NEW HAMPSHIRE BECOMES 37TH US STATE TO ADOPT ANTI-BDS LAW
New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu signed on Thursday an executive order prohibiting the Granite State from investing in or contracting with companies and commercial entities that boycott Israel and its trade partners.
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The announcement, made in the presence of Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, marks New Hampshire as the 37th state to enact regulations against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes national-origin-based commercial discrimination against Israel, its trade partners and its supporters.
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NH Gov. Christopher Sununu signs an executive order against the anti-Israel BDS movement; Looking on to his immediate right is Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Gilad Erdan
(Photo: IAC for Action)
These laws protect the commercial operation of local companies doing business with Israeli companies and prevent the use of taxpayer money to promote national origin-based discrimination. Anti-BDS certifications in state contracts are similar to other non-discrimination provisions that protect on the basis of gender, race, religion, national origin and veteran status.
Shawn Evenhaim, chairman of the Israeli-American Coalition for Action (IAC for Action) praised Gov. Sununu “for standing up against national origin discrimination and defending the deep cultural and commercial ties between Israel and New Hampshire. This executive order protects the freedom and liberty of New Hampshire businesses from the coercion and bullying tactics of the BDS hate movement.”
IAC For Action played a key role in helping to draft the anti-BDS legislation in New Hampshire and anti-BDS laws in other states.
“With this new policy, Gov. Sununu protects the state’s right to assert its own speech, and to decline to participate in antisemitic discrimination,” said IAC for Action’s Executive Director Joseph Sabag.
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NH Gov. Christopher Sununu and Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Gilad Erdan, stand with the new NH law against the anti-Israel BDS movement
(Photo: Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations)
After Sununu issued the executive order, Erdan also welcomed the New Hampshire law and pushed back against a recent UN Commission on Inquiry report that attacked the rights of U.S. states to pass such anti-BDS legislation.
“I have come here today to express gratitude to the state of New Hampshire on behalf of the State of Israel and Jewish people. By becoming the 37th state to reaffirm opposition to BDS, New Hampshire is helping not just to strengthen relations between Israel and the U.S., but is also creating an economic Iron Dome that will ensure our shared progress and prosperity while fortifying the moral Iron Dome protecting the basic notions of truth and justice,” said Erdan.
“The support of New Hampshire is the perfect response to this antisemitic commission. I believe we must boycott our boycotters and delegitimize our delegitimizers. This is the most effective tool as was proven with Ben & Jerry’s and Airbnb.”
A South Carolina judge and former state Representative, Alan Clemmons, also distributed a letter signed by legislators representing 42 states on Thursday strongly criticizing the UN Commission on Inquiry for recently taking the unusual step of criticizing state-level anti-BDS laws across the U.S.