Aviva Vogelstein Brandeis Blog November 30, 2016 Earlier this afternoon, the Ohio House passed an anti-BDS bill with a vote of 83-11. This important victory marks yet another blow to the anti-Semitic Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. The Bill, HB 476, “to enact section 9.75 of the Revised Code to prohibit a state agency from contracting with a company that is boycotting Israel or disinvesting from Israel,” was first introduced by Rep. Kirk Schuring in February. In May, LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus testified in its support. In his testimony, Marcus discussed how state anti-BDS bills are critical to addressing resurgent anti-Semitism in the U.S. and throughout the world, and how BDS, at its core, has always been an anti-Semitic movement. Marcus elaborated that the fact that BDS is dressed up in the language of human rights does not differentiate it from its Nazi and Arab League predecessors, which also used the rhetoric of their times to draw support for anti-Jewish boycotts. 15 other states have signed anti-BDS bills into law, most recently Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The bill must pass the Ohio Senate before being signed into law.