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New Jersey Hands BDS Latest Defeat
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By: Arutz Sheva
Photos: Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen
On Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill targeting the BDS movement, making New Jersey the fourth state to pass such a measure, alongside South Carolina, Florida, and Illinois.
The Shliach of central New Jersey, Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, gives the governor a personal ‘Thank You’.
The bipartisan bill was passed unanimously in the State Senate and by a margin of 70 to 3 in the State Assembly, with two members abstaining.
The measure, Senate bill 1923, bars state pension funds from being invested in companies which boycott Israel.
“Israel is an overseas relative in need of our support,” said Governor Christie. “We’ll encourage other states to join in likewise.”
S1923 recognized the close relationship between the Jewish state and the Garden State, whose annual trade balance is some $1.7 billion.
“The state and Israel have a long history of friendship based on economic, cultural, intellectual and political cooperation and exchange, and the elected representatives of New Jersey recognize and support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. The BDS effort, according to proponents, seeks to advance human rights. However, the actual goal is a thinly disguised attempt to demonize Israel.”
Florida and Illinois passed similar laws earlier this year, while South Carolina passed its own anti-BDS legislation, prohibiting state agencies from doing business with firms boycotting Israel.
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