Medical neutrality means that medics, patients, wounded soldiers, and healthcare facilities must never be targeted during wars. It asserts that even amidst the barbarity of war, certain rules and laws must be upheld. Healthcare workers have both the right and the duty to speak out to defend these laws and protect the very principle of medical neutrality.

One of the clearest indicators of how effective the BDS movement is—or could be—is the intensity with which Israel and the United States attempt to suppress it. Both governments have devoted significant legal, political, and financial resources to countering BDS. Israel has passed laws barring entry to known BDS supporters and has designated the movement as a strategic threat. In the U.S., dozens of states have enacted anti-BDS legislation that penalizes individuals or companies that support the boycott, in some cases requiring pledges not to boycott Israel as a condition for public contracts. And these laws have sparked multiple lawsuits on free speech grounds. 

The fact that so much energy is being spent to legally and politically undermine a nonviolent movement focused on human rights speaks volumes about its potential impact. If BDS were truly irrelevant or ineffective, there would be little reason for this level of coordinated suppression. The aggressive pushback itself is a measure of its threat to the status quo—and a testament to the power of grassroots, nonviolent resistance.

Futhermore, history has taught us that these strategies have worked in the past. Most notably, the global boycott and sanctions movement against apartheid South Africa, which helped pressure the South African government to dismantle apartheid. But also, the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the United States, where African Americans, led by figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., refused to use segregated buses. This sustained, nonviolent boycott put economic pressure on the system and helped lead to the desegregation of public transportation, marking a major victory in the U.S. civil rights movement. Sustained international pressure—economic, cultural, and academic—can isolate the Israeli state and institutions complicit in occupation and discrimination, making the political and economic cost of apartheid-like policies unsustainable by: 

- Eroding legitimacy: Targeting institutions helps challenge Israel’s image as a liberal democracy and highlights its treatment of Palestinians.

- Applying economic pressure: While academic boycotts don’t directly affect the economy, they contribute to a broader effort to delegitimize systems of oppression.

- Raising awareness: Boycotts draw global attention to human rights abuses, influencing public opinion and, eventually, political action.

Attendance doesn’t equal approval. Palestinian Israeli citizens work and study at Israeli institutions because it's their country - they are not immigrants— this does not signify as a sign of support.

Using this as an argument against the boycott, along with claims like “Palestinians attend Israeli universities”or “Palestinians work in settlements” or “Arabs are in the Knesset” ignore power imbalances and structural discrimination.

For example, even Haifa University that is considered one of the best examples of  Arab-Israeli coexistence gives housing priority to those who served in the army—excluding most Palestinian students. It has also banned Palestinian flags at protests, restricted student clubs, and targeted Palestinian organizers.

These are not rare incidents but part of a broader pattern of institutional discrimination against Palestinians

This dilemma exists and it is two-fold, involving the possible impact on several million people: on economically vulnerable Palestinians and also on economically vulnerable Israelis. 

Trade unions and other organizations representing ordinary working Palestinians are publicly supporting the BDS campaign, despite the anticipated economic price in the short term. No Palestinian construction workers, for example, have called for a continuation of construction in the settlements just because working to build settlers’ houses has also put bread on the table for the workers’ own families. When sanctions against South Africa were called for, the ANC likewise supported them, despite the obvious economic hardship for black workers in the short term.

The point to bear in mind is that the status quo ante has not been without hardship either. With Palestinian non-citizens excluded and Palestinian-Israeli citizens marginalized by today’s Israel-dominated economy, the high-tech militarism underpinning that economy also punishes the most vulnerable members of Israeli Jewish society, in ways often taken for granted (those huge military-industrial budgets) or partly invisible (underfunding of education, health & social services).

Amnesty International has analysed Israel’s intent to create and maintain a system of oppression and domination over Palestinians and examined its key components: territorial fragmentation; segregation and control; dispossession of land and property; and denial of economic and social rights. It has concluded that this system amounts to apartheid. 

This analysis has recently been confirmed by the International Court of Justice which "has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid. The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law."

On the 27th of January 2024, the ICJ declared that there is a risk of genocide, both due to the policies being enacted by the Israeli military and the genocidal statements by Israeli lawmakers and leaders.

Since then, the following people or institutions have termed the situation in Gaza a genocide: the University Network for Human Rights (to which legal scholars from Yale, Boston Law, and Cornell, among others, have contributed); the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention; Amos Goldberg, an Israeli professor of Holocaust history at Hebrew University; and Raz Segal, program director of genocide studies at Stockholm University, who calls it a "textbook" genocide. Judge White of the District Court of California speaks of a "genocide in progress," while the UN report Anatomy of a Genocide finds that the criteria for genocide are met. The UN Special Committee confirmed that Israel's warfare methods are consistent with genocide. Recently, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have stated in their reports that genocide is occurring. There is a total of over 65 legal and genocide experts or NGO's that explain how Israel is conducting a genocide.       

Some argue that calling it genocide is premature without a legal ruling. But this logic is flawed. Imagine a man in a bitter divorce locks himself in a house after threatening his partner’s life. Later, she’s found stabbed over 100 times, no one would hesitate to call it murder—or wait for a court verdict to do so. While guilt is decided in court, clear evidence demands immediate recognition and action.

Some critics often claim boycott provides a cover for antisemitic attitudes. But the Palestinian-led BDS movement, including PACBI and the National Boycott Committee, explicitly opposes all forms of racism, including antisemitism. As PACBI co-founder Omar Barghouti said: “BDS categorically rejects all forms of racism... including antisemitism. This is non-negotiable.”

Accusations of antisemitism are frequently used to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. Even respected scholars like Brian Klug, an expert on antisemitism, have been targeted simply for analyzing the difference between antisemitism and criticism of Israel. Many Jewish activists support BDS ( like www.boycottisrael.info/) and are often dismissed as “self-hating Jews". But human rights abuses don’t become acceptable just because the person committing them happens to be Jewish.

Finally, while the Holocaust was a unique atrocity that showed the need for Jewish safety, it cannot be used to justify the ongoing oppression of Palestinians. Many Jews and Israeli reject the idea that safety lies in an exclusionary state build on apartheid, occupation and ethnic cleansing.

If we claim nothing can be done until everything is done, then nothing will ever happen. In Israel’s case, that’s exactly what many critics want.

Making the choice to focus on BDS actions against Israel is a logical one. By every objective metric, this genocide in progress represents the most devastating attack witnessed in our lifetime. Over 90% of the population has been displaced from their homes. Gaza, which is three times smaller than Hiroshima, has endured the equivalent of more than eight atomic bombs being dropped. More journalists have been killed during this conflict than in any other recorded conflict. Every single university in Gaza has been completely destroyed. Eighty percent of the global famine is currently concentrated in Gaza. More healthcare workers have been killed by the Israeli army than in all conflicts worldwide combined over the past five years. In the history of humanity, there has never been a war with as many recorded child amputees.

And most impartantly, contrary to other conflicts or groups that also cause human rights violations, our governments and institutions are financially, militarily, and politically supporting—rather than sanctioning—the blatant and unprecedented human rights violations committed by Israel. This is why BDS can make such a big difference here.

Israeli universities are not neutral; many directly support and collaborate with the military and the occupation. The academic boycott targets institutions that are complicit, not individuals.

Examples:

Technion develops technology for the Israeli army, including bulldozers used to demolish Palestinian homes.

Tel Aviv University partners on military projects and aids settler-led excavations in occupied East Jerusalem.

University of Haifa trains hundreds of high-ranking army officers in special national security programs.

Bar-Ilan University offers scholarships to “excellent fighters” to become educators, tying education to military service.

Hebrew University runs joint programs with the Ministry of Defense and houses army research students on campus.

Ariel University is located in an illegal settlement in the West Bank, violating international law.

These institutions don’t just support state policy—they actively help implement and defend it. The boycott holds them accountable for their role in maintaining occupation and apartheid.

The idea that Israeli universities protect academic freedom or liberal voices is a persistent myth. While some academics have spoken out, they often face harsh repercussions.

Neve Gordon, once a professor at Ben-Gurion University, faced threats and calls for dismissal after calling Israel an apartheid state and supporting a boycott. He eventually relocated to London. Ilan Pappé, a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa, endured similar threats and pressure to resign after backing a boycott of Israeli universities. He left for Exeter in 2007. When Birzeit University was shut down for years, Israeli academia stayed silent.

A more recent and unprecedented case is that of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University. On April 18, 2024, she was dragged from her bed at night by Israeli police—interrogated over her published academic work and a podcast episode called “There is so much love in Palestine”. She was accused of incitement for calling Gaza a genocide and explaining that anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-semitisme. This professor in her sixties was then held in solitary confinement in brutal conditions: denied medication, deprived of sleep, and given only a filthy blanket in a freezing, cockroach-infested cell. Her legal team says this is the first time Israel has arrested a professor for their academic work.

Not only did the university not defend here, but they incited to her arrest months prior by harassing her and demanding her resignation for signing a petition condemning the Gaza assault as genocide. When she was arrested the university suspended her, labelled her an embarrassment and called her statements disgusting. Finally due to overwhelming harassment, she was forced to resign in October of 2024.

These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a broader pattern of Israeli academia enabling repression—silencing dissent, legitimizing apartheid policies, collaborating with the military, and profiting from occupation.

It is easy to be tempted to turn away in despair when you see all the horrors and the scale of what is going on. To feel like this is beyond you and you cannot make a difference anyway.  

But we can choose to focus on what we can influence: supporting Palestinian buisnesses, following boycott guidelines and supporting divestments and sanctions efforts through donations and petitions.