Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Is BDS anti-semitic?
Position1 of 2›: Yes, BDS is anti-semitic
Argument‹2 of 4›: BDS targets Jewish people, not Israel

Some supporters of BDS are targeting Jewish people, not Israel. Jewish people on college campuses and in other institutions are intimidated, distrusted, and held accountable for Israel's actions, even though they have nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The argument

Some argue that the BDS movement contributes to a tense, anti-semitic atmosphere on college campuses and in other institutions that support BDS, which negatively impacts the mental well-being of Jewish people who have nothing to do with Israel’s occupation of Palestine. “Often time, BDS campaigns give rise to tensions in communities – particularly on college campuses – that can result in harassment or intimidation of Jews and Israel supporters, including overt anti-Semitic expression and acts. This dynamic can create an environment in which anti-Semitism can be expressed more freely.” Examples include “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel” and “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.” By doing this, supporters of BDS are making sweeping and unfair generalizations that demonize not only Israel, but also Jewish people. The cultivates a sense of "otherness" in regards to Jewish people, or an "us-versus-them" mentality that ostracizes Jewish people and mirrors how society treated and perceived them prior to and during the Holocaust. In addition, BDS negatively impacts many Jewish people living within Israel who may not support their government's treatment of Palestinians. For example, if an Israeli business is forced to close due to the financial pressure placed upon it by BDS, innocent working-class Israeli Jews will lose their jobs and struggle to provide for themselves and their children. BDS disrupts the comfort, security, and quality of life of Jewish people in both Israel and abroad.

Premises

[P1]BDS campaigns foster environments that lead to harassment, intimidation, and anti-Semitic expression against Jewish people who have no connection to Israel's policies. [P2] BDS rhetoric holds Jews collectively responsible for Israel's actions and questions their loyalty, demonizing Jewish people as a group rather than targeting state policy. [P3] BDS's economic pressure also harms ordinary Israeli Jews who may not support their government, damaging their livelihoods and security. [C] Therefore, BDS targets Jewish people rather than just Israel, making it anti-Semitic.

Counter-arguments

Supporters of BDS reply that the movement explicitly targets state policies and complicit institutions, not Jewish people, and that criticism of a government is not bigotry toward an ethnic or religious group. They note that many BDS activists are themselves Jewish, and that modelling the campaign on the anti-apartheid boycott of South Africa frames it as a non-violent political tactic against occupation rather than an attack on Jews. Treating collective economic pressure on a state as inherently anti-Semitic, they argue, itself conflates Israel with all Jews — the very conflation the argument warns against — and risks shielding any state policy from boycott by relabelling opposition as hatred. Instances of harassment, they contend, are the actions of individuals, not the movement's stated aims.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] BDS's stated targets are state policies and complicit institutions; harassment by individuals is not the movement's aim and does not define its purpose. [Rejecting P2] Boycotting a state over its policies is directed at a government, not at Jews as a group — many BDS activists are themselves Jewish, and the tactic is modelled on the anti-apartheid boycott. [Rejecting P3] Economic harm to some Israelis is a general feature of any boycott of a state, not evidence that the movement targets people for being Jewish.