Palestine Protests: Attempts To Get Palestine Advocates Fired
/This is one of six blogs highlighting themes in activism and backlash in May and June 2021.
Some complaints about messages of support for Palestinian freedom focused on getting workers or students fired from their jobs or expelled from school. Most of these efforts failed, but still caused harm to those impacted, and have a chilling impact on speech in support of Palestinians.
MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AMANDA BUENO (CREDIT: Brooklyn North NYCDOE Borough Office /Twitter)
Middle School Principal Targeted
In May, Brooklyn middle school principal Amanda Bueno was pressured by New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter to apologize for sharing information with teachers and administrators at her school about steps they could take to show solidarity with Palestinians under attack. Pro-Israel groups launched a smear campaign to get Amanda fired from her position, claiming that her message violated the law. Local parents and teachers launched a petition in support of Amanda that collected nearly 1,800 signatures within days.
Farmer Loses Job of Seven Years Over IG Post
Michael, a head farmer at the luxury resort Blackberry Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee, posted a picture of a Palestinian poetry book on his private Instagram account. His caption read, “when will we demand human rights for Palestinians? Please help bring peace to Palestine,” and included the hashtags #endtheoccupation and #endZionism. After management received complaints about his hashtags, Michael was fired from his post of seven years.
Cyberbullying Site Targets Researcher
In May, StopAntisemitism.org launched a campaign against Muayad Shahin, a researcher at Cleveland Clinic. The campaign made false claims against Muayad and implied that he was a threat to Jewish patients. The Cleveland Clinic responded by suspending Muayad for over a week while they investigated claims against him. Muayad was ultimately cleared and reinstated.
Makeup Contract Lost Over a FB Mom’s Group Post
A politically active Facebook moms group in Chicago published a statement condemning Israel’s acts of terror against Palestinians in May. In line with previous statements condemning hate against Black and Asian Americans, the group vowed to remove members with posts sympathetic to violence committed against communities of color, including Palestinians.
Dana Hamed, a Palestinian-American mom and freelance makeup artist who was the sole Palestinian administrator in the group, was falsely accused of blocking Jewish members from the page. Because of the false accusations, a media company where Dana had freelanced announced publicly on Instagram that they would no longer work with her. This came as a shock to Dana, who had never been notified of this decision.
Young Journalist Fired Following Right-Wing Smear Campaign
Days after the Israeli military destroyed the Associated Press (AP) headquarters in Gaza, Stanford College Republicans, joined by Senator Tom Cotton and right-wing provocateur Ben Shapiro, launched a smear campaign against Emily Wilder, a recent Stanford graduate who had just started a job as an AP reporter. The campaign targeted Emily over her participation in Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine as an undergrad. Despite initially assuring Emily that they would not take action against her for her past activism and social media activity, the AP summarily fired Emily in late May, sparking widespread outrage.
Cyberbullying Site Tries to Get Student Expelled
Yasmeen Mashayekh, a Palestinian college student at the University of Southern California (USC), faced calls for expulsion, death threats, and a visit from the FBI after being targeted by StopAntisemitism.org for speaking out for Palestinian rights. USC responded to the smear campaign by quietly removing Mashayekh from a post celebrating women leaders at the engineering school. After Palestine Legal intervened, Yasmeen was added back to the post.
Palestine Legal will continue to monitor, track, and respond to incidents of repression. Contact us if you would like to report on these issues, request legal and advocacy assistance, or document incidents of suppression.
A Significant Uptick in Backlash
As people of conscience around the world reacted to Israel’s intensified military and colonial violence against Palestinians this spring, voices rang out from new corners in support of the Palestinian uprising.
In response, Palestine Legal witnessed a significant uptick in the amount and severity of backlash against Palestine advocates by Israel and its allies in the U.S.
Click through to explore the following themes in activism and backlash we witnessed between May and June 2021:
