(Washington, D.C.) — The Israeli-American Coalition for Action, the legislative and policymaking sister organization of the Israeli-American Council, today applauded the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law against boycotting Israel.

The high court declined to hear a challenge by the Arkansas Times weekly newspaper and the ACLU, based on the newspaper’s refusal to comply with a state university advertising contract because it required a pledge not to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Arkansas, which passed its anti-BDS law in 2016, is among 26 states with similar laws that bar commercial discrimination against Israel.

IAC for Action Chairman Shawn Evenhaim said the Supreme Court ruling “marks a significant Constitutional victory for states that have taken a strong stand against the BDS hate movement. Now, this ruling will allow even more states to do what’s right and prevent publicly funded commercial interests from discriminating against the Jewish state.”

Arkansas State Sen. Jim Dotson, one of the principal architects of the state’s anti-BDS law, said he and many of his colleagues were “pleased” to learn of the Supreme Court’s decision. “BDS supporters have purposely tried to confuse understanding of the difference between free speech and commercial conduct. Today’s denial is a welcome development for those who support the First Amendment and oppose antisemitism and anti-Israel discrimination. It is timely that the court’s decision followed our state’s unanimous passage of the country’s strongest-ever law dealing with antisemitic crime and discrimination.”

Dotson also thanked IAC For Action and its Executive Director Joseph Sabag, as well as Professors Eugene Kontorovich, of Northwestern University’s School of Law, and Mark Goldfeder, Emory University’s School of Law, “for their many years of expert policy support” on the issue.