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General Information

  • Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel is a fringe organization that operates in the New York area. It is one of the most vocal proponents of anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns in the U.S.
  • Not formally associated with the Arab-Israeli NGO Adalah.
  • Started activity in August 2006 in “response to the escalation of Israeli attacks” in Gaza and Lebanon.
  • Demands an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent end to U.S. and U.S.-sponsored Israeli aggression in the Middle East.”
  • Supports the Palestinian United Call for BDS against Israel, which demands that the international community “impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives” and “embargoes and sanctions against Israel.”
  • Involved in direct action and street protests against companies with connections to Israel
  • No list of officials is available on its website.
  • Funding is non-transparent; does not publish a list of donors.
  • Solicits donations through WESPAC Foundation. (WESPAC also accuses Israel of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “collective punishment,” calls for financial sanctions on Israel, and supports Palestinian “resistance” against Israel.)

Rhetoric

  • Claims that Israel was founded “upon the expulsion, and denial of the rights and even the existence of the Palestinian people.”
  • Defends Hamas’ firing of rockets from residential areas, saying “But the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, is composed entirely of residential neighborhoods. Palestinians in Gaza have no other place from which they can respond to Israeli military attacks.”
  • Solely blames Israel for the conflict, stating “Israeli policy has been the root of violence in the region for 60 years, starting no fewer than six major wars.”
  • Accuses Israel of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “collective punishment,” and “indiscriminate bombing that targets civilians.”
  • Accuses the Jewish National Fund of the “Judaization of Palestine” and “prevent[ing Palestinian] refugees from returning to their land.”
  • Falsely claims that Israeli Arab citizens “are not treated equally to Jewish citizens of the state.”
  • States that Israel uses “tear gas to kill and maim unarmed protesters.”
  • Protest slogans include “stop the genocide,” “Israeli defense forces = war criminals,” and “Zionism = racism.”
  • Claims there exists an “on-going Zionist project to remove the indigenous population of Palestine and create an exclusively Jewish state.”
  • Misleadingly states that “the large majority of [Gaza residents] are displaced refugees from 1948,” when more than 60% of Gazans are under the age of 19 (p. 20).
  • Considers an IDF raid on a Gaza tunnel being built to kidnap Israeli soldiers to be “unprovoked.”
  • Praises the use of lawfare and foreign courts to stop companies from engaging in business in Israel and the settlements.
  • States that Israel’s security barrier is “separating the West Bank into ghettoes.”

Activities

  • Publishes open letters to artists, urging them to cancel their planned appearances in Israel. Warns that artists who perform in Israel are helping to “whitewash Israel’s violations of international law and project a false image of normalcy.”
  • Urges international audiences to boycott Israeli artists such as the Batsheva Dance Company and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, which it accuses of “normalize[ing] the occupation of Palestinian territories and the oppression of Palestinians.”
  • Advocates sanctions through “an end to US military and financial aid to Israel.”
  • Campaign targeting the US government to stop supplying Israel with tear gas, claiming that Israel “has a long history of inflicting death and injury using tear gas as a lethal weapon.”
  • Defended student protesters at New York University who violated university rules, barricaded themselves a student center, and damaged property. Adalah-NY demanded that NYU “grant amnesty to all students involved.”
  • Protested FBI subpoenas of individuals suspected of providing material support for foreign terrorist organizations.

Affiliated Groups