The proposed Occupied Territories Bill would pose “serious risks” to American companies operating in Ireland because US laws prohibit compliance with such legislation, according to an analysis by US legal experts supplied to the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee.
The committee is conducting pre-legislative scrutiny of the proposed bill in advance of its expected presentation to the Dáil in the autumn. The bill would prohibit trade in goods with Israeli companies operating in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, though there have been calls to include services in the scope of the bill.
The legal opinion, drawn up by New York attorneys Alan S Futerfas, was sent to the committee and the Government by B’nai B’rith International, a US-based Jewish advocacy and social service organisation with operations all over the world.
It anticipates what US companies are likely to be advised by their own lawyers if the bill is passed into law.
According to the analysis, the proposed Irish legislation “conflicts with US federal and state laws designed to prohibit BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) activity directed at the state of Israel”.
It points out that “many US states now require companies to certify that they do not, and will not, boycott Israel (including the occupied territories) as a condition of doing business with that state”.
“Many US states also prohibit investment of state funds in companies that support BDS activities.
“Thus, a company doing business in Ireland, and required to comply with the 2025 Act, may find itself unable to comply with the laws of US states with which they do business, or be subject to divestment by state pension funds,” it says.
The analysis reports that US federal law is even broader, forbidding companies from refusing to deal with Israel.
“Given US state and federal anti-boycott laws, the current US administration’s strong political support for Israel, and its antipathy for BDS activity, enactment of the 2025 Act will create significant liability risks for companies including, as always, from the inevitable negative publicity attendant to the investigation of alleged violations of US federal or state laws,” it says.
US companies “that acquiesce to Ireland’s boycott of Israel’s ‘Israeli settlements’ or refrain from doing business with such companies” are almost certainly in violation of US laws, the opinion states.
It says the proposed law may also fall foul of executive orders issued to combat anti-Semitism.
There are now 970 US companies in Ireland, employing 378,000 people directly and indirectly and spending more than €41 billion in the Irish economy annually, according to the American Chamber of Commerce.
The opinion is intended to “serve as a summary of the potential legal and political risks that US companies doing business in Ireland will necessarily have to confront should the 2025 Act, or similar boycott legislation, be enacted”.
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According to a political source in the United States who is close to the issue, the issue is fast gaining political and legal prominence in the US, where it is seen as part of an overtly anti-Israel agenda.
“Ireland’s attacks on Israel and this legislation in particular are going to increasingly become a focus of attention in the Administration, Congress and US companies doing business in Ireland and the potential impact on Ireland would be huge,” the source said.
While the Government has repeatedly insisted that it intends to progress the bill, there are also fears among some ministers and senior officials about the possible consequences of enacting the bill.
