Winter & Spring Events with Palestine Legal
/Palestine Legal staff have participated in a number of events during winter and spring this year on topics ranging from attacks on Palestine advocates in the US, to free speech and the right to boycott, to Know Your Rights workshops geared towards student activists. See recordings of past events below, and stay tuned to this page for upcoming spring events!
Past Events
Peter Beinart Moderated Discussion on Berkeley Law
Dylan Saba, our staff attorney and Jewish Currents contributing editor, spoke on a Jewish Currents webinar in January regarding the right of Berkeley Law students to boycott Zionist speakers. The discussion was moderated by Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart and featured Ethan Katz, associate professor of history and Jewish studies at Berkeley and co-founder and co-director of Berkeley’s Antisemitism Education Initiative.
“The fact that the discomfort of Zionist students is being elevated in this debate to be on par with the demands of Palestine activists is frankly racist. It is part and parcel of the dehumanization of Palestinians,” Dylan explained during the webinar.
Codepink Webinar: Right to Boycott
Senior staff attorney Meera Shah joined CodePink for a timely webinar on recent anti-BDS legislation and its impact on the Palestine solidarity movement and other justice struggles.
Since 2014, U.S. legislators have introduced over 200 bills targeting boycotts for Palestinian rights—and the volume of these bills have only increased, with a huge wave of legislative attacks in recent months.
The webinar discussed the latest developments with these anti-boycott laws and what they mean. Watch the recording below to explore the impacts these bills are already having on Palestine advocacy work, on other forms of divestment activism, and what we can do in this critical moment.
What's next for the right to boycott in America?
Palestine Legal Director Dima Khalidi joined a webinar hosted by Just Vision, the Institute for Middle East Understanding and Jewish Currents on Thursday, March 2, for a timely conversation on what’s next in the right to boycott, on the heels of the Supreme Court's announcement it will not hear the case of Alan Leveritt, the publisher of the Arkansas Times who petitioned the court to reaffirm the right to boycott.
This event also marked the worldwide online release of the award-winning documentary Boycott by Just Vision.
Speakers:
Alan Leveritt: Publisher of the Arkansas Times
Brian Hauss: Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Mikkel Jordahl: Arizona-based lawyer
Bahia Amawi: Texas-based speech therapist
Dima Khalidi: Founder and Director of Palestine Legal
Lara Friedman: President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace
Suhad Babaa: President & Executive Director of Just Vision and Boycott Producer
Julia Bacha: Creative Director at Just Vision and Boycott Director
2023 NYU RLSC Colloquium - Criminalizing Dissent
Staff attorney Dylan Saba spoke at the 2023 New York University Review of Law and Social Change Colloquium, Criminalizing Dissent: Historical and Contemporary Repression of U.S. Resistance Movements.
This annual colloquium hosted by the NYU Review of Law and Social Change brought together organizers, legal practitioners, and activist scholars to discuss the different ways in which the state and institutions criminalize and suppress U.S. movements of resistance and liberation.
Panels covered topics such as the historical and theoretical foundations of criminalization of dissent, the stifling of activism on college campuses, the reality for contemporary movements on the ground, including racial and climate justice movements, and the resistance and survival of organizers targeted by oppressive systems and institutions.
Watch the full Zoom recording of RLSC Colloquium 2023 - Day 1 featuring staff attorney Dylan Saba here.
National Students for Justice in Palestine 2023 Conference
Our staff attorney Dylan Saba, advocacy manager Lina Assi, and senior staff attorney Zoha Khalili were invited to attend and present at the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference titled “Cultivating the Future: A United Student Movement”.
Palestine Legal helped facilitate Know Your Rights workshops at the conference, where participants shared their experiences with campus activism and repression and we discussed legal and advocacy strategies to fight back.
We are excited for the future of NSJP and the growth of the student movement across the United States. Palestine Legal will continue to support and uplift the work of SJPs rising up to build power across campuses.
Student Know Your Rights Workshops
Our Michael Ratner Justice Fellow Amal Thabateh and our legal intern Werdeh Hassan led a Know Your Rights workshop hosted by the Wayne State University Student Senate and Students for Justice in Palestine, on College Activism on Palestine.
Amal Thabateh also led a Know Your Rights presentation geared towards campus activism hosted by the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers University.
Our KYR workshops guided students through situations they typically encounter when organizing an event or protest or simply expressing support for Palestinian human rights.
If you would like to request a KYR workshop for your campus group, please reach out here.
American Muslims for Palestine in New Jersey’s 2023 conference, Liberating Palestine: The Time is Now
Senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath spoke on the panel “Law & Legislation: Demanding just Policy on Palestine” at the AMP New Jersey 2023 Conference!.
Speakers:
Ayah Ziyadeh, National Advocacy Director at Americans for Justice in Palestine Action
Wassim Kanaan, Advocacy Coordinator, AMP - New Jersey
Radhika Sainath, Senior Staff Attorney at Palestine Legal
and moderator: Neveen Ayesh, Government Relations Coordinator at AMP - Missouri
Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey Benefit Gala
Staff attorney Dylan Saba and Michael Ratner Justice Fellow Amal Thabateh accepted an award from the Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey on behalf of Palestine Legal at their bi-annual Benefit Gala!
We are honored to be the recipients of their 2022 Inspirational Commitment to Palestine Advocacy Award, and thank the entire PACC team for their invaluable work in our movement.