Tlaib blasts Foreign Affairs Committee’s anti-BDS bill as ‘unconstitutional’

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) took aim at a bill in the House Foreign Affairs Committee condemning the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, calling it “unconstitutional.”

The measure, H.R. 246, aims “to silence opposition of Israel’s blatantly racist policies that demonize both Palestinians & Ethiopians,” Tlaib, who is Palestinian and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

“Our 1st Amd. right to free speech allows boycott of inhumane policies. This bill is unconstitutional,” she added. 

.@HouseForeign wants to move forward w/ #HR246 #AntiBDS bill to silence opposition of Israel’s blatantly racist policies ⬇️ that demonize both Palestinians & Ethiopians.

Our 1st Amd. right to free speech allows boycott of inhumane policies. This bill is unconstitutional. https://t.co/6VJUtBbogy

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) July 10, 2019 

{mosads}The bill has 336 co-sponsors, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). It was co-written by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the latter of whom is the only Jewish Republican in the House.

Tlaib has expressed support for the BDS movement before and has also criticized a Senate anti-BDS bill sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), calling boycotting “a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality” in January and saying the bill’s sponsors “forgot what country they represent.”

Rubio responded by accusing Tlaib of anti-Semitism and claiming that “boycotting companies that boycott Israel is also constitutionally protected.”