New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (R) signs an anti-BDS executive order, 6 July 2023 (Photo: Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN)

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (R) on Thursday signed an order banning executive branch agencies from doing business with companies engaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

The move makes New Hampshire the 37th state to enact anti-BDS orders or legislation.

“NH will not tolerate anti-semitism, & we are taking significant steps at the state level to prohibit discriminatory boycotts of Israel in state procurement and investments,” Sununu wrote on Twitter.

The order also adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as an “essential definitional tool” in identifying antisemitism.

Thursday’s order was in part a response to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Israel’s latest report, issued on 8 June, that accused Israel of war crimes and found that Israel’s “silencing” of Palestinian civil society voices was “intrinsically linked to the goal of ensuring and enshrining the permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.” In June, the US led 27 other states at the UN Human Rights Council in condemning the commission as biased and open-ended.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Concord, New Hampshire, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said that Gov. Sununu’s order is part of an “economic Iron Dome” defending Israel from the BDS movement.

“As Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, I came to understand the evil that was hiding behind the mask of the BDS organizations,” Erdan said. “As Minister, I published and exposed the connection between BDS leaders and convicted terrorists, and I also exposed the antisemitic ideologies of these organizations. Not only does BDS spread Jew hatred, it is also funded by terror groups.”

Erdan also thanked Sununu for forcefully responding to the Commission of Inquiry, whose latest report accused states that have adopted anti-BDS legislation of “silenc[ing] human rights defenders.”

“New Hampshire’s support for Israel today is the perfect response to this antisemitic UN commission,” Erdan said. “We must boycott our boycotters and delegitimize our delegitimizers!”

The co-chair of the progressive caucus of the New Hampshire of House of Representatives, Rep. Alissandra Murray (D), condemned the order on Thursday as condoning “violence” after a similar legislative measure, HB339, failed to pass committee.

“HB 339 was [deemed ‘inexpedient to legislate’] in committee and never even got a vote on the floor, so the tyrant Sununu decided to issue a politically-motivated executive order that condones violence and violates free speech,” Murray said.

Supporters of the BDS movement contend that boycotts are protected speech under the First Amendment, a view that the US Supreme Court has largely rejected.

Responding to an invitation from Israel’s Consul General in New England for Sununu to visit Israel, the Granite State governor joked about his announcement in June that he would not be running for the US Presidency.

“As of a month ago, my schedule has opened up,” Sununu said.