In 33 states across the nation, legislators have passed bills that ban boycotting of Israel or territories occupied by Israel.
The documentary film “Boycott” was shown at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law last Thursday, Sept. 22. The film informs viewers of the threat that director Julia Bacha says recent legislation has posed against the American people’s right to freedom of speech and protest.
“When I learned there were anti-boycott laws passed across the country with very little public scrutiny and with the public by and large not knowing about it my journalistic instincts knew that we needed to tell the story,” Bacha said. “It’s a story that I think when Americans hear about it they’re very surprised that it hasn’t been brought to their attention because boycotts have been such an essential part of social justice movements historically.”
These laws prevent all government workers, including public school teachers and nonprofit news organizations receiving government funding, from expressing dissent with the United States’ involvement in Israel. It is a clause in employment contracts that states the signee will not participate in any type of boycotting of Israel.
Bacha’s film followed the story of three plaintiffs who filed lawsuits against this law. Each person had a compelling reason for their support of boycotting Israel.
One was an Arizona attorney who saw what is happening in Israel first-hand. Another was a public school teacher in Texas who is Palestinian. The last plaintiff was a small-town newspaper editor in Arkansas whose funding comes from government advertisements in his paper.
In each case, judges ruled that the law was unconstitutional.
Lawmakers passed a revised version of the bill that bans boycotting unless the company has fewer than 10 employees or a contract worth less than $100,000. The small adjustment did not leave the opposition at ease.
The Arizona attorney, Mik Jordahl, was the first of the three plaintiffs followed by the film to file a suit. He explained that if this law passed at the federal level, as many of its proponents had pressed for, government workers who wished to exercise their right to protest Israel would have been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
“I just couldn’t understand how they have any right to decide where I spend my money,” said Jordahl.
One of “Boycott’s” supporters and the host of the public showing for the film is the ACLU of Arizona.
“We really think it’s an important story to tell, these laws that infringe on people’s right to boycott, to exercise their first amendment rights, are in the state legislators every year,” said Darrell Hill, Policy Director for the ACLU of Arizona. “We see laws that attack the rights of protestors, that attack the rights of people who want to boycott, that attack the rights of people who want to film police, every year.”
More bills have recently been passed barring the boycotting of things like firearms and fossil fuels. These new bills are almost identical in wording to the anti-boycotting bill.
The ACLU will continue to host viewings of “Boycott” across the country and in other parts of the world for the remainder of the year. The film will hit streaming services in Jan. 2023.
Contact the reporter at labutle1@asu.edu
