{"id":9515,"date":"2022-07-10T12:04:25","date_gmt":"2022-07-10T12:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohelet.org.il\/article\/discrimination-against-the-jewish-state-is-not-free-speech\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T08:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T08:24:32","slug":"discrimination-against-the-jewish-state-is-not-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/discrimination-against-the-jewish-state-is-not-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Discrimination Against the Jewish State is not Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June was a terrible month for the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. On June 22, in Arkansas Times v. Waldrip<\/em>, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals broadly upheld the constitutionality of anti-BDS laws. A week later Unilever, the multinational parent company of Ben & Jerry\u2019s, overruled the boycott of Israel that the ice-cream company announced a year ago, and it gave the Israel-based licensee permanent ownership of Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice-cream making in Israel and the West Bank. In a jab at the Vermont subsidiary\u2019s leadership, Unilever noted it \u201crepudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unilever had come under intense pressure over the boycott from consumers and state governments, many of which divested from it in their pension portfolios. As Gov. Ron DeSantis put it: \u201cAs a matter of law and principle, the State of Florida does not tolerate discrimination against . . . the Israeli people.\u201d Florida is one of 35 states that enacted laws barring taxpayer money from being used to contract with or invest in companies that boycott Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These laws are modeled on existing, and constitutionally uncontroversial, antidiscrimination laws that bar states from doing business with firms that boycott gays and other groups. But when the same logic was applied to protect Israelis, progressives denounced the anti-BDS laws as unconstitutional violations of free speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Civil Liberties Union launched a nationwide litigation campaign against the anti-BDS laws, claiming that the First Amendment protects companies\u2019 right to boycott Israel. The Eighth Circuit held that while a company\u2019s explanation of its boycott may be speech, the boycott itself is conduct. The ACLU says it will fight the issue all the way to the Supreme Court, although its legal arguments go against clear Supreme Court precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Rumsfeld v. Fair (2006)<\/em>, the justices unanimously held that a law school\u2019s boycott of military recruiters wasn\u2019t \u201cexpressive\u201d conduct because no one would discern a message from the recruiters\u2019 absence without a separate explanation from the law schools. As the Eighth Circuit concluded, that applies perfectly to anti-BDS laws. Similarly, the anti-BDS law \u201cdoes not ban Arkansas Times from publicly criticizing Israel. It only prohibits economic decisions that discriminate against Israel,\u201d the Eighth Circuit ruled. \u201cBecause those commercial decisions are invisible to observers unless explained, they are not inherently expressive and do not implicate the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that anti-BDS laws violate free speech has been embraced by progressives, and by Democratic lawmakers wary of anti-Israel primary challengers, as a way of fighting for BDS while claiming not to support it. Meanwhile, Axios reported last October that Ben & Jerry\u2019s founders were stumped when asked why they were boycotting Israel alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company broadly condemns what it views as injustices around the world, including \u201csystemic racism\u201d in America. Axios\u2019s Alexi McCammond asked Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield: \u201cYou guys are big proponents of voting rights. Why do you still sell ice cream in Georgia? Texas\u2014abortion bans. Why are you still selling there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Mr. Cohen replied. \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting question. I don\u2019t know what that would accomplish. We\u2019re working on those issues, of voting rights. . . . I think you ask a really good question. And I think I\u2019d have to sit down and think about it for a bit.\u201d She pressed him on the abortion question and he said: \u201cBy that reasoning, we should not sell any ice cream anywhere. I\u2019ve got issues with what\u2019s being done in almost every state and country.\u201d Which leaves the question: Why boycott only Israel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unilever is the second major company in recent years to walk back an Israel boycott. The first was Airbnb. Human Rights Watch goaded the company to adopt a boycott on West Bank rental listings. States terminated contracts and investment with Airbnb pursuant to anti-BDS laws, and the company agreed to drop the boycott to settle lawsuits brought by Israelis who were harmed by its policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts to push companies to boycott Israel won\u2019t fade away soon. The primary goal isn\u2019t economic harm, but making it culturally and politically acceptable to shun the Jewish state. What is most important about both the vindication of the state anti-BDS laws and the repudiation of the ice-cream embargo is their underlying message: The moralistic rhetoric of Israel boycotts can\u2019t disguise their bigotry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published in the Wall Street Journal<\/a> (“Boycotting Israel Isn\u2019t Free Speech”, Jul 5, 2022).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June was a terrible month for the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. On June 22, in Arkansas Times v. Waldrip, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals broadly upheld the constitutionality of anti-BDS laws. 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