Clarity on the Israel Anti-Boycott Act

(Huffington Post) Steve Sheffey - The Israel Anti-Boycott Act was introduced to reinforce the bipartisan consensus that boycotting Israel is inimical to U.S. foreign policy interests. The Act simply extends existing U.S. law, passed in 1977, prohibiting participation in boycotts led by foreign governments against Israel, to include boycotts led by international governmental organizations such as the UN and EU. The ACLU believes that the law unconstitutionally impairs free speech, but both this bill and existing law prohibit specific commercial conduct, not free speech. Any person and any company is free to boycott Israel and to advocate for boycotts of Israel under current law and the proposed law. But cooperation with foreign governments, and under the new law, with international governmental organizations, is prohibited. The current law has withstood First Amendment challenges. If it is constitutional, then so is the proposed law.


2017-08-14 00:00:00

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