Ziofascist Wisconsin Governor Bans State Business with Companies Boycotting Israel
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
The ACLU strongly opposes legislation criminalizing constitutionally protected boycotts against Israel – a fundamental First Amendment right.
The same goes for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s executive order 261, stating the following:
“Consistent with existing Wisconsin nondiscrimination provisions of and regulations governing purchases…agencies may not execute a contract with a business entity if that entity is engaging in a boycott of Israel.”
“Further, agencies shall reserve the right to terminate any contract with a business entity that engages in a boycott of Israel during the term of the contract.”
“(B)oycotts based on religion, national origin, ethnicity, or residence are discriminatory.”
“(T)he Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel serves to inflame conflict; and over 20 states have enacted laws or resolutions against the BDS campaign.”
Fact: Banning the right to boycott is flagrantly discriminatory and illegal. So is unilaterally imposing sanctions on other countries, standard US practice.
Walker also supports state legislation, prohibiting any state or local government from adopting measures, authorizing boycotts of Israel and territories it illegally occupies.
The measure requires state contracts for materials, supplies, equipment, and services to include a provision that the vendor is not currently participating in and won’t participate in a boycott of Israel during the contractual period.
Walker’s EO and state legislation flagrantly violate the First Amendment, affirming the right of free expression and association – neither Congress or state authorities can legally deny.
First Amendment protection of the right to boycott was affirmed by NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. (1982), the Supreme Court ruling the organization’s boycott against the white-owned Mississippi business is a protected free expression and association right.
The Court recognized that political boycotts let groups, individuals or other entities express lawful opposition against unfair or hostile practices.
The ACLU said “(t)hese are precisely the freedoms the Constitution is meant to protect.” No federal, state or local government can legally deny them.
Anti-boycott measures target the most fundamental of constitutional rights, First Amendment ones without which all others are threatened.
Wisconsin is the 24th US state, enacting measures, banning state business with companies or other entities supporting BDS activism – the most effective initiative against Israeli ruthlessness.
Last May, all 50 state governors signed a pledge to oppose BDS activism. A disgraceful Governors United Against BDS statement said the following:
“(T)he goals of the BDS movement are antithetical to our values and the values of our respective states, our support for Israel as a vital US ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.”
A separate disgraceful statement by the extremist American Jewish Committee’s CEO David Harris said “(o)ur nation’s 50 governors, as well as the District of Columbia mayor, recognize the pernicious goals of the BDS movement, which singles out Israel from among all the nations of the world for relentless and undue criticism, and whose efforts undermine the prospects for advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace.”
Israel ruthlessly pursues its hegemonic agenda, viciously persecuting Palestinians, attacking neighboring states, partnering in US aggression, and supporting banned terrorist groups.
It’s an outlaw state, an apartheid one, contemptuous of human and civil rights. Its alliance with Washington threatens world peace, stability and security.
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