The Knesset has given its initial backing to a bill that would place heavy sanctions against bodies that advocate a boycott against Israel, or against specific areas such as the West Bank. Although Kadima Faction leader Dalia Itzik, one of the bill’s original sponsors, rescinded her support for the legislation, the bill still easily passed in its first reading by a vote of 32-12.
Earlier, a coalition of 53 human rights organizations, including B’Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights and Rabbis for Human Rights, sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, asking him to stop the legislation, which was sponsored by the Likud parliamentarian Ze’ev Elkin.
Knesset members opposed to the bill argue that the definition of boycott was too vague and could limit citizens’ freedom of expression. The sponsors emphasized that such legislation already existed in the United States, where companies that support boycotts of Israel are being punished. Last week, the bill’s sponsors agreed to a revised version that defines boycott as “an intentional avoidance of economic, cultural or academic relations with a person or another agent, solely because of their ties to the State of Israel, its institutions or areas under its control.”
The bill will now return to the Knesset’s Law and Constitution Committee, where it will be prepared for its second and third readings in committee, and then sent to the plenum.
