Israel passes law banning calls for boycott
Opposition blasts law, which penalizes persons or organizations who call for a boycott of Israel or the settlements, calling it unconstitutional and irresponsible.
By Jonathan Lis Tags: Knesset Israel boycottThe Knesset passed Monday a law penalizing persons or organizations that boycott Israel or the settlements, by a vote of 47 to 38.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not present during the vote. MK Zeev Elkin (Likud), who proposed the law, said the law is not meant to silence people, but "to protect the citizens of Israel."
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Members of the Knesset voting on the boycott bill, July 11, 2011 |
| Photo by: Michal Fattal |
According to the law, a person or an organization calling for the boycott of Israel, including the settlements, can be sued by the boycott's targets without having to prove that they sustained damage. The court will then decide how much compensation is to be paid. The second part of the law says a person or a company that declare a boycott of Israel or the settlements will not be able to bid in government tenders.
MK Nitzan Horowitz from Meretz blasted the law, calling it outrageous and shameful. "We are dealing with a legislation that is an embarrassment to Israeli democracy and makes people around the world wonder if there is actually a democracy here," he said. Ilan Gilon, another Meretz MK, said the law would further delegitimize Israel.
Kadima opposition party spokesman said the Netanyahu government is damaging Israel. "Netanyahu has crossed a red line of political foolishness today and national irresponsibility, knowing the meaning of the law and it's severity, while giving in to the extreme right that is taking over the Likkud."
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held discussions with Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin and MK Elkin. The three discussed whether to have the Knesset vote on the law on Monday, a day after MK Dan Meridor warned that approving the law on the same day of the Quartet meeting may cause damage to Israel. Before midnight on Sunday the prime minister's office announced there is no reason to delay the vote.
Before the vote, the Knesset's legal adviser, attorney Eyal Yanon, published a legal assessment saying parts of the law edge towards "illegality and perhaps beyond." He went on to warn that the law "damages the core of freedom of expression in Israel." Yanon's assessment contradicts that of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, who said the bill is legal.
Peace Now movement announced Monday it opened a Facebook page calling for a boycott of products that come from the settlements. On Tuesday it plans to launch a national campaign, with the aim of convincing tens of thousands of people to support the boycott.
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"Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently" Rosa Luxemburg
Antiboycott Laws: During the mid-1970's the United States adopted two laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes. These "antiboycott" laws are the 1977 amendments to the Export Administration Act (EAA) and the Ribicoff Amendment to the 1976 Tax Reform Act (TRA). While these laws share a common purpose, there are distinctions in their administration. Objectives: The antiboycott laws were adopted to encourage, and in specified cases, require U.S. firms to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the United States does not sanction. They have the effect of preventing U.S. firms from being used to implement foreign policies of other nations which run counter to U.S. policy. Primary Impact: The Arab League boycott of Israel is the principal foreign economic boycott that U.S. companies must be concerned with today. The antiboycott laws, however, apply to all boycotts imposed by foreign countries that are unsanctioned by the United States. Who Is Covered by the Laws? The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to the activities of U.S. persons in the interstate or foreign commerce of the United States. The term "U.S. person" includes all individuals, corporations and unincorporated associations resident in the United States, including the permanent domestic affiliates of foreign concerns. U.S. persons also include U.S. citizens abroad (except when they reside abroad and are employed by non-U.S. persons) and the controlled in fact affiliates of domestic concerns. The test for "controlled in fact" is the ability to establish the general policies or to control the day to day operations of the foreign affiliate. The scope of the EAR, as defined by Section 8 of the EAA, is limited to actions taken with intent to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott. What do the Laws Prohibit? Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes: Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. Agreements to discriminate or actual discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin or nationality. Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about business relationships with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person. Implementing letters of credit containing prohibited boycott terms or conditions. Penalties: The Export Admnistration Act (EAA) specifies penalties for violations of the Antiboycott Regulations as well as export control violations. These can include: Criminal: The penalties imposed for each "knowing" violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved, whichever is greater, and imprisonment of up to five years. During periods when the EAR are continued in effect by an Executive Order issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the criminal penalties for each "willful" violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 and imprisonment for up to ten years. Administrative: For each violation of the EAR any or all of the following may be imposed: General denial of export privileges; The imposition of fines of up to $11,000 per violation; and/or Exclusion from practice. Boycott agreements under the TRA involve the denial of all or part of the foreign tax benefits discussed above. When the EAA is in lapse, penalties for violation of the Antiboycott Regulations are governed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA Enhancement Act provides for penalties of up to the greater of $250,000 per violation or twice the value of the transaction for administrative violations of Antiboycott Regulations, and up to $1 million and 20 years imprisonment per violation for criminal antiboycott violations.
To boycott your own country is reprehensible.
Democracy is responsibility.
It seems to follow a trend in the Western democracies towards reducing government accountability and deregulating the economy. The powerful mentors of our mature democracies seem bent on taking us back to the days before the French Revolution.
Tonight Israel refrained from democracy and became a fascist apartheid state. Chocking and scaring. If the Israeli people doesn´t rise now it will never happen. Good luck in the isolated bunker!
Was it damaging someone else's property when Martin Luther King called for people to boycott bus service in the south? Israel is not a democracy. It surrendered it at the door. Racist Facists.
Ben Franklin was not a Jew, but he seemed to know Israel pretty well.
It is high time israeli stopped kowtowing to a reflexively anti-Zionist Europe and a PLO committed to its destruction. We have been protecting Arabs and quislings for far too long, The time is long overdue to start protecting the Jews in the Jewish State.
i am a criminal, because I boycott Israel
Middle East style equal to its neighbours!
why am i not surprised... God's chosen ones takes the dude's own words in their mouth: You shall not have other opinions/gods then I amen
By George O.
Constantly violating human rights for more than 40 (or should I say 60) years now, you guys don't deserve any better than having boycott calls pronounced against you! Stop the Israeli apartheid regime one and for all! Down with racist Zionist rule!
is through suppression of democracy.
What next? A police state, if not already?
Israeli politicians bitch continually about deligitimisation and then they do this, nice one boys and girls!
I am a proud Israeli. I have always been against all kinds of boycotts against anyone. But this law crossed the line. A country in which the parliament criminalizes non-consensual views IS SIMPLY NOT A DEMOCRACY ANYMORE. Now, I'm calling all friends of Israel abroad - boycott Israel! Maybe then our lawmakers will understand that anti-democratic repressive legislation backfires. And I authorize Haaretz, if the law enforcement agencies decide, that I am breaking this new law, to pass them my IP address so that they would easily locate me :-)
Unfortunately, I agree with you. I am an Israeli who generally bristles at the vicious, ugly tone of many of the talkbackers here, but tonight I have nothing to say to them. They're right. This horrifying, anti-democratic law shows we really are becoming the Fascist state that our worst critics accuse us of being.
Why is Israel so annoying
I appreciate your concern for Israeli democracy,but since you are not an Israeli citizen it would be more appropriate if you mind your own business and take a better look at the laws in your own country that are forbidding people to criticize Islam or multiculturalism and that people can freely enter No Go Zone without being attacked by people whose religion you are allowed only to whisper.I wish you safe traveling,no bombs,no rapes and no murders.I hope that one day, you'll have the freedom to call Christmas time a Christmas time and that you won't have to hide your Christmas tree in the basement from fear that your new neighbor could see it.Happy Holidays guys.
Cheers,
Congratulations, the once shining light in the Middle East has finally been extinguished. As Israeli society becomes more extreme, so will will the West decide that Western Values are not upheld in Israel. The truth is, that whilst Israel becomes more radicalised, so will isolation become intensified. No doubt, our parents, the true pioneers,are turning in their respective graves. Good night from sweet Swiss Alps, where golden eagles fly free and freedom of speech is sacrosanct.
I call upon all my fellow Israeli citizens, and all the readers around the world, to boycott any product coming from the occupied territories. And I call upon the right-wing fascists to try and sue me!
re the leftisits, if its ok to boycott, why is it not ok for those being affected to counter sue? why is boycotting considered free speech, but those being affected apparently per the left are not allowed to have the right to fight back?
How Ironic is that? "damages the core of freedom of expression in Israel." And they still didn't get it...that's right wingers the world over, living in fear, terrified of anything foreign or new, seeing danger everywhere but not in their thinking, what a way to live...
Simple, nobody should call for a boycott, just support those that they choose to and you're safe. Where has this country gone to? penalizing someone for political thought and personal and actions and the freedom to speak out and rally others to do the same? It shows to what level of idiocy, our country's political system has been lowered to.
Looks to me like a licence to print money. LOL
Boycott all products that originate from the Left Kibbutzim, & also spread the word abroad. That's the only way to clamp down on these Left movements conceived in sin. Just wondering if Haaretz will put this up as a counter-balance to the hate-filled Left ideology
Sometimes I wonder who comes up with these bills. They are not anti-democratic but they border on vindictiveness.... and they are not necessary. I bet that any tender be it Israeli government or private business will have bids come in from those companies that call for a boycott. Then the Israelis can tell them to shove it. What the man on the street wants does not coincide with the CEO's and CFO's of the major corporations.
I would not dream of inciting anybody to break this law no matter how unjust it may or may not be. Can I suggest to the artists, academics, contractors and other professionals that they increase their fee or margin by at least 500% for work in occupied territories and donate the windfall to Hamas??,
The passing of the law is like a call to boycott the settlements. People can make that choice today and every day.
People who were inclined to boycott the settlements can still boycott the settlements. It is a personal choice. It does not require signs or announcements.
....including me! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
Will the Knesset and Israel pressure other governments to go after Jews and others who advocate not only boycotting settlement products but boycotting Israel until the occupation ends? I wouldn't be surprised given the power Israel had over foreign governments when it came to the flotilla and the fly-tilla.. How long will the world tolerate Israel telling other countries what to do? How long will the world continue to tolerate the obscene occupation? When will the world learn that Israel is not the democracy that it claims to be? One day Israel will know that it has become a pariah state. Too bad. There was once such promise.
I love it. Another wonderful example that I can use in my growing list of things to trash Israel in the hope that someday, the state will be delegitmized.
It was a place like no other. It was filled with hope and promise for the future, a place where we, the oppressed, the demonized and hounded by the ghosts of past and present could finally rest our heads, in peace. And now it's gone, the dream is gone and it has been replaced by a power so strong, that the angel of Death himself has come to oversee the destruction of our people yet again. Israel may think little of this Law, that's for sure, but I fear that she has lost her way. The once hero of the World has been gnawed at, chewed up and spat out and yet she still doesn't get it.I knew this place once but I don't think I'll ever be going there again. I find that sad. Sad, because I understand what it took to make this place so beautiful....And happy because thankfully, my father, a Zionist is not here to witness this implosion that is Israel.
People living in neighbouring Arab countries are paying with their lives to attain what Israel is willingly throwing away. I hope for the sake of Israel's democracy that this law proves impossible to enforce.
I don't know why people think that to boycott means free speech, it just like calling people to damage somebody's property which is incitement and not just free speech. in a boycott you are damaging somebody's business or livelihood etc... and it should not be tolerated.
This is what worries me! You seem all too keen to forget that those profitting of the persecuted and stolen land is why people boycott Apartheid like folk.
The notion that a company subjected to a boycott is damaged by the boycott implies that the people boycotting the company are obligated to do business with that company. In reality the company's customers always have the right to choose not to do business with the company. A company has no right to expect to sell its product to the customers, it can only provide the customers with the opportunity of buying the product. Banning boycotts is a huge violation of the free market and the customer's right to choose. You might as well say that combustion engines should be banned because they hurt the steam engine industry.
Calling for a boycott is purely speech. Only if you apply other pressure, say like slashing the tires on all cars that buy Goodyear Tires is it NOT pure speech and this would be a punishable act.
The Knesset should be renamed to the Politburo
1) In the US I get to choose for myself how to spend or not spend my money...seems like a fairly basic right...a right one would expect from a democracy!!!...2) It is injustice that should not be tolerated. If a boycott inhibits injustice...the Montgomery Bus Boycott is a good example of this...by all means- boycott.
People call for tons of boycotts here in the U.S. Several organizations call for the boycott of Wal-Mart, but the effect seems to be somewhat miniscule. While calling for boycotts is stupid and often ineffective, people have the right to do it if they feel it's a form of protest, which is a form of free speech. It's not about agreeing with the people who boycott, but defending their right to protest as a basic human liberty.
If the law passed by majority vote, then democracy played out. You are just sad because it hurts your BDS program. You are still free to do the BDS thing, OUTSIDE Israel.
I am happy to see our democratically elected leaders pass a good law that speaks the will of the majority! This makes one Tel Aviv.ite very happy indeed.
For finally joining the middle east union of non democratic countries,L'chaim!
After all, they're both acts of speech. The left is again guilty of selective complaining.
"They are both acts of speech" is that really the best you can do? Using that logic we should also ban whispering and singing. And for the record there is quite a big difference between incitement and boycotting. Incitement encourages illegal actions such as racial discrimination or even violence. Boycotting encourages the (very much) legal action of choosing whom to do business with.
anyone know
No Israel will not sue you but will sent the Mossad, so be carefull what you write. Israel looks more and more like China and Russia.
dont worry, the big brother will find you. it is just getting more and more repressive...
In essence, they will comply with whatever is requested of them. Israel demands nothing less than total subservience to their agenda from the E.U, U.S, Canada and Australia. Pretty soon any dissenting voices and resistance will will be silenced-by force if necessary.
Israel never really was a democracy, except in a literal political sense - the nation could not have been created without forced expulsion and continued repression of minorities. Lebanon is a democracy. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria will have democracies soon, hopefully.
I don't believe that Syria will ever become a democracy. It has a history of torture and killing. It is deeply ingrained within the ruling classes. I strongly disagree with you!