‘It’s an onslaught right now’: film details US battle against anti-boycott bills

‘There’s such a dramatic change, in particular among Democrats and liberals, in their perception of what’s happening in Israel and Palestine’ … a picture of Bahia Amawi speaking to journalists at a press conference outside of a Texas courthouse. Photograph: Jonah Candelario

The top Democrat in the Arkansas state senate was blithely going about his business when he ran into the makers of the documentary film Boycott, and a difficult question.

Greg Leding’s smile drops as the film’s director, Julia Bacha, asks about an Arkansas law requiring contractors doing business with the state to pledge not to boycott Israel. Leding claims not to know about the contentious but not uncommon piece of legislation that may well end up before the US supreme court. But he voted for the law, how can he not know about it? He tells Bacha he wasn’t paying attention.