Thirteen U.S. state attorneys general called on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to remove sanctions on Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria in a letter last week.
The attorneys general from Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina and Ohio were among those who signed the letter, which they sent to the UK and Dutch ambassadors to the United States.
Brenna Bird, the Republican attorney general of Iowa who led the letter, stated on Monday that “by limiting trade markets and imposing sanctions, Iowa’s economy will be hurt by countries choosing to align their policies with terrorist organizations instead of our closest ally in the Middle East.”
“We are asking the UK and the Netherlands to end these sanctions and stop interfering with Americans’ ability to engage in international trade,” she said.
The letter stated that many of the states have laws barring government agencies from conducting business with companies that boycott Israel. As such, “your anti-Israel sanctions may thus disqualify companies from your nations from contracting with our states, or require our states to divest from your companies,” the letter said.
The letter also pointed out that the sanctions advance the objectives of terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah and “could be seen to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the policy aims of these terrorist organizations.”
“We respectfully urge the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to rescind or halt implementation of the recently enacted trade sanctions against Israel or any component of Israel,” the letter stated. “We hope that you will join our states in their stand against terrorism and antisemitism.”
