It is fascinating to watch some US senators tripping over themselves as they attempt to defend their support for or opposition to proposed legislation that would make it a federal crime to support the international campaign to Boycott, Divest, or Sanction (BDS) Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian lands.
What ties these officials up in knots are their efforts to square the circle of their “love of Israel”, their opposition to BDS, their support for a “two-state solution” and their commitment to free speech.
The bill in question, S720, was introduced in March by Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat. It opposes calls by the United Nations to boycott or blacklist companies that support Israeli activities in the territories occupied in the 1967 war.
The bill further prohibits any US person from supporting this UN call to boycott and establishes stiff fines and/or imprisonment for Americans who violate this prohibition.
There are a number of problems with the legislation. In the first place, its supporters wrongly characterise the intent of the UN approach as “anti-Israeli”.
In fact, the UN Human Rights Council specifically targets only businesses that engage in activities in “territories occupied (by Israel) since 1967”. The UN target is not Israel, but Israeli actions that serve to consolidate its hold over the occupied territories.
Then there is concern that making it illegal to boycott Israel criminalises free speech and stifles legitimate peaceful protest.
S720 quickly gained 48 co-sponsors (35 Republicans and 13 Democrats) and has been supported by AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League, so you might have expected it to sail through Congress and be put on the President’s desk for his signature.
That has not been the case due to the efforts of many, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other progressive organisations led by MoveOn.
In order to build support for their effort, advocates for Israel have tried to portray BDS in the harshest of terms. They have made Israel the victim while portraying advocates of BDS as “virulently anti-Semitic” aggressors.
All of this has been done to obfuscate the reality that BDS is nothing more than a “strategic Palestinian-led form of non-violent resistance to the occupation and denial of human rights”.
After 50 years of occupation, Palestinians have taken it upon themselves to challenge the world community to act.
They have had enough of seeing their homes demolished and lands confiscated to make way for Jewish-only roads and settlement colonies in their midst. They want an end to the daily humiliation of being a captive people denied basic freedom and justice.
Instead of submitting to the occupier, they have decided to boycott and have urged those who support their human rights to join them in their call for an end to the occupation.
Their action is as legitimate as was the call of African Americans in the Deep South in the 1950s and that of Nelson Mandela in South Africa in the 1980s.
For the Senate to oppose or to punish those who support this Palestinian call to individuals, businesses, and governments to boycott, divest, or sanction Israel for its oppressive occupation would put the Senate in the position of saying it supports Israeli practices; doesn’t want Palestinians to use non-violent means to protest their treatment; and/or simply doesn’t believe Palestinians are equal humans who deserve to have their rights protected.