The ongoing assault on Gaza takes place in the context of a long history of Israeli ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid in Palestine. The impunity with which Israel has been able to occupy and exert violence onto Palestinians, with support from Western allies, is of grave concern to economists across the world. It is widely documented that Israeli universities have long played a central role in supporting Israel’s occupation of and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, which has led to calls for an academic boycott of Israel. Multinational corporations have also played a central role in supporting the occupation and ongoing genocide, including, but not limited to, arms corporations. With this pledge, we wish to gather support among economists to join the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign to contribute to thwarting the genocide and occupation.

The historic and contemporary assaults on Palestine by Israel have been condemned repeatedly by the United Nations (e.g. here, here), by international organizations (e.g. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International), and by both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups (e.g. B’Tselem, Al Haq). In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that there is a plausible case of genocide being committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, and ordered Israel to take immediate steps to prevent any further acts of genocide. As legal observers have pointed out, every university, company and state around the world must now consider carefully its engagement with Israel and its institutions, given that such ties may now constitute complicity with genocide. Students around the world are also campaigning against the genocide.

As an international network attempting to mobilise economists, we firmly join D-Econ (Diversifying and Decolonising Economics) in this pledge for solidarity with Palestinians against the occupation and genocide. We call on academics and institutions across the world to join this collective support of the BDS movement, by:

1. Refusing to formally or informally engage with any Israeli higher education institution involved in supporting Israeli occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing or genocide in Palestine (for an overview, see here)
2. Refusing to formally or informally engage with any corporation involved in supporting Israeli occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing or genocide in Palestine (for an overview, see here)

Beyond BDS, we also believe it is important for everyone involved in higher education to:

1. Speak out against all attempts to silence Palestine solidarity action and speech on university campuses and beyond.
2. Support Palestinian higher education institutions, academics, educators and students.
3. Support movements which work towards divesting universities from institutions and corporations that support the Israeli occupation and apartheid.

We call on all academics committed to justice and liberation to join this pledge. We also call on all universities, academic departments and associations, institutes  and centers across the world to join us in committing to these principles, especially economics institutions – which have been particularly silent up until now. We also encourage corporations as well as trade unions to sign on. Let us collectively take a strong and clear stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

Sign here as an individual and here as an association.

For an updated list of signatories, visit D-Econ's original post.