Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech & the Battle for Palestinian Rights

We’re thrilled to let you know that “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech & the Battle for Palestinian Rights,” the electrifying event that faced fierce right-wing resistance and made international headlines, is now streaming online! The event, which focused on the increasingly vitriolic backlash against pro-Palestinian voices, was held at the UMass-Amherst Fine Arts Center on May 4 in front of a capacity crowd of 1,600 people despite an aggressive political and legal effort by right-wing groups to brand it as anti-Semitic and shut it down. We've launched a new website at NotBackingDownUmass.org featuring the full program, event highlights, and media coverage of the intense blowback the panel generated.

Sut Jhally | Executive Director, Media Education Foundation

BDS will end Israeli apartheid

To the Editor:

Israel is a rogue nation which repeatedly violates international law,  UN resolutions, and the human rights of Palestinians and Bedouins.   This outlaw and criminal  behavior  would not be possible without the  support of the United States and our taxpayer dollars ( $3.8 billion per year).  Since 1967 Israel has demolished 55,000 Palestinian homes - in 1948 Israel demolished 60,000 homes and terrorized  850,000 Palestinians into abandoning their land and homes.  Since 1967 the Israeli army (IDF) has militarily occupied  Gaza and the West Bank, and imposed a brutal blockade on Gaza,  intentionally causing shortages of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies.  This  year peaceful, non-violent  border protests by desperate Palestinians  were met with Israeli army sniper fire that killed over 200 Palestinians  including journalists,  medics, and  disabled demonstrators  in wheelchairs - IDF snipers  severely wounded  more than 20,000 protesters! 

With the relentless, violent and illegal theft of occupied Palestinian lands, homes, and farms  to build apartheid, Jewish only settlements  there are now over 500,000 Jewish settlers occupying over 200 settlements, outposts, and neighborhoods.   Israel has been condemned widely by the international community for it’s brutal ethnic cleansing and creation of an apartheid state where only Jews have full citizenship and rights.  

The non-violent BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions)  movement is attempting to pressure Israel to end it’s military occupation, secure equal rights for all (Jews and Arabs), and to allow Palestinians to return to their  stolen lands.  A boycott ended South African apartheid - hopefully, BDS will end Israeli apartheid. 

Eli Kassirer

New Paltz, NY

Support for UMass Amherst’s Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine

Please fill out this form with your name and/or organization and title to support UMass' Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

https://bit.ly/2PutHZg

Greetings,

We, UMass Amherst Students for Justice in Palestine, are urgently contacting you for support, because of the extreme backlash both in number and nature regarding the upcoming panel event on May 4 titled, “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech, and the Battle for Palestinian Rights.” This past week, 80 nationwide organizations wrote to UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy ordering the university to rescind all support and sponsorship of the event.. They stated that this event violates the university’s academic mission and will encourage violence on campus. 

This is a clear silencing tactic to end a necessary discussion about Palestinian rights and critiques of the Israeli government. The selective outrage is clear when there is no response like this to any other political events UMass holds on campus. UMass and its academic departments regularly sponsor speakers on all sides of the political spectrum, showing that the only “personal political agendas” these 80 organizations take umbrage with are those who are standing up in the face of censorship on the topic of Palestine. This letter describes the event as a “political rally” that will incite violence even though it has been explicitly promoted as a panel discussion on censorship. The reaction to this event is exactly why this event is happening. Anti-Palestinian rhetoric has controlled the conversation for far too long and censorship received by individuals such as the panelists solidifies the need for this event on a diverse campus. Anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-semitism.

On the evening of April 23rd, tickets for the event online were reserved in bulk in an attempt to protest the event and ensure others genuinely interested in the panelists’ messages are unable to attend. We have also received information about individuals preparing to disrupt the event, although we hope this is not true.

Once again, we urge those in support of this event and free speech to share this message widely. Hundreds of tickets will be available at the door at 6:15 pm on evening of the event and unclaimed tickets on the day of the event will be available to students as well. We suggest you come even earlier if you are able. In the face of this intimidation, we hope you come out in support early and wait for your tickets at the door.

Our panelists, Linda Sarsour, Roger Waters, David Zirin and Marc Lamont Hill and moderator, Vijay Prashad are steadfast in their beliefs and refuse to be intimidated and silenced. We stand with them. We urge you to show your support as our University faces severe pressure against this event.

Join the New Paltz Socialists

Since Israel's foundation, the basic rights and freedoms of Palestinians have been under assault. Continued land grabs, the denial of clean water and equal education funding to Palestinians, and the continued bulldozing of Palestinian homes make it clear that Israel is a modern-day apartheid state. The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement attempts to use one of the same strategies (an international boycott and divestment campaign) used to end apartheid in South Africa to end apartheid in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories. Join the New Paltz Socialists for a discussion on what BDS is, and how we can fight for it here in the Hudson Valley.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2247776385541258/

Airbnb coverage in the news

In November, Airbnb released a statement announcing a new policy that would remove listings by Israeli settlers in “disputed regions” of the West Bank, excluding Jerusalem. The decision was immediately challenged by dual Israeli-U.S. citizens who are settlers and whose listings are to be removed. These individuals sued Airbnb in a court in Delaware, alleging discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.

On March 18, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a motion to intervene that case on behalf of two Palestinian individuals, a village, and a municipality. They seek to bring counterclaims against the settlers for war crimes, crimes against humanity, trespass, unjust enrichment, and under the Fair Housing Act for the settlers’ own discriminatory postings. Palestinians from the West Bank are barred from accessing their land, while the settlers are profiting off of it.

Upon filing, CCR released four one-minute videos of our clients, explaining in their own words why they intervened and the lived experience of Palestinians affected by Israel’s illegal occupation and settlement enterprise.

Megadonors favor Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/magazine/battle-over-bds-israel-palestinians-antisemitism.html

"Despite pointed critiques of American support for Israel by representatives like Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Tlaib and Omar, there is little willingness among Democrats to argue publicly for substantially changing longstanding policy toward Israel. In part, some Hill staff members and former White House officials say, this is because of the influence of megadonors: Of the dozens of personal checks greater than $500,000 made out to the largest PAC for Democrats in 2018, the Senate Majority PAC, around three-fourths were written by Jewish donors."

Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine

A year later, still no ruling in Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine case 

Frontlines of Justice readers may remember a case we filed almost two years ago on behalf of students at Fordham University after Fordham overruled the student government's approval of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) club. More than a year ago, the court heard oral arguments over Fordham's attempt to dismiss the case, as well as on an injunction the students requested to order Fordham to allow them to organize the SJP—or they would have graduated by the time the case concluded. Now, that very situation is coming to pass. More than a year after oral argument, we are still awaiting a ruling. Three of the students in the case have graduated, and another will graduate this spring. On Friday, along with our partners at Palestine Legal, we filed a motion to add a sophomore student, Veer Shetty, to the case, lest Fordham be able to continue to violate students' right to organize simply by running out the clock. The fact is, Fordham could do the right thing at any time. It needs no court ruling in order to stop violating students' rights and allow them to form an SJP club at Fordham. Until then, we will continue to litigate the issue.