A couple of days ago, I was alerted to a truly astonishing bill that has been introduced in Congress. It's so ridiculous that you won't even believe it's real. When you find out it's being spearheaded by Maryland's senior US Senator and co-sponsored by the majority of our state's congressional delegation you will wonder if they have collectively lost their minds.
The topic which has inspired bizarre and confounding behavior by our members of Congress is a familiar one: Palestinian Human Rights.
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Senator Ben Cardin
(D-LovesIsraeliSettlements)
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Congressman John Delaney
(D-WantsToBeGovernor?)
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The bill is the called "The Israel Anti-Boycott Act". It was introduced in the Senate by Ben Cardin (D-MD). There is an identical bill in the House. The bill does what it's name indicates. It makes peacefully boycotting Israeli products or companies a crime. Violations could land people in jail for up to 20 years. Not only would boycotting Israeli products/companies be a crime, but boycotting products from Israel's settlements in the Occupied West Bank could also earn someone 20 years in the slammer -- even though everyone knows these settlements are a gross violation of international law.
Can you believe it? Maryland's members of Congress -- most of the Democrats -- want to throw peaceful political activists in jail. And they want to do so in service of a foreign government which is violating international law. This is deeply authoritarian. It's an attack on the First Amendment. It is simply un-American and indecent. I would expect such a law from totalitarian states like China and Saudi Arabia, not from the US Congress. There are innumerable Marylanders who would be at risk of being jailed. As a vocal proponent of Palestinian human rights, I am one of them.
The bill has a huge bi-partisan list of sponsors. Here is Maryland's delegation position on the bill:
- Senator Ben Cardin (D): Original sponsor
- Senator Chris Van Hollen (D): Not a sponsor
- Congressman Anthony Brown (D-MD-04): Co-sponsor
- Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD-07): Not a sponsor
- Congressman John Delaney (D-MD-06): Co-sponsor
- Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD-01): Co-sponsor
- Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05): Co-sponsor
- Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08): Not a sponsor
- Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-02): Co-sponsor
- Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD-03): Co-sponsor
Seven out of ten of our members of Congress support this bill. Does this make sense to you? It doesn't make sense to me. And it doesn't make sense to many of their constituents either. Take a look at some their reactions from social media:
It's not just social media which is on fire about this bill. Liberal organizations are panning it and mainstream news sources are writing about this highly controversial bill as well:
It's time these 7 wayward Congress-members accept their mistake, renounce their support for this horrible bill, and go read the First Amendment to the US Constitution. I'm pasting it below for their benefit in case they've never seen it before:
- Glenn Greenwald blows the whistle on this bill in The Intercept
- The ACLU condemns the bill
- MoveOn.org opposes the bill
- ThinkProgress shames the bills sponsors
- The Washington Post runs an Op-Ed tearing into the bill.
- The Gothamist writes about the controversy
- Vice News rips the bill
- Even the right-wing National Review - not exactly a pro-Palestinian magazine - calls the bill "mind-bogglingly stupid"
- And many, many, many more...
It's time these 7 wayward Congress-members accept their mistake, renounce their support for this horrible bill, and go read the First Amendment to the US Constitution. I'm pasting it below for their benefit in case they've never seen it before:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"
