Anti-BDS Law

Officials And Activists Are Working To Overturn Illinois’s Anti-BDS Law

May 11, 2026 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Strategize! Anti-BDS Law, BDS Movement, Illinois, State legislature

Since 2014, U.S. lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The vast majority of these efforts have failed to pass, but more than 30 states have adopted anti-BDS laws. The first state-based measure to take specific action against Israel boycotts was passed in Illinois in 2015; 49-0 in the Senate and 102-0 in the House. “This historic legislation is an important first step in the fight against boycotts of Israel and I hope other states move quickly to follow our lead,” declared then-Governor Bruce Rauner after signing it into law.

Rare Right-Wing Revolt Sinks Bill Punishing Boycotts Of Israel

May 6, 2025 Robert Inlakesh, MintPress News. Educate! Anti-BDS Law, BDS Movement, First Amendment, Israel, Republicans, Right-Wing, Zionism

A sweeping pro-Israel bill backed by Republican leadership and AIPAC collapsed this week after a rare revolt by right-wing lawmakers who argued it posed a direct threat to Americans’ First Amendment rights. The bill, H.R. 867 — known as the IGO Anti-Boycott Act — would have imposed up to $1 million in fines and prison terms of up to 20 years on Americans who support international boycotts of Israel, even those led by the United Nations. The bill had been scheduled for a vote Monday but was abruptly pulled from the House calendar following backlash from a broad coalition of critics, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and conservative firebrands like Rep. Thomas Massie, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Anti-BDS Law Remains In Effect Because SCOTUS Refused To Review It

February 26, 2023 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Educate! Anti-BDS Law, Arkansas, BDS Movement, SCOTUS

While the far right Israeli regime escalates its repression of Palestinians, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to disturb an Arkansas law that requires government contractors to certify they are not boycotting Israel or “Israeli-controlled territories.” The high court didn’t specifically uphold Arkansas’s anti-boycott law. However, the court declined to review the case because there were not four “justices” who agreed to hear it. So Arkansas’s anti-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) law remains in effect. The BDS movement was launched in 2005, when 170 Palestinian civil society organizations called for boycott, divestment and sanctions — “non-violent punitive measures” — to last until Israel fully complies with international law.

As Anti-BDS Bills Become The Norm, ACLU Takes Fight To The Supreme Court

July 9, 2022 Jessica Buxbaum, Mintpress News. Resist! Anti-BDS Law, Arkansas, BDS Movement, Israel, Palestine, Supreme Court

Little Rock, Arkansas - In June, a federal appeals court upheld an Arkansas law barring state contractors from boycotting Israel, sparking concerns over First Amendment rights in the United States. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision made last year by a panel of three judges who found that mandating a pledge to not boycott Israel is unconstitutional. However, the recent court ruling determined boycotts are not expressive conduct and instead related to commercial activity and therefore the state can regulate such actions.

Israel Gets Georgia To Strip Free Speech Rights (Again)

February 7, 2022 The Empire Files. Resistance Report Anti-BDS Law, BDS Movement, Georgia, Israel

After Abby's major legal victory getting Georgia's anti-BDS law ruled unenforceable, Israel has hit back by getting the State Legislature to keep this brazenly unconstitutional law officially on the books.

US Attacks BDS For Same Reason Nixon Started Drug War

February 20, 2021 Caitlin Johnstone. Educate! Anti-BDS Law, Arkansas, BDS, Palestine

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Arkansas’ law against BDS — the use of boycott, divestment and sanctions as a means of protest against Israel —violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, because it plainly does. “The Arkansas Times has successfully challenged a law that prohibits the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel,” Mondoweiss reports. “The Little Rock-based weekly filed the lawsuit in 2018 and was represented by the ACLU. The paper takes no official position on BDS, but it launched the legal challenge after the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College refused to sign an advertising contract with The Arkansas Times, unless it signed the pledge. A U.S. district court judge dismissed the case in 2019, but last week the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found the law unconstitutional in a 2-1 decision.”

Germany’s Anti-BDS Resolution Violates The Right To Free Expression

January 9, 2021 Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada. Educate! Anti-BDS Law, Free Speech, Germany, Palestinian rights

German cultural institutions have criticized the German parliament’s anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution for creating a legal gray area and undermining the right to free expression. The 2019 resolution urges German institutions and public authorities to deny funding and facilities to civil society groups that support the BDS movement. But in December, major German art and academic institutions denounced the resolution as “detrimental to the democratic public sphere” and warned of its negative impact on the free exchange of ideas. That prompted an investigation, also in December, by the Bundestag’s scientific service department – an advisory body to the federal parliament – which reached a similar conclusion that the anti-BDS resolution...

Human Rights Defenders Sue German Parliament Over Anti-BDS Resolution

October 6, 2020 Adri Nieuwhof, Electronic Intifada. Resist! Anti-BDS Law, BDS, Germany, Palestinian rights

Three human rights defenders are mounting a court challenge to the German parliament’s resolution condemning BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights. The BDS supporters are suing the German parliament for violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Based on the widely criticized IHRA definition that is promoted by Israel and its lobby, the resolution passed by the Bundestag in May 2019 smears BDS activism as anti-Semitic.

Group That Helped Draft Anti-BDS Laws In US Didn’t Disclose Grant From Israel

September 5, 2020 By Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Educate! Anti-BDS Law, BDS, Congress, Israel

There’s been a lot of talk about foreign governments intervening in our political process over the last few years, but some stories certainly don’t permeate mainstream discourse. A case in point was on display this week. The Forward reported that the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) received a grant from the Israeli government for more than $100,000 last year. The IAF is a nonprofit that was established in 2007 to foster cooperation between pro-Israel forces and governments around the world. In 2014, the group helped develop South Carolina’s anti-BDS law, which prohibits state entities from contracting with groups that boycott Israel. The IAF went onto lobby 25 additional states to adopt anti-BDS measures after South Carolina’s was approved. The IAF didn’t disclose the grant (which is probably illegal), but it’s certainly not the only such organization to take money from Israel. The Forward reports that 11 pro-Israel groups have received $6.6 million from that government since 2018.

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