Economic Boycott

Business as usual economic relations with Israel gives it a green light for further violations of international law. They also provide the government with tax revenue it uses to maintain its oppression of Palestinians.

The Israeli economy is especially dependent on international trade and investment, making it especially susceptible to international economic boycotts.

The BDS movement calls for a boycott of all Israeli products as a way of building economic pressure on Israel. To maximise our impact, we focus our efforts on a small number of companies and products that are closely linked to Israeli violations of international law. Check out our What to boycott page for more information.

Many Israeli companies play a direct role in Israel’s violations of international law, meaning that any business relationship with them is a form of direct support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

For example, Israeli fresh produce exporters such as Mehadrin and Hadiklaim take part in the theft of Palestinian land. Therefore, any purchases of their products helps fund Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians. As well as asking consumers not to buy these products, we successfully campaign for retailers to stop selling them.

International corporations play a key role in enabling Israel’s regime of apartheid and settler colonialism. They provide the equipment, services and infrastructure that helps Israel to oppress Palestinians.

For example:

G4S - provides security services and equipment to the Israeli government and military, including to prisons where Palestinian political prisoners are held and subjected to torture.

Hewlett Packard - provides the systems that run the ID card system that Israel uses to restrict Palestinian movement.

Caterpillar - provides armoured bulldozers and other equipment used to demolish Palestinian homes. BDS campaigning against international companies can have a real impact. Major European companies Veolia, Orange and CRH have all exited the Israeli market after high profile campaigns over their participation in Israel’s crimes.

Divestment is the opposite of investment and means ending investment in a particular company. Divestment from Israeli companies by private banks and bodies such as public pension funds and churches puts economic pressure on Israel to comply with international law.

Divestment from international companies pushes them to end their complicity. European banks and pension funds divesting from Veolia played a major role in persuading the company to exit the Israeli market and ending its role in infrastructure projects that served illegal settlements.

A number of major European banks and investors have recently started to divest from Israeli banks because of the vital role they play in financing illegal Israeli settlements and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.