69% Oppose AIPAC’s ‘Israel Anti-Boycott Act’

Formerly Neutral Americans Now Oppose Curbing Israel Boycotts

by Grant Smith 

Posted onAugust 03, 2017

Results from a comprehensive public opinion poll of 2,500 American adults fielded through Google Surveys reveal widespread opposition to the top lobbying initiative of Israel’s US lobby in America, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Question: Congress may pass the Israel Anti-Boycott Act to punish Americans up to $1 million in fines & 20 years in prison for economic boycotts of Israel over human rights violations.

Nearly seven in ten Americans oppose the "Israel Anti-Boycott Act" (H.R.1697 in the House and S.720 in the Senate) while 25.7% support the Act, and 5.2% submitted other responses. The survey had an RMSE score of 5.9% and was fielded July 24-August 1.

This is a significant change from a March 2017 poll when 62.1% of Americans neither supported nor opposed such anti-boycott laws.

According to analysis published on July 28, the US will be required for the very first time to promote exports from territories occupied by Israel since 1967 by opposing and sanctioning the UN and EU. Most countries consider Israel’s occupation illegal. If passed into law, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act would also make Israel the only foreign country listed in key statutes designed to advance US national security.

More troubling, the proposed legislation demands the US treat growing global boycotts of Israel over its endemic human rights violations as a US "national emergency" under the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act."

Those subjected to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act could incur penalties of up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in prison.

One key Senator has already backed away from the bill. Senator Kirsten Gillbrand (D, NY) claimed on Monday she did not support the Israel Anti-Boycott Act in its current form.

Individual responses to the statistically significant IRmep survey, including results filtered by age and region may be accessed directly from Google.

Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington and the author of the 2016 book, Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby moves America. On August 8, 2016 he filed a lawsuit in federal court to block US foreign aid to Israel and claw back aid illegally delivered since 1976.

http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2017/08/02/69-oppose-aipacs-israel-anti-boycott-act/