Florida Senate - 2016                            (NP)    SR 1184
       
       
        
       By Senator Diaz de la Portilla
       
       40-00952-16                                           20161184__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and
    3         Sanctions movement and the increasing incidence of
    4         acts of anti-Semitism.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, Floridians have, as a matter of public policy,
    7  long opposed bigotry, oppression, discrimination, and injustice,
    8  and
    9         WHEREAS, Florida and Israel have enjoyed a long history of
   10  friendship and are great allies, each supporting the best
   11  interests of the other, and
   12         WHEREAS, the State of Israel, the only democracy in the
   13  Middle East, is the greatest friend and ally of the United
   14  States in the region, and
   15         WHEREAS, the elected representatives of the state recognize
   16  the importance of expressing Florida’s unwavering support for
   17  the Jewish people and the State of Israel’s right to exist and
   18  right to self-defense, and
   19         WHEREAS, the incidence of acts of anti-Semitism is
   20  increasing throughout the world, including in the United States
   21  and in Florida, and is reflected in official hate crime
   22  statistics, and
   23         WHEREAS, the international Boycott, Divestment and
   24  Sanctions (BDS) movement is one of the main vehicles for
   25  spreading anti-Semitic perspectives and advocating the
   26  elimination of the Jewish State, and
   27         WHEREAS, the level of activities promoting BDS against
   28  Israel has increased in this state, in communities and on
   29  college campuses, and contributes to the promotion of anti
   30  Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda, and
   31         WHEREAS, the increase in BDS campaign activities on college
   32  campuses nationwide has resulted in an increase in
   33  confrontations with, intimidation of, and discrimination against
   34  Jewish students, and
   35         WHEREAS, leaders of the BDS movement express that their
   36  goal is to eliminate Israel as the national home of the Jewish
   37  people, and
   38         WHEREAS, the BDS campaign’s call for academic and cultural
   39  boycotts has been condemned by many of our nation’s largest
   40  academic associations, more than 250 university presidents, and
   41  many other leading scholars as a violation of the bedrock
   42  principle of academic freedom, NOW, THEREFORE,
   43  
   44  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         That the Florida Senate condemns the international Boycott,
   47  Divestment and Sanctions movement against the State of Israel
   48  and calls upon the governmental institutions of this state to
   49  denounce hatred and discrimination whenever they appear.
   50         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be
   51  presented to the President of the United States, the President
   52  and Secretary of the United States Senate, and the Speaker and
   53  Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and to the
   54  Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., for transmission to the
   55  proper authorities of the State of Israel as a tangible token of
   56  the sentiments expressed herein.