Category Archives: Palestine Legal

Updated: 100 Groups Call on Congress to Oppose Israel Anti-Boycott Act

Updated: 100 Groups Call on Congress to Oppose Israel Anti-Boycott Act

IABA statement logos3.jpg

Updated August 31, 2017 

One hundred national and local civil and human rights organizations endorsed a joint statement to members of Congress expressing strong opposition to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and calling on lawmakers to reject – rather than amend – the bill.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, introduced in the U.S. Congress in March 2017, amends anti-boycott provisions of the federal Export Administration Act (EAA), enacted in 1979. Those provisions prohibit specific actions taken to comply with or support a boycott of Israel “fostered or imposed” by a foreign country. The sponsors of the new Act propose to add new restrictions on boycotts “fostered or imposed” by an international governmental organization (IGO), such as the European Union or the United Nations. Violations are punishable by exorbitant fines and up to 20 years in prison.

Due to widespread outrage over the bill, its chief Senate sponsor, Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin, has stated that he is open to amending the bill to remove criminal penalties. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand withdrew sponsorship from the bill in early August, saying that she could not support it “in its current form.” But amending the bill does not resolve its underlying problems, including the chilling effect it will have on constitutionally-protected speech.

The full statement is below. Click here for a PDF version.

Note: We will continue to update the statement with new endorsements. If your organization would like to endorse the statement, please fill out this form.


Oppose the Israel Anti-Boycott Act

We are a diverse group of civil and human rights organizations writing to express our strong opposition to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720 and H.R. 1697) (Act). We call on you to publicly oppose this unconstitutional, draconian bill and to affirm the First Amendment right of all people in the United States to support political boycotts as a means to achieve justice and equality for Palestinians.

The Act amends anti-boycott provisions of the federal Export Administration Act (EAA), enacted in 1979.1 Those provisions prohibit specific actions taken to comply with or support a boycott of Israel “fostered or imposed” by a foreign country. The sponsors of the new Act propose to add new restrictions on boycotts “fostered or imposed” by an international governmental organization (IGO), such as the European Union or the United Nations. Violations are punishable by exorbitant fines and up to 20 years in prison.

This amendment would seriously threaten fundamental First Amendment freedoms and discourage U.S. individuals, businesses, nonprofits or others from supporting boycotts for Palestinian rights. Even if the bill were amended to remove penalties, its passage would still send a message that political boycotts for Palestinian rights are disfavored by the government, causing a severe chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech.

The Act would chill protected speech despite the fact that under its terms, it should not reach the vast majority of boycott activities related to Israeli government policies. Most boycotts for Palestinian rights are not conducted in response to a call for boycott from a foreign country or IGO, but are acts of conscience seeking justice and equality for Palestinians and Israel’s compliance with international law. Indeed, people across the United States are increasingly using strategies involving boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights.

The United States has a long and rich history of boycotts being used to take collective action to advance social justice and secure civil and human rights. Boycotts helped end racial segregation in the United States and apartheid in South Africa. More recently, boycotts helped end a regressive North Carolina law targeting transgender people, and boycott and divestment campaigns have been organized to end university investments in the private prison and fossil fuel industries.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that peaceful political boycotts are protected by the First Amendment.2 The government may not enact laws that would punish those who support political boycotts or compromise the right to support political boycotts.

The Act’s chief Senate sponsor, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, has written that the Act does not target political boycotts.3 Instead, he claims, it merely expands preexisting law to prohibit U.S. businesses from complying with boycott requirements imposed by IGOs. In other words, he argues that the bill does not prohibit political speech but targets “commercial conduct,” which is afforded a lower level of constitutional protection.4

Senator Cardin’s interpretation fails to consider the following:

·         Political speech activities would be directly prohibited by the Act.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act would directly prohibit political speech activities, in violation of the First Amendment. Consider the situation of a human rights organization that distributes research on companies operating in illegal West Bank settlements. This organization could be in violation of the Act if the organization’s intent is to support a call by an IGO to boycott settlements.

·         The Act would empower overzealous presidential administrations to target supporters of political boycotts.

We have no doubt that the Act would be used as a pretext for overzealous presidential administrations, lobbied by Israel advocacy groups (including those that support this bill), to investigate and even punish supporters of Palestinian rights, whether or not they actually support a call for boycotts by an IGO, which they must do to trigger the Act. Arab and Muslim communities will likely face the brunt of this potential for overbroad enforcement.

From 2014 through 2016, Palestine Legal responded to 650 incidents of suppression nationwide targeting speech supportive of Palestinian rights, an additional 200 requests for legal assistance in anticipation of such incidents, and dozens of efforts to enact federal, state and local laws aimed at punishing BDS activism and chilling speech supportive of Palestinian rights.5 Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights documented this pattern of suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy in a 2015 report, The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the U.S.6

As such, our belief that the Act, if enacted, would be enforced in this way is based on a well-researched pattern of suppression of First Amendment-protected speech and actions in support of Palestinian rights involving heightened government surveillance, investigations and prosecutions of individuals due to their support for Palestinian freedom, as well as private harassment and targeting, including by organizations that support the Act.

·         The Act will have the effect of chilling First Amendment-protected political speech.

Despite Senator Cardin’s efforts to insist the Israel Anti-Boycott Act doesn’t target political conduct, the leading lobby group for U.S. support of Israel, America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), itself frames it as a measure to “Combat the BDS Movement.”7  In the past two years, 21 states have enacted laws aimed at punishing participation in political boycotts for Palestinian rights.8 Together with these state laws, the Act will create a severe chilling effect on people across the country who are otherwise inclined to support First Amendment-protected boycotts for Palestinian rights, or who are merely curious to learn more. The wave of anti-BDS legislation, promoted by Israel advocacy groups to undermine the movement for Palestinian rights in the United States aims to send a clear signal that support for Palestinian rights is disfavored by our government and is potentially punishable.

Statements by state officials and Israel advocates illustrate their intent to thwart grassroots boycott campaigns. For example, when a state senator in Washington introduced an anti-BDS bill, he said, “If students want to protest on campus and do what students do, that’s just fine. But we’ll settle the question for them, the adults in [the] legislature.”9 The leader of one Israel advocacy group boasted, “[w]hile you were doing your campus antics, the grown-ups were in the state legislature passing laws that make your cause improbable.”10

Amending the Act to reduce the associated penalties or otherwise will not solve the underlying problems listed above, which illustrate how it is unconstitutional. We call on members of Congress who currently support the Act to withdraw their sponsorship. And we call on all members of Congress to publicly oppose the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and to affirm the First Amendment right to support political boycotts – including those aimed at achieving justice and equality for Palestinians.

Signatories (listed alphabetically)

  • American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
  • American Friends Service Committee
  • American Muslims for Palestine
  • Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
  • Center for Constitutional Rights
  • CODEPINK
  • Council on American-Islamic Relations
  • Defending Rights and Dissent
  • Friends of Sabeel – North America
  • Jewish Voice for Peace
  • Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
  • Labor for Palestine
  • National Lawyers Guild and the National Lawyers Guild Palestine Sub-Committee
  • Palestine Legal
  • Project South
  • Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
  • United Church of Christ
  • United Methodists for Kairos Response
  • U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
  • U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights
  • U.S. Palestinian Community Network
  • War Resisters League

 

This statement has been endorsed by the following organizations, listed by state (updated August 31, 2017):

Alabama

  • Birmingham Peace Project

Arizona

  • Arizona Progressive Coalition – AZPC Inc.

California

  • 14 Friends of Palestine
  • Arab American Civic Council
  • Buena Vista United Methodist Church
  • Chico Palestine Action Group
  • Culture and Conflict Forum
  • Democrats for Palestinian Equal Rights
  • Friends of Sabeel, Sacramento Region
  • International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
  • Israel Palestine Task Force of the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Bay Area Chapter
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles Chapter
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Sacramento Chapter
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego Chapter
  • Northern California International Solidarity Movement
  • QUIT: Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
  • Sacramento Area Peace Action
  • Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at California State University, Fullerton
  • United Methodists’ Holy Land Taskforce
  • Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento

Connecticut

  • Connecticut Peace and Solidarity Coalition
  • Greater New Haven Peace Council
  • Ironworkers Local 15
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, New Haven Chapter
  • Promoting Enduring Peace
  • Tree of Life Educational Fund
  • We Refuse to be Enemies

District of Columbia

  • U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations

Florida

  • Jewish Voice for Peace, South Florida Chapter
  • National Lawyers Guild, South Florida Chapter

Illinois

  • Arab Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Middle East
  • Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy
  • Committee for Just Peace in Israel-Palestine
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Chicago Chapter
  • National Lawyers Guild, Chicago Chapter
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at UIUC

Kentucky

  • Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Maryland

  • Baltimore Palestine Solidarity
  • Committee for Palestinian Rights
  • Freedom2Boycott Maryland
  • Friends of Sabeel DC Metro Area

Massachusetts

  • Adalah Justice Project
  • Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
  • Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
  • Common Ground for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, Inc.
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston Chapter
  • Massachusetts Peace Action
  • Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment

Missouri

  • Mid-Missourians for Justice in Palestine

New York

  • Adalah-NY: Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
  • Black Movement-Law Project
  • Brooklyn for Peace
  • Columbia/Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace
  • Columbia University Apartheid Divest
  • Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine
  • Community of Living Traditions at Stony Point Center
  • Concerned Families of Westchester
  • Jewish Voice for Peace, Westchester Chapter
  • Jews Say No!
  • The Majlis Ash Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of New York
  • Muslim Peace Fellowship
  • Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College
  • Peace Action New York State
  • Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
  • Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
  • Syracuse Peace Council
  • USA-Palestine Mental Health Network
  • WESPAC Foundation
  • Westchester Coalition against Islamophobia

Oregon

  • Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
  • Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land

Pennsylvania

  • Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition

Vermont

  • Green Mountain Solidarity with Palestine

Virginia

  • Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace
  • Virginia Coalition for Human Rights

Washington

  • Vancouver for Peace

 


1 ↩ The EAA expired in 2001. 50 U.S.C. §4622 (1977). It has been purportedly continued by executive order.

2 ↩ NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 886 (1982).

3 ↩ Ben Cardin, Setting the Record Straight: Nothing in the Israel Anti-Boycott Act restricts constitutionally-protected free speech, Medium, July 20, 2017, https://medium.com/@SenatorBenCardin/setting-the-record-straight-nothing-in-the-the-israel-anti-boycott-act-restricts-constitutionally-13bfa7428d8.

4 ↩ Although one provision of the EAA was upheld on commercial speech grounds, the law was never challenged for its restrictions on political speech. Briggs & Stratton Corp. v. Baldridge, 728 F. 2d 915 (7th Cir. 1984). As described in this document, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act would significantly increase the law’s infringement on political speech.

5 ↩ Palestine Legal, Year-in-Review: Palestine Legal Responded to 258 Incidents in 2016, available athttp://palestinelegal.org/2016-report.

6 ↩ Palestine Legal and Center for Constitutional Rights, The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the U.S. (2015), available athttps://www.palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception.

7 ↩ See AIPAC, Fight The Boycott of Israel, http://www.aipac.org/learn/legislative-agenda/agenda-display?agendaid=%7BB499D12C-C5ED-4CA6-93CF-61266D842328%7D.

8 ↩ www.RightToBoycott.org.

9 ↩ Dyer Oxley, Senator: Colleges are being used as ‘politically-correct batons,’ MyNorthwest.com, Jan. 2, 2017, http://mynorthwest.com/500618/senator-baumgartner-bds-bill.

10 ↩ Eitan Arom, As BDS opponents move from campuses to state capitols ,California is up next, JNS.org, April 13, 2016, http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2016/4/13/as-bds-opponents-move-from-campuses-to-state-capitols-california-is-up-next-1#.VzyMuULfjww=.

Union Members Struggle for a Democratic Debate on Palestine: Statement from UAW 2865, GEO-UAW 2322, and GSOC-UAW 2110 Palestine Solidarity Caucuses on UAW 2865 BDS Vote Nullification

Screenshot 2016-05-27 09.03.37For Immediate Release
May 26, 2016

Union Members Struggle for a Democratic Debate on Palestine:
Statement from UAW 2865, GEO-UAW 2322, and GSOC-UAW 2110 Palestine Solidarity Caucuses on UAW 2865 BDS Vote Nullification

UAW 2865 BDS Caucus Press Contact: uaw2865bds@gmail.com
GEO-UAW 2322 Palestine Solidarity Caucus Contact: anna.waltman@gmail.com
GSOC-UAW 2110 BDS Caucus Contact: gsocmembersforbds@gmail.com

Three UAW Locals have overwhelmingly endorsed, by full member vote, to support boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) in solidarity with Palestinian workers and society. This grassroots momentum has only increased despite anti-democratic actions by higher up Union officials to quell debate on the issue among locals. The UAW’s Public Relations Board (PRB) is the latest body to attempt to quell labor solidarity with Palestinians by affirming the UAW International Executive Board’s (IEB) nullification of Local 2865’s majority member vote to support BDS.

UAW Local 2865, which represents over 14,000 graduate student workers at the University of California, voted in December 2014 to support BDS with 65% of voting members in favor. The vote saw unusually high turnout, greater than that of a recent contract ratification vote. A few members who opposed the resolution engaged a union-busting corporate law firm to appeal the vote. In December 2015, the International Executive Board struck down the BDS resolution, despite affirming the democratic integrity of the vote. This week, the UAW PRB, a body charged with reviewing decisions of the Executive Board on appeal, affirmed the nullification.

The PRB’s decision to uphold nullification of the BDS vote is based solely on a thread of antidemocratic thinking that misrepresents basic facts. They posit that because the UAW International president signed a letter opposing BDS in 2007 – without any record of discussion or debate within the IEB, let alone the membership – the International Union now holds a position against BDS and subordinate Locals cannot assert a different position. The PRB ignored the clear language of the resolution, which simply called on the UAW IEB to change its current position of investment in multinational corporations that enable human rights abuses. Because the original BDS vote thereby recognized the authority of the IEB, the PRB decision represents an attempted ban on even raising the debate within the UAW.

Local 2865 BDS Caucus member Jennifer Mogannam, a rank and file member, said, “This decision cannot erase the fact that increasing numbers of UAW members stand in solidarity with Palestinian workers. The PRB’s decision tells us that the President of UAW in 2007 had a different view. Clearly, several thousand UAW members from coast to coast disagree with the president from 2007. The International Union cannot just reach into a dusty file cabinet to shut down the growing number of members who want to discuss and change the union’s position on BDS.”

Liz Jackson, attorney from Palestine Legal, commented, “This mirrors the national trend of suppression: members are voting by democratic majorities to support BDS, but when the upper echelons of the power structure disagree, they frequently resort to shutting down debate from the top. This may work in the short term, but suppression of speech cannot stop a sea change in public opinion.”

A growing number of graduate student worker organizations have endorsed BDS. In April, the New York University Graduate Employee Union (GSOC-UAW 2110) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Graduate Employee Union (GEO-UAW 2322), representing over 2,000 members each, endorsed by full membership vote the call from all major Palestinian trade unions and civil society groups to impose BDS against Israel. Last week, the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA/AFT Local 3220) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, representing over 9,000 graduate workers and students, voted overwhelmingly in favor (81%) of adopting a BDS resolution.

“Already, the clear will of the membership of three UAW locals is to support our Palestinian counterparts, including workers and broader society, in their struggle against racism, dispossession, and apartheid. Despite the attempts of top-down International Union officials to crush our union democracy, the tide of rank-and-file support is against them. We will work hard to implement the will of our members until Palestinians have won justice, freedom, and equality.” – Joe Keady, GEO/UAW2322 rank & file member

Union officials suppress member support for BDS (Palestine Legal)

Palestine Legal

Union officials suppress member support for BDS

May 25, 2016
UAW
CREDIT: CLYDE ROBINSON

As a growing number of local unions endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in solidarity with Palestinian workers, the United Auto Workers (UAW) Public Review Board last week affirmed a decision to nullify the BDS resolution adopted by members of Local 2865.

UAW Local 2865 – which represents over 14,000 graduate student workers at the University of California (UC) – voted by an overwhelming majority in December, 2014 to demand that their union and their employer, the UC, divest from companies complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians. A few members who opposed the resolution engaged a union-busting corporate law firm to appeal the vote. In December 2015, the International UAW, which oversees Local 2865, nullified the vote – despite its own finding that the local conducted a fair and democratic election. The local union appealed, and last week, the union’s Public Review Board affirmed the nullification.

The new decision reasons that because the UAW International president signed a letter opposing BDS in 2007, UAW now holds a position against BDS, and subordinate membership groups cannot assert a different position. But this reasoning ignores the fact that the 2007 statement was signed without any record of discussion among the Executive Board, much less any debate among the UAW’s membership.

Rank and file member of Local 2865, Jennifer Mogannam, said, “This decision cannot erase the fact that increasing numbers of UAW members stand in solidarity with Palestinian workers. … Clearly, several thousand UAW members from coast to coast disagree with the president from 2007. The International union cannot just reach into a dusty file cabinet to shut down the growing number of members who want to discuss and change the union’s position on BDS.”

Liz Jackson, Palestine Legal staff attorney, commented, “The nullification reflects the national trend of suppression. People are voting by democratic majorities to support BDS. But when higher officials disagree – like state legislators, university administrators, and presidential candidates – they resort to shutting down debate from the top. This may work in the short term, but attempts to suppress speech cannot stop a sea change in public opinion.”

Popular support for BDS is growing as three more graduate student worker organizations adopted resolutions this spring. In April, the New York University Graduate Employee Union (GSOC-UAW 2110) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Graduate Employee Union (GEO-UAW 2322), representing 2,000 members each, endorsed by full membership vote the call from all major Palestinian trade unions and civil society groups to impose BDS against Israel.

Last week, the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA/AFT Local 3220) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, representing over 9,000 graduate workers and students, also voted overwhelmingly in favor of adopting a BDS resolution.

The announcement of the establishment of the new Palestinian trade Unions

View in PDF format: The announcement of the establishment of the new Palestinian trade Unions

Screenshot 2016-07-24 17.47.33
The announcement of the establishment of the new Palestinian trade Unions

On Saturday, 19.03.2016 it was announced the establishment of the new Palestinian trade unions in Ramallah by the presence of Mr. Nasser Kitami, Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Labor and Bassam Salhi, secretary-general of the Palestinian People’s Party and Omar Shehadeh, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and representatives for the Palestine Committee Trade Union Section Norway, and with the participation of representatives of civil society organizations, trade unionists and a large representatives from the members of the New Unions.

Mohammad Jawabrah opened the trade union congress and he announced the birth of the organization of new Palestinian trade union that its responsibility is to defend the rights of the Palestinian people to live in justice, democracy society in order to get the freedom. Mr. Nasser Kitami, undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Labor congratulated the participants because of their success conference and he wished to them the success and he expressed the readiness of the Ministry of Labour for cooperation in all areas of trade union work and social partnership that providing the possibilities for the success of trade union work enable them to defend workers’ rights. He emphasized on the importance of trade union pluralism in the work in order to support the national and social project and support our Palestinian people.

Bassam Salhi, secretary-general of the Palestinian People’s Party emphasized on the development and support of the union work to strengthen its role in defending of the interests of workers and to improve their living conditions and the achievement the social justice. He also talked about the trade union pluralism which does not contradict with the unity of the union work.

Salhi talked about the Struggle experience for the teachers and he called for learning from this experience and the importance of equal the rights between all professional sectors.

Omar Shehadeh, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine conveying the greetings of Secretary General Ahmad Saadat and his deputy, Abu Ahmed Fouad to conferences and he support this Union in the hope that defending the rights of Palestinian workers and to promote the international solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Shehadeh emphasized on the importance of the Palestinian uprising and its goal and it still until the end of occupation and settlement and he praised on the movement of the teachers, and they should take all their rights in all the fields.

From the Palestine Committee of Norway, and trade unions in Norway, Mr. Thomas emphasized on his support to NU and support the struggle of the Palestinian people through resistance to the occupation and the settlements, and the parole of breaking connections with Histadrut in the Norwegian trade unions.

From the old unionists, Adnan Dagher talked about his experience of struggle and the trade union and the role that played by the trade union movement in the national and social field, and he called the members of NU to learn and rework union work to achieve the rights of the workers.

Finally Mohammad Bladi, the President of the Constituent Committee of the NU thanked the audience and the participants and all those who provided support to NU until this conference.

Thomas greeting the Congress on behalf of the Norwegians

Bladi talked about the stages of the establishment by adopting the workers’ issues who abandoned them by frameworks Official unions, which pushed for the need to build a new trade union organization depends on associative class, voluntary, democracy and independence and enable the workers to struggle in order to stop the violation of their dignity and disregard their rights and stop rebates unwarranted for those who working in Israel and retrieve the organize fees that are shared between the Histadrut and the number of trade unions, Bladi emphasized that they want unions that can struggle in order to apply the labor law and the minimum wage and the reduction of fatal work injuries and the creation of a labor court and social security should be fair and just.

After the end of the party opening, the conference started working through the verification of the quorum law of the Conference, which was attended by a large number of its members, and there was serious discussions about the rules of procedure for the union which was approved unanimously.

Last was elected the union council, consisting of 31 members of the Federation, who elected an executive committee composed of 17 members who are:-

1. Fadwa Qasmia
2. Nahla Othman
3. Wafaa Nassif
4. Salwa Odeh
5. Ali Rezqallah
6. Faed Ibdah
7. Zahi Zalmout
8. Fahd Mulaitat
9. Mohammed Wajih
10. Jaber Tmezi
11. Mustafa Shata
12. Rebhi Bakr
13. Hussein Barghouti
14. Jamal Juma
15. Mahmoud Abdel Razek Mohsen
16. Mohammad Bladi
17. Mohammad Jawabra

With our best regards Mohammad Blidi NU

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