The new McCarthyism is pro-Israel: Legal groups slam NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo for creating

[Little Tich]

14. I'm not the only one who believes that Cuomo is attacking free speech.

My opinion about Cuomo's bill is based on articles like these:

The Fight Against BDS Just Took A Frightening Turn In New York
Source: Thinkprogress, JUN 6, 2016

Through an executive order, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is going after a peaceful boycott movement fighting Israeli occupation — and many critics are worried his effort will seriously threaten free speech.

Cuomo declared that the order sends a strong message against the “hateful, intolerant campaign” of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement — a non-violent grassroots movement that first began in 2005 and places economic and political pressure on Israel to acknowledge Palestinian rights and end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. But many are concerned that the executive order goes a step too far.

The executive order requires the New York State Office of General Services to create a blacklist of institutions and companies involved in the BDS movement “using credible information available to the public” and make that list available to everyone online. All state agencies will be required to divest from such companies, which will have to submit “written evidence” to be appeal to be removed from the list.

Regardless of one’s position on BDS, the order could be concerning because it ultimately requires the blacklisted institutions to prove their own innocence or else face repercussions, and it punishes companies on the basis of their political beliefs.

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2016/06/06/3784963/new-york-cuomo-bds/


Debate: Is Cuomo's Crackdown on BDS Unconstitutional McCarthyism or a Stand Against Anti-Semitism?
Source: Democracy Now, JUNE 09, 2016

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued the first-ever executive order forcing state agencies to divest from any organizations aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. BDS is an international campaign to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights. However, its opponents say BDS is a thinly disguised anti-Semitic attempt to debilitate or even destroy Israel. Cuomo’s executive order forces state officials to make a list of businesses and groups who are engaged in activities targeting Israel. We speak to Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Robert Freedman, a visiting professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and the former president of Baltimore Hebrew University.

Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/9/debate_is_cuomos_crackdown_on_bds


Gov. Cuomo’s BDS Blacklist Is an Affront to Free Expression
Source: Common Dreams, June 10, 2016

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order this week requiring state agencies and authorities to divest from any company or institution that supports the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. The order not only threatens to punish constitutionally protected political speech but also requires the state of New York to create a blacklist of allies of the movement, which BDS supporters describe as an effort to ensure human rights for Palestinians.

"Government can’t penalize people or entities on the basis of their free expression, and political boycotts are a form of free expression."
“It’s very simple: If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you,” Cuomo said when he announced the order.

The directive requires all agencies and departments over which the governor has executive authority as well as certain public benefit corporations, public authorities, boards, and commissions to divest funds from any company or institution supporting BDS. The entities are also banned from investing in those companies in the future.

The order itself makes clear that the activity the governor wants to punish is political in nature. But, as the Supreme Court made clear, government can’t penalize people or entities on the basis of their free expression, and political boycotts are a form of free expression.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/10/gov-cuomos-bds-blacklist-affront-free-expression


Why Andrew Cuomo Is Worst Possible Face of the Anti-BDS Movement
Source: The Forward, June 6, 2016

Pro-Israel activists who are battling the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) against the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory emphasize the freedom and democracy of Israeli society and juxtapose it to the intolerance of the BDS movement. With his new anti-BDS bill, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made it that much harder for activists to take the moral high ground.

The measure couldn’t find its way through the state legislature, so Cuomo took to Twitter and announced that he would issue an executive order banning the state from doing business with groups that boycott Israel.

Cuomo’s fierce advocacy for Israel is unsurprising. He has an eye on the White House and, as a well known Democrat with a host of conservative views, a fierce anti-BDS position works well to get the support of establishment Democrats who fear the leftward shift in the party marked by Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. Indeed Israel was Cuomo’s first choice of foreign destination as governor, signaling that the interests of Israel were deeply tied his state.

But if Cuomo’s maverick stance on BDS has any effect, it would be to move the anti-BDS movement into illiberal territory. This is not new territory for Cuomo, whose tenure has included advocacy for fracking (although he did finally give in due to environmentalist pressure), privatizing public education, demanding punishing monetary concessions from state worker unions, using New York City’s public university funding as a political football against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and fighting New York City’s universal pre-K program.

Read more: http://forward.com/opinion/342037/why-andrew-cuomo-is-worst-possible-face-of-the-anti-bds-movement/


Andrew Cuomo Would Have Blacklisted Muhammad Ali
Source: Democratic Underground, Jun 9, 2016 / The Nation

Governor Cuomo’s executive action to create a blacklist of those who stand with the Palestinian people would have undoubtedly caught Muhammad Ali in its web.

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027891818