Fighting The Arab Boycott
Members of Congress consistently objected
to Arab boycotts efforts to
discriminate against American Jews and Israelis.
In 1959, the Senate adopted an amendment opposing foreign
aid to countries that discriminate against Americans
on the grounds of religion. The primary motivation for
this and other early legislative efforts was the Arabs'
policy of refusing visas to American Jews and, more
specifically, the Saudis' refusal to permit Jews to
be stationed at the United States' base at Dhahran.
In 1960 Congress adopted the Douglas-Keating "Freedom of
the Seas" amendment, which addressed itself to one of the
aspects of the Arab boycott that violated international law. It
said that "the peace of the world is endangered" when
nations that receive assistance under the Mutual Security Act
"wage economic warfare against other nations assisted under
the Act; including such procedures as boycotts, blockades, and
the restriction of the use of international waterways." Five
years later, Congress adopted a broader regulation that held that
U.S. policy opposed "restrictive trade practices or boycotts
fostered or imposed by countries against other countries friendly
to the United States."
In 1975, Sen. Frank Church made public for the first time a list
of 1,500 American firms on the 1970 Saudi blacklist. Publication
of the list made the public aware, for the first time, of the
scope of the Arab boycott. Particularly shocking were revelations
of U.S. government complicity; perhaps, the most serious of which
was the admission that the Army Corps of Engineers excluded Jewish
soldiers and civilians from projects it managed in Saudi Arabia.
In 1977, Congress adopted legislation encouraging, and in some
cases requiring, U.S. companies to refuse to take actions that
have the effect of supporting the restrictive trade practices
or boycotts fostered or imposed by any foreign government against
a country friendly to the United States or against any American.
This law was adopted despite threats from the Arab world. As the Washington Post wrote (April 17): "No realistic person
would assert that an anti-boycott law will not cost something
. . . . But if there is a price to keep foreigners from compelling
Americans to trample on their own basic values, surely it is worth
paying and, as surely, thoughtful and responsible Americans will
be willing to pay it."
In signing the anti-boycott bill into law, President Jimmy Carter
said: "My concern about foreign boycotts stemmed, of course,
from our special relationship with Israel, as well as from the
economic, military, and security needs of both our countries.
But the issue goes to the very heart of free trade among nations."
Carter said the bill was intended to "end the divisive effects
on American life of foreign boycotts aimed at Jewish members of
our society. If we allow such a precedent to be established, we
open the door to similar action against any ethnic, religious,
or social groups in America."
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