On November 17th, six young Palestinians challenged Israeli apartheid by boarding the Veolia-operated bus reserved for Jewish settlers, which crosses through occupied Palestinian lands on segregated roads, in a campaign modeled on the US Freedom Ride fifty years ago. Like the US Freedom Riders, the Palestinians were roughly removed from the bus and detained. These Palestinian Freedom Riders were not only following in the footsteps of the US Freedom Riders, but also activists involved in the historic anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. They called on people around the world to engage in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

BDS activists across the US joined in solidarity actions and called for divestment from Veolia. In Los Angeles, California, 20 members of different BDS groups, including two USACBI Organizing Committee members (David Lloyd and Sherna Berger Gluck) boarded the Veolia-operated DASH buses, distributed literature, and engaged in discussions about Israeli apartheid and BDS with passengers.