Jewish Currents’ Mari Cohen discusses the Ben and Jerry’s case with FMEP’s Lara Friedman.

In 2014, opponents of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel began promoting legislation in various U.S. states denouncing the BDS movement. In 2015, these…

“Following a series of First Amendment challenges to the laws, many states now set a minimum amount of $100,000 in trade before anti-BDS measures can be triggered against a contractor. That would mean that smaller Ben & Jerry’s contracts would remain unaffected, even in states with anti-BDS laws. But Friedman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that future contracts could be jeopardized. ‘If Ben & Jerry’s bids annually for a contract to provide ice cream for the University of Texas, and the University of Texas has an anti-BDS clause that you have to sign when you’re putting in a bid, that could be a problem,’ she said.”

“The effort here is to impose the greatest possible reputational harm and business costs on Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever,” both to reverse the policy and send a chilling message to other companies, Lara Friedman, president of the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, told Foreign Policy. ‘But this was the point of these anti-BDS laws: redefining support for Israel as support for Israel and its permanent control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem.’”

“Lara Friedman, who tracks anti-BDS legislation as president of the Foundation of Middle East Peace, said she expected states to act swiftly. Lara Friedman, who tracks anti-BDS legislation as president of the Foundation of Middle East Peace, said she expected states to act swiftly. ‘For legislators trying to make a really political statement, I don’t see them saying, ‘Well let’s wait and see,’” she said, adding that settlement boycott opponents will likely be “scrubbing the books in the states that have these laws to see if they can take some punitive action.’”

“Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace said that while some state-level anti-BDS laws have been called unconstitutional along the way, none of the laws stipulate that boycotting Israel or settlements is illegal, nor will anyone face legal repercussions for boycotting in a state with an anti-BDS law on its books. ‘When people talk about BDS laws barring boycotts, they can’t bar people from boycotting but they can try to attach a punishment. The punishment selected is ‘If you do this, you can’t enjoy the benefits of taxpayer-funded contracts,’ Friedman said. ‘This is an illegal, unconstitutional condition, which is why courts have been so unfriendly to these laws.'”