Republican House leaders axed a planned vote on Monday for a bill intended to protect Israel from boycotts, amid a backlash from some conservatives over free speech concerns.
Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz compared the provisions in the legislation to the 10th biblical plague of Egypt: the death of the firstborn.
“If this bill becomes law, how many Israeli products do I need in my home to avoid fines or prison?” Gaetz asked. “If I leave an Israeli-made product outside my home, is it the 2025 version of lamb’s blood that keeps my family safe?”
The bipartisan bill, titled the International Governmental Organizations Anti-Boycott Act, would extend existing anti-boycott legislation that bars Americans from complying with bans imposed by foreign countries to also forbid compliance with boycotts imposed by international governmental organizations, like the United Nations.
The legislation doesn’t mention Israel explicitly, but the Jewish state has long been the target of international boycott efforts.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) were among Republicans to speak out against the bill.
“Americans have the right to boycott, and penalizing this risks free speech,” Luna wrote. “I reject and vehemently condemn antisemitism, but I cannot violate the First Amendment.”
A spokesman for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a co-sponsor of the bill, slammed the Republican leadership for caving to Greene, who speculated in 2018 that the Rothschilds might have caused wildfires in California by “beaming the sun’s energy back to earth.”
“It’s beyond outrageous and offensive that House leadership bowed to extreme-right forces and pulled this commonsense, bipartisan bill that makes antisemitic and hate-driven boycotts illegal,” Tony Wen, Gottheimer’s communications director, told JNS.
“Who was behind this effort?” Wen said. “None other than a member of Congress, who once claimed that Jews have space lasers, and another who refused to condemn Hamas. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie should be ashamed of themselves.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), defended the legislation on the grounds that the underlying anti-boycott act was signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018. Lawler also criticized Greene for backing international governmental organizations.
“This is simply holding the United Nations accountable,” Lawler wrote. “Was President Trump virtue signaling when he signed the original bill? And when did you become a defender of the United Nations?”
On Friday, the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) released a schedule of votes for Monday that included the bill, but the updated House schedule on Monday morning did not include it. (JNS sought comment from Scalise and Lawler.)
Legal challenges arguing that similar state-level anti-boycott legislation violates the First Amendment have a poor record in court.
In 2023, the Fifth, Eighth and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals each upheld state laws designed to counter the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in separate cases. The Supreme Court has declined to consider appeals to those rulings.
