Explaining the Contentiousness of BDS: Rival Framings of Identity, Peace, and Power

Abstract

As discussed in chapter 1, the tactic of boycott has always been contentious, viewed by supporters and opponents as alternatively violent or nonviolent. The discourse surrounding the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against the Israeli occupation has also been extremely polarizing, with millions of dollars poured into counter-campaigns and extensive media coverage disproportionate to the scale of particular actions. This chapter explores the mechanisms through which the BDS movement against the Israeli occupation operates— primarily examining the methods of BDS supporters, and also examining the methods of BDS opponents for comparison—and analyzes why BDS is so polarizing in the US-based cases studied. I argue that the BDS movement is so contentious in the United States because of the centrality of debates about identity, and the mobilization of fear regarding the safety of the identities in question. Polarization surrounding BDS tactics is emphasized by opponents of BDS who portray pro-BDS activists as part of a coherent, homogenized “out-group” that poses a threat to a particular “in-group,” be that a subset of a community (e.g., Caterpillar employees within the Presbyterian church, Jewish students on campus) or a more broadly constructed identity category (e.g. American Jews, the State of Israel).