Individual liberty and the Israel Anti-Boycott Act

A bill sponsored by roughly half the members of Congress would — so we are warned by New York magazine, at least — “make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel” and “make avoiding the purchase of Israeli goods for political reasons a federal crime.” While those claims may be somewhat overstated, I argue in a new post at Ricochet that the proposed Israel Anti-Boycott Act “is plenty bad enough. By punishing boycott participation grounded in political belief, it would infringe on individual liberty.” And: “It is not a proper function of law to force Americans into foreign commerce they personally find politically objectionable, whether their reasons for reluctance be good, bad, or arbitrary. The furor would make a good occasion to revisit the 1979 law itself in light of principles of individual liberty; at a minimum, we should decline S. 720’s invitation to extend it further.”

One Comment

  • Thank you. You are the first person I’ve read that calls for revisiting the 1979 underlying law, it needs too go.