A.G. Gancarski
Cultural organizations that take state money won’t be able to advance messages considered to be antisemitic.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on Thursday an anti-boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) measure (SB 1678) that backers say would defend Israel in schools and nongovernmental agencies.
The measure stipulates that anti-Israeli actions undertaken by “an educational institution, a nonprofit organization, an agency, a local governmental entity or unit thereof, or a foreign government” constitute an “academic boycott.”
The bill also mandates cessation of state contracts and grants with those entities if they don’t change their ways.
These entities would have 90 days to correct their noncompliance and be removed from what would be called the Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities that Boycott Israel List. Otherwise, the state would divest itself of contracts with them.
Public funds, such as those managed by the State Board of Administration or the State University System, cannot be invested in these companies. Additionally, the measure requires that arts and culture grants not go to support antisemitic work.
The bill also targets agreements, like foreign exchange programs, with foreign universities deemed to be supporting antisemitism.
The bill passed by a 34-2 vote in the Senate, and by a similarly lopsided 114-3 vote in the House.
