The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) firmly believes that ending complicity is the fastest way to dismantle the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israel’s colonial apartheid regime. Support from states, companies, and institutions must stop. We aim to achieve this through strategically chosen campaigns.
All companies involved in committing international crimes related to Israel’s illegal occupation, racial segregation, and apartheid—whether within or outside the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967—are complicit and must be held accountable. The BDS movement’s criteria for corporate complicity can be found here.
Direct complicity includes military, logistical, intelligence, financial, and infrastructural support. The companies, as well as their boards of directors and executives, may be held criminally liable for this complicity.
On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) finally issued the long-awaited arrest warrants against incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former war cabinet minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s complete occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and violates the prohibition on apartheid.
Targeted boycotts versus non-targeted boycotts
Conscientious people around the world are rightly shocked, outraged, and sometimes feel powerless in the face of Israel’s genocide in Gaza—a genocide armed, funded, and shielded from accountability by the colonial West, led by the U.S. Many feel compelled to boycott all products and services from companies connected in any way to Israel. The question is how boycotts can be most effective and impactful in holding companies accountable for their complicity in the suffering of Palestinians.
The BDS movement employs the historically successful method of targeted boycotts, drawing inspiration from the South African anti-apartheid movement, the American civil rights movement, the Indian and Irish anti-colonial struggles, and other global movements.
We must strategically focus on a relatively small number of carefully selected companies and products to maximize our impact. We must target companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and in the violation of the rights of other peoples and communities, and where there is real potential for success. This is how the BDS movement has successfully forced companies such as G4S, Veolia, Orange, Puma, and Pillsbury, among others, to end their complicity in Israel’s serious human rights violations and crimes.
By forcing major complicit companies—through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns and well-thought-out shareholder strategies—to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians, sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies: “Your time is coming, so get out before it’s too late!”
The fact that the Israeli economy is in a steady, and at times drastic, decline also helps to demonstrate that doing business with Israel is not only unethical and illegal, but also financially irresponsible. Israel is rapidly turning into what the BDS movement calls a #ShutDownNation, with dramatic capital flight, severe brain drain, dwindling foreign direct investment in high-tech, and a generally unsafe, unstable, and “collapsing” economy. Ethics and international law aside, this should help us mobilize the majority of shareholders to oppose any investment in Israel.
As an intersectional movement that links Palestinian liberation with struggles for racial, Indigenous, social, gender, and climate justice, we also recommend prioritizing the boycott of companies that are the targets of mobilizations in other struggles of the oppressed. We recommend, where applicable, adopting an ethical investment policy or an investment screening process based on universal human rights to prevent investments in any companies complicit in human rights violations anywhere.
Criteria for selecting targets for BDS boycotts:
- Degree of complicity (based on thorough, convincing evidence proving complicity)
- Intersectionality (the relevance of the target across the movement)
- Brand recognition and media appeal (helps reach a wider audience)
- Potential for success
Operational principles of BDS:
- Gradualness (gradually building the capacity to achieve the ultimate goals)
- Sustainability (maintaining achievements and building on them to move forward)
- Contextual sensitivity (adapting tactics to best align with the political and cultural context)
Israeli companies and banks:
The BDS movement focuses on complicity, not identity. When it comes to Israeli companies, non-complicity means:
- Not to be involved in Israel’s military occupation, apartheid, or colonialism;
- Publicly recognize the rights of the Palestinian people under international law, in particular the right of refugees to return in accordance with UN Resolution 194.
To the best of our knowledge, there is not a single Israeli company that meets these two conditions. That is why the BDS movement has called for a boycott and divestment of all Israeli companies, unless they meet the two conditions mentioned above.
Our top priority Israeli targets are leading companies in the military/security, technology, energy, finance, and diamond sectors, as well as in agriculture, water, and agribusiness, which operate internationally, making them relevant targets for boycotts.
Priority Goals
Below are the BDS movement’s current top-priority boycott and pressure targets among international companies. We have divided these targets into three sections:
1. Priority Targets for the Consumer Boycott – The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands, which have been carefully selected based on each company’s proven history of complicity in Israeli apartheid.
2. Organic boycott targets – The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns, but actively supports them because of these brands’ blatant complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.
The BDS movement focuses on complicity, not identity. When it comes to Israeli companies, non-complicity means that a. they are not involved in Israel’s military occupation, apartheid, or colonialism; and b. publicly recognizes Palestinian rights under international law, particularly the right of return for refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194. To the best of our knowledge, there is no Israeli company that meets these two conditions. Therefore, the BDS movement has called for a boycott and divestment of all Israeli companies, unless they meet the two conditions above.
3. Targets – The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these targets. This includes boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, social media pressure, strategic lawsuits, etc.
Divestment and exclusion from contracts
In addition to boycott and pressure tactics, divestment and exclusion strategies (discussed in a separate document) are indispensable tools in the BDS movement’s arsenal against complicit companies. The BDS movement is committed to pressuring governments, city councils, investment funds, institutions (including universities), labor unions, etc. to exclude as many complicit companies as possible from procurement contracts and investments, and to divest, where applicable, from as many complicit companies as is practically possible, particularly arms companies, technology companies, and financial institutions. In our list of divestment priorities below, we rely primarily on the following authoritative sources and their research, along with a few of our own unique, well-researched targets:
- AFSC list of companies involved in arming Israel’s #GazaGenocide.
- AFSC research database of companies that facilitate employment.
- UN database of companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.
- WhoProfits database of companies that profit from the ongoing Israeli occupation.
- “Don’t Buy Into Occupation” list of companies involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the Palestinian Territories in which European financial institutions invest.
1. Priority Goals for Consumer Boycotts
Any company whose business dealings with Israel contribute to the ongoing genocide, apartheid, or illegal occupation may be complicit in serious violations of international law and may therefore be held liable, along with its executives and board members. According to a legal expert opinion commissioned by Al Haq and SOMO, “a company or individual entrepreneur who knowingly and willingly assists a state in violating customary international law, including the prohibition against committing genocide, may be complicit in such a violation.” This is particularly relevant in light of the International Court of Justice’s finding that Israel is likely committing genocide in Gaza, as well as its legally binding advisory opinion of July 19 confirming Israel’s illegal occupation and system of apartheid.
The American multinational Chevron, a fossil fuel giant, is the main company extracting gas claimed by the Israeli apartheid regime in the eastern Mediterranean. Chevron generates billions in revenue, bolsters Israel’s war chest and apartheid system, exacerbates the climate crisis and the siege of Gaza, and is complicit in depriving the Palestinian people of their right to sovereignty over their natural resources. Chevron operates thousands of gas stations worldwide under the Chevron, Caltex, and Texaco brands. Groups around the world have joined the campaign to promote #BoycottChevron. For more information, visit boycottchevron.info.
Dell Technologies supplies servers, maintenance services, and related equipment to the Israeli military as part of a $150 million contract in 2023 funded by U.S. foreign aid. Dell is contributing to Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians by establishing researchand development activities at Israel’s National Cyber Park, which seeks to fortify illegal settlements in the Naqab and displace Palestinian Bedouin communities. One month after the genocide in Gaza, founder and CEO Michael Dell donated $350 million worth of stock to Israel, further cementing the genocidal partnership between Israel and Dell Technologies.
In December 2023, amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Intel announced that it would invest $25 billion in the Israeli apartheid regime. In June 2024, following sustained BDS pressure and primarily in response to the financial risk of investing in a #ShutDownNation, the tech giant scrapped the project, according to Israeli financial media sources. Intel has been the largest international investor in apartheid Israel for decades. The factory in “Kiryat Gat” was built on land within the boundaries of the Palestinian village of Irak al-Manshiya, which was ethnically cleansed, razed to the ground, and subsequently replaced by the current Israeli settlement. Intel remains deeply complicit in funding Israel’s genocidal war chest, so the #BoycottIntel campaign continues.
Siemens (Germany) is the main contractor for the Euro-Asia Interconnector, an Israeli-EU undersea power cable intended to connect Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory with Europe. Siemens-brand electrical appliances are sold worldwide.
Hewlett Packard (HP), including Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and HP Inc., is a major facilitator of Israel’s ongoing occupation. Through its partnerships with the Israeli government, military, prisons, and police, HP provides crucial technological and logistical support that facilitates war crimes and crimes against humanity, including illegal settlement construction and apartheid in the OPT. HPE supports the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority, a crucial pillar of its apartheid system, by providing technology for its databases and IT systems. HP Inc. (U.S.) provides services to the offices of genocidal leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich.
The France-based multinational retailer is complicit in war crimes committed by the Israeli regime of colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people. It began with the French group’s announcement of a franchise partnership with Electra Consumer Products (ECP) and its retail subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which operate within the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise. During Israel’s genocidal attack on Palestinians in Gaza, Carrefour-Israel supported Israeli soldiers participating in the unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with gifts of personal care packages. Evidence also shows that there is at least one Carrefour branch in an illegal settlement in the OPT.
Since its launch, Carrefour Israel’s complicity has only worsened. Electra Retail Ltd., a subsidiary of Electra Consumer Products, has a partnership with the Israeli bank Hapoalim, which is listed in the UN database for complicity in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. Carrefour has also received loans from four major Israeli banks and has entered into partnerships with six Israeli high-tech startups in fields including artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Insurance giant AXA (France) has $150.43 million—$78.87 million in stocks and $71.56 million in bonds—invested in eleven companies arming Israel during the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including Boeing and General Dynamics. Weapons from both companies have been directly linked to Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, including mass killings, such as the May 26 bombing of the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah and the September 10 bombing of Palestinians sheltering in al-Mawasi, which Israel had designated as a “safe zone.”
SodaStream is an Israeli company that actively colludes with the Israeli policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of present-day Israel in the Naqab (Negev). Furthermore, the company has a long history of racial discrimination against Palestinian workers.
Do not cancel or sign up for Disney+ subscriptions! Disney and its subsidiary Marvel are complicit in glorifying Israel’s regime of genocide and apartheid against indigenous Palestinians. Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World and Disney’s Snow White star actors Shira Haas and Gal Gadot, who have consciously and undeniably taken on the role of cultural ambassadors for Israel and directly represent Israel’s genocidal propaganda efforts. For Captain America, Marvel and Disney are reviving the racist character Ruth Bat-Seraph, whose decades-long backstory includes working for Mossad. Disney+ is therefore clearly complicit in enabling Israel’s genocide by dehumanizing Palestinians.
Boycott products from Israel in your supermarket and demand that they be removed from the shelves. In addition to being part of a trade that fuels Israel’s apartheid economy, Israeli fruits, vegetables, and wines—which are misleadingly labeled as “Product of Israel” often contain produce from illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land, and most Israeli companies that export these products are complicit in the illegal occupation and the apartheid regime. Israeli companies do not distinguish between the two, and consumers should not either.
2. Grassroots organic boycott targets
In some countries, these companies are targeted by grassroots boycott campaigns that were not initiated by the BDS movement. BDS supports these boycott campaigns because these companies, or their branches or franchisees in Israel, have openly supported Israel’s apartheid regime and/or made generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the ongoing genocide:
McDonald’s; Coca-Cola; Burger King; Papa John’s; Pizza Hut; WIX
3. Applying pressure to targets
The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these targets. This includes boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, social media pressure, strategic lawsuits, etc.
Google and Amazon (U.S.)
Project Nimbus, the $1.22 billion joint contract between Google and Amazon signed in 2021, provides cloud computing infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and other technological services to the Israeli government and the Israeli military. Nimbus provides the Israeli military with the platform to run lethal AI programs, such as Lavender and Gospel, which are crucial to the genocide in Gaza.
In April 2024, months after the ICJ ruled that Israel is likely committing genocide in Gaza, Google signed a new contract with the IDF, granting military units access to Google’s automation technologies, data, and AI services. By supporting Israeli apartheid with essential technologies, Amazon and Google are directly complicit in the entire system of oppression, including the apartheid regime and the unfolding genocide in Gaza.
Use alternatives to Amazon whenever possible. Order products directly from companies instead of through Amazon. Boycott Amazon products such as Ring cameras, an Amazon subsidiary that collaborates with U.S. law enforcement, using similar Amazon facial recognition technology that is used to monitor Palestinians.
Booking/Airbnb/Expedia
All three travel service companies are listed in the UN database of companies involved in Israel’s illegal colonial settlements.
Airbnb (U.S.), Booking Holdings (Netherlands), and Expedia (U.S.) all offer rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Teva is an Israeli pharmaceutical company and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of generic drugs. Teva has supported the unfolding genocide in Israel since October 2023, but has also profited for decades from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, which has allowed the company to illegally exploit the captive Palestinian market. Alternative generic drugs are now much more widely available than before in most countries.