Eugene Kontorovich Explains Congress’s Effort to Counter BDS

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2019

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019 was the very first piece of Senate legislation introduced in the 116th Congress. Sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the bill tackles a wide range of foreign policy issues. But the parts of the bill that have generated the most heated controversy are the provisions that deal with the BDS movement, the campaign to boycott, divest, and sanction the Jewish State. The federal legislation affirms that the 26 state-level anti-BDS laws currently on the books are consistent with federal policy. These laws do not ban companies from boycotting Israel, but they do prevent the state from contracting with companies that discriminate against Israeli businesses.

Though the federal bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support, it has yet to pass the House of Representatives, and it continues to draw opposition from groups that claim anti-BDS laws violate free speech and are constitutionally suspect. In this week’s podcast, Kohelet Policy Forum Director and George Mason University Law Professor Eugene Kontorovich joins Jonathan Silver to discuss the complex legal landscape of BDS legislation. Kontorovich, who played a role in drafting some state-level anti-BDS laws, guides us through the relevant laws at both the federal and state level and clarifies exactly how they work. Through thoughtful comparisons with past efforts to boycott apartheid South Africa as well as combat discrimination against the LGBT community, Kontorovich demonstrates that anti-BDS laws are not only technically legal, but also just.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble as well as “Shining Through the Rain” by Big Score Audio.

Transcript

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0:00.0	S-1, the first piece of legislation introduced by the 116th Senate of the United States is called
0:14.9	the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019. It was introduced by Florida
0:20.6	Senator Marco Rubio. S-1 does a lot of different 2019. It was introduced by Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
0:22.3	S1 does a lot of different things.
0:24.2	It reauthorizes a 2015 deal with Jordan to facilitate defense contracts.
0:29.0	It authorizes sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria.
0:33.0	But the one thing that is most controversial in the bill,
0:35.8	the one thing that most people know about S-1,
0:38.0	are the provisions that deal with BDS, the boycott divestment and sanctions campaign
0:42.3	designed to undermine Israeli commerce. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver.
0:48.3	This week we look at Senator Rubio's law and the constitutional thinking behind it.
0:52.4	26 American states have executive orders or laws that
0:56.2	govern the regulations of states contracting with private companies. Anyone is free to criticize or even
1:03.1	boycott Israel, but if a company does choose to boycott Israel, then this law makes clear
1:08.0	that the discriminating company is not entitled to contract with the state government.
1:13.1	These 26 states include left-leaning states like California and New York,
1:17.6	and they include right-leaning states like Texas and Alabama.
1:20.7	And they include all six swing states that flipped from President Obama in 2012 to President Trump in 2016. My guest this week is Eugene
1:29.4	Kantorovich, a director at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Israel, and a professor at the Antonin-Skalia
1:35.0	Law School at George Mason University. Eugene has actually helped to draft a number of these laws.
1:41.2	So if you enjoy this week's episode, you can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play,
1:45.0	and Spotify, and I hope you'll leave us a five-star review. Those reviews really help us grow this
	...

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