Click here for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian

As the Israeli apartheid regime, armed, enabled and shielded from international accountability by the colonial West, continues its live-streamed genocide against the Palestinian people in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, the Global South continues to be the Palestinian people’s historic and reliable ally in its struggle for self-determination and liberation.

Palestine today is the litmus test of whether we can promote a world that respects the rights, dignity and equality of all people and nations, or succumb to the colonial and genocidal “might makes right.”

Global South states have shown near diplomatic concensus against the genocide at the UN, and many have severed or downgraded diplomatic ties with Israel or imposed military embargoes or trade sanctions against it. It is no coincidence that free South Africa has spearheaded the legal struggle at the World Court against Israel’s genocide.

This support for Palestinian liberation and self-determination is rooted in our shared history of resistance against colonialism, enshrined in the Bandung Conference, which laid the foundation for the Non-Aligned Movement, and whose principles continue to inspire our struggle for emancipation. As the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has explicitly stated, there can never be normal relations with Israel until it ends its occupation of Arab and Palestinian lands and fully complies with its obligations under international law. This entails ending its system of apartheid, colonization and ethnic cleansing, and granting the Palestinian refugees their UN sanctioned right to return home and receive reparations.

Our opposition to apartheid Israel is also motivated by its devastating role in our countries. For decades, Israel has materially contributed, including through arms and training, to militarization, mass surveillance, election rigging, pillaging of resources, gross human rights violations, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Africa, Latin America and Asia. It tests its weapons and military-security doctrines on Palestinians and later exports them for use against our peoples.

For the sake of the people of Palestine, the peoples of the Arab region and the Global South in general, it is imperative that the nations in the Global South, that had led the call for sanctions and other countermeasures against Israeli apartheid, uphold the principles of justice and human rights by severing all ties with Israel, resisting US and European pressures, bribing or bullying to establish such ties. As Israel’s war-based economy shows clear signs of a steady decline, investing in relations with its regime of genocide and apartheid not only undermines international law and ethical principles. It also constitutes a decisively irresponsible investment in a sinking ship.

Based on this and inspired by the Global South support for many liberation and justice struggles, we heed the call from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society that is leading the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to escalate BDS campaigns against Israel, its complicit academic and cultural institutions, as well as Israeli and international corporations profiting from Israel’s military occupation, apartheid and genocide.

At the national level, and in harmony with our obligations under international law, we endorse:

• Imposing targeted, lawful sanctions on Israel, including comprehensive military embargoes and severing diplomatic ties.

• Adopting ethical policies that prohibit procurement from or investment in corporations that are complicit in Israel’s genocide or apartheid.

• Adopting ethical policies that prohibit ties with Israeli academic, cultural and sports organizations that are complicit in Israel’s genocide or apartheid.

At the international level, we call for:

• Invoking the UNGA’s “Uniting for Peace” powers to hold an emergency session aimed at imposing targeted and effective sanctions, foremost a comprehensive military embargo, until Israel respects all relevant UN resolutions and ICJ orders.

• Supporting and demanding accountability measures against Israel at international courts, including the ICJ and the International Criminal Court to end Israel’s genocide, dismantle apartheid, and preserve the integrity of the international law system.

• Working together to end Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing, colonial settlement, apartheid, and military occupation, which constitute the root cause that ultimately culminated in the Gaza genocide, including through the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid.

• Supporting the expulsion of Israel from international fora, such as the UNGA and other UN organs, the Olympics, FIFA, and more.

This way, we honor our shared past, empower our intersectional struggles in the present, and pave the way for a future rooted in freedom, justice, equality and dignity for all.

Initial Signatories:

BDS Indonesia

BDS Malaysia

South Africa BDS coalition

BDS Brasil

BDS Mexico

Campaña Espacios Libres de Apartheid Uruguay

Comité de Espacios Libres de Apartheid Ecuador

Tadamun Antimili, Colombia

Endorsers: