U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) issued intense dissent last week against the recent anti-Israel blacklist released by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that includes the names of 22 American companies and has proposed a bipartisan bill to stop similar boycotts.
“We strongly oppose the ongoing efforts to compile a blacklist of companies that do business in Israeli-controlled territories,” wrote Sens. Portman and Ben Cardin (D-MD) in a Feb. 1 statement responding to the UNHRC’s preliminary list released in January.
Specifically, the UN council keeps a database of company names that it says are operating or investing in Israeli-controlled settlements in the area beyond the so-called Green Line, which includes East Jerusalem and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, among other areas, according to the senators’ statement.
“We oppose all efforts by international organizations seeking to undermine prospects for resuming negotiations for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians,” the lawmakers said.
Additionally, Sens. Portman and Cardin have co-authored legislation aimed at curbing what they consider to be the “anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.” Over the past several years, an increasing number of countries is segregating and delegitimizing Israel through BDS actions, according to Cardin’s office.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, S. 720, was introduced on March 23, 2017, directly “[i]n response to specific actions like the 2016 UNHRC resolution that created the blacklist,” the senators said last week.
If enacted, S. 720 would prohibit boycotts or requests for boycotts imposed by international governmental organizations against Israel, according to Portman’s office, which noted such policy retains what’s already been long in place concerning boycotts imposed by foreign countries.
The bill text stipulates, among other provisions, that the measure does not “alter the established policy of the United States or establish new United States policy concerning final status issues associated with the Arab-Israel conflict, including border delineation that can only be resolved through direct negotiations between the parties.”
S. 720, which has 51 cosponsors, is pending before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) also on March 23, 2017 introduced the identical House bill, H.R. 1697, which has 269 cosponsors and awaits consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.
At the time of releasing his bill, Rep. Roskam called the BDS movement “nothing more and nothing less than the latest attempt by Israel’s enemies to destroy the Jewish State” via economic warfare. “Thankfully, the United States Congress — and the American people — will not stand for it.”
The UNHRC report refutes companies’ claims that the businesses listed in the UNHRC database support Palestinian economic and job market growth and instead says the businesses have the reverse effect, according to a UNHRC summary.