Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Elizabeth Warren Opposes Bill Targeting Israel Boycotts

Groups opposing the proposed Israel Anti-Boycott Act registered another victory this week after progressive icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined the ranks of those critical of the legislation.

At an August 4 event, the Massachusetts Democrat was asked by an activist from Jewish Voice for Peace, a group fighting against the bill, for her opinion.

“I do not support the boycott, I think the boycott is wrong,” Warren said. “But I think outlawing protected free speech activity violates our basic constitution.”

This view seems to be in line with that of the American Civil Liberties Union, which asked senators to oppose the bill because it may prevent Americans from expressing their free speech in the form of boycotting Israeli products. Authors of the bill argue that it does not penalize individuals seeking to boycott Israel, and that it only targets companies adhering to boycott demands presented by foreign governments or international organizations.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand decided last week to withdraw her sponsorship of the bill after hearing from critical constituents during a town hall meeting.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.