I agree with commentator Yousef Munayyer's concerns about the bill sponsored by Sen. Ben Cardin that would require U.S. trade officials to make defending Israel from boycotts part of their negotiating strategy ("Cardin, don't tie U.S. hands for Israel," April 21).
This bill flies in the face of so many freedom initiatives that the international community usually supports. The Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement was instrumental in bringing down Apartheid in South Africa and it is beginning to work with regard to Apartheid in Israel.
Senator Cardin's unflagging support for Israel should not be allowed to take precedence over internationally accepted forms of resistance to tyranny.
Israel has violated so many international laws — including those it has signed onto — that it is beginning to be viewed as the pariah among nations that it is.
It has no constitution or Bill of Rights. The BDS movement is an attempt to impose a penalty on Israel for its violation of the Geneva Accords, UN Resolutions 242 and 194 and the International Declaration of Human Rights.
The BDS movement aims to call attention to the plight of the Palestinian people under Israel's brutal occupation. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with this laudable goal.
Doris Rausch, Columbia