Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen correspondent: An Israeli drone attacked the main road in the town of Harouf, South Lebanon.
Lebanese President: Israeli aggression on Blida took place in aftermath of meeting of ceasefire monitoring committee.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asks Commander of Lebanese Army to confront any Israeli incursion into liberated Lebanese territory in the South.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli aircraft launch series of strikes on area of Jarmaq, South Lebanon.
Reuters: Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to restart peace talks in Istanbul.
Al-Mayadeen's correspondent in southern Lebanon: Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Blida municipality building two hours after occupying it, and the Lebanese army enters
Pakistani army: 6 soldiers and 7 militants killed in clash near the Afghan border
Israeli media: Sirens sound in the settlement of Kerem Shalom in the Gaza envelope area
Afghan source to Al Mayadeen: We still believe in dialogue and prioritize diplomatic solutions with Pakistan; though we are ready for all possibilities.
Afghan source to Al Mayadeen: Pakistan purposely obstructed negotiations in Turkey by making unrealistic demands.

Texas, Georgia, Virginia & more grapple with anti-BDS laws, make little victories

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Electronic Intifada
  • 12 Feb 2022 16:11
4 Min Read

While laws in US states force employees to sign a contract that forbids them of boycotting "Israel," activists and citizens and fighting for their right to free expression.

  • x
  • Texas, Georgia, Virginia & more grapple with anti-BDS laws, making little victories
    Texas, Georgia, Virginia & more grapple with anti-BDS laws, making little victories

US states have been in a debacle with citizens and civil liberty groups over matters regarding boycotting "Israel" - in 2017, Texas passed a law that requires public employees and companies to sign a contract that they will not engage in any boycott of "Israel" or else they will face consequences. 

However, with multiple lawsuits, Texas federal courts ruled that such a contract is unconstitutional. 

That case is causing a ripple effect: Georgia and Virginia, according to the Electronic Intifada, are trying to crush citizens' rights to boycott "Israel" - but the people are fighting back. 

Texas 

After Rasmy Hassouna, a Palestinian owner of an engineering firm sued the state for refusing to sign a loyalty pledge to "Israel" to secure a contract with Houston, a federal judge ordered an injunction which prohibits the state from forcing this contract on Hassouna. 

Although the measure does not fix the law per se, it's a 'significant defeat' against Zionist efforts to prohibit boycotts.

“This is a major victory of the First Amendment against Texas’s repeated attempts to suppress speech in support of Palestine,” stated Gadeir Abbas, an attorney working with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represented Hassouna and his firm. 

Multiple lawsuits were filed over the years, including by activist Bahia Amawi, who also refused to sign a contract to renew her job at a public school.

After multiple lawsuits, including by the American Civil Liberties Union, Texas amended the law, which requires the contract to only apply to companies with more than 10 employees, in addition to companies with contracts over $100,000. 

“These amendments, which are designed to remove the plaintiffs challenging the law from its reach, may reduce the number of individuals affected by the law, but fail to resolve the underlying constitutional issues,” warns civil rights group Palestine Legal.

Related News

Texas woman sentenced to 5 years for trying to drown Palestinian baby

Gunman kills one, injures two in attack on Dallas ICE facility

Georgia

Journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin has challenged Georgia's anti-boycott law. Being invited to be a speaker at Georgia Southern University, she refused to sign a contract forced upon her that prohibits her to boycott "Israel."

Her speech, in addition to the entire conference, was canceled in January 2020. 

In February the same year, she filed a lawsuit against the anti-boycott laws. The verdict emerged in May 2021, where a federal judge supported Martin's lawsuit, and that the law is against free speech. 

Israeli governmental officials, though, worked "in broad daylight" to amend the measure, but not repeal it. Harold Hershbeg, an Israeli government official, had a special interest in the Georgia law - he was the only one to ask the authorities to change the law, and they complied, according to Martin. 

It was “a shocking act of foreign subversion,” she adds.

However, a few weeks back, the state amended the measure which would rather force the contract on companies that are worth more than $100,000, or with companies with more than 5 employees.

“As promised, Israel and the Georgia state legislature came back with an amended law to try to moot my case,” Martin says. “But here’s the thing: the law is still ruled unconstitutional. It is still unenforceable in the state of Georgia. No one will have to sign this pro-Israel pledge in order to work for the state for contracts under $100,000.”

It would still be unconstitutional to punish citizens who refuse to sign the contract, even with companies worth more than $100,000. 

The attempt by Georgia lawmakers “to put lipstick on an unconstitutional pig does not alter the fact that the underlying law is still unconstitutional and that they have been defeated in federal court,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Martin’s attorney. 

Virginia

Lawmakers in Virginia, mid-January, introduced measures that would force companies that enjoy contracts worth more than $10,000 to sign a contract that prohibits boycott. However, Virginia activists are not having it. 

Jewish Voice for Peace will be demanding politicians in the state to demand the protection of free speech. 

In 2016, McCarthyite blacklist which sanctions companies that refuse to do business with "Israel" was defeated by pro-Palestinian activists in Virginia. 

  • Texas
  • freedom of expression
  • Palestine
  • Israel
  • Israeli lobby
  • Virginia
  • Georgia
  • Electronic Intifada

Most Read

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

  • Technology
  • 24 Oct 2025
Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

  • Politics
  • 27 Oct 2025
Hi-tech holocaust: Microsoft’s role in Gaza genocide

Microsoft's role in world’s first AI-driven genocide, in Gaza, exposed

  • Technology
  • 28 Oct 2025
What Marr evidently didn't seem to understand was that Hedges isn't saying that Western journalists manipulate the truth, but that they systematically amplify Israeli narratives they know are false. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Western journalists know they have a case to answer for their betrayal of Gaza, and it frightens them

  • Opinion
  • 24 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
ap
Politics

Hamas calls on int’l community to act against Israeli settlement plan

In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (AP)
Economy

Ex-US diplomat says Trump-Xi deal 'tactical retreat', not lasting deal

An unarmed Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, during a test in 2002. (US Air Force)
Politics

JD Vance defends Trump's nuclear test plan as 'crucial for security'

Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend the "million man" protest against military conscription, in occupied al-Quds, October 30, 2025 (AFP)
Politics

Haredi mass rally in al-Quds exposes Zionist regime's growing crisis

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS