ThePalestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals inRamallah, in theWest Bank. PACBI is part of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieveBDS goals.[1][2] The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards thePalestinians, which proponents argue arediscriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing theacademic freedom of Palestinians.[3]
One of its founders wasOmar Barghouti,[4] who is also a co-founder of the BDS campaign. PACBI is a member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC).
PACBI was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals, as part of the international BDS campaign. The Campaign built on a call for an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 and a statement made by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the Diaspora calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in October 2003. The Campaign was inspired by people who supported the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott.[5]
In 2005, PACBI worked with theBritish Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) which lobbied theAssociation of University Teachers (AUT) to adopt an academic boycott of Israeli universities.[6]
PACBI argues that "Israel's colonial oppression of thePalestinian people comprises:"
PACBI's supporters believe that a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions will contribute towards the dismantling of "Israel's occupation, colonization and system of apartheid".[7]
In July 2009, PACBI called for the boycott of a proposed concert inRamallah by Jewish Canadian singer-songwriterLeonard Cohen who had entertained Israeli troops for three months during theYom Kippur War and expressed a desire to be drafted.[8] PACBI opposed the concert because it would be held two days after Cohen performed in Israel. The organizer of the event cancelled the concert in Ramallah because it was becoming too politicized.[9]
In February 2023, the PACBITwitter account posted what it claimed was a photograph of theTantura Massacre, accompanying a demand that theEuropean Molecular Biology Organization relocate workshops from "apartheid Israel." It was subsequently discovered that the photo depicted corpses arranged for mass burial in theNordhausen concentration camp.[10][11][12]
In January 2024, PACBI criticized theStanding Together movement, saying it was a "normalization outfit that seeks to distract from and whitewash Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza".[13]
In March 2024, PACBI joined the calls to boycott theIsraeli participation in theEurovision Song Contest 2024 during theGaza war, accusing the country ofpinkwashing,whitewashing andartwashing its "ongoing genocide" against Palestinians.[14]
PACBI has called for a boycott ofDisney'supcomingSnow White film due to its starGal Gadot's support for Israel.[15][16]
In March 2025, PACBI criticized the 2024 Palestinian documentary film,No Other Land, stating, "Palestinians do not need validation, legitimation or permission from Israelis to narrate our history, our present, our experiences, our dreams, and our resistance." The film's production was led by both Israelis and Palestinians.[17]
On 12 May 2025, PACI called for theboycott of Superstruct Entertainment festivals over the role of its owner,KKR, in Israel.[18]