It's possible Missouri could become the 25th state to take a stand against an organization that promotes boycotts of Israel.
Dozens of people packed into a Missouri House of Representatives hearing room Tuesday evening to testify on House Bill 2179, which would prohibit public entities from contracting with some companies that boycott the Jewish state.
The "Anti-Discrimination Against Israel Act" would prohibit Missouri from doing business with companies that participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Opponents of the movement say it is intended to bring down the state of Israel. Supporters of the movement say its intent is to bring Israel into compliance with international law.
People provided their opinions on the bill Tuesday over more than two hours of testimony before the House General Laws Committee.
Andrew Rehfeld, president of Jewish Federation of St. Louis, said his organization runs programs in the St. Louis area to combat hate and bias. It partners with St. Louis police in the efforts, he said. It uses the history of the Holocaust to educate soldiers so they don't repeat the "same evil."
Jewish communities support Israel for three ideals not tied to leadership or policy, Rehfeld said. Those ideals are to provide safety and protection for Jews, no matter where they are; to support the flourishing of Jewish people and culture; and to be the ideal of universal human rights.
"The Jewish community is a strong advocate of boycotts, of sanctions policies, of using economics to affect policy," Rehfeld said.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is different, he said.
"BDS is after - not genocide, not the destruction of Jews - it is after the destruction of the Jewish state," he said, "as an independent entity, where the Jewish people can have their own self-determination."
State Rep. Kirk Mathews, R-Pacific, said he's familiar with the United Nations Human Rights Council's positions toward Israel. (Last year, it declared Israel to be among the world's worst human rights violators and created a "blacklist" of companies doing business with the country.) The actions fueled support for BDS, critics said.
Mathews said he was shocked at actions taken against Israel when "absolutely grotesque" human rights violations occur around the world.
"The amount of time and effort that is spent on reprimanding Israel - on wanting it to extend rights to Palestinians in the occupied territory," Rehfeld said. "The amount of disproportionate time, given the kinds of human rights abuses reported everywhere."
Palestinians have rejected the co-existence of two separate states, he said. And the UN singling out of Israel is part of a pattern.
"Some of the bills that are out there I do not support because they do undermine free speech rights," Rehfeld said.
The bill is "laser-focused" on addressing BDS's efforts to bring down the Jewish democratic state.
But the bill would prevent BDS and others from exercising free speech, said Sara Baker, policy director for American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.
She said the ACLU takes no position on Israel. It does have concerns about constitutional issues, such as free speech.
"Make no mistake, boycotts are speech," she emphasized.
She said her organization recently got an injunction on similar legislation in Kansas.
"Beyond what this bill will do on its face it will chill speech," Baker said. "It will deter others from speaking out."
Lawmakers in both Kansas and Missouri have argued, Baker said, the bill would attract Israeli and other businesses to their states.
"Kansas provided no examples of businesses coming to Kansas or not coming to Kansas because they passed this bill," she said. "We are doing a lot of Israeli business in Missouri already. It does not seem to me that this bill would have any chilling or incentivizing effect where it comes to business in Missouri."