UCLA: Right-Wing Attorney's Demands Put Students at Risk
/Issues: Freedom of Association, False Accusations, Doxing
In Fall 2018, students at University of California, Los Angeles and their peers from across the United States and Canada were working together to plan the eighth annual National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) Conference.
Student activists planned the conference as a safe and comfortable space to build connections and share ideas and strategies for working toward freedom and equality for Palestinians. It was a private event, open only to students and recent alumni who had been active in the movement for Palestinian rights.
The conference faced many attacks from politicians and right-wing Israel advocacy groups. These anti-Palestinian groups falsely accused students of antisemitism and links to terrorism and demanded that UCLA shut down the conference, in violation of students’ First Amendment rights.
Swayed by these smear campaigns, UCLA asked students to provide a list of speakers and workshop presenters and ran these names by the FBI, the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, and terrorist lists from the U.S. State Department and U.S. Treasury Department to confirm that the individuals were not a threat.
David Abrams, an anti-Palestinian serial litigant whose Zionist Advocacy Center has ties to the Israeli government, learned that UCLA had the names of the conference presenters and demanded that the university publicly identify them. When UCLA refused, citing privacy concerns, Abrams filed a lawsuit.
Eight of the activists who presented at the conference intervened anonymously to protect themselves and their peers from further backlash and harassment. The activists are represented by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, Palestine Legal, and the Law Office of Matthew Strugar.
More than two years after the conference, a Los Angeles court rejected Abrams demands, ruling that disclosure of the names was not in the public interest and would violate the presenters’ rights to freedom of association, speech and privacy.
History >>
Nov. 2, 2018: UCLA Police Department prepares intelligence report stating: “The FBI was provided with the list of possible speakers due to allegations of their ties to terrorism and terrorist organizations. Several of the speakers have been investigated by the FBI in the past due to their high profile activism and ties to Palestinian groups, but no charges were filed and there are no active investigations.” That same day, UCLA asks student organizers for a list of conference speakers and presenters. Students explain that because of the backlash and harassment NSJP speakers have faced, this information is highly sensitive and should not be publicized. UCLA assures students that this information will be confidential.
Nov. 6, 2018: UCLA receives a letter from David Abrams claiming that NSJP is associated with terrorism and that UCLA could lose its federal funding if it allows the conference to take place.
Nov. 7, 2018: Students send UCLA a list of speakers, reiterating that in past years speakers' names and personal information have been posted on online blacklists like Canary Mission due to their involvement in the conference, explaining that they will not be publishing this list of speakers, and requesting that the list of names not be spread to an extent further than what is necessary.
Nov. 13, 2018: UCLA Police Department prepares an updated security assessment, verifying that none of the speakers nor the groups they are associated with are terrorists or provide support to terrorists by consulting with the FBI, the Joint Regional Intelligence Center and the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center and crosschecking names against the United Nations Security Council Sanctions list, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list and the State Department’s designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations list.
Nov. 14, 2018: UCLA writes to Abrams to assure him that none of the speakers, panelists, or workshop presenters have ties to terrorism.
Nov. 15, 2018: Abrams makes a request for identities of the 65 keynote speakers, panelists, and workshop presenters, all contracts concerning the Students for Justice in Palestine conference being held at UCLA, and all e-mails and other correspondence to and from any Students for Justice in Palestine organization concerning the same conference.
Nov. 16–18, 2018: NSJP holds its eighth annual conference at UCLA, with the largest number of attendees ever.
Nov. 2018 – Aug. 2019: UCLA releases some documents to Abrams on a rolling basis. Abrams asks UCLA to limit his records request to one item: the identities of the 65 keynote speakers, panelists, and workshop presenters at the conference.
Aug. 9, 2019: UCLA informs Abrams that it will not identify the speakers, panelists, and workshop presenters, stating:
"We have been advised, and have confirmed, that speakers and organizers of previous NSJP conferences have been targeted on internet blacklists such as canarymission.org, and have become the objects of threats and harassment. This information is not disclosed by the Conference due to these concerns and any disclosure by UCLA of the names of the keynote speakers, panelists, and workshop presenters at the Conference would create a similar heightened risk of harassment and potential endangerment for these individuals. Under the balancing of public interests, we have concluded that the public interest in protecting against harassment and threats to individual safety outweighs the public interest in disclosure."
Aug. 22, 2019: Abrams files a complaint against UCLA in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
Sept. 8, 2020: Eight of the presenters whose identities Abrams is trying to uncover intervene to urge the court to protect their privacy.
Dec. 25, 2020: Abrams files his argument with the court.
Feb. 5, 2021: UCLA and the Intervenors file their arguments with the court.
March 11, 2021: Judge rules in favor of UCLA and the Intervenors.
Court Documents >>
Learn More >>
Below are resources to learn more about National Students for Justice in Palestine, David Abrams, and the kind of harassment and doxing our clients are trying to avoid:
National Students for Justice in Palestine Website
A Legal Activist Wants to Use the IRS to Punish an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Group (Slate)
Canary Mission blacklists students, faculty for pro-Palestine views (The Michigan Daily)
Canary Mission’s Blacklist Of Pro-Palestine Activists Is Taking A Toll (The Intercept)
Canary Mission: JVP Statement and Resource Guide (Jewish Voice for Peace)
Exposing Canary Mission: A Resource for College and University Leaders (Middle East Studies Association Committee on Academic Freedom)
Student Group Harassed, Defamed and Threatened with Lawsuit Over Conference (Palestine Legal)
The FBI Is Using Unvetted, Right-Wing Blacklists To Question Activists About Their Support For Palestine (The Intercept)
The Real Cancel Culture: Pro-Israel Blacklists (The Intercept)
Who are David Abrams and the Zionist Advocacy Center? (Palestine Legal)