Israel's war with Hamas brings renewed focus to BDS movement and role of boycotts to effect change

As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, consumers and corporations are being drawn into the fight by way of boycotts and other forms of protest.

The flareup in the decades-long conflict has drawn increased attention on a long-standing movement known as Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) that seeks to put financial pressure on the state of Israel to follow international law and end what are seen as human rights abuses against Palestinians.

The movement took shape around 2005. But its ideological origins are older still and based on a previous, long-standing human rights and political quagmire: the South African anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s and early '90s, when consumers around the world boycotted goods made in that country, and divested in shares from South African companies, putting enough pressure on the regime's economy to help bring about an end to apartheid.

Michael Bueckert, the vice-president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, says he supports the BDS movement and the use of boycotts more broadly because they are an effective tool for achieving change.

"We saw it as sort of the best means available to us as concerned Canadians who are looking for ways to actually get involved and be proactive about ending Canadian complicity in war crimes and human rights violations," he told CBC News.

That said, the efforts are meant to "target complicity in oppression. They don't target any person, any company based on their identity or their nationality alone."

And much of what's happening right now goes well beyond the scope of simply voting with your wallet.

Canadian book seller Indigo, for example, had some of its stores vandalized recently because the chain's CEO heads a charity that provides scholarships for Israeli military personnel. 

Scotiabank was the target of a protest at the Giller Prize book award it sponsors, when activists unfurled banners saying the bank "funds genocide" because of its investment in the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit.

The bank, for its part, told CBC News in a statement that it does not own equity in the company itself and merely holds shares as part of its "independently managed funds ... on behalf of unitholders." Nonetheless, the lobby of the bank's Toronto headquarters was later occupied by an angry group of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for divestment. 

For Bueckert, the effectiveness of BDS-style campaigns depends on whether the companies being targeted are truly complicit in the actions of the Israeli government; They are not a licence for violence or harassment against members of any ethnic group.  

"It's really important that when we are engaging in boycotts that we are very clear about our objectives," Bueckert said. "There's a big risk of being misinterpreted or having people … spin your action if you don't have a very clear message."

He says the BDS movement has always been "misrepresented ... as if it was targeting businesses because they were Jewish-owned," he said. "And that has never been true."

But Noah Shack, vice-president of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto says Jewish businesses with nothing to do with the state of Israel are, in fact, being unfairly targeted.