Can Boycotting Israeli Products Make Jerusalem Bankrupt? Lifestyle – 1 day ago

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – In recent years, the popularity of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has increased in several countries. This is in line with the conflict between Israel and Palestine which has never ended.

Launching from Al Jazeera, the BDS movement has the potential to result in losses of up to US$11.5 billion or around Rp. 180.35 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp. 15,683/US$) per year for Israel. Actually, what is the BDS Movement?

Quoting from the official BDS Movement page, BDS is a consumer boycott (rejection) movement to convince traders around the world to stop selling products from Israel. As a result, Israeli exporters will find it difficult to export their products.

BDS also aims to put economic pressure on Israel to grant equal rights to Palestinians.

Generally, the BDS movement includes companies that involve illegal settlements, exploit the natural resources of Palestinian land, and use Palestinians as cheap labor.

According to reports Al Jazeera in 2018, in recent times Israel’s diplomatic priority mission has been tackling BDS. In fact, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has moved to ban groups that support the BDS movement.

Actually, is the BDS movement effective in causing Israel’s economy to decline?

A non-profit organization based in Washington, United States (US), Brookings Institution, stated that the BDS movement would not drastically affect Israel’s economy. This is because around 40 percent of Israel’s exports are “intermediate” goods or hidden products used in the production process of goods elsewhere, such as semiconductors.

Additionally, about 50 percent of Israel’s exports are “differentiation” or non-substitutable goods such as specialized computer chips.

However, data from the World Bank shows that exports of “intermediate” goods experienced a sharp decline from 2014 to 2016, resulting in losses of around US$6 billion or around IDR 94.25 trillion.

Claims from Israel

Photo: Jerusalem Fast Train (REUTERS/Amir Cohen) Passengers look out of a window as they travel on Israel’s new high-speed rail line from Ben Gurion International Airport to Jerusalem September 25, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Meanwhile, reporting from The Jerusalem Post, The BDS movement will not harm Israel and will not be able to relieve the suffering of the Palestinian people. In fact, the BDS movement will only “increase the suffering of the Palestinian people, not reduce it”.

In the December 2022 article, there are several factors that make the BDS movement “futile” for Israel, namely psychological and economic patterns.

1. Psychological Patterns

In the report The Jerusalem Post It is stated that the BDS movement is futile because according to psychological patterns, if a person or company is attacked and slandered more often, the more various defensive actions will be taken.

“Instead of admitting wrongdoing, the wronged party instead invests resources in self-defense or counter-suing,” he wrote The Jerusalem Postquoted Monday (16/10/2023).

“Long experience of persecution has made Israel better trained and better able to prevent such attacks (boycotts),” the article continued.

2. Economy

According to the Rand Corporation report entitled “Losses of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” in 2022, in absolute terms Israel will gain three times more profits than Palestine, namely US$123 billion or around Rp. 1,930 trillion over 10 years.

This figure is much higher when compared to Palestine which only received economic results of US$50 billion or around Rp. 784.9 trillion.

However, it is claimed that the average per capita income of the Palestinian people will increase by around 36 percent in 2024, higher than the average Israeli per capita income. increased 5 percent.

“A return to violence will have very negative economic consequences for Palestinians and Israelis, namely that gross domestic product per capita will fall by 46 percent in the West Bank and Gaza, and by 10 percent in Israel in 2024,” wrote the report Rand Corporation.

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