[News] US court dismisses lawsuit against several academics over BDS support

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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US
court dismisses lawsuit against several academics over BDS support
QudsN - March 4, 2023

Washington (QNN)- A United States court dismissed on Thursday a lawsuit
targeting academics and rights advocates over their support of the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The Superior Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday granted a
motion to dismiss the lawsuit and further dismissed the 10 counts charged
against the academics on the basis of a DC law aimed at discouraging
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), which are often
used as a means to stifle and censor certain viewpoints by burdening public
advocates with legal fees.

In December 2013, the American Studies Association (ASA) voted on a
resolution honoring Palestinian civil society’s call for a boycott of
Israeli academic institutions. Over 66% of members endorsed the measure.

“We believe that the ASA’s endorsement of a boycott is warranted given U.S.
military and other support for Israel; Israel’s violation of international
law and UN resolutions; the documented impact of the Israeli occupation on
Palestinian scholars and students; the extent to which Israeli institutions
of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human
rights; and the support of such a resolution by many members of the ASA,”
read a statement from the organization’s National Council at the time.

In 2016, the pro-Israel Louis Brandeis Center sued the ASA on behalf of
four members of its members who opposed the resolution. The case was
dismissed in 2019, but the group filed a complaint in the D.C. Superior
Court. That effort was also dismissed, but the D.C. Court of Appeals was
ordered to consider it again after the defendants launched their own appeal.

They claimed that the vote had violated the group’s by-laws and that its
officers had breached their fiduciary duties.

“This ruling should send a clear message to those trying to silence
advocates speaking out against Israel’s human rights abuses: boycotts are
legally protected, and attempts to stifle such advocacy through the misuse
of courts will not be tolerated,” said Center for Constitutional Rights
staff attorney Astha Sharma Pokharel following the dismissal, “These
lawsuits will face strong opposition that will only grow the movement for
justice and freedom in Palestine.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights represented the defendants in the case.

One of the defendants was Dr. Steven Salaita, the Palestinian-American
rights advocate who was unlawfully fired from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign over tweets attacking Israel’s 2014 assault on the
besieged Gaza Strip. The plaintiffs amended their lawsuit to include
Salaita in 2018 despite the fact that he joined the ASA two years after
they held the resolution vote.

“I welcome the judge’s decision to dismiss this long-running lawsuit as a
waste of time and money,” said Salaita in a statement. “I am happy to
finally be freed of this burden and hope that the ruling will deter
pro-Israel outfits with no means of winning a debate beyond harassment and
defamation from trying to impoverish those of us committed to the wellbeing
of the Palestinian people.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights said that the court found that the
“claims primarily arose from advocacy on an issue of public interest and
were not likely to succeed.”

The BDS movement is a non-violent initiative that seeks to challenge
Israel’s occupation and abuses of Palestinian human rights through
economic, cultural, and academic boycotts, similar to the successful
boycott campaigns of apartheid South Africa.
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