There is an ongoing campaign in Congress and in state legislatures to pass laws barring BDS against Israel and/or boycotts or other forms of economic…

At the end of 2016 new legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate entitled, the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016” (S.10 & HR…

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…

Beginning 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 efforts shifted/expanded to efforts in the U.S. Congress (as well as at the state level) to hijack concerns about BDS against Israel in order to pass legislation giving unprecedented legitimacy and recognition to Israeli settlements by, in effect, making it U.S. policy to treat them as part of Israel.

Op-ed by Lara Friedman originally published on Medium, March 19, 2018. In the turbulent Trump era, concern about free speech is a bipartisan affair. Republicans decry efforts to silence voices of the political and religious Right; Democrats celebrate protests against the Trump administration and its policies. At the same time, however, lawmakers from both parties are working together to erode the First Amendment, in a joint effort to create a new political free speech exception for Israel. The potential ramifications of this effort are far-reaching and should provoke deep bipartisan alarm.

People continue to argue about what the Israel Anti-Boycott Act would or wouldn’t do, or aim or doesn’t aim to do. It is a very…

Op-ed by Lara Friedman originally published in the Forward, January 31, 2018 The recent Pew Poll reporting a decline in Democratic support for Israel sparked…

When it comes to the wave of Israel/settlements-focused anti-boycott bills laws being considered and adopted in state legislatures (and by executive orders), many people –…

Op-ed by Lara Friedman originally published in The Forward, January 9, 2018 Over the weekend, in a decision redolent of the repressive policies of the…

People continue to argue about what the Israel Anti-Boycott Act would or wouldn’t do, or aim or doesn’t aim to do. It is a very odd debate, because this is a matter of facts, not opinion (opinions may well differ on what people hope it will or won’t do; the facts about what it would do to the law are a matter of record).

To facilitate a clearer debate about this issue, I’ve helpfully pulled into this document all of the existing law that would be amended by the S. 720 (with links), and then I’ve gone ahead and made the amendments that S. 270 would make in those laws.