The “B” in BDS stands for Boycott, and comes in three forms: Economic, Academic, and Cultural. There are important distinctions between them.
The goal of the economic boycott is the most straightforward: to withhold funds from those directly involved in the illegal occupation and apartheid. The academic boycott centers around Israeli universities’ involvement in the government, the army, intelligence services and military industry in Israel; for example by developing military and surveillance technology. Why the movement calls for a cultural boycott is less obvious, as it requires some background knowledge about how Israel uses culture as a tool for oppression.
In 2005, the Israeli government launched the “Brand Israel” campaign to improve the image of the country. It portrays Israel as a progressive, Westernized and democratic society, surrounded by Islamic, homophobic and repressive nations. It includes activities like:
- pro-Israel advocacy in (social) media
- the representation of Israel as LGBTQ+ friendly (known as pinkwashing)
- the promotion of culture to create the false impression that Israel is a normal democratic country
The effect is very noticeable. In the way our media choose their wording for example. Even when describing oppression and war crimes, it uses language that is sterile, clean, civilized. The word brutal, which is often used as an adjective for the October 7 attack by Hamas, is rarely used to describe something Israel did. It also serves as a basis for other hasbara (public diplomacy). It is easy to find comments on social media that claim Israeli culture is superior to Palestinian culture and that this would somehow justify their oppression.
Of course, not all Israeli culture is part of this campaign. The Palestinian boycott only targets those that have a clear and demonstrable link to it.
The BDS movement rejects on principle boycotts of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, or religion) or opinion. Only if an individual is representing the state of Israel or a complicit Israeli institution, or is commissioned/recruited to participate in Israel’s efforts to “rebrand” itself, then her/his activities are subject to the institutional boycott the BDS movement is calling for.
There are clear guidelines on whether something is boycottable or not. When a product or event is targeted for a boycott, the organizers will have made this assessment. That the evidence is not obvious to the general public is usually because it requires some knowledge about Israeli institutions, and the media seems determined to not mention it, even when pointed out to them in press releases. If unclear, you can always ask the organizers for their reasoning, if they did not already publish it via their own channels.
The full guidelines for cultural boycotts can be found on the international BDS website.