Web traffic to websites expressing support for BDS (protest pictured) has risen. Photo: Mohamed Ouda via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A poll for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth conducted by SimilarWeb shows a 33-percent increase in Web traffic to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement websites over the last year, though the overall traffic is still considered relatively low.

The poll collected data from websites such as bdsmovement.net that express support for and actively promote petitions to boycott Israel, in addition to posting updates on BDS efforts. These websites had 285,000 entries from users around the world in the first quarter of this year, compared to 214,000 entries in the first quarter of 2014.

SimilarWeb reports that 47 percent of users visiting BDS websites were from the U.S., as well as 14 percent from the U.K., 8.3 percent from Canada, 2.8 percent from Ireland, 2.47 percent from Germany, and 1.86 percent from Israel.

Overall, despite the rise in traffic, the number of visitors to these websites is considered low. But during last year’s Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a large spike in such traffic was recorded—about 2 million entries during the 50-day conflict.