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By the way, in case it was missed, in a Major Free Speech Victory, a Federal Court Strikes Down a Law that Punishes Supporters of Israel Boycott A FEDERAL JUDGE on Tuesday ruled that a Kansas law designed to punish people who boycott Israel is an unconstitutional denial of free speech. The ruling is a significant victory for free speech rights because the global campaign to criminalize, or otherwise legally outlaw, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement has been spreading rapidly in numerous political and academic centers in the U.S. This judicial decision definitively declares those efforts — when they manifest in the U.S. — to be a direct infringement of basic First Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Link

The US is preparing a law which would penalize businesses which refuse to do business with Israel's illegal "settlements". Link New US bill would punish settlement boycotters US Senator Ben Cardin is once again trying to pass legislation designed to suppress the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights. During the last Congressional session, the Maryland Democrat succeeded in sneaking language into a must-pass trade bill making it a “principal negotiating objective” of the United States “to discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel” while negotiating trade deals. This discouragement of BDS extended to boycotts of products originating from settlements in what the bill euphemistically referred to as “Israeli-controlled territories.” All of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights are illegal under international law.

Sodastream will be closing down its controversial factory, located in an illegal settlement in the West Bank. “SodaStream’s announcement … shows that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is increasingly capable of holding corporate criminals to account for their participation in Israeli apartheid and colonialism,” said Rafeef Ziadah, a spokesperson. “[The] BDS campaign pressure has forced retailers across Europe and North America to drop SodaStream, and the company’s share price has tumbled in recent months as our movement has caused increasing reputational damage to the SodaStream brand.” The BDS movement is one of the main engines of the non-violent Palestinian resistance against the brutal Zionist regime. This powerful and influential movement continues to gain momentum and will be a huge part of the inevitable, which is when Palestinians will experience freedom, human rights and self-determination.