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43 U.S. Senators support bill that would make boycotting Israel a felony

kirblar

Member
This bill seems to be a whole lot of posturing that's unlikely to actually affect anything or hold up in court. Hence why everyone hopped on.
 

Joe T.

Member
Meanwhile, some co-sponsors seemed not to have any idea what they co-sponsored – almost as though they reflexively sign whatever comes from AIPAC without having any idea what’s in it. Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, for instance, seemed genuinely bewildered when told of the ACLU’s letter, saying “what’s the Act? You’ll have to get back to me on that.”:

And there is this similar exchange with another co-sponsor, one of AIPAC’s most reliable allies, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who said: “I’d want to read it . . . . I’d really have to look at it.”

Perhaps most stunning is our interview with the primary sponsor of the bill, Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin, who seemed to have no idea what was in his bill, particularly insisting that it contains no criminal penalties

That's just incredibly embarrassing...
 

Tawpgun

Member
Wonder what the "Free Speech Rally" people have to say about this.

Really hope this doesn't pass, its a gross precedent.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
The israeli lobby is scary as fuck. I wish there was someone to tell the israeli government to straight fuck off and have them actually think that the US was serious about them having to renegotiate their positions.

Its sad when an Jewish senator who spent time in israel is one of the only ones decrying the israeli goverment's blatant rightwing stances and injustices towards Palestine, and even then only relatively compared to the rest of congress

That whole display with AIPAC between Clinton and Trump trying to outdo each other on how much they loved israel during the election was very eye opening in regards to the power the israeli government has on America and its ability to make rational middle east decisions objectively, and that is dangerous and kind of proves that there are plenty of areas where this is happening beyond israel
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
https://theintercept.com/2017/07/19/...gainst-israel/

Finally, an issue Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

Meanwhile, some co-sponsors seemed not to have any idea what they co-sponsored – almost as though they reflexively sign whatever comes from AIPAC without having any idea what’s in it. Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, for instance, seemed genuinely bewildered when told of the ACLU’s letter, saying “what’s the Act? You’ll have to get back to me on that.”:

And there is this similar exchange with another co-sponsor, one of AIPAC’s most reliable allies, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who said: “I’d want to read it . . . . I’d really have to look at it.”

Perhaps most stunning is our interview with the primary sponsor of the bill, Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin, who seemed to have no idea what was in his bill, particularly insisting that it contains no criminal penalties
That's just incredibly embarrassing...

Holy shit, what is wrong with these people??

Co-sponsoring a bill without knowing what's in it? How does that even fucking happen? Embarrassing doesn't even begin to describe it.

Any senator from New York is going to be pro-Israel, and without that position they might not be able to be a senator from New York.
You can be pro-Israel and oppose this bill, though. Like, very very easily.
 
Fuck Israel.

I wonder how these senators would feel if another nation occupied their land while receiving billions of dollars in unneccassary aid and weapons from another super power all the while said nation was slowly taking land and claiming it as a "birth right"
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
As if anyone could have expected any different. Nobody can be surprised by this.

The US ain't even on close to considering that it may have a faulty position on Israel.
 
This clearly violates the first amendment. It's one of those bills that never survive, but a clear reminder of who is in charge of congress. It's scary sometimes how ridiculously some of these bill violate individual freedom and privacy.
 

Kettch

Member
No shit, I was taking a shot at some people I've encountered that would defend the First Amendment
for nazis
till the next day, but probably won't make a huge fuss about this.

Those are very few, mind.

I mean, every single person in the thread before you posted said that this is terrible and would never pass the constitution.

Why would you think that people who have been defending the first amendment wouldn't make a huge fuss about this?
 
I mean, every single person in the thread before you posted said that this is terrible and would never pass the constitution.

Why would you think that people who have been defending the first amendment wouldn't make a huge fuss about this?

Because the people in this thread and the people who tend to defend the 1st except in blatant situations like this are two different groups of people
 

Madness

Member
...was drafted with the assistance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC].” Indeed, AIPAC, in its 2017 Lobbying Agenda, identified passage of this bill as one of its top lobbying priorities for the year.

This tells you all you need to know. Israel noticed the writing on the wall with the Suez crisis with France and Britain no longer being global powers. So they lobbied and turned the US towards them. Now with the writing on the wall of US global supremacy slowly ending, they have been courting China and India ans recently found a giant ally in India which is their top defense export nation now, Modi is ignoring Palestine, visiting Israel etc. AIPAC provides millions in dollars to these politicians.
 

womfalcs3

Banned
Boycotting is personal decision. They can't legislate it. They can't tell me I have to buy a product made in Israel, for example.

What happened to liberty?
 
Lol can this (specifically the act of boycotting) even be enforced or proven in a court of law? It seems like a dumb law that didn't take how easily it can be exploited into account.
 

shamanick

Member
This bill seems to be a whole lot of posturing that's unlikely to actually affect anything or hold up in court. Hence why everyone hopped on.

Haha yeah totally. I love it when my pragmatic centrist heroes do horrific shit because it won't even matter anyway

Anyway Lieu acted surprised when someone called him out on Twitter for this. It sounded like he hadn't even read the bill.
 

Derwind

Member
Hey people that complain about censorship... here's an actual example of censorship to compare to.

Boycotts are speech, how the fuck are you going to fine someone for even just trying to access information on the Boycott.
 
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