The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has marked its 20th anniversary with a detailed statement highlighting its global impact and calling for intensified grassroots efforts to dismantle Israel's "regime of settler-colonial apartheid".
In a statement on Wednesday, the Palestinian-led campaign described the anniversary as "a milestone in the liberation struggle of the Indigenous people of Palestine", and traced its evolution into a global, "nonviolent, anti-racist" movement over the years.
While listing major gains across political, cultural, academic and economic spheres, the movement said it was "too grieved and too enraged to celebrate the phenomenal BDS impact" amid Israel's "livestreamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip".
"We owe it to every single Palestinian, especially our people in Gaza, to reaffirm our unbreakable commitment to march on until Israel’s regime of oppression is entirely dismantled," the statement said.
BDS credited its grassroots organising with helping to shift global discourse by framing Israel as a regime of "settler-colonialism, apartheid, and military occupation".
It said this framing had influenced states, institutions and international bodies to consider sanctions and cut ties with Israel or companies seen as complicit.
The movement cited growing support for the cultural and academic boycott of Israel, with "many tens of thousands of cultural figures including writers, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, and a rapidly growing number of arts organisations, unions and associations" refusing to engage with Israeli institutions.
It also pointed to traction within trade unions, churches, academic bodies and civil society groups in more than 120 countries.
Among its listed achievements was an admission by a senior Israeli trade official that "BDS … has changed Israel's global trade landscape".
It also referenced increasing legal backing for its campaign, noting that after a recent International Court of Justice ruling, former UN human rights official Craig Mokhiber called BDS "not only a moral imperative and constitutional and human right, but also an international legal obligation".
Founded by a coalition of around 170 Palestinian civil society organisations, including unions and refugee networks, BDS was launched on 9 July 2005, marking the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that declared Israel’s West Bank barrier illegal under international law.
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), formed in 2007, now serves as the movement’s coordinating body.
BDS urges the boycott of Israeli academic, cultural and sporting institutions, divestment from companies implicated in rights abuses, and sanctions by governments.
In its early years, BDS was widely dismissed by Israeli officials and international observers. In 2007, The Economist described the movement as "flimsy" and noted that the Palestinian leadership did not officially support it.
By 2014, that perception had shifted. The same publication reported that BDS was "turning mainstream" in the eyes of many Israelis, as concerns about its growing influence mounted.
From around 2015, Israel began dedicating substantial resources to counter BDS, with the government reportedly spending at least $15 million on anti-BDS campaigns.
Officials also ramped up their rhetoric, labelling the movement "antisemitic" and a threat to Israel's legitimacy, while working with international allies to pass laws curbing BDS activity.
In its anniversary message, BDS urged supporters to intensify their efforts, stating: "We must escalate pressure and peacefully disrupt all forms of complicity to contribute to ending Israel's unspeakable genocide and to dismantling its regime of settler-colonial apartheid.
"Only then, can we enjoy freedom, justice, equality, and what Desmond Tutu calls 'our full menu of rights'."