Ilhan Omar Introduces Resolution to Defend Americans' Right to Boycott

Ilhan Omar takes up the BDS fight

This is what resistance looks like.

Under fire from U.S. President Trump and ahead of a newly-announced trip to Israel and the West Bank, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a resolution championing “the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights.”                                                    

The fact that we even need such a resolution should be a wake up call to us all. This is where the fight is. The right to boycott is fundamentally American, and one of the most effective rights we have.

Among examples of America’s “proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad” the resolution cites “boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust.”                                                    

The resolution cites other instances of international boycotts by “Americans of conscience”: Boycotting Imperial Japan in the run-up to WWII, the U.S. boycott of  the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the boycott of South African goods during the Apartheid era.                                                    

Unfortunately, it appears that many Democrats in Congress don’t agree.

Omar’s new legislation comes as House Democrats remain conflicted over an anti-BDS resolution, H.R. 246, which is set to come to a vote next week, with moderate pro-Israel Democrats backing the measure and progressives opposing it as a violation of free speech.                                                    

Even though I don’t agree with The Squad on some things this is one idea I totally support.