The Missouri Legislature recently passed Senate Bill 739, a measure that, in the words of Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters, forces companies who have a major contract with the state government to sign a “loyalty oath” to the state of Israel. A representative from these companies must sign a statement that they will not refrain from buying and selling goods and services to and from Israel (or companies doing business in Israel). They can legally boycott North Carolina, Iceland — any nation or entity, even the U.S. government — for whatever reason they choose. But if Gov. Mike Parson signs this bill, they will not be allowed to choose whether to forgo business with Israel.
At the end of a shortened legislative session, there was very limited time to deal with the pressing coronavirus pandemic and its economic repercussions, the health care emergency, and the pressing needs of our communities. Yet the Missouri Legislature found time to protect Israel from grassroots calls to engage in boycotts until Israel upholds the human rights of Palestinians. The measure will certainly be challenged in the courts as it is a violation of the First Amendment and Americans’ Supreme Court-recognized right to boycott. Passage of this blatantly unconstitutional bill, at this time, is a gross insult to all Missourians and all people concerned about a just world.
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We write this op-ed together — one as a Palestinian who has suffered the abuses of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the other as a Jew who has observed the occupation and is appalled by the pain inflicted on Palestinians in the name of the Jewish people.
We both support the Palestinian-led movement promoting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. This movement calls for Israel to end its military occupation, grant equal rights to all its inhabitants and bring justice to Palestinian refugees, all in accordance with international law. It calls for freedom, equality and justice for all people living on the land. It is a movement for historic justice.
It is particularly galling that Missouri elected representatives are poised to eliminate this constitutional means of protesting Israel’s racism now, when an expanding majority of Americans are supporting systemic changes to address racism borne by the Black community. Following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and so many other people of color by police and white vigilantes, millions of people globally, including in Palestine, have taken to the streets in protest of racism here and in their homelands.
We have witnessed the blatant, state-sanctioned racism of Israel, a country that values Jewish privilege over basic human rights for Palestinians. We have seen armed Jewish settlers go unpunished for violent attacks on Palestinians while Palestinians go to prison for years for defending themselves, sentenced by military courts. We know Palestinian children who, trapped behind a giant wall, can see the Mediterranean Sea from their homes on hills but have never been allowed to touch its water. We’ve seen how separate, Jewish-only, high-quality roads have been built in the West Bank to allow easy travel for settlers, while Palestinians exist in a living hell where traveling even short distances is made nearly impossible by giant separation walls, military checkpoints and more than 250 Jewish-only settlements throughout the Palestinian territories, enclaves in which they are not allowed.
There are now over 700,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Every settlement is illegal under international law. These colonies and their roads separate Palestinian communities, stealing their water and land. For decades, the Israeli government, bolstered by U.S. complicity, has been creating the infrastructure to seamlessly and permanently make these colonies a normal part of Israel, completely separated from surrounding Palestinian communities. In July, Israel plans to further defy the international community by annexing approximately 30% of stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Parson can still veto S.B. 739 and support the rights of Palestinians, Missourians and human rights defenders everywhere. Or, he can defy an international movement for freedom and equality in the interest of upholding Israel’s racism. The choice is his.
Sandra Tamari is a Palestinian human rights defender and director of Adalah. Rachel Brown is an organizer with St. Louis Jewish Voice for Peace. Both are members of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee.
