Publications

Since its establishment, Israel has confronted a host of boycotts and movements that both sought to challenge its very existence and opposed any normalization of relations. In a similar vein, over the past decade the Israeli government and various non-governmental institutions have become increasingly preoccupied with a phenomenon coined “the delegitimization of Israel,” viewed primarily as a non-violent protest movement calling for the international boycott and isolation of the State of Israel. Since then, questions regarding what constitutes delegitimization and the seriousness of the threat posed by the movement have occupied Israeli foreign policymakers and NGOs alike. In parallel, the information and social media revolutions, the growing impact of public opinion on decision makers in countries considered allies of Israel, and the expansion of the delegitimization movement into many new arenas have added to the complexity of the challenge.

Preface

In recent years both the Israeli government and various non-governmental institutions have become increasingly preoccupied with the phenomenon coined “the delegitimization of the state,” a phenomenon mostly viewed around the world as a non-violent protest movement calling for the international boycott and isolation of Israel. The phenomenon in its current iteration first became evident at the 2001 Durban Conference, but it was only in July 2004, following the International Court of Justice ruling that the separation barrier Israel was building in the West Bank amounted to annexation and was therefore illegal, that a Palestinian organization of academics and intellectuals called for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Exactly a year later, in July 2005, under an umbrella of 170 Palestinian organizations, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was launched, which aimed at excluding Israel from academic and cultural settings and expanding this exclusion to economic and political realms. Since then, more than a decade after the launch of the BDS campaign, and despite the lack of reliable, definitive empirical evidence regarding its success or failure, it appears that the push to boycott and isolate Israel has successfully expanded the circles reached by the campaign and has created a challenging reality for Israel in the international arena, even in countries traditionally friendly to Israel.

Questions regarding what constitutes delegitimization of Israel and the seriousness of the threat it poses have preoccupied Israeli foreign policymakers and non-governmental parties for more than ten years, particularly since the Gaza flotilla raid in 2010. Delegitimization usually refers to the efforts by certain international parties to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Israel’s existence as a Jewish state or to undermine its right to defend itself against its enemies. Another characteristic is the actual nature of the protest: calls to take concrete steps, such as boycotting and divesting from Israeli companies involved in financing or building the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and/or providing equipment for the separation barrier alongside aggressive and inflammatory rhetoric, including extreme and vicious claims against any Jewish/Israeli military or civilian presence in the territories conquered in 1967. It is not easy to characterize the supporters of this non-violent protest against Israel. Some of the institutions and individuals have an obviously hostile political identity; others are viewed as more moderate and include Jews and Israelis and are even allied with Israel in other contexts.

Throughout its existence, Israel has had to deal with various boycotts and movements opposing any normalization of relations. But the technological revolution, the heightened importance of public opinion to decision makers among Israel’s allies, and the spread of the delegitimization phenomenon over many different fields of action make it difficult to formulate a uniform response and have therefore sparked an internal political debate in Israel. Moreover, most of the theoretical and historical discussions of anti-Israel boycotts refer to situations in which it is states and other official bodies applying the boycotts or sanctions in order to damage Israel or force it to change its policies. While official steps taken by states against other states is the most common form of sanctions application (and any discussion about Israel must clearly include an assessment of the governments liable to apply pressure of one kind or another), in recent years most of the efforts to impose boycotts on Israel come from non-state players – protest organizations, NGOs with a defined political or social agenda, interest groups, and multinational companies – whose actions can threaten and affect Israel no less than official states due to the influence they wield over public opinion and decision makers.

This collection of articles presents an analysis of the threat that the delegitimization and BDS campaigns pose to Israel, an examination of their aspects in various fields, and a discussion of the dilemmas they present to Israel’s decision makers. The purpose of the volume is to encourage extensive deliberation about the issue of delegitimization and BDS by examining its overall implications for security, strategy, and policy. The articles cover many aspects and provide salient insights for policymakers about the challenges that delegitimization currently poses to Israel and Israel’s position in the international arena, while also raising questions that invite further research.

Part I examines developments in the relations between the international community and Israel over the last few decades, including the issue of delegitimization, and compares this most recent challenge with similar challenges Israel faced in the past. Kobi Michael draws a comparison between the opposition to Israel in its early decades and the more recent delegitimization phenomenon, while reviewing the systemic and political changes that have contributed to the formation of the current problem. Mark Heller deals with the response of Israel’s public relations efforts to the BDS movement and points to the limitations and challenges facing Israel in this context, in particular the problematic way in which Jewish settlements in the West Bank are viewed around the world. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky compares the methodology and success of the boycott of South Africa to the BDS movement and claims that while the BDS campaign is unlikely to prove as successful as the anti-apartheid movement, the delegitimization phenomenon nevertheless presents a significant challenge to Israel.

Part II focuses on the political and legal aspects of delegitimization. Shimon Stein and Gallia Lindenstrauss discuss the way in which leaders in prominent European countries cope with the growing public pressure to boycott and divest from Israel. Pnina Sharvit Baruch and Keren Aviram study the efforts to give legal validity to the delegitimization campaign through claims that Israel is a lawless state that systematically violates international law. Liran Ofek’s essay examines the use that the Palestinian Authority makes of the delegitimization campaign and the boycott of Israeli goods and analyzes its motives. Ofir Winter and Eyal Razy-Yanuv use case studies of gas deals between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan to examine why the delegitimization movement cannot seem to find a real foothold in the Arab states.

As the challenge of delegitimization has in recent years been placed in the realm of national security, Part III deals with its security aspects. Zvi Magen demonstrates that the delegitimization movement is operating in the familiar footsteps of ideological subversion, which is directed and channeled by state and other players against anyone viewed as hostile. David Siman-Tov and Kobi Michael examine the unfamiliar challenges facing the intelligence community in an arena that is normally handled by different government ministries, the diplomatic corps, and non-governmental civic bodies. Emily Landau claims that in contrast to the tendency to view delegitimization primarily within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is good reason to be concerned that the anti-Israel stance will intensify and spill over into other realms, including the struggle to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons and the efforts Egypt is leading to make the Middle East a WMD-free zone.

Part IV relates to the public and media aspects of delegitimization. Einav Yogev looks at the growing influence of international NGOs and the changes in their methods, and examines their relationship to issues of delegitimization and the way in which Israel conducts its relations with them. Avner Golov’s essay analyzes the help the Israeli community in the United States could potentially provide Israel in confronting the delegitimization phenomenon, and discusses the unique difficulties that this community faces in this context. Zipi Israeli and Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky investigate the media coverage of the BDS and delegitimization movements in the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot as part of a prominent recent trend by the media to expand their scope of public influence beyond their traditional function as information providers and analysts.

We would like to thank all those who played an important role in completing this project and producing this collection. Many thanks in particular to Dr. Anat Kurz, director of research at the Institute for National Security Studies, for her insightful comments and to Nikki Littman and Moshe Grundman for their help in editing and publishing the collection. A special thanks to the writers of the essays whose contributions have helped to expand the research perspective on delegitimization and BDS and the strategic challenges posed by these movements.

Contents

Preface

Part I: Overview

Both Old and New: The Delegitimization Campaign in Historical Perspective / Kobi Michael

Confronting BDS: The Limits of Marketing / Mark A. Heller

BDS and AAM: More of the Same? / Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky

Part II: Political and Legal Perspectives

The BDS Movement and European Leaders: Mixed Trends and Questions about the Future / Shimon Stein and Gallia Lindenstrauss

Delegitimization of Israel: The Legal Framework / Pnina Sharvit Baruch and Keren Aviram

The Palestinian Authority, the BDS Movement, and Delegitimization / Liran Ofek

Pipelines to Normalization in the BDS Era: The Natural Gas Deals with Egypt and Jordan as a Case Study / Ofir Winter and Eyal Razy-Yanuv

Part III: Security Perspectives

The Battle over Consciousness / Zvi Magen

The Intelligence Challenge in the Phenomenon of Delegitimization / David Siman-Tov and Kobi Michael

Delegitimization of Israel: A Nuclear Dimension? / Emily B. Landau

Part IV: Public and Communications Perspectives

Uneconomic Relationships: Israel’s Relations with International Non-Governmental Organizations / Einav Yogev

The Israeli Community in the United States: An Untapped Asset / Avner Golov

BDS and Yediot Ahronot: “Fighting the Boycott” / Zipi Israeli and Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky

Contributors