2019 Year-in-Review: Movement for Palestinian Rights Thrives Despite Censorship
In the run up to what activists are calling Trump’s “Steal of the Century,” 2019 witnessed growing efforts by the Trump administration, in line with its foreign policy, to silence advocacy for Palestinian freedom.
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Today, Palestine Legal sent a legal letter on behalf of Sociologists for Palestine to urge the American Sociological Association to allow ASA faculty the opportunity to vote on a proposed resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
Carnegie Mellon University's statement is yet another desperate attempt to malign and attack its own students for speaking out in support of Palestinian rights. Palestine Legal, which is representing the student activists, will continue to fiercely defend our client's right to free expression, and we continue to call on CMU to do the right thing and close the investigations against all 10 campus activists.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has opened Title VI investigations into 10 activists, barring 8 of them from campus after they painted pro-Palestinian messages on the university's century-old free speech fence. Today, Palestine Legal sent a legal letter to the CMU President's office demanding the university end its discriminatory treatment of advocates for Palestinian freedom, conform with its own speech policies, and comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights stand in solidarity with organizations, movements, activists and communities in Florida impacted by two so-called anti-terrorism laws that went into effect on July 1, 2026, which represent a new state-level tool of authoritarian political repression.
A federal court has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit by a right-wing Israel lobby organization against the University of California, Berkeley, as part of an anti-Palestinian deal that will infringe on the free speech and academic freedom rights of members of the campus community, blocking efforts by students to have a say in the decision.
New report: Palestine Legal received 300% more legal requests last year than its annual average before 2023, when Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza began.
Three Harvard students who engaged in a demonstration in support of Palestinian freedom and climate justice are likely the first to face punishments from a new university disciplinary body that the Trump administration pressured the university to adopt. Students were protesting a campus event promoting climate sustainability that featured the CEO of a major fossil fuel company and board member of notorious weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, whose weapons are routinely used by the Israeli military to commit war crimes in Gaza and have been used in deadly attacks on residential areas in Iran according to experts.
Several recent legal victories are offering hope for the Palestine movement in the US. In the last few weeks, many US courts have been rightfully ruling in favor of pro-Palestinian protesters, often affirming that they are exercising their First Amendment-protected rights to speak out and take action against Israel’s genocide.
Palestine Legal is deeply appalled by last week's foiled assassination plot against Nerdeen Kiswani, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist and mother who has been a prominent voice and organizer for Palestinian liberation in New York City for over a decade.
We stand in solidarity with Nerdeen, a former Palestine Legal client who was president of City University of New York’s Staten Island campus Student for Justice in Palestine group—and with all activists who speak out for Palestinian freedom.
The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) violated the constitutional rights of authors Jenan Matari and Nora Lester Murad — and the rights of community members who lost the opportunity to hear from the authors — when it cancelled their event at the library in December, Palestine Legal wrote in a letter to the library last week.
Palestine Legal received over 2,000 requests for legal support last year, a 55% increase from 2023, and a 600% increase from 2022. Here is a media roundup of the top 4 stories about the landmark settlement from outlets including DC News Now, Fox 5 DC, Truthout, and The New Arab.
Palestine Legal received over 2,000 requests for legal support last year, a 55% increase from 2023, and a 600% increase from 2022. Here is a media roundup of the top 5 stories citing Palestine Legal’s new report from outlets including The Guardian, Mondoweiss, and American Community Media.
With reports that the incoming Trump administration is plotting a crackdown on pro-Palestine protests, ranging from federal prosecution of campus demonstrators to deporting international student protesters, several media outlets have reached out to Palestine Legal for comment.
Here is a media roundup of the top 7 stories featuring Palestine Legal’s commentary about the Trump administration’s recent repression from outlets including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Hill, Democracy Now!, and Columbia Spectator.
Palestine Legal Director Dima Khalidi argues that universities’ complete surrender to Trump’s threats and ever-harsher crackdowns on the student movement “will not release them from the administration’s crosshairs. (Columbia has learned that lesson 400 million times over).” Schools across America have a choice: Defend their students against Trump or be complicit in his crimes.
With reports that the incoming Trump administration is plotting a crackdown on pro-Palestine protests, ranging from federal prosecution of campus demonstrators to deporting international student protesters, several media outlets have reached out to Palestine Legal for comment.
Here is a media roundup of the top 8 stories about the potential Trump crackdown on the Palestine movement featuring Palestine Legal from outlets including The Guardian, AJ+, The Hill, Mother Jones, Jewish Currents, Drop Site News, and Middle East Eye.
On October 1st, 2024, the federal district court in Maryland ruled in favor of our client, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland, holding that the University must allow students to host a vigil on October 7 intended to mark one year of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Below is a media roundup of the top 7 stories about our lawsuit and the judge’s ruling from mainstream and local outlets including The Hill, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Inside Higher Ed, The Forward, and ABC 7.
The rewriting of policies to restrict protests over Gaza will have dire consequences for campus speech, argues Radhika Sainath, Senior Staff Attorney at Palestine Legal, in an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed.
Palestine Legal director Dima Khalidi appeared on Steve Clemons’ Al Jazeera show The Bottom Line alongside UK journalist British journalist Richard Medhurst, about the increasing attacks on pro-Palestine speech and assembly.
In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Palestine Legal client Aasiyah Wasif and our Michael Ratner Fellow Rifqa Falaneh spoke about the months-long, hostile anti-Palestinian environment at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Since April 2024, Palestine Legal has filed nine federal civil rights complaints against universities for severe anti-Palestinian discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. As a result, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Emory University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Columbia University are now under federal investigation for anti-Palestinian racism. Partners and students have filed complaints against numerous other universities, including Harvard, Rutgers, CUNY, and UCLA.
Palestine Legal and partner organizations are filing complaints to ensure that universities are held accountable for their discriminatory treatment of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and associated students amid protests on campuses against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Here is a select media round-up of the top 8 stories on the ongoing Title VI cases in mainstream and independent outlets including NBC News, The Hill, The Intercept, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, NC Newsline, and the Daily Tar Heel.
U.S. and Israeli groups agree on including pro-Palestinian activism in a new definition of antisemitism. An EU body then posts the redefinition on their website and the US State Department includes it in a report.
Pro-Israel groups try to use federal civil rights law to claim campus advocacy for Palestine is antisemitic, bringing lawsuits against three University of California campuses and Rutgers. All of the lawsuits are dismissed.
After the Department of Education dismisses these lawsuits, pro-Israel groups intensify efforts to redefine antisemitism on the state level, gaining little traction with Congress, state governments, and universities.