What is the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS)?
What does it really want? Is it a grassroots movement seeking to bring social justice to the Palestinians through a non-violent struggle? Or is it a movement seeking to end Israel as a Jewish state and establish another in its stead? In this lecture, Dr. Yaron Ayalon, Director of the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston, will examine the history of the movement as it relates to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, its demands, the connection between BDS, anti-Semitism, and free speech, and propose a few useful tools for productive conversations about the topic, and about Israel and Zionism more broadly.