Despite apartheid Israel’s increased brutality, there is also light on the horizon.
As the call grows louder, let’s take a look back at 13 major BDS impacts this year alone which propelled us closer to our South Africa moment:
1. Namibia and South Africa, where apartheid was defeated in the past, as well as Malaysia, have raised attention in the UN system about Israel’s 21st-century apartheid.
2. British Labour Party conference voted overwhelmingly in favor of condemning Israeli apartheid and calling for sanctions against it.
3. The City University of New York (CUNY) staff congress, representing 30,000 members, condemned Israel as a settler-colonial and apartheid state.
4. Centre International De Solidarité Ouvrière (CISO), a major coalition of 60+ Quebec labour unions and civil society groups, unanimously endorsed BDS and urged the 5. Canadian government to designate Israel as an apartheid state.
5. Growing support among churches against Israeli apartheid around the world, the Episcopal Church of Vermont condemned by an 89-25 majority Israel’s U.S.-backed oppression of the Palestinians and its apartheid policies, and the Church of Sweden called on ecumenical organizations to investigate Israel as an apartheid state.
6. The University of Brasilia and the University of Costa Rica passed historic resolutions declaring they will have no ties with companies complicit in Israel’s regime of military occupation, colonialism, and apartheid.
7. Norway’s Norges Bank, which manages the world’s largest pension fund, excluded three companies involved in Israel’s colonial system and apartheid: Elco Ltd, Ashtrom Group Ltd and Electra Ltd. BDS partners in Norway, in particular the trade unions, led a campaign of pressure for divestment.
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8. Following the call to Boycott Dubai Expo, artists and poets withdrew from World Poetry Tree event in the Expo, refusing to have their literary production exploited to whitewash the UAE dictatorship and Israeli apartheid.
9. Responding to the call from Palestinian civil society and the BDS movement, best-selling Irish author, Sally Rooney, declined to have her latest novel translated by an Israeli publisher. She wrote: “Israel’s system of racial domination and segregation against Palestinians meets the definition of apartheid under international law.”
10. Thousands of artists and cultural figures – including Hollywood stars, leading musicians, visionary contemporary artists, acclaimed authors and many more – condemned Israel’s apartheid regime and endorsed disengagement from Israel’s complicit cultural sector. Over 200 Arab intellectuals and artists called out the Institut du monde Arabe in Paris over its tendency to normalize apartheid.
11. New Zealand’s Superannuation fund divested from 5 Israeli banks for funding the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
12. Kuwait tightened sanctions on Israel in solidarity with Palestinian rights, by issuing an order banning the entry of commercial ships carrying goods to and from Israel.
13. A Pan-African solidarity network has been formed, affirming that apartheid Israel has no place in Africa.
Your support got us to this point. Help us to step up the pressure.
These indicators of BDS impact are just a snapshot of where our movement stands today. Global support for our movement is at an all time high, and that is thanks to supporters like you! Our goal of freedom, justice and equality is closer than ever!
* This article was first published in BDS Movement.