Joint Letter to Universities: Protect Essential Student Activism for Palestinian Human Rights

Joint Letter to Universities: Protect Essential Student Activism for Palestinian Human Rights

On November 3, Palestine Legal and ten other legal organizations committed to racial and social justice sent an letter to the leadership of hundreds of college and university campuses nationwide—urging them to safeguard the civil and human rights of all of their students, protect the crucial role of campus debate within our democracy, and reject the repression of political speech and the policing, surveillance, and criminalization of students speaking out against the mass atrocities Palestinians are suffering and for Palestinian safety and human rights.

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Legal Organizations Put Members of Congress on Notice of Complicity in Genocide

Legal Organizations Put Members of Congress on Notice of Complicity in Genocide

In our letter to all congressional members, we, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild put members of Congress on notice for complicity in genocide. The letter informed congressmembers of potential legal liability for aiding, abetting, inciting, or conspiring to commit genocide through congressional acts, and demanded that they act.

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Our Letter to the Dept. of Education: Address Rise of Anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic Racism

Our Letter to the Dept. of Education: Address Rise of Anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic Racism

On October 31st, Palestine Legal, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the Center for Constitutional Rights have submitted a letter urging the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to take urgent special measures, including providing guidance to universities and schools, to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of people calling for Palestinian freedom. 

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DeSantis’ order to deactivate National SJP in Florida

DeSantis’ order to deactivate National SJP in Florida

On Tuesday, October 24, the chancellor of the State University System of Florida, Ray Rodrigues, released a memorandum directing public universities in Florida to “deactivate” chapters of National Students for Justice in Palestine on their campuses. The memo is filled with erroneous factual and legal claims that seek to distract from, distort and silence the message of student activists across the United States the same way Israeli propaganda has sought to distract public attention from ongoing Israeli war crimes.

This is a blatant attack on students’ First Amendment rights, and it will be challenged in court.

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Hundreds of Legal Community Members Demand Action To Stop Racist and Unlawful Targeting of Palestine Advocates

Hundreds of Legal Community Members Demand Action To Stop Racist and Unlawful Targeting of Palestine Advocates

Palestine Legal and over 600 legal organizations and professionals, including the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, released a new letter urging elected officials and institutional leaders to take urgent measures to address the surging racist attacks and unlawful retaliation against advocates for Palestinian rights. 

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Legal Resources for Activists Advocating for Palestine Across the U.S.

Legal Resources for Activists Advocating for Palestine Across the U.S.

Palestine Legal has received an unprecedented surge in requests for legal support over the past week. Activists and community members have been doxxed, threatened, investigated, censored, questioned, fired, and even assaulted simply because of their views, while government officials appear to be mobilizing law enforcement resources against them for their speech activities.

While we work to respond to these requests, here are resources to prepare for and resist backlash against your activism, including contact information for other organizations responding to this unprecedented backlash.

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Palestine Legal Stands Firmly with the Palestine Movement, Condemns Rising Anti-Palestinian Attacks

Palestine Legal Stands Firmly with the Palestine Movement, Condemns Rising Anti-Palestinian Attacks

Palestine Legal expresses our firm and unequivocal solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination and freedom. The events of the last few days broke the barriers – physical and psychological – of Israel’s inhumane 16-year long siege of over two million Palestinians in Gaza, of 75-years of dispossession, exile and apartheid, of Israel’s invincibility and Palestinian invisibility. 

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