Introduction
With the first semester of the academic year approaching its end, BDS has shifted into high gear. In November the movement registered successes in several venues, particularly on campuses and in academic organizations. But there are growing indications that the BDS movement feels threatened by the attention being paid to their bullying tactics and by legal strategies designed to maintain the rights of pro-peace opponents. These responses demonstrate again how BDS is rooted in an illiberal worldview that is at home in American academia.
Analysis
November saw a marked upswing in BDS activity in American academic settings.
At UCLA a BDS resolution was approved by the student government. Two previous efforts had failed. But the third attempt was largely unopposed by pro-Israel entities at the university and the broader community, which effectively boycotted the proceedings. The resolution was sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine and was supported by a variety of other organizations. The meeting was initially planned to be closed to the public and the press and was held in spite of the resignation of a board member.
In response to the resolution, the chancellor of UCLA released a statement saying “UCLA and the UCLA Foundation share the Board of Regents conviction that divestment decisions should not hold any one organization or country to a different standard than any other. The Board of Regents does not support divestment in companies that engage in business with Israel and UCLA agrees with that position.”
Also in response to the resolution, at least two UCLA donors had publicly announced that they would no longer contribute to the university unless the resolution was denounced by the administration. One has now applauded the university administration’s decision to condemn the BDS resolution.
In other campus news, a BDS protest at Cornell University featured violent language and borderline assault against Israel supporters. While the local branch of Students for Justice in Palestine had organized the “checkpoint” protest, reports indicate that the individual shouting abuse was a professional protestor, kat yang-stevens of the group “Groundwork for Praxis.” She was filmed screaming “fuck you Zionist scum” only inches from the face of an individual. The professionalization of BDS has long been seen with the growth of Students for Justice in Palestine franchises and the national coordination efforts of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
Meanwhile, a BDS event at the University of Toronto, was disrupted by opponents, which led to loud complaints from organizers to the university administration. This response is especially ironic given its long-term advocacy and history of such tactics.
November also saw extensive BDS activity in academic societies. In early November the American Studies Association meeting held its annual meeting that included considerable BDS related discussion. The organization had been criticized for adopting a BDS resolution at its 2013 meeting and the hotel hosting the 2014 was threatened with an anti-discrimination lawsuit if the ASA followed through on the language of the resolution, which would have restricted the participation of Israeli scholars.
The meeting featured a number of anti-Israel sessions, and the unveiling of a new ASA initiative, claiming that scholars are under “attack.” The initiative claims that a wide range of activities, including criticism of BDS, constitute “threats” to “academic freedom,” including disciplinary actions against faculty and students, budgetary cutbacks, and police violence. As a test of the organization’s BDS policy, a representative from the University of Haifa successfully attended the meeting in an official capacity.
The Middle East Studies Association also held its annual meeting, at which a BDS resolution was adopted. The organization’s director had previously distinguished between a formal BDS motion proposed by the organization itself and a member proposed motion calling for BDS, which in fact materialized. The debate featured primarily BDS supporters and a handful of those opposed, including a few Israeli scholars. It was notable in that an Israeli reporter was removed from the room.
It was widely expected that the resolution would be adopted; the final vote was 265-79. The resolution urged “MESA program chairs to organize discussions at MESA annual meetings, and the MESA Board of Directors to create opportunities over the course of the year that provide platforms for a sustained discussion of the academic boycott and foster careful consideration of an appropriate position for MESA to assume.”
The resolution also condemned “efforts to silence and/or punish” scholars and ‘deplored’ “the measures of intimidation directed at” various other scholarly societies that had passed BDS resolution. These condemnations may reflect the extent to which MESA members and others, who have promoted BDS virtually unopposed, now feel threatened by public exposure and legal challenges, such as that aimed at the American Studies Association.
Criticism directed at Federal funding for Title VI programs of Middle Eastern area studies for their neglect and abuse of Israel, and for program directors’ support of BDS, has also elicited shrill responses from Middle East specialist and MESA and represents a potential threat to their impunity.
The small Peace and Justice Studies Association adopted a BDS resolution. BDS will also figure prominently at the American Anthropological Association meeting in early December but it is presently unclear whether members will directly address a resolution. It will, however, lay the groundwork for such a resolution with at least four panel discussions and a members’ forum with BDS supporters.
In early December, United Auto Workers Local 2865 which represents 13,000 graduate students in the University of California system will vote on a BDS resolution. Opponents have appealed to the main UAW as well as members of the local to oppose the resolution. The UAW’s region 5 leadership has reaffirmed its opposition to the resolution.
It is not coincidental that Islamist organizations like American Muslims for Palestine and its subsidiary Students for Justice in Palestine have their annual conventions in October and November. These related events underpin the BDS movement and emphasize similar themes, including “anti-racism” (and the continuing usurpation of specific issues such as the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri) and organizational techniques (especially media outreach and fundraising).
An emerging emphasis by these and related groups on lawfare against anti-BDS forces is also apparent and may suggest a perception that BDS forces are losing their previously unchallenged access to campuses. One notable theme of both conferences and the BDS movement as a whole is the growing emphasis on “anti-normalization.” The latter theme, which rejects any contacts or interaction with Jewish, much less Zionist groups, as unacceptable “normalization,” reflects the policy of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and a faction of the Palestinian Authority. Students for Justice in Palestine documents reveal that this is no official doctrine as well. This is also reflective of a crackdown within the American Muslim community, engineered by Islamist parties, to create a more ‘pure’ Islamic direction by reemphasizing Palestine as the central issue.
In the economic sphere there were several important BDS developments. The SodaStream company, which had been targeted by BDS advocates because its factory is located in the West Bank, announced plans to move operations to a new site in the Negev. BDS advocates, however, announced their intentions to continuing seeking boycotts of the firm because the new factory location was situated near areas in which Bedouin reside.
In another development, the Zim Line, an international shipping company co-owned by private Israeli individuals and the Israeli state, suspended operations at the Port of Long Beach. Along with Oakland, the port had seen repeated efforts by BDS advocates to prevent Zim ships from unloading. But in a new development, BDS advocates have called for harassment of California based companies doing business with Zim. Despite the BBDS movement’s social justice rhetoric and ties to elements of the radical labor movement, the suspension of Zim operations will likely lead to job losses at the port.
Finally, in the political sphere, reports continue to emerge that the European Union (EU) intends to place economic sanctions on Israel as a means of pressuring it the borders of a future Palestinian state. EU sources also continue to deny these reports. Similar pressures are evident in the debate over the EU and member states recognizing a state of Palestine as a means of pressuring Israel. Reports also indicate that the United Kingdom is reviewing arms sales to Israel. Overall, economic pressure including the threat of boycotts and sanctions continue to be part of EU diplomatic strategy towards Israel.
