Arizona BDS Event Will Continue Despite Lawsuit

Anti-BDS bills seek to combat the discriminatory Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. To date, nearly half of U.S. states have passed anti-BDS legislation while bills have been introduced in several others.  Nonetheless, anti-BDS legislation has become a controversial topic that has engulfed state legislatures. Arizona’s anti-BDS bill has been at the forefront of the controversy for several months now. In December of 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit challenging the First Amendment implications of the law. In response to this lawsuit, the Brandeis Center filed an amicus brief in support of Arizona’s anti-BDS bill, noting that this law regulates discriminatory conduct, not speech.

Relatedly, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in early March against Arizona State University (ASU), the ASU Board of Regents, and the Arizona Attorney General claiming that American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and Dr. Hatem Bazian – a founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and AMP –  were prohibited from presenting at an on-campus event because they would not agree to a “No Boycott of Israel” clause that was included in the university’s standard outside speaker contract. This prevision was allegedly included because of Arizona’s own anti-BDS legislation that prevents the state from entering into contracts with anyone who advocates for boycotts of Israel. Further, the lawsuit alleged that preventing Bazian and AMP from speaking is a violation of Muslim students’ free speech and equal protection rights.

However, Arizona State University recently announced that an on-campus event featuring American Muslims for Palestine founder Dr. Hatem Bazian will continue despite the ongoing lawsuit filed against the university pertaining to its anti-BDS requirements.

A spokesperson for ASU said that an outdated speaker contract was mistakenly given to AMP and Bazian, and that the updated version includes no such anti-Israel-boycott prevision. Bazian will be free to speak at the on-campus event being held on April 3.

Arizona’s anti-BDS legislation, as the Brandeis Center argued in its Amicus Brief, was never meant to violate First Amendment Rights. The BDS movement is just one of the many vessels through which anti-Semitism is spread, and combating it through legislation and campus policy should remain one of the highest priorities.