[News] Palestine Legal and CCR Release Report Documenting Efforts to Silence US Supporters of Palestinian Rights

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Palestine Legal and CCR Release First-of-Its-Kind Report Documenting
  Efforts to Silence U.S. Supporters of Palestinian Rights

press at ccrjustice.org
*https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/palestine-legal-and-ccr-release-first-its-kind-report-documenting*

/Palestine Legal Responded to Nearly 300 Incidents in 2014-2015; 85 
Percent Targeted Students and Scholars on More Than 65 College Campuses/

September 30, 2015 - A new report, “The Palestine Exception to Free 
Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US 
<https://ccrjustice.org/the-palestine-exception>,” released today by 
Palestine Legal <http://palestinelegal.org/> and the Center for 
Constitutional Rights <https://ccrjustice.org/> (CCR), documents for the 
first time the widespread and growing suppression of Palestinian human 
rights advocacy in the United States. An accompanying video 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIni_3TYg-A> features students and 
scholars discussing the backlash they have experienced for engaging in 
Palestine advocacy.

Palestine Legal, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the 
civil rights of people in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian 
freedom, responded to nearly 300 incidents over an 18-month period. 
Eighty-five percent of the incidents—which included baseless legal 
complaints, administrative disciplinary actions, firings, harassment, 
and false accusations of terrorism and antisemitism—targeted students 
and scholars across the country. Driven by a network of Israel advocacy 
organizations, these efforts target the movement for Palestinian rights 
in the U.S., which has grown significantly over the last decade.

“In the U.S. we have free speech rights that are meant to protect those 
who challenge the status quo, yet some groups who defend Israel’s 
policies are attempting to strip those protections from Palestinian 
rights activists,” explains Dima Khalidi, Palestine Legal’s founding 
director and cooperating counsel with the Center for Constitutional 
Rights. “The tactics being used across the country to silence one side 
of a debate undermine both First Amendment and democratic principles.”

The report includes dozens of case studies, as well as testimony from 
advocates who have been targeted for their speech. Professor Steven 
Salaita, whose tenured faculty position was terminated by the University 
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign over personal tweets criticizing 
Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, says in the report: “When I got that 
email I was just destroyed. I was crushed. Everything had been arranged 
for our move. Our son...had been enrolled in a daycare in Urbana, on 
campus in fact.... We were left without health insurance.... and so we 
were constantly worried about what would happen if the need for medical 
attention arose.”

“Attacks like the one I experienced are an attempt to place a high price 
on student advocacy for Palestinian freedom,” said Rahim Kurwa, a 
doctoral candidate at UCLA who is quoted in the report. “Even if they 
fail to shut down your activism, they can frighten, intimidate, and wear 
you down. It often feels like anti-Palestinian groups try to make an 
example out of us in order to discourage other students from joining the 
movement.”

The report also outlines a notable increase in federal and state 
legislative efforts to condemn or restrict advocacy for Palestinian 
human rights, including legislation that conflates criticism of Israeli 
policy with antisemitism.

“Whether by suing volunteer food co-op board members for boycotting 
Israeli goods, firing a tenured professor for tweeting about Gaza, or 
punishing students for taking action on behalf of Palestinian rights, 
efforts to silence criticism of Israel's human rights violations are 
widespread and organized,” said Maria LaHood, deputy legal director of 
the Center for Constitutional Rights. “But the U.S. movement for 
Palestinian rights will not be silenced―in fact, it continues to grow 
despite increasing intimidation.”

*Summary of key findings*

  * In 2014, Palestine Legal responded to over 150 incidents of
    censorship, punishment or other burdening of advocacy for
    Palestinian rights. In the first six months of 2015 alone, Palestine
    Legal responded to 140 such incidents. During this 18-month period,
    Palestine Legal received more than 100 requests for legal assistance.
  * The overwhelming majority of these incidents—85 percent—targeted
    students and scholars, a reaction to the increasingly central role
    universities play in the movement for Palestinian rights.
  * Common documented tactics used against advocates for Palestinian
    rights across the country include: false and inflammatory
    accusations of antisemitism and support for terrorism; racial slurs
    and death threats; threats to academic freedom; cancellations of
    events and suspension of student organizations; lawsuits and legal
    threats; legislation; and criminal investigations and prosecutions.

*Recommendations*

The report urges universities to review policies to ensure they protect 
academic freedom and to hear concerns from students targeted by these 
attacks that are in many cases leading to lasting emotional, financial, 
and professional repercussions.

It also urges Congress, state legislatures, and government agencies to 
clearly distinguish between criticism of Israeli policies and 
antisemitism in their definitions, policies and legislation.

Another report on the silencing of speech related to Israel/Palestine 
was released today by Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the fastest-growing 
Jewish membership organizations in America. “/Stifling Dissent: How 
Israel’s Defenders Use False Charges of Anti-Semitism to Limit the 
Debate over Israel on Campus/” documents efforts by Israel advocacy 
organizations to shut down debate over Israeli policies on campuses. You 
can read the full report here <http://stiflingdissent.org>.

-- 
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