The Boycott Law

Once again, good people with good intentions have done something that is not good. According to the Boycott Law adopted by the Knesset this week, it is forbidden for an Israeli citizen to boycott or to call for a boycott on Israel or its institutions.

This is actually a blow for basic civil rights. There is no difference between the right to call for a boycott of cottage cheese or the right to call for a boycott of products produced in the settlements or the right to call for a boycott of a university that employs lecturers with whom I do not agree.

Everybody has the right to boycott - including the State. The government (not the Knesset) as the representative of the majority, can decide that it will not include those who call to boycott it in government tenders or in any other benefits. That is exactly what the government currently does; it boycotts Judea and Samaria and does not issue tenders there - despite the fact that the citizens in those areas are loyal to the State. No Israeli court will require the government to build in Judea and Samaria in contradiction of what it perceives as the public good. Likewise, if a university lecturer calls for a boycott of Israel, the government can withhold its funding from that university until the lecturer is fired.

Will the court allow that to happen? Of course not. By the same measure, the Israeli courts will neuter the Boycott Law of any meaning. That is a double loss for the national camp. We have created another tool with which to trample civil rights in Israel (a tool that will ultimately be used against the faith based public alone) and we also have not helped the settlements.