Representative Ilhan Omar introduces legislation protecting boycotts as Free Speech

On July 16, 2019, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) introduced House Resolution 496 (H.R. 496), a bill to safeguard economic boycotts as an expression of free speech under the First Amendment, the Atlanta Black Star reports. The bill came after Omar made known her support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an ongoing international campaign to punish Israel for its continued occupation of West Bank territory it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and its alleged oppression of the Palestinians living there. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Ny.) are among the bill’s co-sponsors. 

Key Players

Ilhan Omar is a first-term Democratic congresswoman elected in 2018 to represent Minnesota’s 5th District. Her platform includes issues such as a higher federal minimum wage, affordable housing and health care, debt forgiveness for student loans, and greater protection of the rights of immigrants. 

John Lewis is a veteran representative currently serving his 17th term in the House from Georgia’s 5th District. He played a key role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington and was broadly active in the civil rights movement to end racial segregation in the United States. Lewis, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama, speaks frequently of the important role of economic boycotts to the struggle for equality in America.

Rashida Tlaib is a first-term Democratic congresswoman representing Michigan’s 13th District. She is on the record as supporting the BDS movement. 

Further Details

Omar, a Muslim of Somali origin, has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for openly questioning the support Israel receives in the United States. In February 2019, when speaking at a conference in Wasington, she addressed claims of anti-Semitism leveled against her by saying, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” according to Politico. Omar’s remarks, widely interpreted as an allegation that some Jewish Americans have “dual loyalty” toward the United States and Israel, prompted open rebuke from Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It led the House to pass a resolution, on March 7, 2019, condemning anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hatred, according to NBC News. On Mar. 21, two Democratic members of the House introduced a separate bill, H.R. 246, with the stated mission of “Opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel.”

In contrast, H.R. 496, introduced in July 2019, asks the House to ensure all Americans maintain the right to participate in boycotts to advance “civil and human rights at home and abroad,” according to Atlanta Black Star. It opposes congressional resolutions that prevent people from participating in such boycotts. And the bill strongly encourages Congress, the various states, and activists to continue protecting advocacy rights and to oppose anti-boycott measures. It cites examples from American history, according to Black Star. In addition to the various civil rights boycotts that took place throughout the 1960s-1970s, it also notes the 1982 Supreme Court case, NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware, in which the justices had this to say about a boycott of white merchants by black Mississippians: “[t]he right of the States to regulate economic activity could not justify a complete prohibition against a nonviolent, politically motivated boycott.” 

Although Omar’s bill does not specifically mention Israel, Palestine, or BDS, the Trump administration’s attempts to pass anti-boycott legislation in response to BDS aroused concern within the Democratic Party, according to the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. 

Outcome

House overwhelmingly passes H.R. 246

Approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 11, H.R. 246 was passed on July 23, 2019, by a 398-17 vote, reports The New York Times; moreover, it is regarded as having prompted Omar to introduce H.R. 496. 

Only sixteen Democrats and one Republican voted to oppose the anti-BDS bill, which, despite calling for increased security aid to Israel and a two-state solution, does not advocate penalizing individuals or companies that choose to boycott Israel. Rep. Lewis is one of the bill’s 351 co-sponsors. 

Some Democrats expressed fear that H.R. 246 could sow division within the party leading up to the 2020 presidential election. Rep. Engel, during a floor debate on the resolution, said the BDS movement “promotes a one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that seeks to marginalize Israel, that would deny the Jewish people the right of national self-determination.” On the other hand, Rep. Tlaib tweeted on July 10, “Our [First Amendment] right to free speech allows boycott of inhumane policies. This bill is unconstitutional.”

H.R. 496 is currently awaiting a vote in the House.