Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton A. Klein praised Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) for introducing H.R. 6095, the Export Administration Anti-Discrimination Act (EAADA), which will help stop left-wing attempts to urge companies and consumers to boycott Israel.
The new law will expand upon, and strengthen, the provisions of the Export Administration Act of 1979, which was enacted to counter the Arab League boycott of Israel.
The EAADA goes further, prohibiting not only participation in a boycott imposed by foreign countries, but also in a boycott against any country that is friendly with the United States.
The goal is to prevent efforts by the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” (BDS) movement to boycott Israel.
In a press statement on the ZOA website, Klein said:
The EAADA … specifically identifies Israel as among the United States’ “fellow democratic countries” that “are vital partners in the global pursuit of civil and human rights, including the protection of free speech.” Also, of special importance to deeply disturbing efforts to boycott Israeli scholars and academic institutions, the bill provides that “[a]ttempts to single out Israel and its citizens . . . for discriminatory boycotts violate fundamental principles of academic freedom.”
ZOA urges everyone in Congress to support this important Bill. The EAADA is a crucial new tool in our fight against the discriminatory and anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The legislation will help us hold accountable those who are singling out and discriminating against Israel and Israelis, in commerce and on our college campuses. Also, anyone who is harmed by this despicable discriminatory behavior will now be able to seek recourse in federal court.
This much-needed legislation is crucial to our country’s trade and commerce with our allies around the world. And it makes it even clearer that our country will not tolerate discrimination against valued friends like Israel.
BDS has has been countered by many states, such as California, which now bans companies that boycott Israel from doing business with the state government. The EAADA takes that pushback to the federal level.
In a joint statement earlier this month, Goodlatte and DeSantis said:
“The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement has weaponized economic activity to purposefully inflict financial harm on Israel,” DeSantis said. “Americans and our allies alike deserve the freedom to conduct business without the perpetual threat of discriminatory boycotts. U.S. policy should reflect strong opposition to those who seek to isolate our allies and cause economic damage to countries such as Israel. The Export Administration Anti-Discrimination Act will strengthen current law and modernize important anti-boycott protections.”
“There has been a disturbing trend here in the United States of groups pressuring U.S. businesses and universities to not do business with or in Israel,” Goodlatte said. “Israel is one of our closest allies and we must ensure that our laws protect American companies conducting business with all of our allies. I thank Congressman DeSantis for introducing the Export Administration Anti-Discrimination Act, which is a much needed bill to provide clarity to and close loopholes in current law to prevent discriminatory boycotts targeting our allies.”
Desalts is running for governor of Florida in November.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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