US House passes bill stripping federal funds from universities that boycott Israel

JTA – The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would prevent federal funds from going to academic institutions that participate in commercial boycotts of Israel. 

The HR 4795 bill, co-sponsored by North Carolina Republican Representative Virginia Foxx and New Jersey Democrat Representative Josh Gottheimer, passed in a 237 to 169 vote, with 203 Republicans, 33 Democrats, and one Independent in favour. Whether Democrats will grant sufficient support to pass the legislation in the Senate remains unclear. 

If the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act goes on to become law, it would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require universities to refrain from “participating in a non-expressive commercial boycott of Israel” in order to remain qualified for certain funds. 

Expressive conduct is “symbolic speech” designed to relay a message, like picketing, marching, flag desecration, and draft-card burnings. A 2022 US Court of Appeals ruling deemed economic boycotts non-expressive commercial conduct as opposed to independent expression. 

In addition to forbidding boycotts, the legislation also stipulates that institutions receiving such funds would need to “certify that students aren’t unreasonably obstructed from participating in academic programmes in Israel”. 

“This bill is an important step forward in ensuring academic freedom for all students,” Gottheimer, who is Jewish, said in a statement. “I will push the Senate to take up the bill shortly so it can become law.” 

Foxx, meanwhile, stressed that the act “takes a strong stand against the BDS movement on college campuses across the nation,” referring to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign that aims to put economic pressure on Israel by barring the purchase of Israeli products and suspending trade agreements. 

“This legislation has true teeth and completely severs any possible taxpayer support of these concrete campaigns of antisemitism in the form of BDS and academic boycotts of Israel,” Foxx added. 

The Anti-Defamation League welcomed the bill’s passage on Thursday, deriding BDS activities as a tool used “to delegitimise Israel and demonise Jews and other students for their connection to the Jewish State”. 

The Combat Antisemitism Movement, an interfaith advocacy group that aims to fight “Jew hatred”, echoed these sentiments. A Thursday statement from the coalition noted that ahead of the vote, the group had sent a letter to all US House members conveying its support for the bill. 

“Academic boycotts of Israel harm American students and scholars, weaken vital US-Israel research collaboration, and lend the credibility of American universities to a discriminatory campaign that singles out the only Jewish State,” the letter stated. 

Among the 32 Democrats to join Gottheimer in supporting the bill were many prominent Jewish lawmakers, such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida; Greg Landsman of Ohio; Brad Schneider of Illinois; Eugene Vindman of Virginia; and Kim Schrier of Washington. 

Yet not all Jewish legislators, even those who are against BDS, voted in favour of the bill. Ahead of the vote, Representative Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, vowed in a statement that he would vote against the bill and urged his colleagues to do the same. 

While Nadler voiced his antipathy to BDS and acknowledged that proponents of the movement “can veer into antisemitism”, he stressed that “those who engage in BDS have a First Amendment right to do so”. 

The liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street offered similar opposition, arguing that this bill would mean “infringing on constitutionally protected free speech and academic freedom”. Noting a distinction between Israel proper and the West Bank, J Street stated that “penalising universities for expressing their opposition to activities that further annexation sets a dangerous precedent”. 

Nadler, meanwhile, described the measure as both “a direct and gross violation of the First Amendment” and “the latest assault by the Trump Administration” on the nation’s academic institutions. 

“No matter how much I may disagree with BDS, and find it strategically stupid and morally repugnant, I will always fight to protect Americans’ right to speech with which I disagree,” he added. “It is the only way to ensure speech I do agree with is equally protected.”