Argument Outline Template
-Working Title (Be Creative) 2pts:
Violence ends with Boycotting
-Audience and how you plan to appeal to them: 2pts
My target audience are the big countries and companies that still support Israel in the conflict as I want
to raise their awareness of the conflict and show them the true side of the problem as this will help
countries and big companies to reconsider their choice of which side to really support in the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict. To appeal to this audience, I would give real life examples of a huge company
that was a huge supporter of Israel and how it lost this had a negative impact on it. I will also give
examples of actions countries wanted to do against Israel as the pressure of boycotting reached many
aspects of life.
-Attention Grabber/ hook 3pts:
Imagine ending an ongoing conflict like the Israeli/Palestine conflict by just not buying the product of
the party you don’t support in the conflict or boycotting it, its just as simple and easy as it may sound
while having a huge effect.
-Explain the interests in this topic. What experiences have caused the writer (you) to become interested
(careful using 1st person)?
-Background information, including history and context for the problem: 3pts
- The Palestinian/Israeli conflict, deeply rooted in historical, religious, and territorial disputes, has
persisted for decades, resulting in human suffering and political tension. Stemming from the
establishment of Israel in 1948 and many wars and territorial clashes, the conflict has led to the
displacement of millions, ongoing violence, and contentious negotiations for peace. Boycotts have
emerged as a tool in the struggle for justice and change within this conflict. They aim to apply economic
pressure on the unjust or oppressive side of the conflict. In recent years, calls for boycotting Western
products and services have gained traction, particularly among activists advocating for Palestinian rights.
-Thesis statement, claim+2reasons:
Boycotting Western products/services is a potentially effective strategy to exert pressure on entities
involved in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, but knowing how this system works may lead to more people
understanding the concept and so accepting this idea and applying it, and seeing the results in real life
and how pressure from these boycott movements affects big supportive Israel companies or Israel itself.
-Body paragraph 1:
-Topic sentence (introduce main idea/ 1 reason stated in the thesis) 2pts:
-Today, we hear the term boycotting a lot and its mainly linked to the Israeli/Palestine conflict, however
to help to make boycotting spread and accepted by people, they need to know what is boycotting and
how does it work.
-Evidence: use mainly Logos and Ethos) 3pts:
- At its simplest, boycotting is a global nonviolent protest movement. It attempts to use economic and
cultural boycotts against a country which is Israel to end its controversial policies toward Palestinians.
-BDS is a Palestinian-led non-violent movement that began nearly two decades ago to call for a boycott
of Israeli and international companies. In the past, BDS has also focused on putting pressure on
companies to end investment in Israel and pull out of operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Organizers say the movement was inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, where
boycotts and sanctions played a major role in the eventual fall of the apartheid. They hope that the BDS
movement will exert similar pressure on Israel to ensure the rights of Palestinians. “BDS is the most
effective way for people of conscience to put their solidarity with Palestinian human rights into action,”
Luqa AbuFarah, the North America Coordinator of the BDS National Committee, tells TIME in a
statement.
-Analyze and evaluate:
-The following information supports my thesis as it explains what is meant by boycotting and how a
movement or organization was done called the “BDS” to mainly focus on boycotting Israel related
companies to put pressure on the Israel side to end the illegal and bad killing it does to the people of
Palestine.
-Concluding statement:
-Moreover, BDS was the start of what to be known as the biggest boycotting movement against Israel
and this is reflected with results and evidence that show that there may big western companies have
been affected and some had done good steps as a reply of this huge pressure by the BDS movement. is
not the only company that suffers from gender equity among its members also social media.
-Body paragraph 2:
- Topic sentence (introduce main idea/ 1 reason stated in the thesis) 2pts:
-After having a huge achievement as forming the BDS movement for more than two decades now, we
can clearly see its positive effect today and the pressure this movement has done with two big examples
being companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks.
-Evidence: use mainly Logos and Ethos) 3pts:
- The impact of the boycott is being acutely felt by franchisees in Muslim-majority countries. In Malaysia,
the franchise operator is seeking $1.3 million in damages from the BDS movement for alleged
defamation that it claims has hurt business. As for Starbucks, on Oct. 9, two days after Israel began its
retaliatory bombardment of Gaza over Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, Starbucks Workers United published a
now-deleted post on X declaring its “Solidarity with Palestine!” Although, Starbucks was never the target
of BDS as it didn’t qualify under the movement’s selection criteria, though the movement has
subsequently backed the union. The boycott movement isn’t focused on business alone. More recently,
there have also been calls for Israel to be rejected from sporting and cultural institutions, much in the
way that Russia was in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine. Just this month, 12 Middle Eastern
soccer associations called on FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, to ban the Israeli Football
Association from participating in the sport over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The International
Olympic Committee has faced similar calls to exclude Israel from this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.
Beyond the world of sports, there have also been calls for Israel to be excluded from Europe’s annual
Eurovision competition.
-Concluding statement:
-Concluding, boycotting Israel was a thing that started with a small movement called the BDS two
decades ago but now it grew and showed its side effects on companies like Starbucks or McDonald’s and
also expanded to also countries wanting to remove Israel from worldwide events.
-Body paragraph 3: Rebutal
-Refutation or opposing arguments explain one counter argument, state briefly what the opposing
opinion is (2sentences Max): 2pts:
- One opposing argument to boycotting Western products/services as a means to retaliate against the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict is that boycotts may not directly target the entities responsible for the
conflict. Instead, they could harm innocent businesses or individuals who have no direct involvement in
the conflict.
-Explain why your claim is stronger and more valid (refute and re-defend your claim towards the
previously provided counter argument). (3pts)
-My claim is stronger because I have evidence and research that support and show how boycotting
really is an effective way to solve the problem.
-Conclusion:
-Restate your thesis:
- Boycotting Western goods and services is a potentially effective tactic to put pressure on parties
involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, by understanding how this system operates, more
people may come to understand the idea, accept it, and put it into practice. They may also see the
practical effects of the boycott movements and how the pressure they exert affects major Israeli
corporations or Israel itself.
-Call to Action:
-Do you have a solution to the problem? How will it work? What are its advantages?
- One potential solution to the issue of boycotting Western products/services in the context of the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict could involve a targeted and strategic approach. Instead of boycotting all
western products, we could focus on specific companies or industries that directly support or benefit
from the conflict. This targeted approach would ensure that pressure is applied where it can be most
effective while minimizing collateral damage to innocent businesses or individuals.
-What does the future look like without some resolution to this problem?
- Without some resolution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the future appears troubled with continued
suffering, instability, and unrest. Insistent tensions and violence could escalate, leading to further loss of
lives or communities.
Cited
Kim, Whizy. “The Boycott Movement against Israel, Explained.” Vox, 28 Oct. 2023,
www.vox.com/world-politics/23935054/boycott-movement-palestine-against-israel-bds.