[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4482 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4482

   To require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress an annual 
   report regarding instances of Arab government retribution toward 
 citizens and residents who engage in people-to-people relations with 
                               Israelis.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 6, 2020

Mr. Booker (for himself and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress an annual 
   report regarding instances of Arab government retribution toward 
 citizens and residents who engage in people-to-people relations with 
                               Israelis.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Reporting of Actions 
Taken Against the Normalization of Relations with Israel Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Arab League, an organization comprising 22 Middle 
        Eastern and African countries and entities, has maintained an 
        official boycott of Israeli companies and Israeli-made goods 
        since the founding of Israel in 1948.
            (2) Longstanding United States policy has encouraged Arab 
        League states to normalize their relations with Israel and has 
        long prioritized funding cooperative programs that promote 
        normalization between Arab League States and Israel, including 
        the Middle East Regional Cooperation program, which promotes 
        Arab-Israeli scientific cooperation.
            (3) While some Arab League governments are signaling 
        enhanced cooperation with the state of Israel on the 
        government-to-government level, most continue to persecute 
        their own citizens who establish people-to-people relations 
        with Israelis in nongovernmental fora, through a combination of 
        judicial and extrajudicial retribution.
            (4) Some Arab League states maintain draconian anti-
        normalization laws that punish their citizens for people-to-
        people relations with Israelis, with punishments, including 
        imprisonment, revocation of citizenship, and execution. 
        Extrajudicial punishments by these and other Arab states 
        include summary imprisonment, accusations of ``treason'' in 
        government-controlled media, and professional blacklisting.
            (5) Anti-normalization laws, together with the other forms 
        of retribution, effectively condemn these societies to mutual 
        estrangement and, by extension, reduce the possibility of 
        conciliation and compromise.
            (6) Despite the risk of retaliatory action, a rising tide 
        of Arab civic actors advocate direct engagement with Israeli 
        citizens and residents. These include the Arab Council for 
        Regional Integration, a group of 32 public figures from 15 Arab 
        countries who oppose the boycott of Israel on the grounds that 
        the boycott has denied Arabs the benefits of partnership with 
        Israelis, has blocked Arabs from helping to bridge the Israeli-
        Palestinian divide, and inspired divisive intra-Arab boycotts 
        among diverse sects and ethnic groups.
            (7) On February 11, 2020, a delegation of the Arab Council 
        to the French National Assembly in Paris testified to the 
        harmful effects of ``anti-normalization laws'', called on the 
        Assembly to enact a law instructing the relevant French 
        authorities to issue an annual report on instances of Arab 
        government retribution for any of their citizens or residents 
        who call for peace with Israel or engage in direct civil 
        relations with Israeli citizens, and requested democratic 
        legislatures to help defend the region's civil peacemakers.
            (8) On May 11, 2020, 85 leaders in France published an 
        endorsement of the Arab Council's proposal, calling on France 
        and other democratic governments to ``protect Arabs who engage 
        in dialogue with Israeli citizens'' and proposing ``the 
        creation of a study group in the National Assembly as well as 
        in the Senate whose mission would be to ensure a legal and 
        technical monitoring of the obstacles which Arab proponents of 
        dialogue with Israelis face''.
            (9) Arab-Israeli cooperation provides significant symbiotic 
        benefit to the security and economic prosperity of the region.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REPORTING IN THE ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT.

    The Secretary of State shall include in the Country Report on Human 
Rights Practices submitted annually for each of 2021 through 2026 under 
section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151n(d)) the following information:
            (1) The status of ``anti-normalization laws'' in each 
        country within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Near Eastern 
        Affairs, including indigenous efforts to sharpen existing laws, 
        enact new or additional ``anti-normalization legislation'', or 
        repeal such laws.
            (2) Instances of prosecution of citizens or residents of 
        Arab countries for calling for peace with Israel, visiting the 
        state of Israel, or in any way engaging Israeli citizens in any 
        country.
            (3) Instances of extrajudicial retribution by Arab 
        governments or government-controlled institutions against 
        citizens or residents of Arab countries for any of the same 
        actions.
            (4) Evidence of steps taken by Arab governments toward 
        permitting or encouraging people-to-people relations between 
        their citizens or residents and Israeli citizens.
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