Latest Anti-BDS Legislation Seeks to Impose Anti-Boycott Laws on International Organizations
Image credit: TwitterBY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer
Another bill seeking to punish supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement has been introduced in the House and Senate. On March 23, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced S.720, Israel Anti-Boycott Act, while Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) introduced H.R.169.
If passed, the legislation would “impose fines and deny government loans to corporations refusing to do business with corporations in illegal Israeli settlements.”
The bill seeks to expand on the Combating BDS Act of 2017 introduced by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) on January 17 by extending U.S. anti-boycott laws to international organizations, such as the European Union and the United Nations.
Like similar anti-BDS bills introduced at state and national levels in the past, this bill infringes on Frist Amendment rights to free speech and boycotts. It also infringes on Americans’ rights to take a stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lawyers with organizations, such as Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights, argue that anti-BDS legislation cause a chilling effect in American society that silences those who support Palestinian human rights.
Advocates for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which held its annual conference early this week, are going to Capitol Hill to meet with their representatives about the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. Some 18,000 people attended the conference, all of whom have been instructed to press their lawmakers to fight BDS.
“Israel has long been targeted with economic warfare, and Congress has a proud history of defending the Jewish state from such attacks,” the AIPAC website stated. “By manipulating the language of international law, the BDS movement depicts Israel as an illegitimate aggressor, then seeks to sanction those who interact with the Jewish state.”
Although it is a fact that Israel has violated several international laws, such as building settlements in occupied territories, taking land and homes by force, and invoking an apartheid system, Israel acts above the law. With this legislation, the US may be able to help Israel act above those laws even further by imposing anti-boycott legislation onto international governing bodies – the only places where Palestinians have a voice.
