Best way to deal with British promoters of anti-Israel boycott… - Updated
May 18th, 2007 . by ImshinComment #4 posted in response to this article in Haaretz:
Title: Best way to deal with British promoters of anti-Israel boycott…Name: Dr. L. Brnd
City: San Diego State: USA
..is to transmit records of their names and actions to US Jewish organizations, so that strict US anti-boycott sanctions can be imposed against these individuals and organizations — permanently barring them from US entry visas and receiving US government grants, fellowships, etc. Anti-israel boycotts are considered hate crimes in the US, and are also covered under anti-terrorism laws. Participating organizations and corporations are subject to the above sanctions barring them from US business. We don`t want these racist bastards here on visa, anymore than we want neo-Nazis or Jihadis, who are barred under similar legislation. And we certainly don`t want these so-called “academics” receiving USA grant monies for which they are clearly ineligible.
This is really important information. I wasn’t aware of this at all.
Bish suggests we send this to our Foreign and Education Ministers. In case they also didn’t know.
Link to article via Yael.
Update: Alisa says she’s not sure this info is correct. Any ideas anyone?
Update update: Brian Ulrich: I am 99% certain there is no American law against anti-Israel boycotts. For one thing, I’m not sure how such a law would pass constitutional muster. For another, there are too many groups that occasionally flirt with such a boycott, though the movement obviously isn’t as strong as it apparently is in the UK.
and then he adds: Here’s a government web site. I need to read through it more. I have to admit while I (obviously) don’t boycott Israel, making it illegal for me to potentially do so seems to me to infringe upon my freedoms.
Haggai Elitzur: That guy in the Haaretz comments didn’t seem to be providing any helpful links, but I came across this U.S. government website (from the Department of Commerce) which has a lot of details about U.S. anti-boycott laws.
The basic gist of it seems to be that U.S.-based companies can be fined if they sign contracts that contain clauses that make tangible concessions to the Arab boycott of Israel. For instance, that website lists some case histories, and one of them was a company that paid a fine for signing a contract to ship goods via Japan to Saudi Arabia that contained a clause saying “we certify that the goods shipped are neither of Israeli origin nor do they contain any Israeli materials.”
Here’s an organization that’s apparently been trying to get the Palestinian “divestment” movement shut down via anti-boycott laws.
Being very much not a lawyer, I can’t speak with any authority at all about whether these U.S. laws could be applied against any of the British boycotts. But there are people out there who have been working on this angle for the past few years.
