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Jewish doctor denied $500 payment after refusing to promise Arkansas he won’t boycott Israel
(JTA) – The state of Arkansas is refusing to pay a Jewish doctor for a talk he delivered at a public university because he declined to promise not to boycott Israel.
Dr. Steve Feldman, a dermatologist, delivered a Zoom lecture to University of Arkansas at Little Rock medical students in February, for which he was entitled to a $500 honorarium from the state. But Feldman said that the state is withholding payment because he refused to sign a pledge, required for public contractors under Arkansas law since 2017, to commit to not boycotting Israel.
“They have a law in place that makes contracts with Arkansas dependent on your agreement not to boycott Israel, which I think is wrong,” Feldman, who is a professor at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “To me, growing up Jewish, the very strong lesson of the Holocaust that I learned is it’s wrong to mistreat other people.”
Arkansas is one of dozens of states that have passed laws aiming to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. The laws either bar the state from investing in companies that boycott Israel or, as in Arkansas’ case, mandate that state contractors promise not to boycott the country. Most of those laws have been struck down by courts, but Feldman’s lecture took place the same month the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Arkansas’ law. His case is the latest example of how such laws are affecting what would otherwise be ordinary state business transactions.
Feldman has close relatives who live in Israel. But he said the pledge conflicted with his religious and moral views. In addition to his medical work, he is a pro-Palestinian activist who created the online-only Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience. The website says that the Jewish commitment to fighting injustice should lead Jews to stand up for Palestinian rights. Feldman said he does support boycotting Israel.
“I think the only thing that will lead to Israel allowing Palestinian families to return to their homes, so that everybody can live together peacefully, will be some kind of boycott,” he said.
While the Arkansas law, passed in 2017, applies only to contractors earning more than $1,000 from the state, Feldman said he was still refused his $500 payment. The justification, he said, was that being added to the state’s vendor system would make him eligible for future assignments that could add up to more than $1,000.
Feldman told JTA he is exploring his legal options and wouldn’t rule out a lawsuit against the state as a means of advocating for Palestinian rights and challenging last year’s federal Eighth Circuit Court ruling that the law was constitutionally protected. “I would love to sue and have the Circuit Court either retract what they said, or go to the Supreme Court in order for people to see things that they didn’t know,” he said.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, has said the law combats discrimination on the basis of nationality. Following the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case, he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he works to “ensure that taxpayers aren’t required to pay for anti-Israel and anti-Israeli discrimination.”
Feldman’s story was first reported by the Arkansas Times, a publication that has itself become entangled in the state’s anti-boycott law. The paper’s publisher, Alan Leveritt, challenged the law in court after he was asked to sign the anti-boycott pledge so that the paper could run advertising from a state university. The suit, which is the one that reached the Supreme Court, argued that the law was a violation of the publication’s First Amendment rights and attracted support from progressive Jewish groups, as well as opposition from some pro-Israel groups. Leveritt argued that he doesn’t have strong feelings about Israel boycotts but that his paper does not take political positions in exchange for advertising.
Since the inception of state-level laws prohibiting Israel boycotts, some state lawmakers have used them as a template for legislation barring other types of divestment campaigns, such as those targeting fossil fuels or the firearms industry.
Feldman mused that he could have signed the pledge, taken the money and then engaged in an Israel boycott to see how the state would react, but concluded, “I can’t lie on a form. That also goes against my Jewish moral character.”
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The post Jewish doctor denied $500 payment after refusing to promise Arkansas he won’t boycott Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Deal With US Within Reach ‘Only if Diplomacy Is Given Priority,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov/Pool
Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that a deal with the US was “within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority,” days ahead of an expected fresh round of talks between the two sides in Geneva.
The talks are set to take place on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official said on Monday, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner slated to meet with an Iranian delegation for the negotiations.
The two countries resumed negotiations earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked.
“We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,” Araqchi said in a post on X.
The Iranian top diplomat said his country would resume the talks with “a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal in the shortest possible time.”
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Iran was ready to take all necessary steps to reach a deal with the United States.
“We are ready to reach an agreement as soon as possible. We will do whatever it takes to make this happen. We will enter the negotiating room in Geneva with complete honesty and good faith,” Takht-Ravanchi said in comments carried by state media.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s “first option” was always diplomacy but that he was “willing to use lethal force” if necessary.
“The president is always the final decision maker around here,” she told reporters at the White House.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest, and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium – an idea periodically raised during years of Iran-linked diplomacy.
Iran would do this in return for US recognition of Iran‘s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment” under a deal that would also include lifting economic sanctions, the official said.
“If there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond according to our defense plans … A US attack on Iran is a real gamble,” Takht-Ravanchi added.
Indirect talks between the two sides last year brought no agreement, primarily due to friction over a US demand that Iran forgo uranium enrichment on its soil, which Washington views as a pathway to a nuclear bomb.
Iran has always denied seeking such weapons.
The US joined Israel in hitting Iranian nuclear sites last June, effectively curtailing Iran‘s uranium enrichment, with Trump saying its key nuclear sites were “obliterated.” But Iran is still believed to possess stockpiles enriched previously, which Washington wants it to relinquish.
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Australia Begins Inquiry Into Antisemitism After Bondi Shooting
An Australian flag sits amongst floral tributes honoring the victims of a shooting at Jewish holiday celebration on Sunday at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Australia on Tuesday opened a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism, after a mass shooting at a Jewish event at Bondi Beach killed 15 people in December 2025.
The attack at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration shocked a country with strict gun laws and fueled calls for tougher controls and stronger action against antisemitism.
The Royal Commission, the most powerful type of government inquiry in Australia which can compel people to give evidence, will be led by retired judge Virginia Bell.
It will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia, and is expected to report its findings by December this year.
In her opening statement at a court in Sydney on Tuesday, Bell said security arrangements for the event would form a major part of the commission.
“The commission needs to investigate the security arrangements for that event, and to report on whether our intelligence and law enforcement agencies performed to maximum effectiveness,” Bell said.
Police say the alleged gunmen, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, were inspired by Islamic State.
Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed Akram, who was also shot but survived, is currently facing charges including 15 counts of murder and a terror offense.
INQUIRY SCOPE LIMITED
Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, no potential witnesses in Akram’s trial will be called to give evidence to the commission, Bell said.
Bell said she plans to meet with victims’ families in private to explain some of the limitations of her inquiry.
Richard Lancaster, the top lawyer assisting Bell with the inquiry, said his team had sent dozens of requests to government and other agencies to produce documentary evidence, but the level of responses is “not presently where we would like it to be.”
There was no testimony heard or evidence given on Tuesday, and the commission is yet to determine when it will next sit.
Michele Goldman, CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said after the hearing that the inquiry would be an opportunity to showcase the community’s “horrific” experiences of antisemitism.
But some people directly impacted by the attack would find it “very hard” to be barred from sharing their accounts with the inquiry, she said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had initially resisted calls to set up a Royal Commission, saying the process would take years, which attracted criticism from Jewish groups and victims’ families.
The Bondi attack followed a spate of antisemitic incidents in the country, including the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue.
The government has already responded by tightening gun laws and introducing new legislation against hate speech.
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Iran Issues Death Sentence Linked to January Protests, Source Says
A February 2023 protest in Washington, DC calling for an end to executions and human rights violations in Iran. Photo: Reuters/ Bryan Olin Dozier
A revolutionary court in Tehran has issued a death sentence for an Iranian man accused of “enmity against god,” which if confirmed would be the first such sentence linked to mass protests in January, a source close to the man’s family said.
The source told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran‘s judiciary had not yet announced the sentence against the man, Mohammad Abbasi, and that Iran‘s Supreme Court was yet to uphold it.
Abbasi was accused of killing a security officer, an allegation his family denied, the source said.
Rights groups say thousands of people were killed in a crackdown on the protests, the worst domestic unrest in Iran since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
During the unrest, US President Donald Trump warned Tehran that he could order military action if it carried out executions.
The source said the defendant’s daughter, Fatemeh Abbasi, was handed a 25-year prison sentence over her role in protests.
“The defendants do not have access to the lawyer they wanted, and were given a public defender,” the source added.