🇺🇸❌ Everything You Need to Know About the US Anti-Boycott Law (H.R. 867)

A bipartisan bill to punish Americans for boycotting Israel just got pulled—here’s what happened and why it matters.

A sweeping bill that would have punished Americans for boycotting Israel has been pulled from Congress after fierce opposition. The International Governmental Organization (IGO) Anti-Boycott Act (H.R. 867) aimed to criminalize support for international boycotts of Israel—including UN-backed campaigns.

The consequences? Up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in prison. Just for refusing to do business with companies complicit in apartheid.

But the public fought back.

🧯 Unexpected Allies: Trump’s Base Blocks the Bill

It wasn’t just progressives who raised alarms. Some of the loudest opposition came from Trump-aligned Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie. Their argument? It violated Americans’ free speech.

"Americans have the right to boycott. Penalizing this risks free speech," said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.

Even right-wing influencers like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon slammed the bill. Their message resonated: Free speech is non-negotiable—even when it challenges powerful allies.

This rare alliance between progressives and the far-right demonstrated that support for Palestinian rights and the right to protest transcends political lines.

🇵🇸 A Win for the BDS Movement

At its core, the bill was a direct attack on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for nonviolent pressure on Israel to end its violations of international law.

The bill sought to expand the 2018 Export Control Reform Act by including international governmental organizations (IGOs)—like the United Nations—under anti-boycott laws. That meant if an IGO called for divestment from companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements, Americans who followed suit could face jail.

This would have criminalized acts of conscience and solidarity with Palestinian human rights, and set a dangerous precedent for targeting social movements.

Rights groups like CAIR condemned it as unconstitutional. The ACLU and experts like those cited by the Foundation for Middle East Peace have long raised concerns about anti-BDS bills, warning they violate the First Amendment and could be used to suppress dissent far beyond Israel-related activism.

This latest effort wasn’t the first. Previous iterations like H.R. 3016 tried—and failed—to criminalize international boycott support. The pattern is clear: these bills keep coming back, repackaged and reworded, but with the same core mission—to silence critics of Israeli policy.

🧠 The Bigger Picture: Chilling Effect on Activism

While H.R. 867 is off the table, it reveals a broader playbook. Legislators are attempting to weaponize trade laws to silence dissent and shield allies like Israel from public accountability.

Had it passed, this bill could have:

Intimidated activists into silence
Set a precedent for criminalizing protests on any foreign policy issue
Paved the way for federal censorship of global justice movements

And let’s be real: if they’re testing this now, they’ll likely try again.

🔮 What’s Next: Stay Loud, Stay Ready

The bill is gone—for now. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are still looking for ways to stifle the movement for Palestinian liberation.

Future bills could be sneakier, smaller, or tied to unrelated issues. The fight to protect our rights is far from over. That’s why we need to:

👀 Watch Congress closely
📲 Share this info far and wide
📣 Organize locally and nationally

🐾 Join the Movement: Download the Boycat App

We’ve seen what collective action can do. Let’s build on it.

🍟 Boycat helps you:

Track anti-BDS companies
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This is about more than burgers and bills. It’s about justice.