Academically and Economically: How the Boycott Affected the Israeli Occupation

The Israeli occupation has been suffering from waves of international boycotts for years, but what has happened in recent months indicates a radical shift in this campaign, especially after universities and academic institutions in Europe began taking firm steps to stop cooperating with it, which represents a major threat to scientific research and to the Israeli economy.

In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal reported that the boycott-of-Israel campaign is extending to new corners of society, noting increased support for the campaign from academic and defense circles, putting Israeli research and revenues at risk.

Israeli leaders have long criticized boycott efforts, with former President Isaac Herzog saying at an economic conference last May that “Israel's enemies are trying to isolate us in order to harm us.”

In a similar context, the newspaper pointed to the growing political and legal initiatives against the Israeli occupation army, including moves in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It pointed out that Israelis are no longer welcome in many European universities, in addition to that their participation in cultural institutions and defense exhibitions has become subject to more restrictions.

It is noteworthy that the academic boycott of Israel is part of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction campaign that started in 2005. It does not target Israeli individuals, just institutions.

Radical Change

Since the start of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in October 2023 until today, international boycott campaigns against “Israel” have continued to isolate it economically and politically, with the aim of forcing it to stop the aggression against the besieged Strip.

Although this campaign is not new at the moment, it is gaining momentum as the Israeli war on Gaza continues.

The Wall Street Journal said that the months following the start of the war in Gaza witnessed an increase in calls to isolate Israel and their scope expanded, so that they no longer included only besieging its war effort.

According to the newspaper's expectations, this will lead to a radical change in the Israeli economy, which depends on international cooperation and external support in the fields of defense, trade, and scientific research.

The newspaper also mentioned an example of a scientific boycott, as the ethics committee at Ghent University in Belgium made a recommendation to end all forms of research cooperation with Israeli institutions.

The committee attributed its decision to the serious violations of international law and human rights committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

The student protests that broke out in a number of Western universities also succeeded in achieving a number of their demands, including about 20 universities around the world withdrawing their investments in Israel.

Last May, Irish Trinity College Dublin (TCD) decided to end its investments in Israeli companies.

At the same time, the University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium decided to withdraw from a scientific project on artificial intelligence in which two Israeli institutions participated.

Four Norwegian universities also recently ended their relations with Israeli universities, basing their decision on Israel's aggression against the Gaza Strip, and Israel's ignoring of the rulings of the ICJ regarding the prevention of genocide.

Student demonstrators at Brown University also ended their protests after the university agreed to hold a vote next October on withdrawing its investments from companies that support the Israeli occupation.

The administration of Evergreen College also responded to the demands of its protesting students, pledging transparency and disclosure of investments and academic cooperation programs abroad.

Students at the Canadian University of Windsor also ended their ongoing sit-in since last May, after the university agreed to support students affected by the war in Gaza and end institutional partnerships with Israeli universities.

It is noteworthy that since the beginning of the war on Gaza, dozens of foreign authors, most of them Americans, have refused to translate their books into Hebrew and sell them in “Israel.”

Israeli Setbacks

Despite recording sales worth $13 billion in 2023, the Israeli defense export sector - which was thriving before the war - sensed last March that it might become a target, specifically, after Chile banned Israeli companies from participating in the largest aviation exhibition in Latin America.

Last June, France asked “Israel” to withdraw its participation in a huge exhibition of defensive weapons, due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

74 Israeli companies were expected to attend, including 10 major defense industries, according to Agence France-Presse.

The credit for this ban decision is due to the extensive campaign led by activists of the ‘Stop Arming Israel’ group, in which more than 170 associations, unions and parties participated, since mid-May, to put pressure on the organizers of Eurosatory.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) in Australia recently announced the end of its contract with Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

It is noteworthy that the United States provides Israel with military aid, worth more than $3 billion annually, in addition to increasing arms shipments to Tel Aviv after the October 7 attack.

In contrast, some NGOs have turned to the judiciary to challenge government arms sales to Israel, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Denmark.

Various countries, such as Canada, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, also imposed restrictions on the export of weapons to “Israel”, threatening to expand the restrictions to include products that support the war on a broader scale.

In recent months, “Israel” has suffered numerous setbacks due to decisions abroad that hit what was until recently known as the start-up nation, a magnet for investments around the world.

On the diplomatic front, Spain, Norway, and Ireland announced last month their recognition of a Palestinian state.

In an infuriating move, the Maldives government stated that Israelis would no longer be allowed to enter the country due to the aggression on Gaza.

On the economic level, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed a boycott on the export of goods and raw materials to “Israel”.

Experts believe that these developments may lead to radical changes in the professional lives of Israelis, and reduce international opportunities for cooperation and investment in Israel in the future.

International Isolation

In the same context, Colonel Pnina Sharvit Baruch, head of the Law and National Security Program at the National Security Research Institute, warned that “Israel” is being subjected to the height of a political, media and public attack against it, which exceeds in scope and seriousness the political, media and public attacks it was subjected to previously.

The researcher pointed out in a study that “Israel” is heading towards becoming a state under international isolation, due to the emergence of the phenomenon of demonization of “Israel”, which has deteriorated its international standing.

The researcher warned that Israel's failure to deal successfully with this campaign could have an impact on its economy and national security, harm the achievement of the objectives of the military battle in the Gaza Strip, and lead to retreat on all fronts.

Sharvit Baruch pointed out that under these circumstances, it is very difficult to stop the collapse that has befallen Israel's image because the behavior of most of its governments in recent years has undermined Israel's image as a democratic state, which has made Western support for it more difficult.

She warned that isolation and separation from the world would lead to serious damage to the economy, a significant decline in the standard of living, and harm to Israeli national security.

The increasing pressure on “Israel” also includes an order issued by the ICJ last May to stop military operations in Rafah.

In addition, ICJ Prosecutor is seeking to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Army Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a statement to Al-Estiklal, Nada Hussein, of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), said that “most Israeli universities are an integral part of the apartheid regime, because they play an essential role in developing Israeli military and security knowledge.”

“For example, Technion University, in cooperation with Elbit, one of the largest Israeli arms companies, implemented the apartheid wall, while Ben-Gurion University houses an institute that develops Israeli military technology,” she added.

Therefore, the academic and cultural boycott campaign aims to prevent the Israeli occupation from covering up its ongoing violations and crimes against the Palestinians by exploiting art, culture, education, and sports, according to Ms. Hussein.