Legislation Timeline

The Supreme Court enshrines boycotts as a form of protected free speech in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.

Over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations issue a call for the international community to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) Israel until its government complies with international law. Specifically, they call on Israel to end its military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, fulfill Palestinian citizens of Israel rights to full equality and allow Palestinian refugees the right of return as established under international law.

The Israeli government enacts the Boycott Law, ordering civil penalties for any Israeli citizen calling for a boycott of Israel or Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Local Israeli and Palestinian civil rights groups challenge the law as unconstitutional on free speech grounds in the Israeli Supreme Court, but the court upholds the law with minor revisions. The law was first applied in 2018 when Israeli concert-goers sued activists who successfully petitioned New Zealand singer Lorde to cancel a show in Israel.

Gilad Erdan takes over the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and convinces Prime Minister Netanyahu to quintuple its budget and devote resources toward battling BDS domestically and abroad.

Illinois and South Carolina are the first states in the US to enact laws penalizing boycotts of Israel. Illinois’ law forbids public investments in companies that boycott Israel, while South Carolina’s law requires state contractors to sign a certificate pledging to not engage in such boycotts. 

The European Union moves to label certain goods produced in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as “made in settlements.” 

Dozens of US states introduce anti-boycott bills related to Israel, and within the year, several bills are passed. In states where legislative traction was difficult to gain, like New York, governors pass Executive Orders. 

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – a right-wing, pro-corporate organization that drafts and promotes model state laws which are then shopped to conservative state legislators – introduces The Protection and Enforcement Against the Commercial Exclusion of Israel Act, "model legislation" at the root of anti-boycott laws.

Legal opposition to anti-boycott laws begins — see Timeline of Legal Opposition.

After ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s announces plans to stop selling its products in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials call on US states to enforce their anti-boycott legislation against the ice cream brand. A number of states move to divest from Ben & Jerry’s’ parent company, Unilever, including New York, Arizona, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Colorado. 

Laws targeting boycotts of the fossil fuels and firearms industries are passed in Oklahoma and Texas. The architects of the template bills - Texas legislators and staffers from the Texas Public Policy Foundation - have pointed to the Israel anti-boycott bills as their inspiration.

ALEC’s Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force unanimously passes the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, a model bill that requires banks and financial companies to sign a pledge to not boycott fossil fuel companies in order to obtain state contracts. Its drafters cite the Israel anti-boycott legislation as their inspiration.

Bills targeting boycotts of fossil fuels, firearms and other industries are introduced in over a dozen states, including in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alaska and Minnesota. Several of them pass and become law.

Lobbyists and legislators introduce new model legislation at the American Legislative Exchange Council's summit: the Eliminate Economic Boycotts Act (previously titled the Eliminate Political Boycotts Act). The draft legislation is designed to shield any industry from public scrutiny and collective pressure. 

Legislators in South Carolina, Missouri, lowa, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Colorado modify the Eliminate Economic Boycotts Act to target those organizing for transgender peoples' rights, abortion rights and workplace equity.

The number of anti-boycott laws related to Israel reaches 36 US states.

The number of anti-boycott laws related to Israel reaches 37 US states.