The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement seeks to put economic pressure on Israel by imploring individual companies and organizations to cut all economic ties with Israel and any organizations that support it. This can take a number of forms, from refusing to sell products in Israel to refusing to engage on any level with Jewish organizations that are not explicitly anti-Zionist. While BDS is a diverse movement with a variety of viewpoints, many supporters of BDS have the end goal of dismantling Israel as a nation and creating a single Palestinian state. When asked whether or not Jews should have their own state, BDS spokesman Omar Barghouti replied “not in Palestine.” Barghouti has also repeatedly objected to a two-state solution and cast doubt on Jewish indigeneity to Israel.
This sets BDS apart from the sanctions and divestment that brought about the end of apartheid in South Africa as those actions were focused on dismantling specific systems and policies as opposed to the entire nation of South Africa.
A large part of the BDS movement is “anti-normalization.” In Israel and Palestine, anti-normalization encourages Palestinians to not engage with any Israeli citizen or organization in any capacity. Outside of Israel, anti-normalization urges pro-BDS organizations to cut any formal or informal ties with organizations that normalize Israel. Seeing as a majority of Jews and Jewish organizations identify as Zionist, anti-normalization can wholly cut Jews out of discussions surrounding Israel.
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