Israel passes law punishing settlement boycotters [View All]

* The "peace process" in full swing.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Advocating a boycott of West Bank settlements could lead to financial penalties in Israel under a new law passed on Monday with the blessing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Critics of the bill pushed through parliament by right-wing lawmakers called the measure anti-democratic and a blow to free speech.

Parliament's Speaker, Reuven Rivlin, said he had appealed unsuccessfully to Netanyahu to seek a rewording of the legislation after the assembly's legal adviser issued an opinion that it "impinges on political expression" in Israel.

The vote -- carried by 47 to 38 in the 120-seat plenum -- went ahead amid an outcry from opposition legislators and civil liberties groups.

"What this law will enable is for anybody harmed by a deliberate boycott campaign to seek damages through the courts," said its sponsor, Zeev Elkin, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.

Supporters of the bill said its reference to boycotts based on "geography" was aimed at countering calls in Israel and abroad for cultural and economic boycotts against settlements in the West Bank, occupied land Palestinians want for a state.

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