Paper sues to halt pro-Israel pledges

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Arkansas Times seeks to halt University of Arkansas System schools from requiring a pledge to not boycott Israel as part of business contracts.

The lawsuit also asks that the 2017 state law behind the pledges be declared unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the lawsuit on behalf of Arkansas Times LP, according to an ACLU statement. The ACLU contends Act 710 violates free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution.

“Strike it down in its entirety. Declare it unconstitutional and strike it down, that’s what we want,” said Bettina Brownstein, a cooperating attorney with the ACLU who is based in Little Rock.

The Arkansas Times has never boycotted Israel nor advocated for a boycott, the Little Rock-based newspaper said in a post on its website.

“Regardless of what people may think about this particular boycott, it is not the government’s place to decide what causes Arkansans can or cannot support,” Alan Leveritt, publisher of the weekly Times, said in a statement.

About 20 states had enacted similar laws or anti-boycott measures relating to Israel as of August 2017, Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., told state lawmakers at that time.

The ACLU has challenged laws in other states, including Kansas and Arizona. A federal district court judge in September granted a request that the Arizona law be blocked for now, pending any further outcome in the court case.

Similarly, a federal district court judge in Kansas also halted the law in January. The Kansas case was dismissed in June after state legislators changed the law so it would not apply to the person who filed the lawsuit, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

State Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican from Cave Springs, sponsored the Arkansas law.

“I think it’s always the right thing to be in the position of defending Israel,” Hester said.

He disagreed with the idea that the law is in conflict with free speech protections.

“My position is they have the right to boycott Israel all they want. They’re just not going to be able to do it and do business with Arkansas,” Hester said. He said lawmakers who back the law have closely followed legal challenges elsewhere.

“We’ve been working on some modifications to our law,” Hester said. In January and February, when legislators are in session, lawmakers will work on addressing “concerns the federal courts have had with the other states’ laws,” he said.

State Rep. Jim Dotson, a Republican from Bentonville and a bill sponsor, said in an email: “Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East. As Americans it’s important we not only support our allies, but we do NOT spend Arkansas tax dollars supporting” those who would harm Israel.

The lawsuit was filed against the 10 members who make up the University of Arkansas board of trustees.

Publications owned by the parent company of the Times had previously “for many years” published advertising from University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, according to the ACLU statement. This year, the school asked the Times to sign a certification to not engage in a boycott of Israel as a condition of a contract, according to the ACLU.

“Campuses in the University of Arkansas system have been advertising with us for years, so we were shocked and more than a little troubled when they sent over what looked like a loyalty oath as a condition of payment,” Leveritt said in a statement.

Nate Hinkel, a spokesman for the University of Arkansas System, said in an email that “because of the statewide issues involved in this case, we have reached out to the Arkansas Attorney General’s office and they have agreed to represent the University with this matter.”

A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge confirmed her involvement.

Arkansas legislators described Israel as being a “prominent target” of boycotts. The law states that companies refusing to deal with Israel “make discriminatory decisions on the basis of national origin that impair those companies’ commercial soundness.”