Sanctions

Matthew Petti | 11.13.2024 10:18 AM

Can the U.S. government use counterterrorism as an excuse to stop Americans from talking to foreigners? Until this week, the Biden administration seemed to think so. When the New York-based nonprofit Foundation for Global Political Exchange tried to hold a conference in Lebanon, the U.S. Department of the Treasury argued that it had to bar certain Lebanese speakers because they were on the terrorist list or under other U.S. economic sanctions.

Even though no money or goods were changing hands, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) wrote in 2022 that "the provision of a platform for [the sanctioned individuals] to speak" was considered a "service," and therefore illegal for Americans.

But after a lawsuit, the Treasury backed down. On Tuesday, as part of a settlement agreement, OFAC published a letter stating that merely hosting a speech "is not a service prohibited by U.S. sanctions and thus no authorization is necessary."

The decision came the same day as Congress shot down another attempt to give the Treasury censorship powers in the name of fighting terrorism. On Tuesday night, HR 9495 failed to win the two-thirds majority it needed to pass the House of Representatives. The bill would have allowed the Department of Treasury to declare any nonprofit a "terrorist supporting organization" without providing evidence.

The Foundation for Global Political Exchange grew out of the Beirut Exchange, a conference series started by American researcher Nicholas Noe in 2008, when Lebanon was on the brink of civil war. The Exchange attracts a who's who of Lebanese political figures from across the political spectrum, and the Foundation has since set up sister conferences in Armenia, Tunisia, Iraqi........

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