Measuring Effectiveness of “Boycott for Israel” as a Gesture of Solidarity

The international world was once again stunned by Israel's actions against Palestine, which bombarded the Gaza area indiscriminately, causing hundreds of civilians to become victims every day. It can be said that the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for a long time, after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and is still continuing until today in the context of fighting over territory (CNN Indonesia, 2021). During this conflict, Israel was confirmed to have carried out extensive attacks using white phosphorus bombs in 2009 which ultimately led to international condemnation.

In 2013, Israel promised not to reuse white phosphorus bombs unless extraordinary circumstances occurred. However, this year, Israel once again used white phosphorus bombs in military operations against civilians in the Gaza region and Lebanon. This of course once again received strong criticism from the international community. Indeed, there is no prohibition regarding the use of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon in the military world if referring to international conventions, however, there is a prohibition regarding the use of incendiary weapons against civilians as regulated in the Additional Protocol of the 1977 Geneva Conventions and the 1949 Geneva Conventions. In fact, The use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas is prohibited by the UN through Protocol III of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons and would be considered as a war crime (Sulistyo, 2023).

As a result of the acts of genocide committed by Israel, the international community, apart from strongly condemning these acts, also initiated a boycott of products from companies that indicated as being affiliated with Israel (CNN Indonesia, 2023). Indonesia is one of the countries carrying out a boycott movement against these products, which is then regulated in the MUI Fatwa Number 83 of 2023 concerning the Law of Support for the Palestinian Struggle, where in the fatwa there is an appeal to Muslims to avoid transactions with products that are affiliated with Israel (WapresRI, 2023). Of course, this is an interesting topic to discuss, because with the massive Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the issuance of this fatwa, it will certainly have a potential impact that will be felt by the Indonesian economy.

Based on data obtained from CNBC Indonesia, the shares of several companies indicated to be affiliated with Israel, such as KFC, Starbucks and Unilever, experienced a significant decline. Apart from that, this boycott action has the potential to result in job losses, reduced purchasing power, and even a decrease in sales and income (Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2023). This is in line with what was conveyed by the General Chair of the Indonesian Retail Entrepreneurs Association, that this boycott action resulted in a potential decline in retail sales turnover of up to 50%, in line with what was projected by the Secretary General of the Indonesian Modern Market Supplier Entrepreneurs Association, that this boycott action had the potential to reducing transactions in the modern market by up to 50% because the majority of the boycotted products are Pareto products (Rizky, 2023).

However, it is also important to know that this condition does not affect Indonesia's international trade performance. Based on the data obtained, Indonesia's total exports to Israel from January to October 2023 were recorded at US$140.57 million, with total imports of non-oil and gas products worth US$16.97 million. Seeing that the value of exports and imports that occurred between Israel and Indonesia did not experience a significant decline, it can be said that the political conditions that occurred between the two countries did not show any significant decline in international trade performance (Putra, 2023).

But, even though the impact of this boycott action has not yet been felt massively and significantly, the boycott movement proved to be significantly engaging when it comes as a social movement. Nevertheless, a question worth asking is: is it really effective in inflicting pressure upon the Israel government or is this merely just another showcase of hollow gesture? Nevertheless, despite the skepticism of the outcome the boycott successfully shows that the Indonesian stand firmly in any attempt of solidarity for Palestine. Thus, from Indonesian experience the public might learn that the economy appears to be a potential platform in driving social movements.