Opuscula Is BDS free speech Or hate speech If it’s “selective”?

IN THE UNITED STATES CITIZENS are very protective of their First Amendment “Free Speech” rights.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ¹

It is the SECOND Amendment that gives Americans the right to keep firearms and the government the right to regulate them.

While is IS illegal to “yell fire in a crowded theater,” — that endangers public safety — is it illegal for an organization to promote a boycott of a country ?

If I want to boycott goods from China — which I do — and I tell whoever reads my rants that I “don’t buy Chinese” for several reasons, does that equate to the international Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel?

The sad thing is, the BDSers are hurting the people they claim they are helping — the people living in PLO-controlled areas — since “BDSing” Israel takes jobs away from these people who come into Israel to work and receive wages far in excess of what they would make “at home.”

Muslims from the PLO-controlled areas had good jobs with SodaStream; their salaries were the same as Israeli’s salaries for the same job. BDS caused SodaStream to relocate its business and the Muslims from the PLO areas lost their jobs.

RETURNING TO THE REAL QUESTION, is my personal BDS against China protected by the Constitution?

Is the BDS sponsored by an international organization protected by the Constitution?

CAVEAT: I am not a lawyer or Constitutional scholar nor do I teach Constitutional law at a university.

To my simple mind, there IS a difference between an individual (this scrivener) encouraging people to forego purchasing Chinese products for very specific reasons ² and an international organization that pressures governments to reject a nation’s products because of claims repeatedly proven untrue. ³

The Constitution gives Congress — not individual citizens — the right to regulate international and interstate commerce.

Article I, Section 8, Paragraphs 1-3 of the United States Constitution:
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and to promote the general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes.

BDSers are, in my opinion, trying to override the U.S. Constitution when they attempt to convince local and state governments to restrict trade with a political entity (Israel) they demonize, especially when their claims are so easily debunked by on-the-spot observations. (Would BDSers actually travel to Israel and the PLO-controlled areas to SEE FOR THEMSELVES the reality on the ground?)

Do I violate the U.S. Constitution by pointing out WHY I don’t want to “buy Chinese” and suggest that others consider my reasoning.

I Do “buy Chinese” where there is (a) no alternative or (b) I was not aware of a product’s country of origin until it arrived on my doorstep.

HOW DO I KNOW what goes on in Israel? Been there, done that.

I saw an obviously Muslim family strolling on a Haifa beach as missiles fired by Muslims fell near the city.

I have seen Arabs working in supermarkets and in businesses, sometimes along side non -Muslims (there are Christians as well as Jews and Muslims in Israel), and sometimes at their own businesses — unlike in the PLO-areas from which Jews are banned, Muslims can, and do, own businesses in Israel.

My late Mother-In-Law had a Muslim caretaker and was treated by a Muslim doctor – in Israel.

My sister-in-law goes to a Muslim dentist – in Israel.

I have seen obviously Muslim families pass through airport security without interference and I have seen Jews forced to unpack their luggage for inspectors before moving on – in Israel.

So much for the BDSer’s “discrimination” allegations.

While I seriously doubt the question of “Is BDS constitutional” ever will be raised before the U.S. Supreme Court, it does present an interesting question.

A simpler question is “Is BDS free speech or hate speech.”

For this scrivener, there is a simple answer: Yes, BDS IS hate speech.

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Sources

1 https://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/

2 Why avoid Chinese products?
   (a) Lack of QA/QC
   (b) History of selling dangerous products
   (c) History of selling feces-laced foods (fish, mushrooms)
   (d) History of selling counterfeit drugs that are either/both dangerous or lack the required potency (via Canada)
   (e) Employment conditions that are reported to be intolerable.

3. BDSers claim
   (a) Israel is an apartheid state, yet Muslims (1) Are on the nation’s Supreme Court, (2) In the Knesset, (3) Can live anywhere (unlike the PLO areas where a Jew cannot go), (4) Ride all public transportation, (5) Shop at all stores and markets
   (b) Muslims are discriminated against (see 3(a), above) and lack the freedoms enjoyed by non-Muslim Israelis, except they walk on Haifa’s beaches unmolested while rockets from Lebanon and Syria fall in Haifa fields
   (c) Muslims are paid less than non-Muslims doing the same work except at SodaStream and Rami Levy supermarkets and most Israeli businesses that cater to Muslim and non-Muslim customers.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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