CAIR slams US Senate’s passage of bill to counter Israel boycott movement

NEW YORK, Feb 06 (APP):The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Muslim advocacy group, has condemned the US Senate’s adoption of a bill that encourages states to cut off contractors who boycott Israel, a measure included in a wider Middle East policy legislation that reinforces Washington’s support for the Jewish country.
The bill is aimed at discouraging the growing BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement that aims to end Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The bill, which the Senate passed on a 77-23 vote, is unlikely to succeed in the House of Representatives, where the majority Democratic caucus is split between supporters of Israel and a newly empowered progressive wing critical of the US treatment of the Palestinians.
“It is a shame that the US Senate would pass such an unconstitutional bill that violates the First Amendment right of all Americans to challenge the illegal and discriminatory actions of a foreign government and goes against the principles of free speech on which our country was founded,” CAIR’s Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, said in a statement.
“CAIR urges all members of the House (of Representatives) who support free speech to oppose and remove the anti-BDS provisions of Senate Bill 1.” McCaw noted that the bill would make Israel the only country in the world, including the United States itself, that it was illegal to boycott.
Every Republican in the 100-member Senate but one voted in favour of the bill, known as S. 1, while the Democrats were split 25-22.
On Tuesday, Senator Rand Paul, the lone Republican who voted against the bill, said the right to boycott was an essential part of free speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“It is a fundamental aspect to freedom: to be able to dissent, to protest, even when everybody thinks you’re wrong. That’s what America is about,” Paul said on the Senate floor before the vote.
Nearly every potential Democratic presidential contender, including senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, as well as those considering 2020 candidacies – Sherrod Brown, Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders – voted against the legislation.
Free speech and Palestinian advocacy groups slammed the bill, accusing its sponsors of trying to muzzle criticism of Israel at the expense of the US constitution.
However, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who introduced the measure, has fiercely argued in its defence, saying that states have a right to “boycott the boycotters”.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also called on House of Representatives members to drop the anti-BDS act because of the “threat” it poses to Americans’ right to free speech.
“Today the Senate chose politics over the Constitution and trampled on the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” the group said in a statement after the vote.
While the bill boosts local and state efforts against boycotting Israel, it also extends to boycotts of “Israeli-controlled territories”, effectively targeting boycotts of Israeli businesses in the illegally occupied Palestinian West Bank and Syrian Golan Heights.