BDS bill threatens Iowans’ freedom of speech

Why in the world is the Iowa Senate inserting itself in a punitive way into the international grassroots human rights movement, known as BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)?

Senate File 2281 intends to punish individuals and companies that participate in the BDS movement toward Israel and/or those companies profiting from Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The movement was a call from inside the heart of the Palestinian non-violence campaign to people of the world to do that which the governments of the world have failed to do: hold the nation of Israel to account for its war crimes and violations of international and human rights laws.

Why is the legislature putting itself in opposition to the First Amendment right to free speech - including the right to express those rights through participation in boycotts? The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that 'boycotts for social, political, and economic change are political speech and thus protected under the First Amendment.”

It is clear now that misinformation such as that provided by David Nadler in the March 23 Gazette is driving this effort.

Attempting to frame BDS as anti-Semitic, Nadler asserts that the 'world's only Jewish state is singled out for boycott” and encourages readers to ignore Israel's transgressions because other countries are 'worse.” Nadler writes that 'Israelis are dying daily due to Palestinian terrorism.” This is absolutely false.

In fact the Jewish Virtual Library reports 'Twenty-eight people were killed in terror attacks on Israel during 2015…”. During the same period B'tselm reports 60 Palestinians were killed by Israel forces. All these deaths are a tragedy. But so too is it a tragedy that Israel engaged in a bombardment of Gaza for over three months in 2014. The death toll was 2100 Palestinians killed, 1500 of whom were civilians; and 71 Israelis killed, five of whom were civilians. A similar story can be told of the wounded, homeless, and orphaned.

It is true, as Mr. Nadler notes, that some BDS leaders no longer believe there still is hope for a two-state solution, but that is also true of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asserted last spring that there will be no Palestinian state as long as he is prime minister.

So while anti-Semitism has played out in ugly ways in world history, it is not correct to claim opposition to Israel's policies is anti-Semitic. To do so is to play on the emotions of the public and avoid an honest debate of Israel's policies and international law violations.

That is a most important debate to be had inside the US. Our country funds Israel's wars and occupation at over $3 billion annually, and uses its veto power at the UN to protect Israel from international efforts to hold it to account.

It is beyond the scope of their responsibility for the Iowa Senate to take sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is, however, very much their responsibility to protect the rights of Iowans in exercising their constitutionally protected free speech-even when senators may disagree with that speech.

' Kathleen McQuillen is Iowa Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker non-profit working to build peace with justice in 35 cities and countries around the world. Comments: (515) 274-4851; kmcquillen@afsc.org