporting the boycott of apartheid Israel comes from a wide cross-section of society; they include musicians, artists, sports people, scientists and authors. Sally Rooney, the award-winning Irish novelist, features prominently among them. In 2021, she famously refused to sell the translation rights for her best-selling novel, ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’, to an Israeli-based publishing house.

More recently, Rooney has emerged as a strong and outspoken supporter of the proscribed British activist group, Palestine Action. After it was banned, Rooney pledged to direct the earnings from her books to Palestine Action.

Three years into the Gaza genocide, a fundamental and decisive change has taken place in world public opinion. Neither the savvy media soundbites, character assassinations, nor contrived guilt narratives are enough to push back the tide of change. When a mainstream European political party like the Green Party in England decides to ditch the farcical two-state solution, declares Zionism a form of racism, and demands a single democratic state in historical Palestine, the writing on the wall could not be clearer. That the demise of Israeli apartheid is much nearer than was expected when the BDS movement was launched in 2005.

This article was first published at Thinking Palestine.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.