Civil Rights Groups Decry Calls to Censor Palestine Conference at the University of Minnesota

Palestine Legal and the Minnesota National Lawyers Guild wrote the University of Minnesota (UMN) today urging the university to protect this weekend’s National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference. The letter follows a slew of demands from Israel advocates calling on the university to cancel, police, and smear the conference.

“By explicitly targeting a particular viewpoint being expressed―one calling for justice and equality for Palestinians—pro-Israel advocacy groups are asking UMN to target core First Amendment-protected activity,” the civil rights groups wrote.

NSJP’s 9th annual conference, “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation,” is scheduled to take place this weekend at UMN.

The conference brings students together from across the country to exchange skills and attend educational workshops about the history of Palestine, the international solidarity movement to achieve Palestinian liberation, and related social justice movements.

The letter explains how every year Israel advocacy groups pressure universities hosting the NSJP conference to cancel it.

For example, Act.IL – an app partially funded by the Israel government itself – posted an action alert filled with false accusations, telling UMN to condemn the conference. Act.IL mobilizes users globally to follow action alerts called "missions" which users can earn “cool prizes” by completing.

The anti-Palestinian group Students Supporting Israel also called on UMN to “immediately cancel” the conference, threatening the university with an investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Several other right-wing groups also joined the fray.

“The attacks on this conference are part of a coordinated campaign to censor Palestinian human rights defenders across U.S. campuses. Israel advocacy organizations – and Israel itself – are bringing a full court press to intimidate students in the U.S. into silence,” said senior staff attorney Liz Jackson. “The escalated censorship reflects escalated desperation to suppress debate about Israeli policy.”