Ron Wyden, US Senator from Oregon supports legislation that criminalizes free speech. Never disavowing the anti-Boycott, Divest, Sanction legislation that criminalizes pro-boycott speech, Wyden , nevertheless, remains an advocate for Israel, and by a single degree of separation, he is an ally to the evangelical right wing that supports Israeli domination of the Palestinian territories. The evangelicals are strong supporters of Israel in order that the 2nd coming of Christ could be achieved. Far fetched…?

Democracy Now, reporting on a key case in Arkansas, shows how a state law suppresses free speech by making it illegal to advocate for the Boycott of Israel. The publisher of the Arkansas newspaper is suing the state of Arkansas to retain the right to receive advertising from state agencies and not be compelled to sign away his free speech rights. This case shows the purpose of anti-BDS legislation. Wyden couldn’t see that in 2017 and defended his support of the legislation to challengers at a town hall event.

Oregon’s senior Senator to the US Senate, Wyden supports anti-speech legislation, or at least has not disavowed legislation that denies free speech. Advanced by right wing think tank, ALEC, (American Legislative Exchange Council) has caused 35 states to adopt a law that gags a worker or business owner from speaking in support of the Boycott Israel movement.

Green Liberty Caucus, Oregon Chapter, a critic of state oppression, points to Wyden’s slavish allegiance to the military industrial complex and its ties to Israel as grounds for not voting him into another term as Senator. The United States needs leadership that will stand up for our constitutional freedoms.

Wyden did not object to the cover up of the 9/11 attacks by US authorities in 2001, and he accepted the Big Lie of Weapons of Mass destruction used to persuade Senators to invade Iraq in 2003 under a false pretense.

PGP candidate for US Senate, Dan Pulju, endorses the BDS movement as a means of compelling Israel to honor the Palestinian right to self determination and to have their own state.

Bottom line, laws that criminalize freedom of expression on important political issues, are wrong and should be opposed strenuously as is being done by the ACLU on behalf of the Arkansas newspaper.

Critics of ALEC suggest that laws against speech are being applied to curtail criticism in other areas as well. The director of the film Boycott cautioned that the anti-BDS law that forbids advocating for a boycott could be turned against boycotts of oil companies, or even a Big Pharma organization.

A law that violates the first amendment should be seen as an attack on our democracy and Ron Wyden sadly shows his true colors with his silence about the problem of criminalizing speech that supports a boycott.

“The fact that the ALEC organization has so deeply penetrated the American heartland with unconstitutional legislation, shows how the Neo-Conservative, pro-Israel lobby, has established itself in the country,” said Pulju “They are working against our democracy.”

“Criticizing Israel for denying Palestinian sovereignty over their land in the West Bank should not be turned into slurs about being anti-semitic,” said Pulju. “What is happening in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza, is about how Israel as a powerful state behaves toward the people under its control. Israel has committed numerous crimes against Palestinians and journalists.”

Pulju added, “The Boycott Movement is a legitimate way to show support for the Palestinian people and oppose the Israeli occupation.”

Israel was in the news recently for the assassination of Palestinian-American Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. She was bearing witness to an Israeli Defense Force raid on a neighborhood in Jenin in the West Bank. Israel does not admit its soldiers shot the journalists but independent analysis determined an Israeli killed the journalist.

The Israeli occupation of the West Bank has been a multi generational disaster for the Palestinian people as farms remain under attack, farmsteads and villages broken up by the wall, and refugee cities subject to periodic raids by the Israeli Defense Forces not to mention the period battles against Gaza.

Israel, as a client state to the Anglo / American military industrial complex, is a cruel master and routinely violates the civil and human rights for the Palestinian people.

Supporting the Boycott, Divest, Sanction Movement against Israel for oppressing the Palestinian people is a noble project and as intended by the American Founding Fathers, freedom of speech is a key freedom that should not ever be denied. But Ron Wyden’s support of a law that is unconstitutional should not go unmentioned. Send Wyden a message by not giving him your vote.

Vote yes for free speech; vote for Dan Pulju for US Senate. Our Green candidate supports Free Speech and Human Rights; the Democrat doesn’t.

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Appendix:

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/24/israel_boycott_the_arkansas_times_palestine Report interviews owner of Arkasas newspaper who sues the State of Arkansas over his paper’s speech right on matter of anti-BDS legislation; covers film Boycott and ACLU attorney bringing case to SCOTUS.

https://mondoweiss.net/2017/08/pummeled-questions-movement/ report from 2017 shows Wyden support for legislation against the BDS movement being tied to foreign countries, but feigns ignorance that anti-BDS law could impact free speech.

https://mondoweiss.net/2022/10/aclu-petitions-u-s-supreme-court-to-overturn-arkansas-anti-bds-law/ this report discusses background history.

https://mondoweiss.net/2021/06/senator-wydens-no-state-solution/ report criticizes Wyden.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15721106/ info on movie Boycott, Julia Bacha