{"id":44304,"date":"2020-11-20T16:28:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T16:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44304"},"modified":"2020-11-20T16:28:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T16:28:50","slug":"us-curbs-on-israel-boycotts-an-attack-on-dissent-advocates-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44304","title":{"rendered":"US curbs on Israel boycotts \u2018an attack\u2019 on dissent, advocates say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Trump administration\u2019s latest attempt to equate boycotts of Israel with anti-Semitism is part of a years-long push to criminalise criticism of Israel in the United States and abroad, legal and political experts say.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced<\/a> US plans to label the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights as \u201canti-Semitic\u201d and curtail funding for groups that support it.<\/p>\n

Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal, a US-based legal advocacy group that supports Palestinian rights, said the measure aims to stifle advocacy for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one more step in a much larger and broader assault on a human rights movement globally, but also in the US \u2013 and that started long before [US President Donald] Trump,\u201d Khalidi told Al Jazeera in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

Palestine Legal has documented<\/a> more than 200 proposed bills that aimed to restrict Palestine advocacy in dozens of states across the US alone. Only 25 percent of those motions have been successful, but the group says 30 US states currently have laws on the books.<\/p>\n

Khalidi said the measures to curtail pro-Palestinian organising in the US have evolved over time, with the most recent wave being an attempt \u201cto distort and politicise anti-Semitism to include any and all criticism of the State of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

The intent has been the same, however, she said: to prevent Palestinians from speaking out about rights abuses and holding Israel accountable for its policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that all of these efforts are fundamentally an attack on our ability to dissent, on our right to engage in protest,\u201d Khalidi said.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu pleased<\/h2>\n

In a statement<\/a> on Thursday, Pompeo described the BDS movement as \u201ca manifestation of anti-Semitism\u201d and said he had instructed the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to identify groups that support it.<\/p>\n

Launched by Palestinian civil society groups in 2005, the BDS movement seeks to use non-violent means to pressure Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, ensure equal rights for Palestinian citizens and respect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n

BDS advocates have expressly disavowed anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, but the movement has been a target of the Israeli government and its allies in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know this sounds simple to you, Mr Prime Minister,\u201d Pompeo told Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference, about the new BDS decree.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday [Maya Alleruzzo\/Pool via Reuters]<\/figure>\n

\u201cIt seems like a statement of fact, but I want you to know that we will immediately take steps to identify organisations that engage in hateful BDS conduct, and withdraw US government support for such groups. The time is right,\u201d Pompeo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds simply wonderful to me,\u201d Netanyahu replied, according to a State Department readout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what groups the State Department might label as BDS backers.<\/p>\n

\u2018Extremely significant\u2019<\/h2>\n

Pompeo also announced that the US would allow products originating in Area C of the occupied West Bank \u2013 an area that accounts for 60 percent of the territory and includes Jewish-only settlements \u2013 to be labelled as\u202f\u201dIsrael\u201d,\u202f\u201dProduct of Israel\u201d, or \u201cMade in Israel\u201d when exported.<\/p>\n

Israel for years has advocated for goods originating in Jewish-only settlements to be labelled this way to avoid global boycott efforts.<\/p>\n

Josh Ruebner, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, said the country of origin directive<\/a> may appear bureaucratic, but it is \u201cextremely significant\u201d because it \u201cdesignates illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as being part of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also treats the West Bank and Gaza Strip as separate entities, a move Ruebner said \u201cfurther segments the Palestinian people politically and geographically\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then, by recognising Area C as under a different administrative arrangement than other parts of the West Bank, it also \u201cfurther reinforces and strengthens the US case for enabling Israel to annex as much West Bank territory as it wants between now and January 20\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

That is US President-elect Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration date.<\/p>\n

\u2018Blatantly unconstitutional\u2019<\/h2>\n

Most of the Trump administration\u2019s pro-Israel policy changes \u2013 including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and cutting funding to Palestinian refugees \u2013 have been enacted through executive action, which means that Biden can overturn them.<\/p>\n

During his presidential campaign, Biden said<\/a> that while he opposes BDS, he would \u201cprotect the constitutional right of our citizens to free speech\u201d. He also said he does not support efforts to criminalise free speech and expression.<\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday that criticism of Israel is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThreatening to block government funds to groups that criticize Israel is blatantly unconstitutional,\u201d the group tweeted, in response to Pompeo\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n

\n

Criticism of Israel, or any government, is fully protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

Threatening to block government funds to groups that criticize Israel is blatantly unconstitutional. https:\/\/t.co\/mUwxA0hZAk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ACLU (@ACLU) November 19, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Biden\u2019s \u2018real test\u2019<\/h2>\n

But Biden is unlikely to overturn Trump administration measures aimed at limiting Israel boycotts, Ruebner told Al Jazeera, since doing so comes at a steep political cost in the US, where most Democrats and Republican lawmakers are staunch defenders of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Pompeo is) throwing down a marker saying (to Biden), you have to now say that Israeli settlements are illegal in order to reverse what I did. He\u2019s also saying that you have to affirmatively say that BDS is not anti-Semitic in order to reverse what I did,\u201d Ruebner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t think Biden is going to take up those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, Khalidi said Biden has a \u201creal test\u201d in front of him to demonstrate \u201chis willingness to stand up for human rights and for freedom, and to really reject what is, in essence, a Trumpian smear\u201d.<\/p>\n

US President-elect Joe Biden has previously condemned the BDS movement [File: Carolyn Kaster\/AP]<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe know that Biden has been no friend to Palestinians<\/a>. He has stated very clearly that he intends to back Israel and its continued occupation and to preserve the unconditional support for Israel that has been the US\u2019s position,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s imperative that we expose what is really at stake here \u2026 and to reject this effort to conflate what is a movement for freedom with an ideology of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration\u2019s latest attempt to equate boycotts of Israel with anti-Semitism is part of a years-long push to criminalise criticism of Israel in the United States and abroad, legal and political experts say. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced US plans to label the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}