Eurovision
The European song contest Eurovision which will be held in Tel Aviv in May, after the Israeli contestant won the competition last year, received calls in January to boycott. A campaign to move the contest to a different country was launched immediately after the Israeli contestant won in 2018 and Eurovision declined to have the competition held in Jerusalem, which is why it is slated to be held in Tel Aviv. On January 29, the British newspaper The Guardian published an open letter signed by 50 British artists to BBC, urging them to join the call to have Eurovision relocated to a different country. BBC declined the call, arguing that it would be “inappropriate to use the BBC’s participation for political reasons.” 60 international NGOs also joined the campaign to move Eurovision to a different country. On 4 March, members of the Icelandic band Hatari declared that they would protest Israeli policies while in Israel for the contest.
Amnesty Report
Amnesty International released a 96-page report on 30 January titled “Destination: Occupation” detailing how Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor profits from Israeli settlements in the West Bank by advertising hotels, B&Bs, attractions, and tours in Israeli settlements. In the report, Amnesty called on the 4 companies to stop doing business in and with Israeli settlements. “In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law. . . . Their promotion of Israeli settlements in the OPT [occupied Palestinian territories] as a tourist destination also has the effect of “normalizing,” and legitimizing to the public what is recognized under international law as an illegal situation.” In November, Human Rights Watch released a report titled “Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land: Tourist Rental Listings in West Bank Settlements,” making a similar conclusion but limited their findings to Airbnb and Booking.com. That report prompted Airbnb to reevaluate its policy toward listings in the West Bank (see Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 16 August- 31 December 2018). After a storm of criticism from Israeli and American officials and organizations, Airbnb clarified its framework for evaluating listings in “disputed areas” and added South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the list of places that they will be removing their rental listings from. Airbnb still has listings in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. On 1 March, Texas placed Airbnb on its blacklist for companies that boycott Israel, which after 90 days will require the state to “sell, redeem, divest, or withdraw all publicly traded securities of the company.” Similar legislation was passed in Florida and Mississippi (see United States).
Other
The Dutch GroenLinks (GreenLeft) party voted on 16 February to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at a general congress meeting of the party. GroenLinks has 14 out of 150 seats in the lower house of the Dutch parliament. The motion passed by the GroenLinks party stated, “BDS is a legitimate means to help Palestinians in their fight for justice.”
The governing council of California-based Pitzer College voted to suspend its partnership with University of Haifa on 14 March. It was vetoed 3 hours later by Pitzer College president Melvin Oliver. Also in March, students at Brown University and Swarthmore College passed non-binding resolutions to have their universities divest from Israeli companies.
A U.S. federal judge in Washington D.C. dismissed a lawsuit against the American Studies Association (ASA) over the association’s decision to support academic boycotts of Israeli institutions. The ASA’s resolution to support academic boycotts of Israel was passed in 2013 and the lawsuit against the ASA was brought forward in 2016.