Legislature(2023 - 2024)GRUENBERG 120
02/28/2023 03:00 PM House STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB2 | |
| HB23 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 2 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 23 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HJR 3 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 2-CONTRACTS: PROHIBIT ISRAEL DISCRIMINATION
3:04:55 PM
CHAIR SHAW announced that the first order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 2, "An Act relating to contracts with public
agencies; and relating to the State of Israel."
3:05:20 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:05:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SARAH VANCE, Alaska State Legislature, prime
sponsor, introduced HB 2. She stated that HB 2 would provide an
opportunity to recognize and honor Alaskans that helped shape
the state. She provided a historical summary of prominent
Jewish settlers in Alaska.
3:09:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE paraphrased the sponsor statement [included
in the committee packet], which read as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
HB 2 prohibits a public agency from contracting with
anyone who boycotts or discriminates against Israel on
the basis of nationality, national origin, or
religion. This bill simply ensures Alaskan's taxpayer
dollars are not subsidizing any antisemitic efforts to
achieve with boycotts what terrorists have failed to
achieve with bombs: the destruction of the state of
Israel. The goal of this legislation is to ensure the
state does not become complicit in the effort to
destroy Israel.
To date, 33 states have passed legislation with
bipartisan support or advanced executive orders
banning the state from investing in and/or engaging in
contracts with entities that are boycotting Israel!
Alaska may seem far removed from what takes place in
the Middle East, but as a state we strive to do the
right thing and to protect our interests. Israel and
Alaska enjoy an important and mutually beneficial
relationship. This includes Israel related investments
by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation along with
Alaska's exports to Israel, which since 1996 total
nearly $62 million.
In addition, Alaska is a key site for US-Israel
missile defense cooperation. The U.S. and Israel
regularly test cooperative missile defense programs
such as the Arrow-3 at the Alaska Aerospace Pacific
Spaceport Complex on Kodiak.
Standing with Israel and defending the Jewish people's
right to self-determination in their ancestral
homeland is, therefore, not only righteous, but it is
also in our state's interests and our country's
national security interests to protect the principle
of nondiscrimination.
CHAIR SHAW invited questions from members of the committee.
3:10:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STORY asked whether the State of Alaska had any
contracts over $100,000 relevant to HB 2 at present.
REPRESENTATIVE VANCE understood that there were existing
contracts; however, she was unsure whether any were choosing to
boycott Israel.
REPRESENTATIVE STORY requested a follow-up response at a future
hearing.
CHAIR SHAW invited Mr. Almeida to present the sectional
analysis.
3:11:43 PM
JAKE ALMEIDA, Staff, Representative Sarah Vance, Alaska State
Legislature, directed attention to a PowerPoint presentation by
Mr. Zilberman.
3:12:24 PM
BORIS ZILBERMAN, Christians United for Israel, offered a
PowerPoint presentation, titled "HB 2 Israel Anti-Discrimination
Act" [included in the committee packet]. He began on slide 2,
which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Thirty-four states across the country have advanced
policies that curb investment in and/or contracting
with entities that engage in a boycott of Israel.
With the widespread bipartisan support of leaders from
the Christian and Jewish communities of Alaska, we
would become the 35th state.
MR. ZILBERMAN continued to slide 3, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
Israel is our ally.
From a legal perspective, this is no different from
prioritizing veterans in the hiring process or
minority-owned businesses in state contracting.
While this legislation therefore empowers Alaskans and
allows them to best decide how their state dollars are
spent, detractors of this legislation are not so
inclined. In fact, their leaders have acknowledged
openly and repeatedly that their sole aim is to
destroy Israel.
MR. ZILBERMAN advanced to slide 4, reiterating that the
legislation in question was limited to prohibiting the state
from engaging in contracts worth more than $100,000 with
potential contractors - with at least 10 employees - who were
boycotting Israel or refused to commit to not doing so for the
duration of the contract. He proceeded to slide 5, which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
This legislation does not prohibit boycotts of Israel.
In fact, Palestine Legal, a leading voice in
opposition to such anti-BDS laws, acknowledges that
none of the antiboycott bills and laws take away your
right to boycott for Palestinian rights or to advocate
for such boycotts."
This legislation is narrowly targeted at entities who
have contracts with the state over a $100,000
threshold.
MR. ZILBERMAN concluded on slide 6, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
Israel and Alaska enjoy an important and mutually
beneficial relationship. This includes Israel related
investments by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
along with Alaska's exports to Israel, which since
1996 total nearly $62 million.
In addition, Alaska is a key site for US-Israel
missile defense cooperation. The U.S. and Israel
regularly test cooperative missile defense programs
such as the Arrow-3 program at the Alaska Aerospace
Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak.
Those who bless Israel will be blessed!
3:15:45 PM
MR. ZILBERMAN provided two real world examples. He explained
that as a result of the proposed legislation, future boycotts by
multi-nationals with a presence in Alaska, or other companies
that would seek to do business with the state, may be forced to
reconsider. In response to the argument that anti-Boycott,
Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) laws were unconstitutional, he
explained that the bill had been crafted to avoid restraints on
an individual's First Amendment rights. He acknowledged that
there had been a handful of nuisance lawsuits aimed at such
legislation; however, none were successful. He reported that
the only appellate-level decision regarding the
constitutionality of anti-BDS laws upheld them. He urged the
legislature to put Alaskans "on record" in opposition to the BDS
movement and ensure that taxpayer dollars were not subsidizing
those who seek to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
3:17:55 PM
DAVID GOTTSTEIN, Christians United for Israel, read the
following prepared remarks [original punctuation provided]:
Dear Governor Dunleavy, Senate President Stevens,
Madam Speaker Tilton, and Members of the Legislature
We, the undersigned, can't know the experiences and
prejudices that African Americans encounter in the
U.S. Even though our empathies and hearts go out to
them, we also can't fully understand what Alaskan
Natives, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans
suffer in the way of discrimination. But as Jews we
know intimately what it is like to be the continuing
victims of prejudice, discrimination, forced labor,
and murder for thousands of years, just because we are
Jewish. We know where it comes from, and what it looks
like. It is our history.
And just like Germany in the 1930's, anti-Semitism is
rising again at an alarming rate, globally, and
becoming more accepted, even in in the U.S. With the
voices of "Jews will not replace us." in
Charlottesville, mass shootings in Synagogues in
Pittsburg, attacks in California and Texas, and even a
Swastika painted at our own Alaska Jewish Campus this
past year. To say the least, we feel threatened in our
own communities. As the more people suffer, the more
they blame us Jews.
Let me remind you of the famous quote by a prominent
German Lutheran Pastor, Martin Niemoller, who was
first a supporter of Hitler, and then suffered in
prison for being an outspoken critic:
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not
speak out
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not
speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for meand there was no one left to
speak for me."
There are many sources of threats against the Jewish
community, with Israel as the epicenter. Just one is
the constant attempts by Iran, Hamas, Hizbollah, and
other Radical Islamists doing everything in their
power to destroy Israel. Both the Palestinian and
Israeli peoples deserve a homeland of their own living
within safe and secure borders within a two-state
solution. Fortunately, through the Abraham Accords, in
the last two years, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates,
Morocco, and Sudan have all established full and warm
diplomatic relations with Israel. In part because, as
Sunni nations, they all fear a nuclear Shiite Iran.
Those countries are very critical of the Palestinian
leadership for not coming to the peace table.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership has refused
to come to the negotiating table for more than twenty
years. Instead, Israel is attacked with rockets,
suicide bombers, and even incendiary balloons from
Gaza. More recently, Hamas has launched terror attacks
from the West Bank instead of the Gaza Strip, in order
to not suffer direct retaliation on itself. It was
instrumental, as an unintended consequence, in helping
to elect a more right wing and hawkish government
again led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
One of the main arsenals of attack against Israel is a
global campaign to weaken Israel by turning the world
against it. Largely by blaming Israel for the
suffering of the Palestinian population instead of the
Palestinian leadership who has a history of
sacrificing generations of Palestinians in a hopeless
quest to destroy Israel.
The primary weapon in that global arsenal is the
propaganda campaign to have countries, organizations,
and companies boycott, divest from, and sanction
Israel. Otherwise known as the BDS Movement. Which is
aggressively fostered on American college campuses.
The BDS movement helps to amplify resentment towards
Jews, and is a direct contributor to the rise of anti-
Semitism in the U.S., and certainly around the world.
It does so by design. It gives closet anti-Semites
permission to openly express their hatred for Jews.
This past Saturday was labeled as "A Day of Hate" by
many who are openly anti-Semitic. If one tells a lie
often enough, people believe it. Like the Jews killed
Christ. Instead of the fact that it was the Romans
that did.
We the undersigned leaders among the Alaskan Jewish
community are asking for your help in having the State
of Alaska condemn the BDS movement, and act to not be
complicit, knowingly, or unknowingly, in this
insidious and anti-Semitic tool of war being waged
against the survival of Israel and the Jewish people.
We would respectfully ask that this be done either
administratively, or through legislation in the form
of HB 2. And time is of the essence, as there is a
surge in anti-Semitism that needs to be put in check
sooner rather than later.
CHAIR SHAW announced that HB 2 would be held over.