WASHINGTON, D.C., United States: The US House of Representatives passed an Israel boycott bill by 237-169 on Thursday that could make universities engaging in specified commercial boycotts of Israel ineligible for certain federal funds.
The House approved H.R. 4795, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026. The measure now requires Senate approval before it can become law.
The legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to bar institutions participating in a “nonexpressive commercial boycott of Israel” from eligibility for specified funding. It would also require some institutions to certify that students are not unreasonably prevented from joining academic programmes in Israel.
The vote crossed party lines but drew substantially stronger Republican support. 203 Republicans and 33 Democrats voted in favour, alongside one independent, while 167 Democrats and two Republicans opposed the bill. Twenty-seven members did not vote.
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Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who introduced the legislation with Republican Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, said the measure was aimed at institutional commercial and academic boycotts rather than restricting free speech or classroom debate.
Opponents argued that the measure could infringe First Amendment protections surrounding politically motivated boycotts. Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, who opposes the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, said before the vote that opposition to BDS did not justify restricting Americans’ free-expression rights.
The legislation comes after years of campus protests and disputes over Israel, Palestinian rights and BDS, which calls for economic and institutional pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
