The Anti-Israel Boycott Bill: Turning a threat into an opportunity

Securing a victory against the bill which would make it a felony to support the BDS movement will allow us to engage in solidarity with Palestinians and safeguard our fragile democracy from foreign interests
July 27, 2017
Middle East Eye

Activists for Palestinian rights have long known of Israel’s efforts to criminalise the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the global solidarity campaign that seeks to put pressure on Israel until it ends its violations of international law and the human rights of the Palestinians.

Various bills have been introduced over the past couple of years in multiple cities around the US, seeking to stem grassroots support for this non-violent strategy, most notably by equating it with anti-Semitism. As a result, regional and national organisations and coalitions have formed to counter the arguments presented by Israel-supporters.

There is also the National Lawyers Guild which, in a much-referenced 2009 legal memo explaining the legality of BDS, affirmed that "advocacy of political positions and political action is the most highly protected form of speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution".   Foremost amongst these is Palestine Legal, founded in 2012 with a mission “to bolster the Palestine solidarity movement by challenging efforts to threaten, harass and legally bully activists into silence and inaction”.  

Others, such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, have noted that boycotts are an honourable American practice, beginning with the “Boston Tea Party,” and leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycotts that paved the way to desegregation. And the ACLU pointed out, in a recent Op-Ed, that the Supreme Court confirmed in 1982 that the NAACP economic boycott of segregated businesses in the 1966 US South rests “on the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values".

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July 27, 2017