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.