Michael Arria
Mondoweiss / July 7, 2023
New Hampshire becomes the 37th state to adopt legislation targeting the BDS movement. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN praised the move saying it “[fortifies] the moral Iron Dome” protecting Israel.
This week New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu (R) issued an executive order prohibiting the state from establishing contracts with companies that boycott Israel. The order also adopts the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
A similar bill targeting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was introduced in the New Hampshire House of Representatives earlier this year, but failed to make it out of committee.
“[New Hampshire and] Israel have experienced decades of successful exchange of commerce, culture, technology, and tourism,” tweeted Sununu. “NH will not tolerate antisemitism, & we are taking significant steps at the state level to prohibit discriminatory boycotts of Israel in state procurement and investments.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan attended the signing ceremony and praised the state’s efforts. “Your crucial step is creating an economic Iron Dome that ensures our shared progress and prosperity,” he told the Governor. “But not only are you defending our shared interests. You are also fortifying the moral Iron Dome protecting the values of truth, justice and morality.”
Shawn Evenhaim, an LA real-estate mogul, former IDF soldier, and current chairman of the Israeli-American Coalition for Action, also praised the move. “This executive order protects the freedom and liberty of New Hampshire businesses from the coercion and bullying tactics of the BDS hate movement,” he declared.
The executive order was criticized by NH Rep. Alissandra Murray (D), co-chair of the House’s progressive caucus. “[The original bill] never even got a vote on the floor, so the tyrant Sununu decided to issue a politically-motivated executive order that condones violence and violates free speech,” they tweeted. “NH deserves better than this political game player in the corner office.”
“This order represents a total assault on our First Amendment rights,” said Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abba in a statement. “The government cannot tell Americans how to spend their money or who to financially support. Boycotts have been a part of American political life since the founding of our nation, and no state order attempting to ban or limit our right to boycott can be legitimate.”
New Hampshire becomes the 37th state to adopt legislation targeting the nonviolent BDS movement. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a legal challenge to Arkansas’s anti-BDS law.
Michael Arria is the U.S. correspondent for Mondoweiss
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US: New Hampshire introduces anti-BDS executive order
MEE Staff
Middle East Eye / July 7, 2023
New Hampshire joins more than 30 other states that have enacted similar measures combatting the Palestinian-led boycott movement.
The US state of New Hampshire has introduced a new order that bars the state from investing in companies that boycott Israel, joining more than 30 other states that have put in place some form of anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) legislation or executive order.
Chris Sununu, New Hampshire’s Republican governor, signed the executive order on Thursday in a ceremony that was attended by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan.
“Your crucial step is creating an economic Iron Dome that ensures our shared progress and prosperity,” Erdan said during the ceremony. “We must boycott our boycotters and delegitimize our delegitimizes.”
Erdan also referred to the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, set up in the wake of the 11-day Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip in May 2021, saying: “New Hampshire’s support for Israel today is the perfect response to this antisemitic UN commission.”
The executive order is similar to that of New York state in that it does not carry the force of law, given that it was not passed by the state’s legislature.
The BDS movement is a Palestinian-led nonviolent initiative that seeks to challenge Israel’s occupation and abuses of Palestinian human rights through economic, cultural and academic boycotts similar to the successful boycott campaigns of apartheid South Africa.
Anti-BDS laws or executive orders have been passed by 35 other states across the country, according to the legal advocacy group Palestine Legal.
Free speech advocates have decried anti-BDS legislation as being antithetical to the US constitution’s first amendment – which guarantees the right to freedom of speech – and have accused the legislation of stifling the voices of Palestinians and their advocates.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed in the US against such laws to varying degrees of success. One lawsuit is now headed to the US Supreme Court after an appellate court in Arkansas upheld its law on the anti-BDS legislation.
Meanwhile, similar anti-boycott laws in Arizona, Kansas and Texas that had been blocked were later allowed to be enforced after lawmakers narrowed requirements to apply only to larger contracts. The Arkansas law applies to contracts worth $1,000 or more.
There have also been several attempts to pass a federal anti-BDS measure by some members of Congress.
Most recently, Republican Senator Marco Rubio reintroduced the Combating BDS Act, a bill designed to support state and local governments against BDS.
If passed, it would give congressional support to state and local governments that divest funds from or prohibit contracting with entities that engage in the BDS movement.
