Will Resolution 496 Bolster BDS Effort?

A resolution introduced to Congress last week that supports the right to boycott has some Atlanta Jewish leaders scratching their heads. House Resolution 496 was introduced and sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has also come out publicly in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Further inciting Jewish leaders, the resolution was co-sponsored by Georgia representative and civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a longtime supporter of Israel and the Jewish community. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), another freshman legislator, whose family is Palestinian, also co-sponsored the resolution, with four others signing on since.

Atlanta and Israeli community leaders shared with the AJT their reactions to the resolution and its larger effect on the Jewish community and the BDS movement.

Although the new resolution doesn’t expressly address Israel or BDS, it affirms the American right to boycott, citing examples of boycotts used effectively during the 1950s and 60s civil rights era in which Lewis played an active role. The examples included the Montgomery bus boycott, and Nazi Germany “in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust.”

Chuck Berk, co-chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a national Israel Bonds board member, voiced his concerns about the new resolution and Lewis’ endorsement of it. “Congressman John Lewis seems to have forgotten the lessons from the courageous work that he and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did during the civil rights movement. … It’s hard to understand why Congressman Lewis would now choose to align himself with U. S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has expressed vile anti-Semitism and has irresponsibly compared the anti-BDS movement to previous boycotts of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Does Congressman Lewis really think it’s fair to compare Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, which stands for freedom and equality, where people of all religions, races and sexual preference can live in peace, … with Nazi-Germany, which was a hate-infested, authoritarian regime that sought to exterminate all Jews?”

In a statement to the AJT, Lewis explained his position. “I guarantee that if members of the community actually read the text of H. Res. 496, a Judiciary Committee resolution introduced by Rep. Omar, they will discover it makes no mention of Israel. The resolution merely advocates for the right to protest as a central principle of democratic freedom. Freedom of protest has been important to the advancement of both the African American and Jewish American communities, and there are efforts to stamp it out as a tool of activism in our society.”

Still, shortly after introducing the resolution, it was reported that Omar linked the resolution with the BDS movement saying, “It is an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”

The resolution states that it “opposes unconstitutional legislative efforts to limit the use of boycotts to further civil rights at home and abroad; and urges Congress, States and civil rights leaders from all communities to endeavor to preserve the freedom of advocacy for all by opposing anti-boycott resolutions and legislation.” It also opposes the practice of allowing organizations to “criminalize, stigmatize and delegitimize the use of boycotts in an attempt to stifle constitutionally protected political expression.”

Omar’s introduction of H. Res. 496 came as Congress prepared Tuesday to consider another resolution, H. Res. 246, introduced in March. Lewis is among 11 Georgia legislators and 348 others that co-sponsored this resolution that focuses on, “opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel.” The latter directly opposes the BDS movement, stating, “including efforts to target United States companies that are engaged in commercial activities that are legal under United States law, and all efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel”.

“Let’s be clear,” Berk told the AJT. “The BDS delegitimization movement has a single goal: to bring about the destruction of Israel as the sovereign democratic state of the Jewish people.”

Lewis said of his endorsement, “Earlier this year, I co-sponsored H. Res. 246, a bipartisan foreign affairs resolution that condemns the BDS campaign and efforts opposing Israel’s right to exist and the importance of two-state solution. … This resolution has been carefully crafted not to suppress American commitment to free speech. I want to remind you that I am a co-chair of the newly reorganized Black-Jewish Coalition Congressional Caucus and a key member of the Anti-Semitism Task Force. My commitment to these imperatives is not and has not ever wavered.”

“My experience with John has been that he’s been a total friend of the Jewish community,” said Sherry Frank, who co-founded the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition with Lewis in 1982. “We are not gonna agree with our friends on every single issue.”

Frank was aware of the new pro-boycott resolution, but she said she had not seen it in detail enough to be totally familiar with its contents. She knows, however, that Lewis has been very supportive of his freshman cohorts.

Frank cited examples in which boycotts have been effective, such as the use of nonviolent protest opposing apartheid in South Africa. “The problem with BDS is that it is so inclusive of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic [sentiment] in its language.”
Frank continued, “I totally love and trust Congressman Lewis. I always give him room to disagree.”

Dov Wilker, regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Atlanta, said the AJC reached out to Lewis’ congressional office and is “looking forward to speaking with him about this resolution and understanding his perspective.”

Lewis, in his statement to the AJT, urged the community to consider all the facts. “We must be very careful in these times of gross exaggeration and whipped up hostility to verify allegations and accusations that are being reported.”

Soon after Omar introduced resolution 496, she announced her intention to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories in a few weeks with Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

David Rubin, the former mayor of Shiloh in the West Bank of Israel, said in a statement to the AJT that Tlaib should be denied entry based on her support of boycotts against Israel. “For security purposes, Israeli law permits authorities to deny entry to anyone who supports and works toward a boycott of the Jewish state,” he said.

So the question remains, will the latest resolution open the floodgates to further anti-Israel efforts, such as those supported by the BDS movement? The Jewish community will have to wait to find out.

RESOLUTION 496

116TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION

Affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 16, 2019

Ms. OMAR (for herself, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr. LEWIS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
RESOLUTION
Affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Whereas boycotts have been effectively used in the United States by advocates for equal rights since the Boston Tea Party and include boycotts led by civil rights activists during the 1950s and 1960s in order to advocate for racial equality, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, and promote workers’ rights, such as the United Farm Workers- led boycott of table grapes;

Whereas Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad, including—
(1) attempting to slow Japanese aggression in the Pacific by boycotting Imperial Japan in 1937 and 1938;
(2) boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to
the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust;
(3) the United States Olympic Committee boycotting the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the preceding year; and
(4) leading the campaign in the 1980s to boycott South African goods in opposition to apartheid in that country;

Whereas the Supreme Court, in the 1966 case Rosenblatt v. Baer, held that the First Amendment to the Constitution ensures that ‘‘[c]riticism of government is at the very center of the constitutionally protected area of free discussion’’; Whereas the Supreme Court held in the 1982 case NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware that ‘‘[t]he right of the States to regulate economic activity could not justify a complete prohibition against a nonviolent, politically motivated boycott . . . .’’;

Whereas the Supreme Court has recognized various activities as ‘‘expressive conduct’’ warranting constitutional protection, such as flag burning, wearing black armbands, silent sit-ins, and creating and designing custom wedding cakes; and

Whereas despite this tradition, governments and nongovernmental organizations alike have sought to criminalize, stigmatize, and delegitimize the use of boycotts in an attempt to stifle constitutionally protected political expression: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) affirms that all Americans have the right to

3 participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human

4 rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First

5 Amendment to the Constitution;

6 (2) opposes unconstitutional legislative efforts

7 to limit the use of boycotts to further civil rights at

8 home and abroad; and

9 (3) urges Congress, States, and civil rights

10 leaders from all communities to endeavor to preserve

11 the freedom of advocacy for all by opposing

12 antiboycott resolutions and legislation.