Limmud Bay Area Experience 2015

The BDS movement has found fertile ground in our Bay Area, and is quickly and negatively shaping public opinion about Israel’s legitimacy.  More than doubling its Bay Area presence in recent years, this community has become the laboratory from which the BDS movement test-markets its strategies, and exports successful tactics elsewhere across the nation.  Within the Jewish community, while BDS is largely met with disdain because of its transparent aim of advancing the dissolution of Israel, many privately consider if this movement can shake up the seeming intractable nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this session, we will explore the movement’s founding principles and leaders, what has made the Bay Area a hospitable home for this movement, and discuss the real and perceived implications of BDS.  Participants will learn about efforts in Israel and the West Bank to advance a two state solution and ways that each of us can promote peace for Palestinians and Israelis and thwart efforts to delegitimize Israel.