The Shift: House passes bill blocking schools from boycotting Israel

Today, the House passed a bill that would bar universities from boycotting Israel, Israeli companies, and Israeli institutions, including settlements. The final vote was 237-169.

The bipartisan Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, or H.R. 4795, which was introduced by Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) would block federal funds for schools that embrace the BDS movement. The schools would also have to submit an annual report showing that Israeli academic programs were consistently offered to students.

“The antisemitic, hate-fueled BDS movement seeks to destroy Israel — and has no place on our college campuses,” tweeted Gottheimer after the bill was introduced. “Jewish students are being harassed and assaulted. That’s why I’m proud to introduce the bipartisan Protect Economic Freedom Act to help stop this hate and protect our students.”

“The antisemitic rot that has corroded college campuses must be eradicated – enough is enough,” said Foxx. “The safety and security of Jewish students, faculty, and staff should never be threatened under any circumstances. Today, the House sent a clear message: if an institution of higher education chooses to capitulate to the caustic BDS movement, there will be consequences – starting with this bipartisan legislation.”

33 Democrats voted for the bill. According to Sludge, AIPAC’s Super PAC has given more than $9.4 million this election cycle to 30 of those Democrats.

Foundation for Middle East Peace President Lara Friedman broke down the legislation in a recent newsletter, noting that the law would essentially force universities to prove a negative.

“This legislation sets up an situation in which the alleged absence of engagement with any Israeli partner/party, including in settlements, will become the basis for an accusation of boycott, putting universities in the position where, if the universities want to avoid being accused of boycotting Israel/settlements, they will need to adopt an affirmative policy of prioritizing maximal engagement/partnership with Israeli entities (including in settlements),” she wrote.

The legislation was opposed by civil liberties groups, but also by pro-Israel organizations like J Street and multiple pro-Israel politicians like Jerry Nadler.

“H.R. 4795 is the latest assault by the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans on American colleges and universities,” said Nadler in a statement. “Supporting this bill does nothing to support students on campus, prevent hate, or improve the reality in the Middle East. Instead, it feeds the political arson being committed by the Trump Administration against institutions of higher education and endeavors to limit Americans’ First Amendment freedoms in service of Republicans’ partisan political agenda.”

The bill’s passage comes just days after the House approved a resolution condemning socialism “in all its forms.” Eight Democrats jumped across the aisle to endorse that one, and multiple Democratic lawmakers have condemned socialist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker amid the Michigan Senate race.

In recent months, a number of socialist candidates have won their primaries, and nearly all of them have called for the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel.

A recent Drop Site News investigation found that Israel’s military has directed millions in unreported funding to university research programs.

Forever war

The Trump administration claimed that its attack on Iran would be quick, but months later, there’s no end in sight for the deeply unpopular war.

Now the Wall Street Journal reports that Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth has quietly extended deployments into 2027, keeping 50,000 troops in the region to “give the president flexibility on next steps.”

What are those next steps?

Reuters reports that the Trump administration wants to intensify its attacks on Iran, but knows that further escalation would hurt Republicans at the ballot box in November, as 63% of the population opposes the war.

“We are keeping the pressure on Iran, but November is a priority,” declared a Trump official.

At Responsible Statecraft, the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi writes that Trump is gambling by “maintaining a low-level conflict until the midterms—neither securing a diplomatic deal nor allowing the situation to deteriorate into full-scale war.”

“A period of relative tranquility that pushes Iran out of the headlines and, in the run-up to the elections, weakens the connection between rising inflation and gas prices, on the one hand, and Trump’s foolish war of choice, on the other,” he explains.

Earlier this week, the U.S. bombed a house in Kuhestak that was celebrating a wedding. At least five people were killed, two of them children. At least 67 people were injured.

The New York Times notes that the Kuhestak attack is the fourth time in which “strikes on structures with no military use were hit and civilians were killed.”

A local photographer told the paper that he was at home, about 500 yards from where the wedding bombing took place. He said the bomb hit a section of the house set aside for women, so most of the victims were either women or children.

“People were carrying small children in their arms, trying to get them to the hospital in pickup trucks and any vehicles they could find,” he said.

“They weren’t enriching uranium at the wedding, nor was the wedding close to a military area,” one of the wedding guests posted on social media hours after the wedding. “Damn war. God help us.”