August 4, 2024 | The Wall Street Journal
State Laws on Israel Boycotts Hold Up in Court
The BDS movement hates these laws because they work.
August 4, 2024 | The Wall Street Journal
State Laws on Israel Boycotts Hold Up in Court
The BDS movement hates these laws because they work.
Daniel Schuchman writes that every American has a constitutional right to boycott Israel (“Free Speech Includes the Right to Boycott Israel,” op-ed, July 31). That’s true. What’s false, however, is that state laws related to boycotts of Israel infringe on First Amendment rights; that corporations have a constitutional right to state contracts or investments; or that states can’t condition their contracts and investments on a corporation’s commercial behavior.
Two years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld an Arkansas law prohibiting state contracts with, or investment in, companies that engage in economic boycotts of Israel. The Supreme Court later denied a petition to hear an appeal.
Most states now have laws regarding companies that boycott Israel. None relate to speech. All relate to commercial conduct that attempts to inflict economic harm on Israel or Israel-based companies. Federal anti-boycott laws dating to the Arab League boycott of Israel also remain on the books.
The campaign to boycott Israel is deeply antisemitic. It attempts to use economic warfare as a tool to delegitimize and destroy the world’s only Jewish state. Its supporters hate the fully constitutional state laws that encourage companies to steer clear of that warfare, and for good reason: The laws work.
Airbnb reversed course on an Israel boycott when states threatened to prohibit investment as the company was going public. Unilever upended a boycott waged by its Ben & Jerry’s subsidiary because of state pension divestments. Morningstar recently abandoned its anti-Israel environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings—sanctions on Israel-based companies that MSCI still imposes, which should prompt state investigations and enforcements.
Israel’s detractors are waging a campaign to smear these laws as anti-speech. Don’t fall for it. True supporters of free speech shouldn’t amplify these pretextual and legally unsound arguments.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is a former National Security Council official and senior US Senate aide.