Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: UN Rights Expert’s Boycott Call Angers U.S. And Israel [View all]azurnoir
(45,850 posts)U.S. law (found in the Export Administration Act -- EAA; the official reference is: 48 C.F.R. 652.225-71) "prohibits compliance by U.S. persons with any boycott fostered by a foreign country against a country which is friendly to the United States and which is not itself the object of any form of boycott pursuant to United States law or regulation," and imposes criminal penalties on those who do comply with such boycotts.
U.S. law (found in the Tax Reform Act -- TRA), penalizes those who participate in such boycotts (as defined under the EAA) by denying them certain tax benefits.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lara-friedman/israel-boycott-law_b_898317.html
but here is what they said they feel that restricting the boycott to settlements is positive
We note positively that some groups promoting BDS tactics are trying to narrow the scope of boycotts or divestment initiatives to oppose simply the occupation and not Israel itself. The Palestinian Authority, for instance, does not call for a boycott of Israel itself or Israeli goods, but of settlement products, unlike the all-encompassing boycott of Israel promoted by the global BDS Movement. J Street, however, will not participate in targeted boycott or divestment initiatives. We are focused on creating the political will and atmosphere necessary in the United States to promote strong American leadership to achieve a two-state resolution to the conflict.
http://jstreet.org/blog/post/the-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-bds-movement_1