Muslim businesses

Imagine that government agents unjustly stole your land, gave it to a private corporation and didn’t pay restitution.

You might invoke your First Amendment rights to criticize the government and to boycott that apathetic corporation.

However, a McCarthyesque bill in the Florida Legislature (Senate Bill 86, House Bill 527), if passed, would force the state of Florida to blacklist some American businesses for implementing their First Amendment rights to boycott and be heard.

Namely, these are principled businesses that openly decline to do business with Israeli companies, often those located illegally in the West Bank. Many small business owners who boycott Israel have suffered under its regime.

Yet, the state’s pension fund would be required to divest from them.

My fear is that Muslim-American and Arab-American businesses are unjustly targeted by this bill. It is a cynical, illegal and prejudiced attempt to suppress criticism of Israel.

Call the bill’s sponsors, Joe Negron and Gwen Margolis, among others. Tell them to stop violating our First Amendment rights.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Muslim businesses."