BDS, Defamation and Accountability: A Legal Strategy Against Anti-Israel Campaigns

Can legal accountability succeed where public diplomacy has failed? In this episode of Basic Law, attorney Mark Goldfeder explains how a series of innovative legal challenges are taking aim at what he describes as a growing ecosystem of anti-Israel discrimination, defamation and institutional bias. Viewers will learn how shareholder activism is being used to scrutinize the New York Times over controversial reporting, why a Brooklyn food co-op's boycott of Israeli products may violate civil rights law and how international bodies like the United Nations can help create narratives that ripple through society. More than a discussion of individual lawsuits, this episode explores a broader strategy: using legal tools to push back against campaigns that seek to isolate, delegitimize or discriminate against Israel and its supporters.