September 6, 2016
The Honorable Terry McAuliffe
Office of the Governor
Richmond, VA
Dear Governor McAuliffe:
Freedom2Boycott in Virginia is a coalition of 12 organizations that came together in 2015 to
support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that seeks to end Israeli
occupation of Palestine and to ensure freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and
Israelis. We write today to urge you NOT to sign any form of letter, resolution or executive
order that would infringe upon or delegitimize our freedom to boycott.
In 2005 Palestinian civil society launched the BDS movement to bring non-violent, economic
pressure to bear on the Israeli government until it 1) puts an end to military occupation;
2) guarantees equality for Palestinian citizens, and 3) acknowledges the right of return for
Palestinian refugees.
During the 2016 General Assembly session our coalition of organizations came together to
oppose House Bill 1282 and House Joint resolution 177.
HB1282 would have penalized companies doing business with the Commonwealth (and their
subcontractors) for supporting the BDS movement—a clear violation of their First Amendment
rights. Responding to pressure by ACLU Virginia and Freedom2Boycott in Virginia, the Senate
Committee on General Laws and Technology voted to continue the bill until 2017.
HJ177 was introduced to co-opt the General Assembly into condemning BDS. While the
resolution was reported out of the Senate Committee on Rules, the chairman admonished the
sponsor that the resolution was to be the last of its kind to appear before his committee.
Sensing mounting opposition in state legislatures, those who oppose BDS are turning their
attention to the nation's governors. You may have received a request from the American
Jewish Committee (AJC) to sign a letter condemning BDS. We urge that you not sign this letter.
There are those, like AJC, who claim a boycott is not a legitimate political tactic. We’d like to set
the record straight. Engaging in boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns to advance
human rights is a time-honored American tactic for responding to injustice. In 1770 our
Founding Fathers in the Virginia House of Burgesses called for a boycott of all British goods.
From the Boston Tea Party, to the Montgomery bus boycott, to the grape boycott for farm
workers’ rights, to sanctioning apartheid South Africa, to private prison and fossil fuel
divestment today, these campaigns are as American as apple pie.
The Supreme Court ruled in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. that a boycott “clearly involved
constitutionally protected activity” through which the NAACP “sought to bring about political,
social, and economic change.” It concluded that boycotts constitute a political form of
expression which “occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values.”
Virginians of all faiths are engaged in some form of boycott, divestment or sanctions to induce
Israel to negotiate a just and lasting peace. Protestant denominations—including the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the Unitarian-Universalist
Association, the Quakers, and the United Church of Christ (UCC), among others—have passed
resolutions divesting their endowments of companies linked to the Israeli occupation. Jewish
Voice for Peace, the fastest growing Jewish organization in the U.S., fully supports BDS while
Americans for Peace Now, and its Israeli sister organization Shalom Achshav, support a boycott
of goods made in Israeli settlements.
Despite the range of opinions about BDS among the faith-based organizations listed above,
there is universal opposition to legislation and executive orders that, quoting APN, "seek to
outlaw boycotts or other forms of legal, non-violent activism against Israel."
It may be too much to expect that you could come out in support of BDS like Governor Mario
Cuomo did in 1985 when he proposed that New York State divest its holdings in apartheid
South Africa. But it is not too much to ask you to shun the example of his son who chose to
condemn those who boycott or divest their holdings in Israeli companies as an expression of
protest.
Please stand up for our rights to peacefully protest by not signing any form of resolution,
executive order or letter that infringes on these rights.
Sincerely,
Seth Morrison,
Jewish Voice for Peace
Josh Ruebner,
US Campaign to End the Occupation
Saba Shami,
New Dominion PAC
Nancy Wein
Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine