Advocates of Palestine march in downtown Little Rock in October 2023 to protest the Israel-Hamas war.

A 2017 Arkansas law that requires others, suppliers and speakers to pledge not to boycott Israel if they wish to make money by the state is making national headlines after Jewish author and reporter Nathan Thrall canceled strategies to speak at the University of Arkansas instead of sign.

New York Times reporter Vimal Patel recorded this newest skirmish in conservative political leaders' efforts to restrict dispute and conversation on the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict. The story includes an image picture of Sen. Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs), the sponsor of that 2017 law, basing on his front deck with his pet.

A loud and proud evangelical, Hester makes no bones about the spiritual and political intent behind his anti-boycott law. Here's a quote from him in the New York Times piece:

" If Israel is overtaken or wiped out like the Palestinians desire-- they desire no Israel to exist, no Jewish individual to exist-- then that makes the Middle East less steady and the United States less safe," he said, including: "We understand that we have a connection to the Jewish individuals. We serve the very same God. And we have a duty, in my opinion, to do what we can to secure them."

" At University of Arkansas, a State Law Stifles Pro-Palestinian Speakers" lags a paywall. The Arkansas Times has actually likewise covered this concern, and you can read about it here and here.
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A Jewish American man who now lives with his household in Israel, Thrall is not the guy most of us would choose to attempt to demonize advocates of the Palestinian cause. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders sure attempted it.

On campuses across America, pro-Hamas protestors are bugging Jews, praising terrorism, and calling for the damage of Israel.

That is unacceptable and won't happen in Arkansas. ⁰

Thank you, @UArkansas, for standing up to the anti-Israel BDS motion. https://t.co/cASckdZyZZ

-- Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) October 30, 2023

Requiring anyone who wishes to work with or for the state of Arkansas to pick Israel's side in this complex conflict has actually long been a sore area.
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With assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Times sued on the basis that this promise requirement is unconstitutionally compelled speech. If I wish to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, who is the state of Arkansas to tell me I can't?

Unfortunately for First Amendment supporters, the federal courts did not agree. The legal battle ended recently when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case and let a lower court judgment supporting the requirement stand.

Other states have passed comparable pro-Israel/anti-Palestine laws requiring particular conservative/religious pronouncements from anyone wanting to score state contracts. And in 2023, Arkansas added gun and ammunition makers and nonrenewable fuel source business to its list of conservative causes now promoted and safeguarded by state law.

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