BDS movement
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The BDS movement, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, is the campaign of economic pressure on Israel that John Kiriakou says he and many others support in principle. He notes that some 40 to 42 U.S. states have passed anti-BDS laws, so that a speaker invited to a publicly funded university may have to sign a document pledging support for Israel in order to be paid. Kiriakou refuses: "I will not pledge fealty to a foreign government." He frames the laws, now under constitutional appeal, as part of a climate in which any criticism of Israel or Netanyahu is branded antisemitic.

A friend's Georgia State speaking fee

Kiriakou describes a concrete case of the anti-BDS contractor laws in practice: a friend was hired to give a paid speech at Georgia State University for $500, but the contract required her to pledge allegiance to Israel, under Georgia's anti-BDS law, taking state money as a speaker makes a person a contractor, and contractors must make that pledge. She refused, sued, and lost the case before the Georgia Supreme Court.

Florida and the UK (The Inquiry)

John Kiriakou cites the spread of anti-Palestinian speech restrictions: in Florida it is, for now, illegal to express support for Palestinians on social media, and he says Miami police knocked on the door of a woman who did so on Facebook. He pairs it with the UK's secrecy laws, under which support for Palestinian rights can bring prosecution. In a separate telling of the same Miami Beach Facebook case, Kiriakou identifies the law behind it: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed legislation through the state legislature this year making it a criminal offense to criticize Israel, which Kiriakou calls patently unconstitutional. Rather than sign the bill at home, DeSantis waited to fly to Israel and sign it in the presence of Benjamin Netanyahu, then gave him the pen as a souvenir, prompting Kiriakou to ask whether DeSantis works for the people of Florida or for Netanyahu.

See also

- AIPAC
- Benjamin Netanyahu
