Senators Backing Israel anti-Boycott Bill are Betrayers of the Constitution

JUAN COLE01/08/2019

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Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 

The response of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to the proposed the Senate billpermitting state and local sanctions on persons and companies that boycott Israel was “They forgot which country they are representing.”

Rashida Tlaib

✔@RashidaTlaib

They forgot what country they represent. This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away.

Bernie Sanders

✔@SenSanders

It’s absurd that the first bill during the shutdown is legislation which punishes Americans who exercise their constitutional right to engage in political activity. Democrats must block consideration of any bills that don’t reopen the government. Let's get our priorities right. https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1081664403622252544 …

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She wasn’t harsh enough. The senators who pushed this bill, foremost among them Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have betrayed the Constitution. And so have the American Israel Public Affairs Committee staffers, who are attempting to gut the US Constitution on behalf of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. AIPAC should long ago have been made to register as the agent of a foreign power, and it is a consistent failure of the Department of Justice and the FBI that no pressure has ever been applied to the organization, which attempts to buy or bully representatives who should be standing up for their districts, not kowtowing to an international corrupt bully like Netanyahu.

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 06: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (R) is interviewed by Claire Shipman during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference at the Washington Convention Center March 6, 2018 in Washington, DC. With thousands of delegates and attendees, the annual AIPAC conference is the the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement in the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

Supporters of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel are protesting the continued Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, the illegal Israeli blockade on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and the system of land theft and denial of basic human rights imposed by Israel, which has become a form of Apartheid or in American terms, Jim Crow.

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RAMALLAH, WEST BANK – MARCH 7: Protesters hold flags during a protest held by Palestinian Women’s Association, ahead of the International Women’s Day near the Qalandiya military checkpoint located between Jerusalem and West Bank on March 7, 2018 in Ramallah, West Bank. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images).

Economic boycotts have been part and parcel of American political striving for liberty from the beginning. I have three words for you: Boston Tea Party. What do you think the American colonists were doing when they tossed 342 chests of British tea into the harbor? They were boycotting, divesting and sanctioning the injustice of King George III.

Two Federal judges have already found state laws that attempt to punish companies or individuals for boycotting Israel unconstitutional, one in Kansas and one in Arizona.

Of course they are unconstitutional. They are also racist, aimed at keeping brown Palestinians down.

https://www.juancole.com/2019/01/senators-betrayers-constitution.html