Israel’s ban on boycotts faces legal challenge from civil rights groups

Wave of condemnation for new law forbidding citizens from promoting academic, consumer or cultural boycotts 

Harriet Sherwood
London Guardian 

Israeli civil rights groups have launched legal challenges to a new law that in effect bans citizens from calling for boycotts of Israeli goods, services, businesses or cultural or academic institutions.

The passing of the law late on Monday night prompted a wave of criticism and condemnation in the Israeli press, with one eminent law professor describing it as “the blackest day in Knesset [Israeli parliament] history”.

Gush Shalom, an organisation that campaigns for an end to Israel‘s occupation of Palestinian territory, filed a petition to the supreme court, saying the new law was an attempt “to silence criticism against the government’s policies in general and its policies in the occupied territories in particular, and prevent an open and productive political discourse, which is the backbone of a democratic regime”.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition to the high court of justice, saying the new law was “unconstitutional and undemocratic” and set a precedent for limiting freedom of expression.

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