Tag: Washington State

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Two anti-BDS bills reintroduced in Washington State legislative session

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A letter to Washington State legislators.

By Washington Freedom to Boycott | Feb 8, 2018

“The court has rightly recognized the serious First Amendment harms being inflicted by this misguided law. . . . This ruling should serve as a warning to government officials around the country that the First Amendment prohibits the government from suppressing participation in political boycotts.”
— Brian Hauss, ACLU attorney

To the Honorable Representative:

As Washington residents and Washington organizations, we are disturbed at ongoing attacks on our First Amendment right to boycott. In the Washington State Legislature, two measures from 2017, HJM 4004 and HJM 4009, both condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, have been reintroduced into the House Judiciary Committee during the 2018 legislative session. Though these measures appear not to be moving forward, we are concerned that similar anti-boycott language might be inserted into final legislation during this busy session.

HJM 4004 and 4009 radically mischaracterize the BDS movement. BDS is a grassroots campaign to gain equal rights for Palestinians and to pressure Israel to abide by international humanitarian law. While BDS is modeled after the South African boycott and thus calls for broad boycotts against Israeli institutions, nothing in it calls for discrimination against individuals solely because of their national origin, religion, or ethnicity.

Continue reading “Two anti-BDS bills reintroduced in Washington State legislative session”

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Washington State Anti-BDS Legislation

 We’ve won this round: a letter from Cindy Corrie.

March 28, 2017

Dear friends and allies at the Bishop’s Committee,

Your calls and emails to the governor and state legislators of Washington are working. None of the anti-BDS measures threatened during the 2017 session are moving forward. The deadline for introducing bills has passed for this session. House Joint Memorials 4004 and 4009, both condemning BDS, died in committee. Senator Baumgartner (R-Spokane) never formally introduced the anti-BDS bill that he announced in December. Governor Inslee has not signed the Governors Against BDS statement that more than forty other state governors have signed. We’re grateful for all your individual activism and also to the long list of WA groups and organizations that joined our campaign against these measures.

We may have won this round in Washington State, but we have every reason to believe that anti-BDS measures will be introduced again in 2018, with all the same state legislators in office. Anti-BDS measures like these have passed in at least fourteen other states, and an anti-BDS bill has been introduced in the United States Senate.

We have to continue our campaign to make sure that our state legislators know that they should not endorse or vote for any measures that curtail our free speech by prohibiting or penalizing boycotts.

  • IN PERSON MEETINGS are among the most effective ways to influence our legislators. Anti-BDS advocates are lobbying in person, and we can’t leave the field to them. This is especially important if your WA legislator was among the 36 sponsors of HJM 4004 and 4009. Click here to find out if your legislator was a sponsor.

Are you able to meet with your WA legislators, either in Olympia over the next month, or in your home city over following months? Would you like to connect with others in your district who might be able to join you in a meeting?

Let us help. Contact us at FreeSpeechWA@gmail.com for help in setting up a meeting and gathering information for the 2018 legislative session.

  • OTHER ALLIES: Do you know other organizations that will share our concern for these threats to free speech and our right to boycott? Let us know at FreeSpeechWA.org and we’ll reach out to them to join our campaign.

Thank you for taking action in defense of our civil liberties and the BDS Movement for justice and equal rights.

— Cindy Corrie

Free Speech Washington
FreeSpeechWA.org
FreeSpeechWA@gmail.com