Anti-BDS bill set to pass in Ohio

Successful passage would make it 12th state to have anti-boycott law.

By BENJAMIN GLATT
Updated: FEBRUARY 8, 2018 14:35
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators carrying a sign reading "DBS" (Divestment, Boycott, and Sanctions) march against US aid to Israel (photo credit: ROBYN BECK / AFP)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators carrying a sign reading "DBS" (Divestment, Boycott, and Sanctions) march against US aid to Israel
(photo credit: ROBYN BECK / AFP)
An anti-BDS resolution spearheaded by a Christian-Zionist organization is set to pass in the Ohio Senate, which will make it the 12th state in the union to do so. 
“This resolution will provide another hurdle for the antisemitic BDS movement in states across the US,” Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president and founder of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. “Ohio is the 12th state to introduce a version of the resolution passed in Tennessee in 2016. Proclaiming Justice to the Nations will continue to do everything in our power to defend the rights of our children and grandchildren to study in a safe learning environment without threats or intimidation from antisemitic groups with known ties to terrorism that masquerade on campus as human rights advocates.”
The Ohio Senate will be presented with resolution HCR 10, which condemns the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The resolution was introduced in the Ohio House by Representatives Andy Thompson and Dave Greenspan. “This is the 12th resolution of its kind to be presented to a US State legislature as a result of the efforts of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations,” said PJTN’s Ohio state director, Mike Goldstein.
This bipartisan resolution passed the entire House on December 5, 2017 by a vote of 92-2. HCR 10 was sent to the Senate where it was assigned to the Senate Transportation, Commerce and Workforce Committee, chaired by Senator Frank LaRose.
The resolution focuses on the plight of students that are being harassed, intimidated and attacked in the name of BDS.
“The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is one of the main vehicles for legitimizing antisemitism on campus and advocating the elimination of the Jewish State; and Anti-Israel activities and activities promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel are widespread in the State of Ohio, including on several university campuses and in other Ohio communities, and contribute to antisemitic and anti-Zionistic propaganda and threats to both American and Israeli Jewish and Christian Zionist students, and result in deliberate interference with the learning environment of all students,” the bill reads.
Goldstein congratulated his state senate on the historic move.
“Ohio has always been a state of inclusion that stands against all forms of bigotry and racism,” he said. “It is high time that we stand with our students who are being terrorized on a daily basis by thugs and hoodlums in the name of BDS.”