- Protect Your City -
Strategy
🟦 Overview
A Local Strategy to Counter BDS and Anti-Israel Activism This guide is designed to help you push back against organized anti-Israel campaigns in your city. These groups often use city councils as platforms for symbolic victories, aiming to sway public opinion and create political pressure at the national level.
🚨 What We Are Up Against
A Coordinated Local Assault on Israel’s Legitimacy
Since November 2023, BDS-aligned groups have launched an aggressive, city-by-city campaign to isolate Israel—one municipal vote at a time.
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Highly Coordinated: Armed with mobile apps, scripted speeches, and traveling operatives, they descend on local councils with military precision.
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Exploiting Subnationalism: They hijack city politics to pressure national foreign policy, reviving the anti-apartheid playbook of the 1980s.
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ESG as a Trojan Horse: By disguising their demands as human rights or environmental concerns, they manipulate local ESG and diversity frameworks.
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Weaponizing the Domino Effect: Even defeats are spun as wins, fueling a wave of disinformation to pressure the next city.
✅ What You Can Do:?
1. Learn Their Playbook
Understand the tactics used by anti-Israel activists. Learn the language—terms like apartheid-free zones, subnationalism, and ESG-based framing. Know how they operate before you respond.
2. Build a Local Network
Create a grassroots coalition with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and other local communities. Mobilize supporters to speak—or simply show up in solidarity at council meetings. Use tools like Spark Activist App to mobilize.
3. Prepare the Message
Equip your community with consistent talking points and prepared speeches (even AI-generated). Focus on:
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Stay Local – International conflicts are not the city’s job.
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Protect City Finances – Divesting from stable, global companies under political pressure is fiscally irresponsible.
4. Show Up in Person
Email helps, but physical presence changes outcomes. Fill the room at council meetings. Numbers matter.
Engage Council Members One-on-One Meet with representatives respectfully. Present BDS as:
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Discriminatory (especially toward Jews and Israelis)
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Divisive for your city
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Outside the scope of municipal authority
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Bring the BDS “toolkit” used in your country to show how these campaigns are preplanned and replicated across cities. Make clear that council members are being targeted as part of a larger political strategy.
Engage Council Members One-on-One
Meet with representatives respectfully. Present BDS as: Discriminatory (especially toward Jews and Israelis) Divisive for your city Outside the scope of municipal authority Bring the BDS “toolkit” used in your country to show how these campaigns are preplanned and replicated across cities. Make clear that council members are being targeted as part of a larger political strategy.
5. Use Local Laws
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Reference anti-discrimination laws that protect individuals based on ethnicity, religion, or nationality.
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Explain how actions targeting Israel or Israelis may violate these protections.
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Use legal tools effectively:
a. File hate incident reports when appropriate.
b. Submit formal complaints if the city or institution is not following its own ordinances or codes. -
➡️ Use the law to protect your rights and hold others accountable.
What Does Victory Look Like?
Your goal isn’t to “win a debate.” It’s to get your city council to adopt a clear position like this:
“Our city council will not engage in or adopt positions on international conflicts, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as these matters fall outside the scope of municipal governance.”
Such a ruling: ❌ Blocks future BDS-style proposals.
🛡️ Protects the city from being dragged into foreign policy debates.
🤝 Gives council members a neutral, non-political reason to avoid divisive votes.
📣 Sends a message to other cities: “This campaign stops here.”
Examples:
Division 2 - CITY COUNCIL | Code of Ordinances | Irvine, CA | Municode Library
The Islamist Election Wave | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Division 2 - CITY COUNCIL | Code of Ordinances | Irvine, CA | Municode Library