[News] San Francisco State clears students of Israel lobby group's charge

Thu Jul 27 11:17:47 EDT 2017

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/san-francisco-state-clears-students-israel-lobby-groups-charge 

  San Francisco State clears students of Israel lobby group's charge

Charlotte Silver 
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/charlotte-silver> 26 July 2017

------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a five-month investigation, San Francisco State University 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/san-francisco-state-university> has 
cleared <http://palestinelegal.org/news/2017/7/21/sfsu> the organizers 
of a Know Your Rights fair of religious discrimination.

Palestine solidarity and other campus activists had been accused of 
religious discrimination for not giving San Francisco Hillel, a Jewish 
campus group that promotes Israel, a table at the event.

However, the investigation found that organizers of the February 2017 
fair were responsible for “viewpoint discrimination” and “retaliation.”

Students were not told of the “retaliation” charge until just four days 
before the investigation’s decision was due. They were never informed 
that they were being investigated for “viewpoint discrimination.”

Palestine Legal <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestine-legal> 
attorney Liz Jackson <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/liz-jackson> 
told The Electronic Intifada that she believes the findings of the 
investigation were politically motivated.

She said that the result was likely meant to appease pro-Israel groups 
that are behind a lawsuit against the university accusing it of 
discrimination against Jews because of the activities of Palestine 
solidarity activists on campus.

According to Jackson, the accused students were never given any clear 
explanation of what “retaliation” meant and thus were unable to properly 
defend themselves against the charge.

The findings were announced in a letter to involved parties over the 
weekend. The full report has yet to be released.

    Pressure campaign

Hillel’s exclusion from the Know Your Rights fair is a principal claim 
in the recent lawsuit 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/lawyer-who-says-palestinians-dont-exist-sues-san-francisco-university> 
against San Francisco State University (SFSU), filed by The Lawfare 
Project, an Israel lobby group whose director asserts that there is no 
such thing as a Palestinian 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-lawfare-group-plans-massive-punishments-activists>.

The lawsuit accuses the university of fostering a hostile environment 
for Jewish students.

Palestine Legal’s Jackson believes the findings of the investigation 
were an attempt to mollify such groups in the wake of the lawsuit.

Hillel made a “false accusation of anti-Semitism,” Jackson told The 
Electronic Intifada, reiterating that the university cleared organizers 
of religious discrimination.

“But there is a heavy pressure campaign in the courts and in the media 
demanding that SFSU punish the organizers,” Jackson added. “So it’s 
pretty clear that SFSU went searching for a reason.”

Jackson says that the conclusion that the organizers of the fair had 
“retaliated” against Hillel was a “creative but erroneous allegation.”

    Defending vulnerable groups

The Know Your Rights fair had been organized by Muslim, Arab and Latino 
community groups on the campus in response to US President Donald 
Trump’s slate of executive orders targeting immigrants, refugees and 
Muslims.

According to Palestine Legal, the organizers reached out to groups that 
were supporting the targeted communities.

They invited the American Civil Liberties Union, a national organization 
that spearheaded litigation against Trump’s executive order that froze 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/trump-furious-judge-suspends-muslim-ban> 
refugee arrivals and barred entry to people from seven Muslim-majority 
countries.

They did not invite Hillel, but Hillel applied for a table.

“The committee considered Hillel’s record of conduct threatening 
students, and the fact that there were already 25 organizations signed 
up for 22 tables, and decided to decline Hillel’s request,” Palestine 
Legal stated <http://palestinelegal.org/news/2017/7/21/sfsu> in a press 
release.

The university found that Hillel was denied a table when there was still 
room available, according to the letter announcing the investigation’s 
findings. The evidence the university used is not disclosed in the letter.

Jackson contests this finding. She told The Electronic Intifada that 
tables were not assigned on a first-come, first-served basis: “The 
organizers were trying to reserve space for organizations most aligned 
with the mission of the event, they were still trying to bring groups 
that work with transgender people and undocumented immigrants.”

“There are no facts that support the conclusion that retaliation against 
Hillel occurred,” Jackson said.

“Hillel was not invited to table at the event because of its 
demonstrated record of suppression of student rights, including advocacy 
for justice in Palestine,” Saliem Shehadeh, a student organizer who 
represented SFSU’s General Union of Palestine Students on the fair’s 
planning committee, said.

“In [San Francisco] and across the country, Hillel International has 
attacked students and professors with unfounded accusations of terrorism 
and anti-Semitism, and called for law enforcement to scrutinize our 
political speech,” Shehadeh added. “They do this repeatedly, with 
university complicity.”

    Hillel’s history of repressing political speech

In the fall of 2016, Hillel International, the group’s national 
umbrella, helped 
<http://www.jweekly.com/2016/09/16/jewish-groups-commend-u-c-berkeley-for-canceling-student-led-palestine-cou/> 
pressure 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/uc-berkeley-reinstates-palestine-course-tried-change-content> 
the University of California, Berkeley 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/uc-berkeley> to cancel a 
student-led course on Palestine, which was only reinstated after a huge 
public outcry.

In May 2016, the Orange County Hillel chapter falsely accused 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/uc-irvine-clears-students-pro-israel-groups-accusations> 
student protesters at the University of California, Irvine 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/uc-irvine> of physically 
threatening Jewish students on campus – claims that were used in an 
attempt to pressure the Orange County district attorney to open a 
criminal investigation into the students.

No criminal investigation was opened, and a school investigation cleared 
the students of Hillel’s claims.

Shehadeh says that Hillel’s collaboration with law enforcement “directly 
undermines the mission of the fair.”

    Hillel breaking its own rules?

It is also unclear why San Francisco Hillel wanted to participate in an 
event with groups that support the boycott, divestment and sanctions 
(BDS) movement <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds> for Palestinian 
rights.

Hillel International expressly prohibits 
<http://www.hillel.org/jewish/hillel-israel/hillel-israel-guidelines> 
cooperation with individuals or groups who advocate for Palestinian 
rights using BDS.

Hillel chapters have strictly enforced these guidelines. In March, 
Hillel at Ohio State University expelled 
<http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.778508> a Jewish LGBTQ 
student group because it co-sponsored a fundraiser for refugees with 
Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports BDS.

The General Union of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State 
University actively advocates for BDS and was a principal organizer of 
the Know Your Rights fair.

San Francisco Hillel did not respond to a request for comment from The 
Electronic Intifada.

“The irony is painful. Students of color organized a Know Your Rights 
fair because they are trying to protect themselves from being maligned 
and criminalized,” Palestine Legal’s Liz Jackson said. “Hillel then 
wielded false accusations and a legal complaint against the event 
organizers using the same repression tactics that the organizers were 
trying to protect themselves from in the first place.”

Palestine Legal intends to appeal the findings.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20170727/59e36f10/attachment.htm>