Posted on 09/03/2026 8:14:46 PM PDT by Libloather
On Thursday, 33 Democrats joined Republicans to pass a law that would take federal funding away from academic institutions involved in any kind of boycott of or divestment from Israel. The legislation passed 237–169.
The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, headed by Republican Representative Virginia Foxx and Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer, strips federal funding from any school that carries out a “nonexpressive commercial boycott” of Israel—like “refusals to deal” with it on a business level. Notably, the bill also applies to boycotts of institutions based in Israeli settlements.
“Thank you @RepJoshG and @virginiafoxx for leading this important bipartisan effort to counter the dangerous BDS [or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] campaign and safeguard academic engagement with Israel,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, celebrated on X after the vote. “This legislation helps protect pro-Israel students from discriminatory boycotts and efforts to deny them the ability to study in Israel or learn from Israeli professors, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”
This is a boldfaced attempt to make not just political capitulation but financial capitulation to Israel a requirement for federal funding. Eighty percent of Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents have a negative view of Israel, as it continues to bomb Gaza and Lebanon and Israeli settlers terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank.
The bill has many detractors, even in the Democratic Party.
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
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What third record Nazi wrote the article? Loaded with antisemitic assumptions lies tropes buzzwords and calumnies
That’s the big story. Not some congressional vote on anything.
The New republic is a liberal magazine that has been in print since 1914. So that is not surprising in the least.
Ah, Big Brother throwing its weight around. Got to protect the narrative.
10 of them are in competitive districts. They might be scared. That means another 8-10 are ripe to be attacked.
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