TEHRAN — The United States House of Representatives on September 3 passed a legislation to penalize American universities for boycotting Israel or its academic institutions, including those located in the occupied West Bank.

Lawmakers voted for the measure in a 237-169 vote, with 33 Democrats joining the Republican majority. Two Republicans broke ranks with their party to reject the bill.

The proposal will still need to be adopted by the Republican-led Senate and signed by President Donald Trump to become law.

If passed, it would bar universities that boycott “an entity licensed or regulated by, or organized under the laws of” Israel, such as those in illegal West Bank settlements, from receiving federal funds.

Withholding such funding would make it nearly impossible for many universities to operate or provide financial aid to students.

Such a bill clearly violates freedom of opinion, something that the U.S. claims it stands for as a principle and lectures other countries about it.

Jenin Younes, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said the bill raises serious concerns for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech rights.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that the government cannot condition its funding on suppression of First Amendment-protected activity,” Younes told Al Jazeera. “Courts also recognize that boycotts constitute such activity.”

The bill indirectly backs the theft of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank in violation of international law.

The anti-Israel feelings among Americans, especially among the intellectuals including university students, started growing as Israel has so far killed more than 73, 000 in Gaza and turned the enclave into a pile of rubble following a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Until now, the bill has dealt a blow to the United States’ status in the world. If the bill becomes a law, it will bring down the U.S. to the level of a dictatorial regime that stifles opposition voices under different pretexts.

Of course, the American society is familiar with the U.S. measures against universities as students were holding campus protests and encampments against the Israeli war on Gaza. Starting January 2025, the Trump administration took several measures against certain universities, typically framing them as responses to alleged antisemitism.

American officials, especially Republicans, are tarnishing the image of the U.S. more than ever before in order to buy some praise from Israel.

American officials, including Congresspersons, are not shy to blindly back Israel regardless of reputational damages. They don’t ask themselves that subservience to Israel that does not care about Palestinians’ rights and lives should have a limit.

The legislation would require academic institutions in the U.S. to annually certify that they allow cooperation with Israeli universities. The stipulation raises concerns that the bill not only bans boycotts of schools in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank but could compel US universities to forge relationships with them to fulfil the certification requirement.

This comes despite that fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 2024 that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, “have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”.

Those lawmakers who have endorsed the bill should be ashamed of the American public who are angry of Israel’s massacres against Gazans and deadly settler violence in the West Bank. 

A Pew Research Center survey in July suggested that 62 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the current Israeli government, which has coalesced with far-right parties.

Israeli themselves are aware that they are disliked by Americans. Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, in a recent interview with Itai Segal, conceded that among American youth, Israel is synonymous with genocide. 

Outlining the severity of this shift, he said, “If you ask an American student, ‘Israel, what comes to mind?’ They say genocide. That is the situation.” He offered a comparison. “You say Italy, ‘pasta, spaghetti.’ You say Israel, ‘baby killers.’”

In such a negative atmosphere against Israel, 237 House representatives sacrificed what remained of America’s reputation as a country that still valued public opinion.

“As Americans’ sentiment turns against our unholy alliance, Israel and its servants in Congress are working overtime to come up with ways to silence dissent and keep Americans’ tax dollars flowing to the genocidal, apartheid state,” Younes said.

Most American politicians, especially Republicans, are lying that they favor an independent Palestinian state living side by side peacefully with Israel. If they were not lying, they did not vote for a such a legislation.

Younis said including Israeli colleges in the occupied West Bank in the anti-boycott bill is further evidence there is no real intent by the U.S. “to hold Israel accountable for its unlawful occupation or to pave the way for a Palestinian state.”

With the pace of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and statements by certain Israeli officials, including War Minister Israel Katz, who said on September 2 that Israel is seeking Trump’s support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, what remains of Palestine to form a government.

The American lawmakers who seek to punish universities that are reluctant to cooperate with Israeli academic centers are fully aware of the views of Katz and other Israeli officials like National Security Minister Itamar ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

If the U.S. had been really seeking a durable cure for the decades-long bleeding Palestinian wound, that has also engulfed certain countries in the region in fire, it must have taken some measures against Israel such as banning or even threatening arms boycott. However, the U.S. has been shielding the U.S. in the UN Security Council for decades. It only once abstained to veto an anti-Israel resolution at the council that declared Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory have "no legal validity" and constitute a violation of international law. That move only happened in December 2016 during the final weeks of the Obama administration.

Despite hollow claims, the American Congress and states have been passing legislations to restrict the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that aims to pressure Israel economically to end abuses against Palestinians.

Robert McCaw, government affairs manager for CAIR, called the bill “a blatant attempt to hold American students’ financial futures hostage.”

The House’s move is intended to force students and professors to value their bias in favor of Israel otherwise they will be punished. Only despotic regimes want their people to think like them and endorse what they say without any question.

Now the question is why should the majority of House representatives expect students and professors to cooperate with Israeli universities that have been playing a key role in enabling abuses against Palestinians by developing weapon systems and military strategies.