Bill to criminalize boycotts of Israel shelved after MAGA revolt – National & International News – MON 5May2025
Bill to criminalize boycotts of Israel shelved after MAGA revolt.
Trump foreign film tariff talk stuns Hollywood.
Israel announces plan to seize all of Gaza.
Bill to criminalize boycotts of Israel shelved after MAGA revolt
Today, the House was supposed to vote on H.R. 867, the “International Governmental Organizations Anti-Boycott Act”. The act would have expanded the Anti-Boycott Act of 2018 by penalizing and criminalizing American citizens and businesses who comply with or support boycotts called for by international governmental organizations, such as the UN.
Sponsors of the bill made it clear that their intention was to discourage Americans from participating in boycotts against Israel and any companies that are complicit in Israel’s human rights abuses and alleged war crimes.
H.R. 867 would have imposed fines of up to $1 million, and even imprisonment for up to 20 years on American citizens and businesses who make consumer and business decisions to boycott Israel in alignment with their views and values. The bill was mostly sponsored by Republican House members, but also by 6 Democrat House members.
Recent polling shows that a majority of Americans (53%, a 9% increase since 2022) and even a sizable minority of Republicans (37%, a 10% increase since 2022) now hold unfavorable views of Israel and its actions.
MAGA rejects attack on free speech
In a surprising turn of events, the bill was pulled from the agenda this morning after prominent members of President Trump’s MAGA coalition came out against the bill.
The first to come out against it was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Greene posted on Twitter yesterday, “I will be voting NO [on H.R. 867]. It is my job to defend Americans’ rights to buy or boycott whomever they choose without the government harshly fining them or imprisoning them”. Soon thereafter, other prominent MAGA voices, both inside and outside of Congress, soon followed suit.
It was a Democrat sponsor of H.R. 867, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who soon came out to lambast House leadership for shelving what he called a “common sense, bipartisan bill that makes antisemitic and hate-driven boycotts illegal”.
According to Opensecrets.org, which tracks political campaign contributions, Gottheimer received $779,189 from The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during the 2023-2024 campaign year. AIPAC was Gottheimer’s single largest donor by a wide margin.
Penalizing speech against Israel
While H.R. 867 was shelved, this does not necessarily mean it may not be resurrected at a later point.
The UN itself has never formally called for such a boycott of Israel. However, UN agencies have previously released lists of companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and the UN General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution last year calling for an arms embargo of Israel. The Palestinian-led non-governmental organization Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) leads the largest international movement to boycott Israel.
There are already laws on the books that penalize businesses who support BDS. Most US states, Mississippi included, have previously passed legislation barring state agencies from working with companies that boycott Israel or support the BDS movement.
Trump foreign film tariff talk stuns Hollywood
In a post on Truth Social yesterday, President Trump announced that he was authorizing a 100% tariff on films produced in foreign countries. Trump wrote that the American film industry is dying “a very fast death”, which he alleged was due to other countries offering incentives to “draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States”.
It is true that large American studios have not been as profitable since COVID, particularly with the rise of online streaming services and platforms like YouTube. However, Trump’s announcement was met with confusion and anxiety in Hollywood rather than jubilation. For example, was not clear whether Trump would impose tariffs on American filmmakers and producers who filmed on location or carried out production abroad. It was also unclear whether Trump’s tariff would apply retroactively for films that have already been made and released.
US media company stocks reacted negatively to the news this morning, as did industry officials and analysts. By this afternoon, the White House had walked back some of Trump’s comments, saying that “no decisions had been made“. Trump himself sought to reassure the industry this afternoon saying, “I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I’m looking to help”. Trump also said that he would be meeting with industry figures in the coming days to get their feedback.
Israel announces plan to seize all of Gaza
On Sunday, Israel’s security cabinet announced that they would reoccupy all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely if Hamas does not agree to a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel by May 15, when President Trump will be visiting. The plan calls for Israel’s military to force all of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinian inhabitants into a tiny “humanitarian zone” at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, and flatten every building left standing. All of this would be a flagrant violation of international law.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls both from Hamas and from the international community to implement a deal for a permanent ceasefire, which both Israel and Hamas signed in late January. Israel unilaterally reneged on this deal at the beginning of March, and has since imposed a complete blockade of Gaza and has resumed bombings, killing dozens of Palestinians each day.
Hamas has rejected Netanyahu’s demands that Hamas release all its remaining hostages and disarm in exchange for only a temporary ceasefire. Hamas leadership remains steadfast that it will only accept a permanent ceasefire and a workable plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its inhabitants.
Houthis strike near Israel’s main airport
Hours before the Israeli security council voted to seize all of Gaza on Sunday, Yemen’s Houthis managed to overcome Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and land a missile very near Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, the country’s primary civilian and international airport. The strike did not damage the airport itself and resulted in injuries, but no deaths. However, shortly thereafter, all foreign air carriers ceased flying in and out of Ben-Gurion airport until further notice.
In mid-March, the US resumed bombing Yemen in hopes of forcing the Houthis to lift their naval blockade of the Red Sea. The Houthis reimposed their blockade in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israel backed out of their ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The Trump-approved bombings have proven ineffective in diminishing the Houthis’ military capabilities, as did the months of sustained bombing by President Biden (which Trump had previously criticized). However, they have done a great deal of damage to Yemen’s civilian infrastructure and killed hundreds if not thousands of civilians. Last week, the US struck a migrant detention center in Yemen, killing at least 68 African migrants.
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