House Votes to Punish Boycotts of Israel — Your First Amendment Be Damned

The House just voted to weaponize your tax dollars against any university that boycotts Israel — and 33 Democrats helped them do it.

The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act passed 237-169, with only two Republicans opposed. The bill would cut federal student aid and international study funding to colleges that participate in boycotts of Israel, and mandates annual certification that institutions don't restrict exchange programs with the country. It now heads to the Senate.

Here's the kicker: no American university has actually adopted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott put it plainly: "No college or university has embraced the BDS movement anyway." Congress is preemptively suppressing political expression that doesn't exist yet — to shield a foreign government from economic pressure.

Fox News framed the vote around rising antisemitism and Democratic fractures, citing incidents like California Democrat Scott Wiener being chased out of a march by protesters making references to his "Israeli handlers." Those are real, and they're ugly. The Guardian focused on the First Amendment threat, noting Democrats like Jerry Nadler — who calls BDS "morally repugnant" — still voted no because "the First Amendment right to free speech does not apply only to agreeable speech."

Both are part of the story. Antisemitism is real and deserves a real response. But this bill isn't it. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that political boycotts are protected expression. Congress doesn't get to carve out a foreign-government exception to the Bill of Rights.

Republican Tim Walberg said "federal taxpayer dollars should never support institutions that engage in such discrimination" against Israel. Virginia Foxx called BDS policies hostile to Jewish students. But the bill targets what its own text calls a "non-expressive commercial boycott" — meaning politicians are now arbitrating which economic decisions count as speech and which don't. That power won't stop with Israel.

Then there's the money question. Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic co-sponsor, called Israel "America's critical ally in the global fight against terror." Notice: Israel's interests are treated as America's by default. No debate required. Just asserted, then legislated around. Thirty-three Democrats — many facing tough re-election fights — went along.

This is what the founders warned about. Foreign loyalty overriding domestic liberty. If Congress can punish you for boycotting Israel today, what foreign ally gets immunity tomorrow?

The Senate takes this up next. The question isn't whether BDS is right or wrong. It's whether Americans still get to decide that for themselves — or whether Washington has already decided for them.