Israelis inciting anti-Israel boycotts could soon be forced to pay dearly

[Jefferson23]

* Obey or pay.



Knesset approves in initial reading bill that would allow targets of boycotts to sue boycotters for large sums.

The Knesset approved on Wednesday an initial reading of a bill calling for heavy fines to be imposed on Israeli citizens who initiate or incite boycotts against Israel. If approved into law, the fines would apply to anyone boycotting Israeli individuals, companies, factories, and organizations.

"In the U.S. there is are laws aimed at preventing Americans from boycotting U.S. allies, including Israel. It appears that in light of the reality in Israel, we need a similar law that applies to Israeli citizens," said the bill's sponsors - coalition chairman Zeev Elkin (Likud), MK Arieh Eldad (National Union) and MK Dalia Itzik (Kadima).

Under the new law, any group could sue damages of up to NIS 30,000 from anyone who launched a boycott against them, or incited a boycott, without having to prove that damage was indeed caused. An additional sum could then be demanded once damages were proven.

The bill comes in response to a wide range of boycotts – financial, academic, and others – that have recently been encountered in Israel. Elkin said Tuesday that "we mustn't accept boycotts against Israel, whether academic or economic. The state must protect itself from the increasing processes of delegitimization, and provide compensation to those harmed by it."


remainder: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israelis-inciting-anti-israel-boycotts-could-soon-be-forced-to-pay-dearly-1.301968

[EFerrari]

1. Very interesting. Something is working. nt

[ArcticFox]

2. I am not allowed to boycott Israel?

"In the U.S. there is are laws aimed at preventing Americans from boycotting U.S. allies, including Israel."

What are these laws, and how are they constitutional?

[Jefferson23]

4. I believe the statement from the OP is over-stating their case:

snip* 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.

The TRA does not "prohibit" conduct, but denies tax benefits ("penalizes") for certain types of boycott-related agreements.

What Must Be Reported?

http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm#whatsprohibited

[Xithras]

5. No, Israel is lying about that.

The U.S. has two laws that prohibit U.S. corporations and citizens from participating in boycotts organized by foreign governments, and even then only applies to the EXPORT of materials to boycotted nations. There is no law that prohibits Americans from calling for, and participating in, domestic boycotts against goods created in a foreign country.

Unless you run a business that exports internationally, it's not something to be concerned with. The law is simply a tool designed to keep U.S. corporations from participating in political campaigns organized by foreign powers. It also provides cover for American companies when they are dealing with a boycotting country. If that country demands that the U.S. corporation participate, the company merely has to cite the law and state that they aren't allowed to do so.

[denverbill]

3. There is a law in the US preventing Americans from boycotting our allies?

Learn something new every day. That doesn't seem like something 'freedom loving' people would endorse.

[azurnoir]

6. Wonderr if this development has to do with this

Palestinian boycott of Israeli settlement goods starts to bite

Campaign to clear supermarket shelves of West Bank settlement wares forces Israeli factories to cut production

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/29/palestinian-boycott-israeli-settlement-goods

and keep in mind

According to a recently-released report, the Israeli government has withheld payment of up to two hundred million dollars meant for the Palestinian Civil Administration over the last sixteen years, instead illegally channeling the money into Israeli state coffers.

Under the Oslo Agreement of 1993, the Israeli government agreed to levy certain fees to the Palestinian Civil Authority to provide for the needs of Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But that money was never transferred, and according to the Israeli government's new report, has been illegally channeled into the coffers of the Israeli government in violation of international law.

The report stated, "Following staff work by an interministerial team composed of representatives of the Finance Ministry, Justice Ministry and Civil Administration, it has been agreed that the ... said fees will be entered into the Civil Administration's budget. The technical aspects of the affair will be sorted out in the coming weeks."

The Israeli deputy attorney general has called for an official state inquiry into the redirection of funds, and an investigation into whether the violation of international law constitutes a need to retroactively compensate the Palestinian Authority for the funds that Israel has illegally seized.

But the report did not address the question of Israeli import and export taxes on Palestinian goods, which are collected by the Israeli government and supposed to be then sent to the Palestinian Authority – but since 2006, Israel has withheld these funds and refused to pass them on to the Palestinian Authority as they are legally required to do.

http://www.imemc.org/article/58391

[Ken Burch]

7. That's right...Israel has NOTHING in common with South Africa

nothing to see here, folks...move right along...

[Jefferson23]

8. Boycott the Knesset

I am hastening to call for this boycott because I want to earn a footnote in Jewish history: He tried, Canute-like, to stand against the wave of fascism that engulfed the Zionist project.

By David Landau


I hereby call for a boycott of the Knesset.

A bill proposed by coalition chairman Ze'ev Elkin (Likud ) and the chairwoman of the Kadima faction, Dalia Itzik, together with MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union, would punish any Israeli calling for a boycott of any Israeli individual or institution, whether in Israel or in the territories. The fine is NIS 30,000, plus any damages that can be proven. The bill passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday.

I therefore call for a boycott of Ze'ev Elkin and Dalia Itzik as individuals (no point in boycotting Dr. Eldad; he would thrive on it ), and of the Knesset as an institution. I call on parliaments throughout the democratic world, and interparliamentary associations, to boycott Israel's parliament, once the pride of the Jewish people, until it buries the bill and recovers its democratic heritage.

That would also, of course, require revoking the infamous vote, also taken on Wednesday, in which MK Hanin Zuabi was deprived of parliamentary privileges because she took part in May's flotilla to Gaza (believing it would be nonviolent ).

I am hastening to call for this boycott because I want to be the first person prosecuted under the new bill when it becomes law. This article will still be out there on the Internet, and I ought therefore to qualify. I want to earn a footnote in Jewish history: He tried, Canute-like, to stand against the wave of fascism that engulfed the Zionist project. I'm ready to pay NIS 30,000 for that.


http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/boycott-the-knesset-1.302259