We've been working vigorously in the first half of 2014 to defend the American Studies Association (ASA) against legal threats, and to protect the right to boycott. 

As you may know, the ASA passed a historic resolution to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in December 2013. ASA members voted by a two-to-one margin to stand in solidarity with Palestinian academics and students whose academic freedom and basic human rights are denied.  

Legal Threats to ASA

PSLS responded to the lawsuit threat with the Center for Constitutional Rights, warning the boycott proponents not to sue because a discrimination claim against the ASA boycott would be baseless. We stated that, "BDS strategies and this resolution are each grounded in the same anti-discrimination principles as other historical divestment and boycott strategies used to protest repressive state practices, including those employed against the South Africa apartheid regime and racial segregation in the United States."  No lawsuit has been filed.

Legislative Battles and Victories

PSLS also vigorously opposed legislative attempts to sanction boycotts across the United States. Together with the Center for Constitutional Rights, we sent over 8 letters to legislators advising them that advocacy for the academic boycott of Israel - like other boycotts for human rights - is protected speech activity under the First Amendment. A summary of our efforts follows.

Victory in Illinois: A coalition of groups, together with PSLS, halted anti-boycott legislation in the Illinois State Senate. The legislation proposed by State Senator Silverstein in February would have taken away state funding from universities who subsidize faculty or staff membership in academic organization like the ASA that endorse academic boycotts.  Sen. Silverstein also proposed a non-binding resolution that condemned all academic boycotts. PSLS led efforts to oppose this legislation, coordinating a group of civil rights and community organizations, professors and students. With CCR, we sent letters to Illinois legislators explaining our opposition to the legislation. We issued action alerts, promoted call-in days, and prepared to testify in opposition at the state capital. Hundreds of constituents called their state representatives and made their voices heard.  This vigorous and organized opposition resulted in the defeat of both the bill and the resolutionfor this legislative session. Read more here.

Side-tracked in Maryland: In Februar

y, bills to reduce funding to universities that fund membership and activities in organizations supporting boycotts were introduced in the Maryland House and Senate. PSLS joined forces with other groups to fight the bill.  This coalition garnered the support of  Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against South African Apartheid.  The bill was abandoned. Although language was instead introduced into the budget bill condemning boycotts of Israel, it is non-binding and has no legal force. This state budget amendment passed in Maryland's General Assembly. You can read our letter to Maryland legislators here.

Symbolic Resolutions in other states: Resolutions falsely declaring that academic boycotts of Israel are anti-Semitic have passed in South Carolina and Florida; another proposed in Pennsylvania is still pending. These resolutions have no binding power, but serve as symbolic declarations of the legislature's support for Israel. A bill in Kansas has also been introduced but has not moved forward. We focused our limited resources on defeating the most damaging legislation, but we need to build our capacity to defeat even these symbolic legislative gestures, which still have the effect of chilling speech on this important issue. 

Dormant in Congress: In February, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) introduced the bi-partisan bill in direct response to the ASA vote. Ironically dubbed the "Pro

tect Academic Freedom Act," the bill would deny federal funds to academic institutions, or groups within those institutions, that 'participate' in the academic boycott of Israel. At present, the bill sits in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. With CCR, NLG and CAIR, we wrote a letter to the committee condemning the bill as unconstitutional.  It is unlikely to move forward, but we continue to work with a coalition to oppose it.

PSLS has also been working to defend academics targeted by Israel advocacy organizations.  The Amcha Initiative, a group that pressures universities to censor and punish students and faculty that speak out about Palestinian rights, has continued its attacks on California based academics in particular. 

With other groups, PSLS wrote the University of California Regents and the California State University Trustees informing them of Amcha's concerted efforts to stifle academic speech critical of Israel and supportive of Palestinian rights.  The letter described several instances in which Amcha complained to university administrations, legislators and others about student and faculty academic activities, urging them to investigate and discipline such activities.  We urged the universities to recognize the First Amendment rights of students and academics to engage 

Prof. Abdulhadi Photo credit: Palestineconference.org

in such speech without baseless accusations being thrown at them. 

Amcha, along with other organizations, has also been persistent in its attacks on San Francisco State University (SFSU) Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, a faculty member in the race and ethnic studies department.  Amcha falsely accused Prof. Abdulhadi of misusing state funds for a trip to the region, where she met with Palestinians from a wide spectrum of political persuasions.  PSLS has worked with Prof. Abdulhadi to refute these accusations. SFSU President Wong recently confirmed that the accusations had "no merit"

Supporting Community Activists 

PSLS is thrilled to have two new staff members on board!

Radhika Sainath joined the team in January as a PSLS Staff Attorney.  Prior to joining PSLS, Radhika was a civil rights litigator at Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick, LLP, where she represented clients in individual and class action civil and constitutional rights cases involving employment discrimination, human rights abuses, unlawful search and seizure, whistleblowing, and wage and hour violations.

Radhika has been active in U.S. campus and grassroots movements for Palestinian rights for over a decade. She is a former union organizer, and has supported indigenous rights and democracy movements in Bahrain, Mexico, Pakistan, and the Philippines. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and the University of California, San Diego.  Radhika is based in New York and is admitted to the California and New York state bars. 

 

Photo Credit: Maria Amasanti

This episode came after a year of extreme scrutiny and punishment of the group for previous protest activities.  PSLS, along with the ACLU of Massachusetts and the National Lawyers Guild, advocated on behalf of the students, arguing to the administration that SJP students were being selectively targeted and punished because of their support for Palestinian rights. After seven weeks of protests, media attention and community support, the school lifted the group's suspension.

Photo Credit: Columbia SJP

In March, PSLS responded to an incident at Barnard College in which the administration removed an SJP banner advertising Israel Apartheid week, which read "Stand for Justice. Stand for Palestine" with a hand-drawn flag of pre-1948 Palestine.  The administration approved the banner, installed it above Barnard Hall, and subsequently removed the banner overnight after receiving complaints from campus Hillel students.  PSLS worked with our partner, the Center for Constitutional Rights, to write to Barnard President Deborah Spar, stating that the banner removal threatened student speech.  PSLS also advised students as they responded to the incident.  For more on the Barnard case, click here.

Photo Credit: Ali Abunimah

Our work in 2014 has attracted extensive coverage in the media and on popular web sites. The following is a sampling of media coverage of our work:

• Middle East Conflict, US Campus (Inside Higher Ed, June 17, 2014)
• Interview with Liz Jackson on LA City Council Resolution Targeting SJP Speech (Middle East in Focus, KPFK, June 15, 2014)
• 'There is no 'Palestine Exception' to free speech rights': Northeastern overturns Students for Justice in Palestine suspension (Mondoweiss, April 23, 2014)
• Interview with Dima Khalidi (Huffingtonpost.com, April 11, 2014)
• The Struggle for Palestinian Liberation (Mondoweiss, April 8, 2014)
• Pro-Palestinian Students Charge Universities with Censorship (NBC News , March 24, 2014)
• Questions about free speech, anti-Semitism roil debate on academic boycott of Israel (McClatchy DC, March 17, 2014) 
• U.S. Mulls Bill Punishing Israel Boycotts(Al Jazeera, Feb. 19, 2014)
• New York Senate Passes Bill Penalizing Academic Group for Israel Boycott (Al Jazeera American, Jan. 29, 2014)
• Shurat HaDin Criticized for Threatening to sue ASA Over Israel (Jerusalem Post, Jan. 12, 2014)

Photo Credit: Belal Bahader

PSLS attorneys have appeared at events, conferences, and student gatherings around the country.  We have conducted over 15 Know Your Rights workshops with activist groups in the first half of 2014 alone. Here are some of the other events we've been at in the last few months!

• PSLS Staff Attorney Liz Jackson conducted a workshop on Repression of Palestinian Rights Activism at the Friends of Sabeel- North America Conference in March, 2014. 
• In April, 2014, PSLS Staff Attorney Radhika Sainath spoke on a panel on BDS and Academic Freedom at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
• Liz Jackson participated on a panel on the use of Anti-Semitism to repress Palestinian rights work at the 42nd Annual National Association For Ethnic Studies conference in April, 2014.
• Dima Khalidi participated on a panel on Radical Lawyering, Rights and Repression at the Freedom Dreams, Freedom Now conference at University of Illinois at Chicago's Social Justice Institute on May 29. 
• Radhika Sainath represented PSLS on two panels at the Left Forum in New York on June 1.  One panel explored the repression against activism in US Higher Education, and another explored the crackdown against the BDS movement more generally.
• PSLS co-sponsored CCR's June 6 Bertha Justice Institute conference on 50 Years of Radical Lawyering Since Freedom Summer.  The conference program included a panel, Palestine 101 for Social Justice Advocates, with Noura Erekat and PSLS' Radhika Sainath.
• Radhika Sainath presented a panel on Activism on College Campuses with 3 student activists on June 13 at the ADC National Convention.  Read PSLS' letter to ADC about its participation in the conference here.

In May, PSLS Director Dima Khalidi was honored by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) at a gala reception in New York for her work establishing PSLS and advocating on behalf of Palestine human rights activists. Dima was one of three honorees, including the legendary Roger Waters (of the rock band Pink Floyd), an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights, and the Oscar-nominated film "Omar." 

We need your help to continue the vital work of protecting Palestine human rights activists. Please click below to make a donation!

Palestine Solidarity Legal Support (PSLS) engages in coordinated and strategic legal advocacy to protect and advance the constitutional rights of Palestinian human rights activists across the U.S.  We aim to build the power of activists to withstand the concerted assault on free speech and continue advocating for Palestinian human rights.

The Palestine Solidarity Legal Support Team