University of Illinois officials quickly reversed their decision to block an event about justice in Palestine when they were reminded that such discrimination is illegal under the First Amendment. “We’ve seen this happen again and again with Palestine-related events on campuses,” explained an attorney. “It’s critical for groups to stand up for their First Amendment rights in these situations.”
State lawmakers and governors across the US have allowed the Israel lobby to write public policy. New laws and executive orders have been crafted by Israel lobbyists, then copied from one state to the next, adopted with virtually identical language. The groundwork for anti-boycott legislation was laid by Israel partisans a decade ago…
New York Times reports that a cluster of activist Democrats — most of them young, most of them cruising toward House seats this fall — has dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties, strong support for Israel, raising the specter of a crack in the Democratic Party that Republicans could use to attract Jewish supporters.