Defenders of Israel’s new law banning boycotts — or the calling of boycotts — against any Israel-affiliated entity say it’s no different than U.S. anti-boycott laws in place to protect Americans from the Arab League boycott of Israel.
That’s wrong. Like the new Israeli law or not, it’s substantially different from the U.S. law. In fact, it is its polar opposite: It compels choice, whereas the American law removes the compulsion of choice.
The Arab League secondary and tertiary boycotts — the boycotts that require companies doing business with Arab League members not to do business with Israel — compel market choice.
The new Israeli law also compels market choice: The choice to not use things that you, as an individual allied with other individuals, find repugnant, is denied.
The U.S. law protects individuals in the market place; the Israeli law targets them.
At Huffington Post, Americans for Peace Now’s Lara Friedman has read both laws and lays out the differences.
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