Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fascism Thriving in Israel: Israel passes law banning citizens from calling for boycotts

Law for Prevention of Damage to State of Israel through Boycott means anyone proposing boycott could be sued

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 July 2011

"The Israeli parliament tonight passed a law in effect banning citizens from calling for academic, consumer or cultural boycotts of Israel in a move denounced by its opponents as anti-democratic.

The "'Law for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel through Boycott" won a majority of 47 to 38....

It in effect bans consumer boycotts of goods produced in West Bank settlements, or of cultural or academic institutions in settlements. It also prevents the government doing business with companies that comply with boycotts.....

Hassan Jabareen of Adalah, a legal centre for Israeli-Arab citizens, said: "Defining boycott as a civil wrong suggests that all Israelis have a legal responsibility to promote the economic advancement of the settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This means that Israeli organisations opposing the settlements as a matter of principle are in a trap: any settler can now constantly harass them, challenging them to publicly declare their position on the boycott of settlements and threatening them with heavy compensation costs if they support it."...."

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