Arkansas stiffs $500 payment to Jewish dermatologist over his refusal to pledge not to boycott Israel

Dr. Steve Feldman, a dermatologist from North Carolina, gave a lecture to medical students at the University of Arkansas on improving physician-patient relationships. Then when he tried to register under the Arkansas vendor system to receive his $500 payment, he was rejected.

The reason? Because he refused to check the box promising not to boycott the state of Israel, reported the Arkansas Times.

"Arkansas lawmakers passed a law in 2017 requiring individuals or companies to pledge not to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if they want to do business with the state," reported Austin Bailey. "These pro-Israel laws served as the model for a recent spate of legislation passed in multiple states to penalize woke investors in service of protecting the fossil fuel and firearms industries. Arkansas passed two laws in 2023 that prioritize the economic well-being of these deadly but lucrative industries over the economic well-being of pretty much everyone else. One prohibits all state entities from working with financial firms that discriminate 'without a reasonable business purpose' against energy, fossil fuel, firearms or ammunition businesses or make investments based on E.S.G. factors. The other, even more extreme one, forces state contractors to pledge not to boycott energy, fossil fuel, firearms or ammunition businesses."

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Some other Republican-controlled states have passed similar laws, and they have often backfired — Texas and Florida are both paying hundreds of millions of dollars more in bond interest because of their laws banning any banks that exclude firearms or fossil fuels from servicing them.

"Suddenly, this devout Jewish man with multiple trips to Israel under his belt found himself in a strange spot," said the report. "Feldman said that during his multiple trips to Israel, he’s seen Palestinians suffer at Israeli hands. Arkansas’s law requiring anyone who does business with the state to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel clashes with his religious and moral views, he said. 'What’s nuts is they’re asking a newspaper to say they won’t boycott Israel, they’re asking Americans who have a conscience, who know Israel is keeping Palestinians from their homes,' he said."

Supporters of the boycott laws argue they are important to prevent states from effectively financing anti-Semitic activity; the Anti-Defamation League has noted that the "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign" (BDS) has legitimized anti-Semitic rhetoric and activity against individual Jewish people. However, state anti-boycotting laws don't distinguish between this and activism based in substantive criticism of Israeli policy. Some critics also argue the laws violate the First Amendment; U.S. courts have largely disagreed, with multiple rulings upholding such laws, including the one in Arkansas.