Illegal to Boycott Israel?

Huh!

I just read that any American or company that boycotts Israel can be fined hundreds of thousands and also with possibility of jail time. But it gets even better, if you (as a corp) so much as fail to report to the authorities that someone approached you asking about boycotting Israel, you can still be fined thousands.
Several companied have already been fined. Sources are available upon request and I'm hoping for discussion before posting any links.

So what is this nonsense? How come we can boycott Great Britain, or Canada or Barbados but we cannot boycott Israel?

That is a very bold statement.

Can You please provide link(s) that back what you are saying.

I am not calling you a lier, but when it comes to such a "LOADED" STATEMNET' like that, you need to be able to back it, or most people will only feel it is your personal opinion, with no fact(s) to back it.

On a personal note, I think you ar wrong/I hope you are wrong.

Where did you read this?

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing to discuss in the absence of a link.

Right now it's just you saying something, with no supporting evidence.

I've heard nothing of the sort, so..what's there to discuss?

Why are you hoping for discussion before you post a link? Do you suspect (rightly?) that your source might not be taken seriously, because of one reason or another?

As far as I know, it's an American's right to buy products of their choosing, or to not buy products, if they so desire. As far as American companies boycotting Israel, maybe the ADL is going after them for it? That wouldn't necessarily surprise me...

But please post a link and show us your source, then maybe we can have a discussion. Thanks...

Here is the law:

www.bis.doc.gov...

For example, the McMaster Carr industrial supply company was recently fined $8,000 by this agency, and the company was not even boycotting Israel. Rather, their crime was:

McMaster-Carr failed to report its receipt of boycott-related requests within the time period required by the antiboycott provisions

Grady posted this link earlier today.

Background: US Anti-Boycott Law and the Divest-from-Israel campaign

I have to admit, I find this very surprising.

Misconstrued quotes (as usual).

From the BIS link:

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) administers U.S. antiboycott regulations, which prohibit U.S. persons from taking actions in support of unsanctioned foreign government boycotts, including the Arab League boycott of Israel.

Bold added to assist those who are having trouble understanding this relatively simple paragraph.

Israel is not an allied nation with America because the US has no treaty with Israel. In fact the treaty would include regulations on the expansion of Israel's borders and also war crime laws - there is no treaty period.

Something stinks here.

Okay, now that blows my mind.

Fines can be levvied against anyone who writes in support of the arab boycott of Israeli products?

Businesses can be fined for not reporting boycott requests?

This is seriously disheartening...

I was completely unaware of this, until now. So, is this a duplicate thread, did Grady actually make a thread about this earlier? Or did he just post the link in another thread? I don't want to close this thread now that I see it has merit...

I don't see how I'm not within my rights as an individual to support any boycott, arab or otherwise. It's one of the few sources of leverage a consumer slave can ever expect to have.

i'm dumbfounded.
noticed this on the link tho:

For Immediate Release
November 4, 2002

if the government can tell me what to buy, isn't that communism and not capitalism?

WyrdeOne

Don't close this thread.

Grady mentioned the link in this thread:

Why is my "boycott Israel" signature not allowed ?

Gee, always so ambiguous and still never reported clearly by our so-called "fair and balanced" news media. Watch carefully as 'they' attempt to define the word "unsanctioned" and thus justify tyranny in light of evidence that companies have already been fined.

I've gotta agree that a company or indivdual shouldn't be prohibited from "not-buying" the product of an allied nation, unless perhaps its in demonstrable collusion with an enemy of that ally.

Originally posted by Cinosamitna
How come we can boycott Great Britain, or Canada or Barbados but we cannot boycott Israel?

The rational is that the boycott is a form of economic warfare. If Nigeria boycotted the UK, or the IRA had a boycott of UK goods, then it'd be equally illegal to boycott UK goods for american firms.

Thanks for the info Loam.

I think it's clear that nobody can get into trouble for the simple act of not buying something.

But it still disturbs me that you could get fined simply for supporting a boycott against Israeli goods.

What about all that 'Buy American' hooey targetting (primarily) Chinese manufacturers/importers. That's fine and dandy I guess? Hypocrisy..ugh...

Yes, this should disturb us all.

The rational is that the boycott is a form of economic warfare. If Nigeria boycotted the UK, or the IRA had a boycott of UK goods, then it'd be equally illegal to boycott UK goods for american firms

Nygdan. They may imply it’s the rational but is it really the rational in light of the fact that companies have been fined and never colluded with the enemy.

And yes - a boycott is never supposed to be something pleasant. What does collusion mean when the majority of people in the world and disagree with Israeli actions? Israel is engaged in blatant war crimes and Israel is not an allied nation; nor do they have any treaty which would of course prove otherwise. Why not boycott them if it may force a ceasefire and save lives? Instead, the US government has been shipping massive amounts of arms, plasma etc to Israel.


And just what really happened here? Let's also discuss the nature of this thread: www.abovetopsecret.com...

....and how it relates to my concern. A poster actually said that Israel is sacred land! Excuse me sir, but what does sacred land and demagogic religious overtones have to with a political boycott? A foolish attempt to squash discussion perhaps and I think he should keep the boycott label - it looks good!

Even if you did manage to raise an effective boycott of Israeli products and services, they are still eventually going to make a buck on you either through the interest you pay to the Federal Reserve (taxes) or every time you go to the grocery store. You could boycott them sure, but I hope you like potted meat and potato chips. Have a look at this thread, one example of many of the intricate methods by which we are extorted...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Funny thing you may notice on that thread, only the board's Freemasons seem to come to the defense of this practice. Quite telling actually, makes you wonder what they mean by their ignoble 'giving back to the community' eh?

[edit on 31-7-2006 by twitchy]

Hi Twitchy - great point.

To reduce the damage, the Sanhedrin can try to make a buck off me but since I legally stopped paying income tax (don't tell anyone) and I make purchases of Gold and Silver along with certain exploration stocks, I'm thankfully doing better than the vast majority of people who post on this ATS forum and I suppose also in my home nation.

I also try to avoid buying the special "(K)" products but they seem to be hiding them everywhere (I'm getting older so my sight is getting worse) and using all sorts of different labels to try and pull a magic trick on all my hard earned fiat-currancy.

Great magicians aren't they?

Cino Samitna

When did the government get the authority to do such a thing, and exactly why was this not all over the news back when it was passed? How does our government decipher between a "Arab leage boycott" and an American or an allied state of ours sponsored boycott? I am not going to boycott Israel, I do not even know what to boycott from Israel if I wanted to, but I don't agree that no one should be allowed to not buy Israeli goods.

Here is a site: www.israelexport.org... that goes through on all of their exports. You're pretty sorted as long as you don't eat Kosher food. Just shift to buying lots of pork, etc. I am sure during the rest of the war you can live off of pork alone.