OPINION: The power of academic and cultural boycotts

Academic and Cultural Boycotts (The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) are among the most effective nonviolent tactics available to isolate and censure the Israeli government. One of the aims of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), including academic and cultural boycotts, is to generate dissent among Israelis against their government’s colonial and oppressive policies. For change to occur, the public must feel the consequences of these policies.

Most Israelis continue to serve in the army, implicating them in violations of Palestinian human rights. While some refuse, their numbers remain too small to spark systemic change. Indifference toward Palestinian suffering has become normalized. In Tel Aviv, many live comfortably, sipping lattes in cafés, while children in Gaza are massacred. The apartheid boarder wall is passed daily without notice. This normalization of oppression is precisely why PACBI is necessary: It disrupts routines and forces awareness.

Dialogue and cultural exchange have long been promoted as pathways to peace. Yet decades of such efforts have yielded little. They assume symmetry between two peoples where none exists. South Africa’s apartheid system fell in part because of BDS and cultural boycotts, which censured and isolated the regime. Israel must face similar pressure.

Palestinian resistance has long been accused of violence. Now, critics claim BDS and boycotts are equally destructive. Palestinians are placed in a no-win situation, condemned whether they resist violently or nonviolently. But the right to resist oppression is inalienable, and it is our responsibility to support their call. PACBI is one of the few impactful tools available.

State actors have repeatedly failed to act. The United Nations has exposed itself as an instrument of colonial power, unwilling to hold Israel accountable. Even Algeria supported the so-called Peace Plan amid the ongoing genocide. Since the ceasefire, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed, yet the UN Security Council endorsed the plan without addressing crimes against humanity. No country has meaningfully attempted to stop the carnage.

We have been witnessing genocide for more than two years, alongside ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Israelis, like us, must be pressured to stand against these crimes. PACBI is one way to achieve this.

Lori Rudolph is a professor of counseling at New Mexico Highlands University and a Jewish Voice for Peace member.