Washington- Promising figures from within the right -wing movement in the Republican Party (one of the most supportive supporters of US President Donald Trump Walaa) opposed Bill No. 867 before the House of Representatives, which is concerned with expanding the sanctions circle on supporters to boycott Israel products, to include international organizations.
Representative Josh Gotheimer, a democrat from New Jersey, had to withdraw the draft resolution after the voting scheduled for Monday was canceled.
The opponents of the draft law criticize legislation as it contradicts the right of freedom of expression guaranteed in the first amendment to the United States constitution, while its supporters say it is targeting “anti -Semitic actions” as they described, including boycotting Israel.
The BDS movement seeks to uncover the practices of the Israeli occupation and expose its racism, and to stop all forms of normalization with it, and calls for boycotting companies that support Israel.
Sensation penalties
The project was adopted by Representatives Gotheimer’s and Republican Mike Luller from New York. It aims to expand civil sanctions, impose criminal fines of up to one million dollars, and a period of up to 20 years in prison for those who support calls to boycott Israel.
The draft resolution came in light of the continued protests movement against Israel due to its aggression against the Gaza Strip, especially in American universities, which have not stopped since its outbreak in April last year.
The protests against Israel have divided the members of Congress between a group that it sees as a constitutional American right that should not be violated, and another team that considers it anti -Semitic and threatening Jewish students.
“The draft law aims to reduce anti -Semitism, but it threatens the rights of the first constitutional amendment. The Americans have the right to boycott, and the punishment for this threatens freedom of expression, I refuse to anti -Semitism and strongly condemn it, but I cannot violate the first amendment.”
The conservative influencer Charlie Kirk opposed the legislation, claiming that “he would criminalize the private boycott of Israel, and will only play more anti -Semitism, and play a role in the growing accounts that Israel is running the US government.”
While the Republican Representative Marjuri Taylor Green, in a tweet on her on the X platform, said, “I will vote without, my job is to defend the rights of Americans to buy or boycott those who choose it without the government imposing harsh fines or imprisoning them, but what I do not understand is why I vote on a draft law on behalf of other countries and not the executive orders of the president concerning our country?”.
For its part, APAC, the largest American Jewish lobby organizations, expressed its support for the draft decision. She said that she strongly supports the anti -boycott law, which confirms that the United States will not support the boycott that the United Nations incited “against our ally Israel.”
The adaptation of the law
The success of the right and left current in the face of legislation is an example of how to mobilize the actors on the political margin to thwart legislation and bills in support of Israel, claiming to combat anti -Semitism, which is generally enjoying the support of the two parties.
The Jewish lobby worked to expand the current anti -boycott laws that were approved for the first time in the 1970s, and targeted primarily a confrontation to boycott the League of Arab States to Israel, and additional restrictions were passed to become a new law in 2018 during the first Trump rule.
The current law imposes penalties on companies or individuals who comply or make the foreign foreign boycott of America’s allies as a condition for doing business in foreign countries.
Last year, the two parties’ support for the legislation last year was so strong that the House of Representatives approved it in February last year by a large majority after it was approved in late 2023 within the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives by a majority of 42 votes compared to 3 votes, but the matter changed this year.
In response to a question about the reason for withdrawing the bill, and whether it will be returned at a later time? A spokesman for the majority leader in House of Representatives, Steve Scales, told the Goyesh Insider.
Control of the boycott
More than 30 American states have adopted laws that narrow the screws on the boycott of Israel, but there is no similar law at the federal level.
Most of the laws against the boycott of Israel take one of two forms:
- The laws that focus on contracts, and require government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
- Laws focus on investment, and impose on public investment funds to avoid boycotting entities for Israel.
Separately, Congress looked at many legislation against the boycott of Israel, and the Senate approved a bill containing anti -boycott rulings on January 28, 2019, with a majority of 74 votes compared to 19 votes.
The House of Representatives also issued a decision condemning the boycott of Israel on July 24, 2019, with a majority of 398 votes compared to 17 votes, and despite this, the efforts of the Jewish lobby did not succeed in criminalizing the boycott of American citizens of Israeli products and services.
