[News] 2018 Year-In-Review: Censorship of Palestine Advocacy in the U.S. Intensifies
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Jan 24 12:38:36 EST 2019
https://palestinelegal.org/2018-report
2018 Year-In-Review: Censorship of Palestine Advocacy in the U.S.
Intensifies
January 24, 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As students planned to gather at UCLA in November 2018 for a conference
on Palestinian rights, they faced unprecedented international efforts to
shut it down.
One city councilmember falsely accused students of engaging in terrorist
plots. The entire council called on the university to censor the
conference. A Zionist group physically assaulted students, while
chanting anti-Arab, anti-Muslim taunts. A congressman wrote to the
university falsely accusing students of antisemitism and demanding that
the conference be cancelled. The university sent students a legal threat
letter claiming that kites are a symbol of violence and demanding that
they alter their logo. An Israeli government-sponsored app directed
people to complain of an unsafe environment on campus.
Despite the international pressure campaign against the conference,
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) held their largest
gathering ever.
The threats against the NSJP conference – and activists’ resilience –
are a microcosm of deepening efforts by Israel advocates to silence the
movement for Palestinian rights in the United States.
Palestine Legal responded to *289 incidents of suppression* of
U.S.-based Palestine advocacy in 2018, on top of the 308 incidents
responded to in 2017. Seventy-six percent targeted students and scholars
at 68 campuses across the country. Additionally, Palestine Legal
responded to 62 legal questions from activists who were concerned their
rights were threatened.
Over five years, from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2018,
Palestine Legal responded to a total of *1,247 incidents of suppression*
targeting speech supportive of Palestinian rights, and an additional 318
requests for legal assistance in anticipation of such incidents. This
data reflects only what was directly reported to Palestine Legal, and
therefore is not an exhaustive account of the suppression.
In 2018, the volume of suppression incidents reported to Palestine Legal
remained steady, while the severity increased. The level of involvement
by government actors grew significantly, as Trump appointees implemented
an anti-Palestinian agenda, as legislatures targeted Palestinian rights
advocacy, and as law enforcement investigated activists. New lawsuits
against people who take a public stand for Palestinian rights and the
continued harassment of students and scholars intensified the chilling
effects of suppression.
Despite this evolving threat, however, the movement for Palestinian
rights in the U.S. continues to gain steam, and a growing number of
people are compelled to speak up for freedom, equality, and justice for
Palestinians. Moreover, courts are confirming that advocacy for
Palestinian rights, including boycotts, are protected First Amendment
activities. Bold new elected officials are standing up against efforts
to undermine our constitutional rights, opening a path for those who
oppose the U.S. government’s unconditional support for Israel.
In blatant disregard of the First Amendment, government actors have
increasingly had a direct hand in censoring Palestine advocacy. This
censorship originates at all levels of government – from Trump-appointee
Kenneth Marcus to FBI agents, administrators at public universities, and
both Democratic and Republican state governors. These actions have also
empowered anti-Palestinian groups, who, unfettered by the First
Amendment, have used the tools provided by the government to further
chill activism.
Trump Administration Redefines Antisemitism
In June 2018, Trump-appointee Kenneth Marcus was confirmed as head of
the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education. Prior
to joining the Trump administration, Marcus crafted a legal strategy of
using civil rights law
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2017/11/29/kenneth-marcus> to target
campus criticism of Israel, including by promoting and filing baseless
complaints with OCR. At the time, OCR investigated and dismissed these
complaints.
Within weeks of taking office, Marcus reopened a previously dismissed
complaint by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) against Rutgers
University over a 2011 event featuring survivors of the Holocaust and
the Nakba. In notifying the ZOA of the reopened investigation, Marcus
adopted a widely criticized re-definition of
<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/548748b1e4b083fc03ebf70e/t/5ad7b16603ce646d1a0d59d9/1524085097669/FAQ+on+Definition+of+Antisemitism+4.18.18+.pdf>antisemitism
that classifies virtually all criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
Marcus’ appointment and his adoption of a hotly contested definition
began to have significant repercussions in 2018. The ZOA and other
pro-Israel groups were quick to capitalize on the redefinition and the
presence of ideological allies in the administration.
*Professor Sanctioned Over Academic Boycott: *In September, University
of Michigan Professor John Cheney-Lippold declined
<https://palestinelegal.org/case-studies/2018/12/7/umich-suppression> to
write a letter of recommendation for a study abroad program in Israel
because he supports the academic boycott for Palestinian rights.
Right-wing pro-Israel groups launched a campaign demanding that he be
disciplined over his political statement. Within days, he received over
500 hate messages, including emails calling for him to be killed. The
ZOA wrote the University of Michigan, demanding that Cheney-Lippold be
sanctioned. In its letter, the ZOA cited the reopened Rutgers
investigation and the re-definition of antisemitism, using the threat of
federal investigation to pressure the university to take action. The
university sanctioned Cheney-Lippold with a loss of his earned
sabbatical for two years and no merit increase for the academic year.
*Federal Complaint Against Student Vigil: *In November, students from
Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine at the
University of California, Berkeley, planned a vigil to jointly mourn the
Jewish worshippers killed in the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in
Pittsburgh and the Palestinian children killed in Israeli air raids in
Gaza. After antisemitism accusations and threats to their safety, the
students decided to cancel the event. Students eventually held a small
private event instead of the shared public experience they had
originally envisioned. Attorneys representing a pro-Israel group on
campus wrote to OCR demanding
<https://jewishjournal.com/news/nation/241882/pro-israel-students-file-complaint-department-education-sjp-vigil-berkeley/>
that the students be expelled because the event created a “false moral
equivalency” by insinuating Israelis are “mass murderers,” which would
be considered antisemitic under OCR’s re-definition.
*Professor Threatens Event Organizer:* In September, a faculty member at
San Jose State University organized a panel discussion
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/san-jose-state-event> about the
suppression of speech critical of Israeli policies. Another professor
emailed her complaining that the event only presented “one viewpoint.”
The professor warned against holding the event unless the department
added pro-Israel perspectives to the panel or in a future event. The
email included a link to an article on the reopened Rutgers
investigation, implying that the school could be investigated by the
Department of Education for “anti-Zionist activities.”
Anti-Palestinian Legislation
By the end of 2018, 26 states had laws on the books intended to suppress
boycotts for Palestinian rights.
*In the U.S. Congress*, four federal measures targeting advocacy for
Palestinian rights were introduced in 2018, all of which failed to
advance despite heavy lobbying by Israel advocacy groups. Most
significantly:
*
The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (ASAA) would have directed the
Department of Education to use the widely discredited “State
Department Definition” of antisemitism when investigating complaints
on campuses. The re-definition is so broad it classifies virtually
all criticism of Israel and Israeli government policies as
antisemitic. As in 2016, the bill failed to advance, but members of
Congress are expected to continue introducing similar legislation.
*
Sponsors of the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (IABA), a bill introduced in
2017 to criminalize certain boycotts of Israel, attempted to insert
the legislation into an end-of-year appropriations bill. These
efforts failed due to widespread opposition
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/amended-unconstitutional-iaba>,
including from senators Bernie Sanders and Dianne Feinstein who
condemned
<https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-feinstein-oppose-inclusion-of-israel-anti-boycott-act-in-appropriations-bill>
the bill as a violation of the First Amendment.
*State lawmakers* introduced at least twelve additional measures in
2018. Executive orders issued by the governors of Louisiana and Kentucky
required state contracts to include pledges not to boycott Israel.
Kentucky’s governor stated that Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahupersonally
<https://wfpl.org/bevin-to-require-state-contractors-promise-they-dont-boycott-israel/%5d>
asked him to issue such an order.
*First Amendment Lawsuits: *Federal judges in *Arizona*
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/victory-federal-court-az-law> and
*Kansas*
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/2/6/federal-judge-issues-injunction-against-kansas-law>
issued preliminary injunctions against anti-boycott laws in those
states, blocking their enforcement. Both judges confirmed that boycotts
for Palestinian rights are protected First Amendment activities and that
requiring state contractors to certify that they do not boycott Israel
is unconstitutional. As the judge in the Kansas case noted, by forcing
its contractors to disavow boycotts for Palestinian rights, Kansas was
forcing them to “accommodate Kansas’s message of support for Israel.”
Kansas amended its law to end the lawsuit. The Arizona law is blocked
pending appeal of the decision to the Ninth Circuit.
In *Texas*
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/new-lawsuits-arkansas-texas>, the ACLU
and the Council on American-Islamic Relations both filed lawsuits on
behalf of individuals who lost contracts or had to forgo payment because
of the Texas anti-boycott law. The ACLU also sued *Arkansas* on behalf
of a newspaper publisher that refused to sign a certification that it
would not boycott Israel.
*Chilling Impact:* While individuals directly affected by anti-boycott
laws have so far been successful in challenging them, the laws have
repeatedly been invoked to chill pro-Palestinian speech more broadly.
For example, an Indiana University student cited state law in claiming
the school must censor
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/12/17/iipac-jamil-dakwar> speakers
who support the movement to boycott for Palestinian rights. In another
case, the Zionist Organization of America called for the investigation
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/zoa-cheryl-davila-berkeley> of a member
of the Berkeley city council who publicly support boycotts for
Palestinian rights. Though California’s law simply requires state
contractors to verify compliance with existing anti-discrimination laws,
the ZOA claimed that the state has a public policy against such boycotts
Lawmakers Censor Constituents Online
At least two lawmakers censored activists on social media over comments
supporting Palestinian rights. Dana Al-Hasan, a student activist in
South Carolina, was blocked
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/south-carolina-unconstitutional-twitter-blocking>
on Twitter by State Representative Alan Clemmons, a staunch supporter of
Israel, after she mentioned him in a tweet criticizing discriminatory
Israeli policies. Clemmons unblocked Al-Hasan after Palestine Legal
wrote to him explaining that he had violated her First Amendment rights.
Law Enforcement Scrutiny of Palestine Activists
In 2018, pro-Palestinian activists contacted Palestine Legal for support
in five different cases after being approached by the FBI. For example,
FBI agents visited the home of a UCLA student in February to ask her
about her activism for Palestinian rights, prompting Palestine Legal to
issue a know your rights advisory
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/4/20/advisory-on-fbi-visits-to-palestine-activists-updated>.
Officers from the Department of Homeland Security showed up to a June
symposium hosted by USA-Palestine Mental Health Network. The event had
earlier faced calls for cancellation and demands for police presence
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/mental-health-palestine-event>. Israel
advocacy groups repeatedly petitioned law enforcement authorities to
prosecute students and community organizations who voice support for
Palestinian rights under criminal codes, for example at Stanford
<https://theisraelgroup.org/20180802/>.
As in previous years, students and scholars continue to be the primary
target for backlash and censorship. Seventy-six percent of the incidents
Palestine Legal responded to in 2018 were campus related. Palestine
Legal responded to 51 administrative complaints against Palestine
activists, double the number from 2017.
*Temple Investigates Marc Lamont Hill Over UN Speech: *At an event at
the United Nations in November, Temple University professor Marc Lamont
Hill spoke about ways in which Israel denies equality to Palestinians
and about parallels with the Black experience in the U.S. He ended his
speech calling for “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.” The
next day he was fired by CNN, where he had been on contract as a
commentator. The chair of Temple’s board announced that he wanted to
fire Hill and that the school would investigate
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/12/7/temples-threatened-investigation>
its options. Two weeks later, Temple released a statement recognizing
that Hill’s speech was protected by the First Amendment.
*Graduate Students Investigated Over Support for Palestine:* A graduate
student <https://palestinelegal.org/news/victory-cuny-clears-student> at
the City University of New York (CUNY) was investigated after making
comments critical of Israel in an email exchange on a departmental
listserve. Palestine Legal wrote to CUNY explaining that the student’s
comments were protected by the First Amendment. After a nearly
three-month investigation, the university cleared the student.
In California, a graduate student was called in for a meeting with the
chair of her department after a classmate falsely accused her of saying
that Zionists are not human. Though the investigation was terminated
within a few days after multiple witnesses confirmed that no such
statement was made, the incident had a significant chilling impact. Most
notably, it prompted the professor to warn the student that she should
self-censor a paper on Palestinian history that would be reviewed by her
classmates.
*Pro-Israel Group Files Complaint Against Columbia Students: *In
February, Students Supporting Israel filed a formal complaint
<https://palestinelegal.org/case-studies/columbia-ssi-complaints>
against students for “delegitimiz[ing]” Israel. The complaint named
Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Columbia
University Apartheid Divest and three Columbia students affiliated with
these groups. It was dismissed in April.
*CCNY Cancels SJP Event: *In April, administrators at the City College
of New York told Students for Justice in Palestine that they
werecancelling
<https://palestinelegal.org/case-studies/ccny-censors-pro-palestinian-talk>
the group’s event featuring Israeli author Miko Peled. At first the
administrator said the problem was the speaker’s “particularly
controversial” views and that the school wanted to avoid negative news
coverage. The same administrator then erroneously claimed that SJP had
not filed the proper paperwork. After Palestine Legal and Center for
Constitutional Rights (CCR) intervened, the school allowed the event to
proceed and apologized to SJP.
As the American public becomes increasingly aware of the Israeli
government’s oppression of Palestinians, supporters of Israel have
resorted to underhanded attempts to stifle debate and democratic
decision making.
*Government-Sponsored App Interferes with On-Campus Debate: *Act.IL, an
app funded in part by the Israeli government
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/meet-spies-injecting-israeli-propaganda-your-news-feed>,
directs users from around the world on “missions” to promote Israel’s
agenda online. During a student senate vote on whether George Washington
University should divest from companies that facilitate Israel’s
violations of international law, the app directed users to promote a
website that threatened to reveal the identities
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israel-promotes-cyberbullying-us-students/24221>
of student senators who had voted by secret ballot over concerns for
their safety. When similar resolutions were being considered by students
at City University of New York
<https://twitter.com/AntiBDSApp/status/992030145799249922> and New York
University <https://twitter.com/AntiBDSApp/status/1069977048968503296>,
the app directed users to sign petitions against the resolution.
*Anonymous Online Harassment: *Revelations in 2018 shed new light on the
growing problem of online harassment against supporters of Palestinian
rights. Footage
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876>
that Electronic Intifada released from a censored Al Jazeera documentary
shows Jacob Baime, the head of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC),
describing their strategy: “With the anti-Israel people, what’s most
effective, what we’ve found at least in the last year, is you do the
opposition research, put up some anonymous website, and then put up
targeted Facebook ads.” In 2018, anonymous websites made false
accusations against numerous activists, including sites that targeted
campus communities such as UCLA and Columbia. The sites were promoted
through paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. ICC has taken credit for
similar “anonymous digital campaigns
<https://www.propublica.org/article/dc-pro-israel-group-ran-facebook-ads-to-target-pro-palestinian-activist>,”
including the site SJP Uncovered
<https://forward.com/news/416569/why-did-jewish-leaders-think-they-should-target-college-kids-to-help/>.
Palestine Legal received several reports of Israeli security
<https://forward.com/news/national/407279/canary-missions-threat-grows-from-us-campuses-to-the-israeli-border/>
officials relying on the blacklisting site Canary Mission during airport
screening as well as reports of employers questioning activists about
the site. As of January 2019, the site had profiles of 1,853 individuals
and 563 professors. Though the site continues to operate anonymously,
there were new revelations in 2018 about the people
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-names-adam-milstein-canary-mission-funder/25356>
and funding
<https://forward.com/news/national/411355/revealed-canary-mission-blacklist-is-secretly-bankrolled-by-major-jewish/>
behind the site, and an increasing recognition, even by supporters of
Israel
<https://www.jta.org/2018/04/23/opinion/jewish-students-blacklist-bds-supporters-hurting-efforts-defend-israel-campus>,
of the site’s damaging tactics.
*“Pollsters” Claim Hamas Supports City Council Resolution:* In April,
the city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, planned to consider a
resolution on boycotting Hewlett-Packard over its role in facilitating
abuses by Israel. Just ahead of the vote, anonymous callers claiming to
be taking a poll reportedly called residents to ask if they would be
more or less likely to support a policy if they knew a recognized
terrorist organization was promoting it, later mentioning Hamas. The
same resolution was also the target of an Act.IL mission
<https://twitter.com/AntiBDSApp/status/986650852008972289>. After the
backlash, the resolution was never brought to a vote.
Anti-Palestinian groups continued to issue legal threats and file
lawsuits to silence the movement for Palestinian rights. In 2018,
Palestine Legal responded to 28 lawsuits or threats of lawsuits or
criminal prosecution.
*Lawsuit Against San Francisco State and Professor Abdulhadi: *In March
and again in October, a federal courtdismissed
<https://palestinelegal.org/case-studies/2017/11/3/years-long-suppression-campaign-sfsu>
a baseless lawsuit that sought to compel the university to restrict the
speech of students and faculty who support Palestinian freedom. After
the complaint was first dismissed in March, the plaintiffs filed a
similar lawsuit in California state court. The plaintiffs also filed an
appeal with the Ninth Circuit.
*Threat Against Tech Company: *In December, Shurat HaDin, an Israeli
government-linked law firm, sent
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/12/21/donorbox-suspends-bds-account>
a threat letter to the donation platform Donorbox claiming that they
would be subject to civil and criminal penalties for providing services
to the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC). The letter claimed
that Donorbox was supporting terrorism by processing donations for the
BNC, a Palestinian coalition that advocates for boycotts, divestment,
and sanctions in order to secure freedom and equality for Palestinians.
The letter prompted Donorbox to suspend the BNC’s account at the height
of the charity-giving season.
*Lawsuits Against City of Durham: *In April, activists in Durham, North
Carolina, successfully campaigned for a statement from the city council
stating that Durham police officers would not engage in training in
Israel. In October, a pro-Israel group filed a lawsuit on behalf of two
volunteer police officers in Israel who alleged
<https://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/article220896635.html> that the
policy discriminates against them. In December, another suit was filed
claiming <https://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/article222748170.html>
that the mayor violated open meeting laws by notifying city council
members via email that he planned to raise the issue the next day.
/Case Study: National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference
at UCLA/
/In November 2018, students from throughout the United States and Canada
gathered on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, for
the eighth annual National Students for Justice in Palestine conference.
In advance of the conference, Israel advocacy organizations mobilized a
widespread campaign to shut it down. /
/These efforts included demands and legal threats from professional
Israel advocacy organizations, a //widely/
<https://twitter.com/penamerican/status/1060638748537434113>///criticized/
<https://www.thefire.org/as-los-angeles-city-council-demands-cancellation-of-students-for-justice-in-palestine-conference-ucla-backs-down-on-spurious-trademark-threat/>/resolution
from the Los Angeles City Council, petitions full of false allegations
of supporting terrorism from pro-Israel students and alumni, a letter
from a member of Congress demanding UCLA take unconstitutional action to
cancel the conference, and aggressive protests before and during the
conference where protestors hurled racists insults and reportedly
physical assaulted three students. During one protest, an LA City
Council member spoke to the crowd, suggesting that student attendees of
the conference were “plotting terrorism.” /
/The university permitted the conference to proceed, but not before
issuing an //unsubstantiated claim of trademark infringement/
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/11/7/ucla-bear-trademark-nsjp>/and
demanding that the conference alter its logo. The university also
required an overwhelming presence of administrators, campus police, and
private security throughout the conference. /
/When the conference went forward, Israel advocates responded by
immediately filing a complaint with the federal government demanding
that UCLA be investigated for engaging in an intentional act of
antisemitism by allowing the conference to take place. /
/Despite efforts to shut it down, the conference was the largest in the
group’s history. /
*Lawsuits Against Airbnb: *In November, Airbnb announced its plan to
stop listing properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Within weeks – before Airbnb even implemented its decision – the company
faced an arbitration claim in New York, a lawsuit
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/airbnb-statement> in a Delaware federal
court, complaint
<https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-18-18/s71818-4699792-176614.pdf>
letters
<https://s22592.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/OAC-airbnb-letter-final-A.pdf>
to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Antiboycott
Compliance, and announcements from lawmakers in Illinois
<https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2018-11-29/illinois-governor-puts-pressure-on-airbnb-west-bank-decision>
and Florida
<https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-ne-airbnb-israel-florida-20181128-story.html>
that they would investigate blacklisting Airbnb under their states’
anti-boycott laws.
*Legal Threat to Barnard College: *In August, the Lawfare Project sent a
letter to Barnard College, threatening the school with criminal
liability for supporting terrorism if it went forward with hosting an
event titled “Breaking Bars: Fighting Incarceration from the US to
Palestine.” The event, which featured speakers from the Palestinian
human rights and prisoner support group Addameer, went on as planned
despite the attempted intimidation.
Activists frequently reported being blocked by Twitter or Facebook or
having content removed because of posts criticizing Israel or supporting
Palestinian human rights. For example, in July, the American-Jewish
group IfNotNow reported
<https://forward.com/fast-forward/406927/facebook-removes-video-of-birthright-walkoff/>
that a video of a student walking out on an Israeli propaganda tour had
been deleted by Facebook without explanation. In December, the online
news outlet Electronic Intifada reported that its Twitter account had
been locked
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/twitter-enforcing-israeli-military-censorship>
after posting a link to an article on clandestine operations of the
Israeli military.
Universities also investigated students over posts on Twitter and Facebook.
*Stanford Student Pressured to Resign: *In July, a Stanford student
faced a barrage of threats
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/8/3/stanford-palestinian-student-forced-to-resign-for-facebook-post-critical-of-zionism>
and calls for the school to fire him from his on-campus job after he
idiomatically used the phrase “physically fight” in a Facebook post
criticizing a discriminatory Israeli law. He was investigated by
Stanford, a lawyer threatened to sue the school, and an Israel advocacy
group filed a baseless criminal complaint with local prosecutors. He
ultimately resigned from his position.
*Texas Student Banned from Class: *In October, a student at the
University of Texas at Austin was banned
<https://twitter.com/sassysamosa/status/1052781914254389248> from class
after posting a tweet referring to a classmate as a Zionist. She was
told her post was antisemitic because the classmate, an outspoken
supporter of Israel, does not self-identify as a Zionist.
Parents and pro-Israel groups launched campaigns against teachers at
several high schools for teaching about Palestine and acknowledging
Palestinian deaths.
*Hearing on History Curriculum*:**High school teachers in Newton,
Massachusetts, who taught their students about the Middle East had to
defend
<https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/11/27/newton-teachers-students-defend-history-curriculum/Esv14PURxJXFaD9MKcl9UI/story.html>
their history curriculum against claims of anti-Israel and pro-Muslim
bias, culminating in a public hearing in November.
*History Teachers Forced Out*: A history teacher at a New York City prep
school faced an investigation
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/riverdale-country-school-bronx-israel-palestine_us_5b732fc2e4b0594c38c5af2a>
in May after he posted an Amnesty International article and the names of
Palestinians who had been killed on the door of his classroom. The
posting sparked a coordinated campaign against the teacher in which he
was falsely accused of bias in the classroom. The campaign also swept up
the head of the history department, who resigned in protest after his
course on Israel and Palestine was canceled.
*Death Threat After Moment of Silence*: In May, the assistant principal
at a New York City public school received a death threat
<https://forward.com/fast-forward/401942/beacon-school-official-threatened-over-gaza-moment-of-silence/>
and a petition from parents accusing the school of supporting terrorism
and violating school regulations after the school held a moment of
silence for Palestinians killed during protests in Gaza.
Throughout the year, activists in the movement for Palestine rights
reported being bombarded online with graphic death threats after their
names were publicized on right-wing pro-Israel websites. Several
students reported being physically assaulted by Zionists on campus. One
reported attack took place at UCLA
<https://medium.com/jewish-socialism/open-letter-to-la-councilmember-koretz-on-his-actions-regarding-students-for-justice-in-palestine-88f13f27c8>
in the days leading up to the National Students for Justice in Palestine
conference and involved a far-right group called Yad Yamin. Members of
the Jewish Defense League, another far-right group designated by the FBI
as terrorist organization, were prominently visible
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/few-turnout-for-columbia-u-rally-to-call-on-admin-to-protect-pro-israel-students/>
at a rally at Columbia University in October, where one attendee called
on pro-Israel students to engage in physical aggression.
The majority of suppression incidents are based on underlying false
accusations of antisemitism and/or support for terrorism. Palestine
Legal responded to 142 incidents where Israel advocates levied false
accusations of antisemitism based solely on speech supportive of
Palestinian rights, making up 51 percent of our caseload. In 93
incidents – 33 percent of our cases – activists were falsely accused of
supporting violence or terrorism based solely on speech supportive of
Palestine.
--
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