A coalition of Israeli peace groups have announced that they plan to file a petition with Israel’s High Court challenging the legality of a law passed earlier this week that makes boycott of Israeli products – even those produced in settlement colonies — illegal.The groups called the new law “deeply undemocratic”, and say that is suppresses freedom of expression in the state of Israel.
Gush Shalom, which plans to challenge the law in court, said that the law’s aim is to “silence criticism against the government’s policies in general and its policies in the occupied territories in particular, and prevent an open and productive political discourse, which is the backbone of a democratic regime’.
According to the new law, businesses or individuals can file civil lawsuits against anyone who is deemed to support or advocate for a boycott of Israeli goods.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved the law, which does not differentiate between Israeli goods made in settlement colonies or inside the 1967 borders. He stated, ‘I am against boycotts aimed at the state of Israel in general, and I am against boycotts aimed at groups within Israel.’
Some Israeli organizations have flaunted the new law, forming a Facebook group called, “So Sue Me, I’m Boycotting the Settlements!”
They say that the boycott of Israeli goods made in settlements has already had some success in its goal of pressuring the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian land, which is in violation of international law and United Nations resolutions.
