II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 720 

To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to include in the prohibitions on boycotts against allies of the United States boycotts fostered 

by international governmental organizations against Israel and to direct 

the Export-Import Bank of the United States to oppose boycotts against 

Israel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to include 

in the prohibitions on boycotts against allies of the 

United States boycotts fostered by international governmental organizations against Israel and to direct the 

Export-Import Bank of the United States to oppose boycotts against Israel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Israel Anti-Boycott 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The United Nations Human Rights Council 

4 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘UNHRC’’) has 

5 long targeted Israel with systematic, politically moti6 vated, assaults on its legitimacy designed to stig7 matize and isolate Israel internationally. 

8 (2) The UNHRC maintains a permanent agen9 da item known as ‘‘Item 7’’ to ensure that Israel will 

10 be criticized at every gathering of the UNHRC. 

11 (3) At its 31st session on March 24, 2016, the 

12 UNHRC targeted Israel with a commercial boycott, 

13 calling for the establishment of a database, such as 

14 a ‘‘blacklist’’, of companies that operate, or have 

15 business relations with entities that operate, beyond 

16 Israel’s 1949 Armistice lines, including East Jeru17 salem. 

18 (4) At its 32nd session in March 2017, the 

19 UNHRC is considering a resolution pursuant to 

20 agenda item 7 to withhold assistance from and pre21 vent trade with ‘‘territories occupied since 1967’’, in22 cluding East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the 

23 Golan Heights, stating that businesses that engage 

24 in economic activity in those areas could face civil or 

25 criminal legal action. 


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1 (5) For a half century, Congress has combated 

2 anti-Israel boycotts and other discriminatory activity 

3 under the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as 

4 continued in effect pursuant to the International 

5 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 

6 et seq.)), under part VI of title X of the Tax Reform 

7 Act of 1976 (Public Law 94–455; 90 Stat. 1649) 

8 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Ribicoff Amend9 ment’’), in free trade agreements with Bahrain and 

10 Oman, and in Saudi Arabia’s accession negotiations 

11 to the World Trade Organization. 

12 (6) The recent action of the UNHRC is remi13 niscent of the Arab League Boycott, which also 

14 called for the establishment of a ‘‘blacklist’’ and pro15 moted a primary, as well as a secondary and ter16 tiary, boycott against Israel, targeting United States 

17 and other companies that trade or invest with or in 

18 Israel, designed to harm Israel, any business oper19 ating in, or doing business with, Israel, or companies 

20 that do business with companies operating in Israel. 

21 (7) Congress recently passed anti-boycott, di22 vestment, and sanctions measures in the Bipartisan 

23 Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability 

24 Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 et seq.) and section 

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1 ment Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4452), which establish, 

2 among other things— 

3 (A) the opposition of the United States to 

4 actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction 

5 Israel; 

6 (B) requirements that the United States 

7 utilize trade negotiations to combat state-led or 

8 international governmental organization-led ac9 tions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel; 

10 and 

11 (C) reporting requirements regarding the 

12 actions of foreign countries or international or13 ganizations that establish barriers to trade or 

14 investment for United States companies in or 

15 with Israel. 

16 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

17 Congress— 

18 (1) opposes the United Nations Human Rights 

19 Council resolution of March 24, 2016, which urges 

20 countries to pressure their own companies to divest 

21 from, or break contracts with, Israel, and calls for 

22 the creation of a ‘‘blacklist’’ of companies that either 

23 operate, or have business relations with entities that 

24 operate, beyond Israel’s 1949 Armistice lines, includ25 ing East Jerusalem; 


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1 (2) views such policies as actions to boycott, di2 vest from, or sanction Israel; and 

3 (3) in order to counter the effects of actions to 

4 boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel, encourages 

5 full implementation of the United States-Israel Stra6 tegic Partnership Act of 2014 (Public Law 113–296; 

7 128 Stat. 4075) through enhanced, governmentwide, 

8 coordinated United States-Israel scientific and tech9 nological cooperation in civilian areas such as with 

10 respect to energy, water, agriculture, alternative fuel 

11 technology, civilian space technology, and security. 

12 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO FOR13 EIGN BOYCOTTS UNDER EXPORT ADMINIS14 TRATION ACT OF 1979. 

15 (a) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—Section 3(5) of the 

16 Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4602(5)) 

17 (as continued in effect pursuant to the International 

18 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

19 seq.)) is amended— 

20 (1) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as 

21 follows: 

22 ‘‘(A) to oppose— 

23 ‘‘(i) restrictive trade practices or boy24 cotts fostered or imposed by foreign coun25 tries, or requests to impose restrictive 


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1 trade practices or boycotts by foreign coun2 tries, against other countries friendly to 

3 the United States or against any United 

4 States person; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) restrictive trade practices or boy6 cotts fostered or imposed by any inter7 national governmental organization against 

8 Israel or requests to impose restrictive 

9 trade practices or boycotts by any inter10 national governmental organization against 

11 Israel;’’; and 

12 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘which 

13 have the effect’’ and all the follows and inserting the 

14 following: ‘‘which have the effect of furthering or 

15 supporting— 

16 ‘‘(i) restrictive trade practices or boy17 cotts fostered or imposed by any foreign 

18 country, or requests to impose restrictive 

19 trade practices or boycotts by any foreign 

20 country, against a country friendly to the 

21 United States or against any United 

22 States person; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) restrictive trade practices or boy24 cotts fostered or imposed by any inter25 national governmental organization against 


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1 Israel or requests to impose restrictive 

2 trade practices or boycotts by any inter3 national governmental organization against 

4 Israel; and’’. 

5 (b) FOREIGN BOYCOTTS.—Section 8 of the Export 

6 Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4607) (as contin7 ued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency 

8 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

11 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

12 (A)— 

13 (i) by inserting ‘‘, or request to im14 pose any boycott by a foreign country,’’ 

15 after ‘‘a foreign country’’; 

16 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, or support any 

17 boycott fostered or imposed by any inter18 national governmental organization against 

19 Israel or request to impose any boycott by 

20 any international governmental organiza21 tion against Israel’’ after ‘‘pursuant to 

22 United States law or regulation’’; 

23 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or 

24 international governmental organization (as the 


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1 case may be)’’ after ‘‘of the boycotting coun2 try’’; and 

3 (C) in subparagraph (D)— 

4 (i) by inserting ‘‘, or requesting the 

5 furnishing of information,’’ after ‘‘Fur6 nishing information’’; and 

7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or with the inter8 national governmental organization (as the 

9 case may be)’’ after ‘‘in the boycotting 

10 country’’; and 

11 (2) in subsection (c)— 

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘, or requests to impose 

13 restrictive trade practices or boycotts by foreign 

14 countries,’’ after ‘‘foreign countries’’; and 

15 (B) by inserting ‘‘or restrictive trade prac16 tices or boycotts fostered or imposed by any 

17 international governmental organization against 

18 Israel or requests to impose restrictive trade 

19 practices or boycotts by any international gov20 ernmental organization against Israel’’ before 

21 the period at the end. 

22 (c) VIOLATIONS OF SECTION 8(a).—Section 11 of the 

23 Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4610) (as 

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1 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) is 

2 amended— 

3 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘or (j)’’ after 

4 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 

5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(j) VIOLATIONS OF SECTION 8(a).—Whoever know7 ingly violates or conspires to or attempts to violate any 

8 provision of section 8(a) or any regulation, order, or li9 cense issued thereunder shall be fined in accordance with 

10 section 206 of the International Emergency Economic 

11 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705).’’. 

12 (d) DEFINITION OF INTERNATIONAL GOVERN13 MENTAL ORGANIZATION.—Section 16 of the Export Ad14 ministration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4618) (as continued 

15 in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Eco16 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 

18 paragraphs (8) and (9), respectively; and 

19 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(7) the term ‘international governmental orga22 nization’ includes the United Nations and the Euro23 pean Union;’’. 

24 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 this section take effect on the date of the enactment of 


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1 this Act and apply with respect to actions described in 

2 section 8(a) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as 

3 continued in effect pursuant to the International Emer4 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)) 

5 taken or knowingly agreed to be taken on or after such 

6 date of enactment. 

7 (f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President shall imple8 ment the amendments made by this section by exercising 

9 the authorities of the President under the International 

10 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

11 seq.). 

12 SEC. 5. POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES RELATING TO BOY13 COTT OF ISRAEL UNDER EXPORT-IMPORT 

14 BANK ACT OF 1945. 

15 Section 2(b)(1)(B) of the Export-Import Bank Act 

16 of 1945 (12 U.S.C. 635(b)(1)(B)) is amended in the sixth 

17 sentence by inserting after ‘‘child labor),’’ the following: 

18 ‘‘or opposing policies and actions that are politically moti19 vated and are intended to penalize or otherwise limit com20 mercial relations specifically with citizens or residents of 

21 Israel, entities organized under the laws of Israel, or the 

22 Government of Israel,’’. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act: 


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1 (1) ACTIONS TO BOYCOTT, DIVEST FROM, OR

2 SANCTION ISRAEL.—The term ‘‘actions to boycott, 

3 divest from, or sanction Israel’’ has the meaning 

4 given that term in section 102(b)(20)(B) of the Bi5 partisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Ac6 countability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 

7 4201(b)(20)(B)). 

8 (2) INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL ORGANI9 ZATION.—The term ‘‘international governmental or10 ganization’’ includes the United Nations and the Eu11 ropean Union. 

12 (3) POLITICALLY MOTIVATED.—The term ‘‘po13 litically motivated’’ means actions to impede or con14 strain commerce with Israel that are intended to co15 erce political action from or impose policy positions 

16 on Israel. 

17 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec18 tion shall be construed to alter the established policy of 

19 the United States or to establish new United States policy 

20 concerning final status issues associated with the Arab21 Israeli conflict, including border delineation, that can only 

22 be resolved through direct negotiations between the par23 ties. 

Æ 


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