The American Israel Public Affairs Committee suffered a rare setback this weekend as Representatives Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), two of its heavily-funded allies in Congress, saw their IGO Anti-Boycott Act pulled from the House calendar. The bill’s sudden withdrawal, amid powerful opposition from free speech and pro-Palestinian advocates, marks a major blow to AIPAC’s campaign to expand anti-BDS laws.
The bill, an amendment to the Anti-Boycott Act of 2018, targets Americans participating in boycotts of Israel or its settlements that are promoted by international governmental organizations (IGOs) like the United Nations or European Union, such as refusing to do business with Israeli companies. It would do so by extending existing federal boycott restrictions, which bar compliance with foreign government-led boycotts, to cover IGO-initiated boycotts, proposing fines of up to $1 million or prison terms of up to 20 years for boycott activities in commercial contexts involving interstate or foreign commerce.
