ACLU

A pro-Palestine action at the Port of Oakland, California, August 16, 2014. (Alex Chis/CC)

‘A legal shield for the Palestine movement in the U.S.’

Pro-Israel organizations are increasingly using the law to target Palestinian solidarity groups in the United States. Dima Khalidi, head of Palestine Legal, speaks with +972 Magazine about the ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech, and what her organization is doing to fight back.

By Amjad Iraqi October 18, 2017

Palestine solidarity protesters supporting the BDS movement, 2010. (Photo by Stephanie Law/CC, cropped)

ACLU launches first major challenge of anti-BDS legislation

The lawsuit offers the most stark example yet of how anti-BDS legislation threatens Americans’ First Amendment rights. The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that it had filed suit on behalf of a Kansas public school educator who was asked to disavow a boycott of Israel as a condition for payment. The case comes amid growing concerns that…

By Samer Badawi October 11, 2017

A woman carries a sign in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, October 11, 2011 (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

America’s BDS law is an attack on far more than free speech

The world long ago made clear to the Palestinians that violence is not a legitimate path for seeking independence. Now Congress is trying to criminalize one of the few nonviolent tools left. A pair of laws currently making their way through the United States Congress would impose criminal sanctions on Americans who support an economic…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 21, 2017

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Israeli Border police officers corral Palestinians as they wait to cross from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, West Bank, into Jerusalem, July 26, 2013. (Photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Can America avoid falling into the Israel trap?

If Israel can teach American liberals anything, it’s that they cannot afford to rest on their laurels. The case of Israel demonstrates that fear-mongering and tribalism can easily prop up an oppressive and racist regime for decades. It is not uncommon for Israeli authorities to detain, interrogate and deport tourists of Arab or Palestinian descent,…

By Noa Yachot February 9, 2017

Nariman Tamimi, wife of Bassem Tamimi and sister of Rushdi Tamimi, who was killed by the Israeli army a week before this picture was taken, shouts at a border policeman during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, November 23, 2012. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Fighting for the right to protest in a land with no rights

New report by Israeli and international rights groups demand more protection for the right to protest. But even as the report shines a light on the West Bank, how can you protect a right you don’t have? If freedom of expression is the grievance system of democracies, the right to protest and peaceful assembly is…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 9, 2013