Thursday, June 14, 2018

More on the anti-Israel boycott law

Continuing this post, I attended a meeting last night wherein the speaker said that the proposed law penalizing those supporting the boycott of Israel only applied to international governmental organizations. It does that but it also states in the bill summary:

"The bill prohibits any U.S. person engaged [in] interstate or foreign commerce from supporting any request by a foreign country to impose any boycott against a country that is friendly to the United States and that is not itself the object of any form of boycott pursuant to United States law or regulation."

The ACLU's revised letter dated 3/6/18 on the issue to the Senate clearly states that S. 720 would amend the Export Administration Act and "would punish Americans who participate in constitutionally protected political boycotts." Granted this applies only to 'commercial' boycotts as noted above about those engaged in interstate or foreign business. 'Non-commercial' boycotts are allowed. The ACLU finds that it still violates the 1st Amendment. 

Also see the Office of Antiboycott Compliance, US. Dept. of Commerce, which states: "The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to the activities of U.S. persons in the interstate or foreign commerce of the United States." Granted it is "limited to actions taken with intent to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott." I guess such 'intent' wouldn't be that hard to manufacture in the current political climate. Also note the criminal penalties involved.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.