Senator: Anti-BDS bills would impose fines

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) clarified on Thursday that bipartisan bills targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel would impose fines on participating businesses but not criminal penalties, JTA reports.

Measures introduced in recent weeks in the U.S. Senate by Cardin and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Pete Roskam (R-IL), and Juan Vargas (D-CA), would extend penalties in 1970s-era bills that targeted businesses that cooperated with the Arab League boycott of Israel. Those laws included fines and criminal penalties.