By Mira Sucharov
A wave of protests expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people is spreading across college and university campuses. There were more than 400 such demonstrations by the end of April 2024 just in the U.S., with many more in Canada and other countries.
The specific demands vary from place to place. What unites them is a call for schools to use their financial leverage and other kinds of influence to apply pressure on Israel.
The protesters are demanding divestment, meaning the sale of financial assets either related to Israeli companies or shares in other corporations perceived to assist the Israeli military. In addition, many protests include calls for the disclosure of those financial ties. They also feature demands for colleges and universities to distance themselves from Israel by ending study-abroad programs and academic exchanges.
The demands are mostly a response to Israel’s bombings and other military operations in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7, 2024, Hamas attack on Israel.
They also stem from broader concerns around Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza and half-century of military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Both of those concerns have been behind the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for nearly 20 years.
I have spent decades teaching and researching Israeli-Palestinian relations and the global politics surrounding these issues. Along the way, I’ve learned that the discourse around the activism related to this Middle Eastern conflict is at least as relevant as the direct effects of the activism itself.
BDS tactics
In 2005, 170 Palestinian civil society groups came together to initiate a call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. Many student organizations, academic associations and other kinds of groups later embraced the initiative.
BDS activists call for consumers around the world to boycott Israeli-made goods and refrain from spending money on Israeli movies, music and other cultural products. They discourage non-Israeli bands from performing in Israel and urge scholars and students not to study at or engage with Israeli academic institutions.
The movement also promotes divestment from holdings that support Israel’s military operations. And it seeks to impose sanctions, which could hypothetically include arms embargoes, asset freezes or trade barriers.
In other words, the U.S. government would have to participate for sanctions to work. Due to its close ties with the Israeli government, this is extremely unlikely. Nevertheless, the U.S. has recently sanctioned certain far-right Israeli entities.
U.S.-based BDS activists have, for this reason, focused on boycott and divestment rather than sanctions.
BDS goals
Along with those tactics, BDS has three goals, or pillars. The first is ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
The second is dismantling the separation wall snaking through the West Bank.
The third is attaining full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral towns and villages in historic Palestine. About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to move to surrounding areas prior to and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Two-thirds of Gaza’s current residents are refugees and their descendants who were uprooted from their homes in 1948. This right to return is enshrined in international law.
While Israel has never let these Palestinian refugees return, it does maintain a “law of return” for Jews.
Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images
Response to BDS
BDS has caught on with many Palestinians and their supporters across the globe. But there’s been a concerted effort in Israel and the U.S. to legislate against it.
Israel has barred some BDS supporters, with Jews among them, from entering the country. And 38 U.S. states, as of 2024, have enacted anti-BDS legislation. Such laws require state contractors to pledge that they will not engage in BDS, or they require states to not invest funds in companies that support the movement’s goals.
To some Jews, boycotting Israeli products evokes the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany in the 1930s. Other critics believe academic and cultural ties should never be restricted for any reason.
There are also BDS critics who find the tactics legitimate but object to one or more of the movement’s goals. The least controversial goal of the three pillars is full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel. BDS critics almost never object to this goal. Instead, the debate occurs over the degree to which different people view Palestinian citizens of Israel as already possessing equality.
The second goal – ending Israel’s occupation – tends to be opposed primarily by right-wing supporters of Israel. These more conservative Israel supporters either believe that the occupation, including the security barrier that separates Palestinian residents of the West Bank from Israeli settlers and from Israeli residents in noncontested areas, is necessary for maintaining Israeli security – or that there is no occupation at all.
Other Israelis say that Israeli settlers deserve to live in all the lands of ancient Israel, including the West Bank.
Granting all Palestinian refugees the right to return is the most controversial BDS goal because of fears that Jews would perhaps become a minority of Israel’s citizens, causing the country to cease to be a Jewish state.
People with those concerns say making Jews a minority in Israel would be unjust and perhaps even an expression of antisemitism.
Another common concern regarding the BDS movement and the slightly different demands heard on campuses today has to do with the impression that Israel is being singled out for criticism when there are many other countries that commit human rights violations.
Modest success stories
The protests on college campuses in the spring of 2024, including those with prolonged encampments, have had, at best, modest success.
For example, Brown University protesters managed to persuade the administration to hold a vote on divesting from companies connected to the Israeli military. In return, the protesters agreed to dismantle their encampment.
Portland State University administrators agreed to pause its relationship with Boeing, which is a military contractor as well as a civilian aircraft manufacturer.
Perhaps most importantly, though, the protests have helped place Palestinian human rights demands squarely in the public eye.
Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science at Carleton University.
Mike says
Tell these protesters there’s the door! Leave our country and see how much better of a life you’ll have there!
Shelly says
The protesters don’t even know what they’re protesting. Maybe they should get some smarts and educate themselves on history instead of threatening other students and destroying college campuses. Revoke the student visas and send them back
Katherine says
What an educated article. Sadly the majority of the protesters have no idea what they are fighting for. Ignorance at its finest. May God be with those Jewish students who are being targeted by uneducated, ignorant, entitled morons.
Pogo says
@I thought everyone knew
To get laid.
Ed P says
I have no dog in this fight and will not gear the following post around any opinion I hold on the cause or the credibility of the cause. Just an observation.
Have we ever had protests, demonstrations, or riots targeting any minority group of people in recent history that were tolerated for more than 5 minutes? My memory is that of anti-war, anti-government or in support of a group or against a movement. Never against citizens of another country or religious group. This has metastasized beyond requesting a cease fire. A rational protester would have left the cause many days ago.
The professional agitators have high jacked the movement and are trying to radicalize students and spread anarchy under the guise of pro-Palestinian support. It appears to be pro-Hamas, anti American, and anti Israel.
They are trying to negotiate boycotts and even believe they should have amnesty for their actions. They hold no power and are spewing hate speech similar to the white supremacy movement.
Any foreign exchange student involved who is chanting “death to America” should be expelled and receive an immediate airline ticket back home. My sense is a majority of these “students” are not students at all.
I’m unable to accept any rationality for the tolerance or continuation of this situation. The response of these universities is disappointing.
Joe D says
Both sides have VALID concerns. What Hamas did during its recent attack on Israeli citizens in 2023 was HORRIBLE and should be denounced by EVERYONE!
That being said, the SEEMING disregard of human life of CIVILIANS in Gaza by ISRAEL , can’t be justified EITHER as a reasonable self defense tactic of Israel, and not simply REVENGE against Hamas atrocities.
Now I ALSO understand, Hamas places MILITARY installations inside and near Palestinian civilian zones (hospitals, schools, long term refugee centers), essentially using its OWN CITIZENS as human shields, but CARTE BLANC destruction of these civilian areas has gotten unacceptable.
There should be some way of more PRECISE Israeli interventions by GROUND forces, rather that its current use of less accurate missile attacks, when attempting to rout out Hamas forces in heavily civilian areas. There also appears to be a lack of training of new ISRAELI troops as to what ACCEPTABLE treatment of detainees and prisoners should be under INTERNATIONAL LAW… lest ISRAEL fall into the same category as Hamas terrorists, seeking REVENGE, not JUSTICE for past offenses. Hamas is no better for its kidnapping and retention of Israeli hostages.
As part of my 45 year Nursing Career, I spent 10 years doing Community Health in a predominantly JEWISH neighborhood of a large East Coast City, and LOVED listening to the stories about my Patients lives. I frequently left their homes with gifts of Apple Cake and cookies “for my children” ( I have to admit much of those snacks never made it HOME).
There has GOT to be SOME WAY of mediating this conflict, other than the current human CARNAGE that is occurring.
I understand that the US is walking a TIGHTROPE currently in both trying to support a long term ally (with unfortunately a more radical retuning Israeli President in power), while trying to rein in Hamas. All the while trying to avoid the ANNIHILATION of the Palestinian people in the process!
I PRAY (yes), on a DAILY basis , that this conflict will come to an END without MORE human suffering /violence, and the potential to pull us all into a Regional (or Global) WAR, which benefits NO ONE, except Military manufacturers.
I’m sure MANY in the Community (probably from BOTH side of the argument) will blast me for my opinion, but at the MOMENT…FREE SPEECH is still LEGAL (barely) in the US, and I accept other’s right to RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE.
Jack Howell says
You gotta love them! Yep, the college/university students have an abundance of knowledge to pontificate. I have no qualms with these students voicing their viewpoints on world affairs even though they don’t really have a clue. I would suggest that those hard-line supporters of Hamas and pro-Palestine should be afforded the opportunity to go to Gazza and help rebuild the area leveled by the IDF attacks. Instead of running their collective mouths let these protesters engage in helping to rebuild Gazza. This shows a true passion for helping these citizens in Gazza.
Deborah Coffey says
No, I think your position is exactly right and, I share it. How can one choose a side when both are engaged in such horrific behaviors? “Walking a tightrope” is the correct phrase because this war is filled with historical complexity.
ASF says
Hard-core “Anti-Zionists” want the one majority Jewish nation on earth to be eliminated. And will find nothing other or less to be acceptable.
It’s hard to gauge what the majority of these student protesters actually want since their grasp on the facts–as regards realities on ground that exist on either side of the fence–appears to be so tenuous. One example of this is the number of “LGBTQ for Palestine” groups you see getting so much publicity from the media. The membership of these groups either don’t know or don’t care that Homosexuality is a literal crime punishable by death in the Gaza Strip…and that Israel is the safest place for LGBTQ Individuals to live in the region and freely express themselves.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Whole lot of genocide defenders here, kinda sad but not surprising.
Ray W. says
Thank you, ASF.
Ray W. says
Thank you, ASF.
Bill C says
US News and World Report: Columbia University’s ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is #12 out of 439. The acceptance rate is 4%. The idea that they have no idea what they are fighting about, or that they’re a bunch of dumb bunnies, reflects more on the ignorance of those who make these statements than on the students. You may disagree with their methods but don’t confuse this with ignorance on their part or their message. They oppose US policy of supplying arms and technology to Israel in its indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians, 70% of which are innocent women and children.
jake says
Which part of October 7th, did you not understand?
Foresee says
You are a barrel of laughs.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
The part where genocide is ok but then I guess having issues with genocide makes people antisemitic these days
Pogo says
@Foresee
Tell that to Homer, Shakespeare, Freud: the priest hearing confession, the prosecutor asking why…
Still laughing?
Foresee says
“to get laid”? So inappropriate. You think Gaza deaths and campus protests are funny? Hamlet:
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them.
Foresee says
@Pogo Unlike the Jan. 6th insurrectionists, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the campus protesters are armed with banners and civil disobedience. Civil disobedience has a long history as a tool in the fight for social justice, from The Boston Tea Party, a fight that began this country, to the civil disobedience of MLK and John Lewis
Pogo says
@Presidents Humphrey, Nader, Hillary C…
…accomplished much — of nothing. Look up those elections, and the role of pious crusaders who ended up electing Nixon, Bush Lite, and Trump.
But moreover, the purpose of life is to perpetuate itself, ergo…
Netanyahu, and Sinwar, (was there ever a name more descriptive?), are stalling for a date with Trump: or Putin, Khamenei, Kim Jong Un. They all appreciate you.
Sherry says
Thank you Bill C.!