boycott

Protesting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, New York, February 3, 2019. (Gili Getz)

From courts to campuses, US Palestine advocates are reclaiming their free speech

Despite 'all-out assault' on Palestine advocacy, legal victories and grassroots organizing are creating new opportunities for activism under Biden, says Palestine Legal attorney Meera Shah.

By Amjad Iraqi March 11, 2021

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch (Courtesy of Omar Shakir).

Human Rights Watch sues Israel in first challenge to anti-boycott travel ban

This is the first application of the 2017 amendment to Israel’s entry law in which a foreign national already living and working in Israel has had their work permit revoked for alleged support for BDS. Human Rights Watch and its Israel and Palestine director, U.S. citizen Omar Shakir, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Israeli government following the Interior Ministry’s decision…

By Mairav Zonszein May 16, 2018

An El Al plane is seen through a barbed wire fence at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Israel denies entry to four American civil rights leaders

The delegation is in Israel and the West Bank to learn about the human rights situation on the ground. Three of the four deported already received their visas, but were taken back in. Four members of an American human rights delegation to Israel and the West Bank, were detained at Ben Gurion Airport, denied entry, and…

By Mairav Zonszein May 3, 2018

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Haifa International Film Festival organizers speak during a press conference at the festival launch event at Khashba Theater, Haifa, March 22, 2018. (Hamody Gannam)

Palestinian film festival seeks to challenge Israel’s cultural erasure

For the third straight year, local Palestinian as well as Arab filmmakers from across the world will be able to showcase their work in the Haifa Independent Film Festival. For the next six days, film lovers will flock to the north for the third annual Haifa Independent Film Festival, which will include both Palestinian films, as well as…

By Rami Younis March 23, 2018

Palestine solidarity protesters supporting the BDS movement, 2010. (Photo by Stephanie Law/CC, cropped)

Israel to bar U.S. Jewish group from country over BDS support

As part of Israel’s anti-BDS campaign, officials say members of Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the fastest growing Jewish organizations in the U.S., will not be able to enter Israel. An Israeli government ministry confirmed on Saturday that the American Jewish organization, Jewish Voice for Peace*, is among 20 organizations from around the world that have been placed…

By Mairav Zonszein January 7, 2018

Protesters hold signs calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) during a Washington, D.C., protest against Israel's offensive on Gaza, August 2, 2014. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Why settlement boycotters shouldn’t join the BDS movement

Although the Israeli government’s crackdown on the BDS movement will doubtless boost sympathy for its cause, progressive settlement boycotters should think twice before getting onboard. By Abe Silberstein When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared settlement evacuation to ethnic cleansing last September, it became clear that the Israeli government was redoubling its efforts to improve the reputation…

By +972 Magazine April 4, 2017

J Street U students take part in an anti-BDS summit at the United Nations, March 29, 2017. (Gili Getz)

Can J Street coherently fight both boycott and occupation?

After J Street U students were attacked at an anti-BDS conference this week, the lobby might want to reconsider the effectiveness of seeking common ground with extremists. Things got ugly at an anti-BDS conference at the United Nations this week when participants turned on a group of liberal university students in attendance. The conference, organized by…

By Noa Yachot April 1, 2017

Palestinian women protest against the occupation on International Women’s Day at the Qalandiya military checkpoint separating Jerusalem and Ramallah, March 7, 2015. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

The question isn’t whether feminism has room for Zionism

The question is whether Zionism can make room for a truly inclusive equality. In a recent New York Times op-ed “Does Feminism have Room for Zionists?” Emily Shire, who identifies as a feminist and a Zionist, argues that her belief in “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state” should not be at odds with her feminism. According…

By Mairav Zonszein March 21, 2017

An El Al plane is seen through a barbed wire fence at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Israel’s travel ban strikes Liberal Zionism at its core

Israel’s new anti-BDS law is antagonizing some of the state’s most loyal supporters, rewriting a decades-old relationship. Israel ramped up its fight against the global boycott movement last week, when the Knesset passed its own travel ban: a new law barring entry to any non-citizen or non–permanent resident who has publicly called for or pledged to support a…

By Mairav Zonszein March 14, 2017

Participants in the Open Hillel Conference, Harvard University. (photo: Gili Getz)

Israel passes ‘dissenter ban’ barring entry to boycott advocates

It’s impossible to predict how and against whom the new law will be applied, but the message it sends is clear: if your politics don’t toe the Israeli government line, you won’t be allowed in. Even if your opposition is entirely non-violent. As Donald Trump signed a revised travel ban against nationals of six Muslim countries…

By Mairav Zonszein March 7, 2017

Jewish settlers clean the newly harvested grapes at a winery in the West Bank settlement of Gush Etzion, September 8, 2014. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

I’m Israeli, and I want to be blacklisted for boycotting settlement products

I don’t know what sanctions the Israeli government can impose on me for boycotting products made in the settlements, but I’ll accept them proudly. By Eitan Kalinski Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs, Gilad Erdan, this week recommended to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon that a special committee be set up to put together a blacklist of companies,…

By +972 Magazine December 7, 2016

The visitor’s center at the West Bank archeological site of Shiloh, in the Israeli settlement of Shilo. (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

Because BDS, Israeli archeologists want West Bank work kept secret

An Israeli court rejects a freedom of information request for the names of archeologists digging, under IDF license, in the occupied territories, and where Israel is storing the antiquities they uncover. The reason: so they don’t face academic boycott. The Jerusalem District Court on Monday refused to reveal the names of archeologists performing digs at…

By Haggai Matar November 22, 2016

A redacted document (Illustrative photo by Shutterstock.com)

How Israel is trying to enforce gag orders beyond its borders

At Israel’s request, Twitter is blocking Israelis from viewing certain tweets published overseas. Similar take-down notices have been sent to other international online platforms, the Justice Ministry confirms. Israeli authorities are taking steps to block their own citizens from reading materials published online in other countries, including the United States. The Israeli State Attorney’s Office Cyber Division…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 9, 2016