A widely-supported bill in the House and Senate would make it a felony to support or endorse efforts to boycott the state of Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians. Conviction could result in a maximum $250,000 civil fine plus a $1,000,000 criminal fine and 20 years in prison. Regardless of one’s views of the Israel/Palestine conflict, the right to boycott anything, anywhere for political reasons is political speech protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution. Will Congress succeed in overthrowing this fundamental principle upon which our republic was founded? We take a good look at the issue in today’s Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
Proponents of this proposed law say it’s an extension of the 1977 anti-boycott law.
I don’t know, but I think that anyone or any business should be able to boycott if they want to, regardless of the target country.
If someone wanted to NOT do business with South Africa during Apartheid or with Turkey now, or with China, should they not be able to? Of course they should.
The 1977 law was probably a bad one too.
Wait a moment. How can this jive with Citizen’s United? What happens if this thing pass unadulterated, prison time and all. Will the Supreme Court slog it out?