Why are these states against Israel boycotts?

October 20, 2017 2:33 PM

There are currently headlines about Texas hurricane relief requiring recipients to declare they are not boycotting Israel.

I'm very confused, I didn't know individual American states had pro-Israel policy. Apparently the state of Kansas has a law that requires all state contractors to swear that they don't boycott Israel. It seems obvious to me that individual states cannot tell people what political boycotts they can engage in. Happily, the ACLU is on the case in both incidents. Could someone explain the angles to me, please?

posted by honey badger to Law & Government (10 answers total)

Best answer: Conservative evangelical Christians support and defend Israel because end-times prophesy requires Israel to rebuild the temple. No Israel, no temple. No temple, no rapture.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:48 PM on October 20, 2017 [10 favorites]

Best answer: 21 U.S. states have passed anti-BDS laws. The laws typically ban public institutions and private corporations who accept public funding from participating in boycotts of Israel.

They are:

Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Michigan
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
posted by zarq at 3:00 PM on October 20, 2017

The laws in most (if not all states) don't target individuals.

However, it was reported today that the town of Dickenson,Texas has inserted language into the online application for Hurricane Harvey relief. That's almost definitely illegal. (In addition to being morally repugnant.)
posted by zarq at 3:05 PM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

BDS is a left-wing cause. Being anti-BDS is therefore being Right.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 5:58 PM on October 20, 2017

Additionally, states can do whatever they want, unless the Constitution says they can’t. Although not a BDS fan myself, I still hope these laws will be put to the test, because they seem inherently limiting of free speech.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:00 PM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

The weakness of the anti-BDS laws isn't that they prohibit political activity -- the courts have long upheld the government requiring political abstention from those who would choose to receive tax dollars -- but that they prohibit only one particular political position, in this case the pro-Palestinian one, while the pro-Israeli one is permitted.

In general, that's only been allowed with respect to political positions considered, for want of a better phrase, anti-American -- Communism, support for an active military enemy of the day, etc. While it is certainly the bi-partisan foreign policy of the United States to support Israel and there are specific and narrow anti-boycott federal laws, the courts are going to be reluctant to go that far. The real risk that progressive take with litigating against anti-BDS is establishing precedents that will be used against the ideological strictures of the government institutions they control (public universities, big cities, blue states).
posted by MattD at 8:47 PM on October 20, 2017

Also lobbying groups do sometimes focus their activities on cities and states. Whenever I see press releases about some midsized American city council signing a resolution faking a side in conflicts in the region I study, I cringe.
posted by k8t at 9:33 PM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

BDS is a left-wing cause. Being anti-BDS is therefore being Right.

The majority of American Jews are progressive leftists on most issues. Some of us are also pro-Israel's existence. Some of us are Zionists who oppose the Occupation and think the Palestinians should have their own state alongside Israel.

Supporting Israel or being against a boycott is not a right-wing position, even if some leftists try to cast it that way, and even if the right thinks they own it.
posted by zarq at 11:11 AM on October 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

Zarq, you’re quite right, and with minor quibbles you’re describing me pretty well. My first answer was glib and intended to answer from the point of view of Republicans in states like mine in which Jews have a negligible political influence but the Republicans in power cast themselves as “pro-Israel” without nuance or, typically, sense.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:18 PM on October 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fair enough!

The American Right has completely dominated this issue in recent years, casting support for Israel's existence as an excuse to also disparage Palestinians, Palestinian statehood and to excuse the Occupation.

It's frustrating!
posted by zarq at 12:35 PM on October 21, 2017 [1 favorite]