Arkansas is one of more than 30 U.S. states to have passed legislation to criminalize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to boycott Israel and Israeli goods to protest its violation of Palestinian rights.
State Senator Bart Hester would later say he then hopes Jews will believe in Jesus Christ. I wanted to bring Julia Bacha—we got that clip from her film _Boycott_—into the discussion. You directed this film. You also have two remarkable moments in the film in Arkansas, Julia. One with a Democratic senator who you caught up with and you asked him about whether he supported the bill. He had an amazing response. Talk about him.
I think a lot of the reason why some of the Democrats are beginning to shift their opinion now is due to the lawsuits that thehas brought around the country. There have been several, and in all of them except the one by Alan Leveritt, the courts have decided that the anti-boycott bills are unconstitutional. At the same time, these bills have continued to proliferate, now targeting other issue areas. So there are now anti-boycott bills targeting your ability to boycott the fossil fuels industry.
But when you actually look at how diverse the Jewish community in the U.S. is on this issue—and we got to talk with the rabbi at the largest synagogue in Arkansas, who says he is absolutely opposed to anti-boycott bills and talks about how important First Amendment rights and free speech is for all communities in America.