Civil Rights Groups Express Concern Over Florida Governor’s Cabinet Meeting in Israel

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Civil Rights Groups Express Concern Over Florida Governor’s Cabinet Meeting in Israel

Palestine Legal joined civil rights and human rights organizations to warn Florida governor Ron DeSantis that his plan to hold a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem violates the law. Florida became the most recent state to pass legislation aimed at silencing advocates for Palestinian rights. In April, the Florida House unanimously passed a bill that would classify criticism of Israeli policies or advocacy for Palestinian human rights as a form of discrimination against Jews in the state’s public schools. DeSantis is expected to sign this bill into law while he is in Israel.

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Court Hears New Oral Arguments in Fordham SJP Case

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Court Hears New Oral Arguments in Fordham SJP Case

Today, attorneys asked a New York State Supreme Court judge to allow a new student petitioner, sophomore Veer Shetty, to join a lawsuit against Fordham University over the school’s refusal to allow a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) club on campus. Fordham opposed Veer joining the lawsuit and has barred students from forming an SJP since the club was approved by the student government in 2016. The original four petitioners who brought the lawsuit in April 2017 have graduated or will graduate in ten days. Judge Nancy Bannon indicated that parties should expect a decision next week.

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Combatting Anti-Jewish And Anti-Muslim Hate

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Combatting Anti-Jewish And Anti-Muslim Hate

We grieve with the community of Poway, California who lost a loved one to hate. We are frightened as the safety of Jewish communities continues to be threatened by white supremacists. Seeing that the Poway synagogue murderer was inspired by the New Zealand mosque attacks and also set fire to the Escondido Mosque nearby painfully reinforces the fact that anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate go hand in hand. We are in this together, and we must defeat all forms of racism together

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Top 10 Quotes from Texas Court Decision Blocking Anti-BDS Law

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Top 10 Quotes from Texas Court Decision Blocking Anti-BDS Law

In a huge boost for the movement for Palestinian rights, a federal judge blocked Texas’ anti-boycott law yesterday, finding it unconstitutional. Judge Pitman’s decision, like those of federal judges in Kansas and Arizona, rightly recognizes the constitutional protections afforded to political boycotts, including those advocating for Palestinian rights, and the unconstitutionality of the anti-boycott law in Texas. Here are 10 gems from his decision:

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Arizona’s amended anti-boycott law still constitutionally flawed

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Arizona’s amended anti-boycott law still constitutionally flawed

Months after a federal court blocked Arizona from enforcing its anti-boycott law saying it was unconstitutional, the state has attempted to revive the law by amending it so that it no longer applies to the man who challenged it. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed SB 1167 amending the state’s 2016 anti-boycott law prohibiting state contractors from supporting boycotts of Israel. This was despite significant opposition to the amendment in the Arizona House, where it passed 37-21 with vigorous debate.

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Rights Groups Urge Court to Overturn Decision on Arkansas Anti-Boycott Law

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Rights Groups Urge Court to Overturn Decision on Arkansas Anti-Boycott Law

The Center for Constitutional Rights, Palestine Legal, and the Law Office of Matthew Strugar filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a lawsuit seeking to strike down an Arkansas law that requires government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel. The lawsuit and the amicus brief in support of it argue that the law violates the First Amendment. The filing situates the Arkansas law as part of a broader effort to suppress speech in support of Palestinian human rights.

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Success: Harvard apologizes for charging security fees for Black-Palestinian solidarity event

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Success: Harvard apologizes for charging security fees for Black-Palestinian solidarity event

Harvard College reversed a discriminatory, eleventh hour decision to charge a student group $300 in security fees for an event on Black-Palestinian solidarity featuring Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Dr. Cornell West and Palestine Legal’s Dima Khalidi, which took place on the evening of Tuesday, April 2. A university official had informed a member of Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) at 5pm the day before the event that the fees were being charged due to concerns that the event was “controversial.”

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