Palestine Legal Launches Comprehensive, Interactive Site Tracking Legislation Targeting Palestine Advocacy
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Today, Palestine Legal launched a new website tracking legislative efforts to silence the movement for Palestinian freedom in the U.S.
Following a surge in grassroots support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns for Palestinian human rights, dozens of Israel lobby groups, the Israeli government, and U.S. rightwing organizations have pushed policies to stifle Palestine advocacy.
The new legislation site tracks anti-boycott bills, efforts to redefine antisemitism as a means of censoring criticism of Israel, and other measures aimed at undermining advocacy for Palestinian rights in the U.S.
While the site illustrates the widespread legislative assault on Palestine advocacy, it also shows that only a fraction of the hundreds of bills lawmakers introduced have become law, in part because of strong grassroots and civil liberties opposition.
Features of the site include an interactive map of legislative initiatives that shows the type and status of bills over time, details on both state and federal legislation, key statistics that show the evolution of the legislative assault, and resources to take action.
The site also provides crucial context on the forces behind these anti-protest measures, as well as information on efforts to criminalize dissent across Indigenous, environmental, racial justice, and campus free speech movements.
Geared towards activists, researchers, journalists, and policymakers alike, the site aims to document one part of a widespread attack on the Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S., and to support efforts to push back against these threats.
“The sheer number of repressive bills introduced is a testament to the power of the movement for Palestinian rights,” said senior staff attorney Meera Shah.
“The Israeli government, pro-Israel advocacy groups, and lawmakers would rather censor a human rights movement than engage with its demands for freedom, justice, and equality for all. We expect to see more of these legislative efforts to silence criticism of Israel, as efforts to crackdown on dissent didn’t begin and won’t end with the Trump Administration.”
Legislative measures targeting advocacy for Palestinian rights have proliferated since Palestine Legal began tracking such legislation in 2014, and the types of legislation introduced have evolved in response to the movement’s victories.
Early efforts came after several academic associations voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli institutions complicit in Israel’s violations and focused on defunding universities to punish or deter support for such measures.
Subsequent legislative efforts aimed to prohibit state contracts and state investments with entities that support BDS.
More recent legislation aims to redefine antisemitism to include criticism of Israel for use in discrimination complaints or criminal investigations.
Given the common backers of the legislation, the laws are very similar across states, but there are important distinctions between different types of legislation and what each law does.
Some anti-boycott laws require state contractors to sign written certifications that they will not boycott Israel—like the Texas anti-boycott law which outlandishly prompted one city to require Hurricane Harvey victims to sign such an Israel loyalty oath in order to receive state aid.
Other laws call on the state to compile public blacklists of entities that boycott for Palestinian rights.
In addition to providing advocacy resources against legislative initiatives, the site also compiles information about legal challenges to anti-boycott laws.
The legislative onslaught has remained alive and well over the last year. Here are some of the most recent attacks:
Anti-boycott laws were signed into law in Oklahoma and Missouri in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor of South Dakota issued an anti-boycott executive order in January 2020 prohibiting contracts with entities that boycott for Palestinian rights.
Trump issued an executive order adopting the widely discredited redefinition of antisemitism for use by federal agencies in December 2019.
Florida passed an antisemitism redefinition law in spring 2019 which impacts Palestinian human rights research and advocacy in the state’s public schools and universities.
Palestine Legal invites you to explore the new site, and to contact info@palestinelegal.org with questions, feedback, and suggestions.