A gripping investigative documentary by Julia Bacha that examines how a wave of U.S. state laws punishing those who boycott Israel threatens the right to political protest itself. Through the stories of three individuals — a newspaper publisher in Arkansas, a speech pathologist in Texas, and a lawyer in Arizona — the film reveals the growing use of anti-boycott legislation promoted by the conservative group ALEC to silence dissent and reshape the boundaries of free expression in America.

Each protagonist discovers that to keep their public contracts, they must sign pledges promising not to boycott Israel. Their refusal sets off a legal and moral struggle that exposes the deep ties between U.S. policymakers, lobbying networks, and efforts to criminalize political boycotts. The film situates these fights in the long tradition of U.S. boycotts as tools for justice — from the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the movement against South African apartheid — while warning that today’s laws mark a dangerous reversal.

What Boycott depicts is an insider theory of change: the struggle unfolds almost entirely through the courts, driven by plaintiffs and civil liberties lawyers rather than public protest. It highlights the precision and courage of legal advocacy — but also the absence of a mass, visible grassroots campaign that might otherwise have turned these cases into a broader political reckoning. The movement, as shown here, operates through the “inside game” of legal argument and media coverage, rather than organized, street-level resistance.

Update (2025):
As of 2025, over 35 U.S. states continue to enforce anti-boycott laws, though several — including Texas, Arizona, and Kansas — have faced partial defeats or narrowed enforcement following constitutional challenges. The Eighth Circuit Court’s 2024 decision upholding Arkansas’s law deepened the divide among appellate courts and may prompt eventual Supreme Court review. Meanwhile, similar legislative models are now being proposed to limit boycotts related to climate and labor justice, expanding the stakes of this fight far beyond Palestine solidarity.