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20 Feb, 2016

New Israeli-American Nexus set up to boycott companies which boycott Israel

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 17, 2016  – Today, the Israeli-American Council (IAC) announced the formation of the Israeli-American Nexus (IANexus), a 501(c)(4) partner organization devoted to advocating to policymakers on behalf of the Israeli-American community.

“We have formed the IANexus to make the voices of Israeli-Americans heard on a range of issues at the federal, state, and local level – from fighting Israel’s delegitimization to strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance to advancing our community’s domestic policy priorities,” said Shawn Evenhaim, Chairman of the Israeli-American Nexus. “The IANexus will have new tools at its disposal to mobilize Israeli-Americans in advocacy like never before.”

In the coming days, the IANexus will rally the Israeli-American community to support the passage of the Combating BDS Act of 2016 – a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced last week in both houses of Congress – which supports states’ right to cut ties with companies boycotting or divesting from Israel.

The IANexus is also currently engaged in a range of advocacy efforts at the state and local level in California to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance. Just last week, it helped to facilitate a landmark agreement signed between the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and Israel’s Ministry Science, Technology and Space to advance U.S.-Israel collaboration in stem cell research. It is now working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to develop legislation that will prevent public entities in California from doing business with BDS supporters.