NIF CEO: “This Israeli government hopes to bulldoze its way into a post-democratic future by supporting executive orders like the one signed in New Hampshire”

Responding to the news that New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed an executive order that penalizes those who seek to express themselves through a boycott of Israel or Israeli settlements, Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund, released the following statement:

“This executive order reflects consistent attempts — in dozens of states around the U.S. and on the federal level — to gag those who would dare oppose Israel’s oppressive policies with their pocketbooks.

“This executive order does not promote what U.S. officials call the ‘shared values’ that bind the U.S. and Israel — the aspiration towards rights, freedoms, and equality for all. It serves only the extremist agenda of this government and the settler movement. The presence of the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations at the signing of this executive order underscores on whose behalf it was being signed. In supporting such measures, this Israeli government hopes to bulldoze its way into a post-democratic future without Americans raising a fuss.

“But democracies, or states claiming to be democracies, promote free speech; they don’t stifle it. Those who truly seek a way towards a future for Israel that is democratic, just, and equal cannot get there by shutting down free speech.

“At NIF, we do not support the BDS movement. But we stand proudly and firmly for the right to free expression. Whenever this kind of executive order or any other legislative action is passed that silences dissent or seeks to erase the Green Line, we will always loudly condemn it, and demand principled protection for democratic values and the rights we hold dear.”