The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, calls to boycott the AgriΒusiness Forum 2026 over its ties with the genocidal Israeli government and Israeli entities complicit in Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians.
This is especially urgent in light of the criminal war of aggression by Israel and the US against the people of Iran.
The Forum, set to take place in Athens, March 18-19, includes among its Scientific Partners the Israel-based Israel–Greece Chamber of Commerce, which partners with and includes representatives from ministries of the fascist Israeli government.
The Forum’s program features multiple speakers representing complicit Israeli entities and the Israeli government itself. These include, Noam Katz, Israeli ambassador, an official representative of the Israeli government that is currently committing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza; Cobi Bitton, CEO of the above mentioned Israel-Greece Chamber of Commerce; Dan G. Blumberg, Vice President of Ben Gurion University, which hosts the Homeland Security Institute whose partnerships include Israel’s top weapons companies and the Israeli Ministry of Defense; and Oded Sagee, Chief scientist and CTO of Gaon Agro Industries Ltd, a subsidiary of B. Gaon Holdings, which has carried out numerous water infrastructure projects on occupied Palestinian land, exploiting Palestinian natural resources for the supply of water to illegal Israeli settlements, and has agricultural subsidiaries operating in the occupied Palestinian Jordan Valley. Blumberg is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Forum and Sagee is included as a Field Expert.
In addition to killing tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, according to a UN report Israel’s ongoing genocide has destroyed or damaged 87% of Palestinian cropland. That figure rises to 94% in North Gaza. Israel has destroyed 80% of greenhouses, 87% of agricultural wells, and more than 4,400 agricultural sites, including barns, farms, warehouses, in Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza who have managed to survive Israel’s bombs face “acute food insecurity.”
An agricultural forum that intends to sincerely address such topics as “food security” in an era of “geopolitical tensions” cannot begin to do so while partnering with and platforming representatives of the same entities that are currently orchestrating a famine in Gaza that is literally starving Palestinians to death. Israel is denying entry of aid and continues to destroy Palestinian agriculture. It has been implementing colonial apartheid projects robbing Palestinians of their land and natural resources for decades.
We urge the Forum organizers to take immediate measures to ensure it is free of any ties with entities that are working in direct contrast to the aims of the Forum. Continuing business-as-usual with a genocidal state like Israel is a direct contribution not only to its crimes against Palestinians but also to the might-makes-right order to which the US and Israel are leading humanity.
Should the Forum fail to cut its ties with genocidal Israel, we call on all speakers to withdraw, on sponsors to formally end their support, and on participants to boycott the event.