UMKR Newsletter 2018 in Review: Part Two - The U.S. Scene: 5.On Campus

UNSTOPPABLE:In many justice movements in modern history, college students have led their societies in taking first steps to support global struggles for liberation, and the movement for Palestinian rights is no exception.

Student bodies and their faculties have been at the forefront of efforts to bring equality and freedom to the Palestinian people. They have faced a barrage of attacks, particularly in the United States, by the Israel Lobby and the government agencies and elected leaders under that Lobby's influence.

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Marcus: The Fox Guarding the Henhouse

Antisemitism Definition Can Restrict Free Speech on Israel

[See our report on the Kenneth Marcus appointment in
"The U.S. Scene: More from the Trump Administration: Alarming Appointment"]

Soon after Kenneth Marcus started work at the Dept. of Education's Civil Rights desk, he confirmed the worst fears of those opposed to his appointment, announcing that the Department, without public input, had adopted a widely discredited definition of anti-Semitism that classifies virtually all criticism of Israel as antisemitic. It should be alarming to all justice and free speech advocates that this definition will be used to investigate alleged instances of bigotry on college campuses.

"It conflates anti-Semitism with any criticism really of Israel and Israel's policy toward Palestinians," said Judith Tucker, a professor at Georgetown University and president of the Middle East Studies Association. "If this kind of reasoning is allowed to move forward, it will have a chilling effect on any open discussion of Israel, of Palestinian rights, of any critical issues in the Middle East region that need to be discussed."

Dima Khaladi, Director of Palestine Legal, has said "Anything that might offend a pro-Israel Jewish student because they deem it to be demonizing Israel can now be considered anti-Semitic and be investigated by the Department of Education and universities can be sanctioned as a result."

REOPENING SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CASE
Then, in September 2018, Kenneth

Marcus reopened an investigation into

alleged anti-Semitism at Rutgers

University, regarding a public event held on

campus in 2011 that focused on the BDS

movement and featured one of its

founders, Omar Barghouti, as a speaker.

Student organizers were accused of

selectively denying entry to the event,

based on whether someone was Jewish

or was perceived as a supporter of

Israel's agenda. Organizers made clear

they had decided at the event to charge

an entry fee when they realized they had

much larger attendance than expected, in order to manage the audience size. The Obama administration closed an extensive investigation in 2014, citing lack of evidence that any discrimination had taken place..

As Rahul Saksena, senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal, said: “You would think that the [Office of Civil Rights] would have their hands full these days, and instead they’re using their limited resources [to reopen a case] that the Education Department spent years investigating, and had been closed.”

READ AND WATCH

Electronic Intifada: Trump administration moves to curb campus criticism of Israel

ANTI-SEMITISM DEFINITION
US State Dept: Defining Anti-Semitism
Palestine Legal: Department of Education

Redefines Antisemitism With No Public Notice
Politico: Trump administration adopts new

definition of anti-Semitism in schools
Mondoweiss: Hundreds of academics call on

State Dept to revise its definition of

anti-Semitism respect criticism
The Forward: Trump Education Dept. Adopts

Controversial New Definition Of Anti-Semitism
Inside Higher Ed: Limiting the Debate
Jezebel:Education Department Move Could Suppress Critiques of Israel

RUTGERS CASE
Washington Post: Feds reopen probe of alleged anti-Semitic incident at Rutgers
NY Times: Education Dept. Reopens Rutgers Case Charging Discrimination
Jewish Voice for Peace: Marcus isn’t investigating anti-Semitism at Rutgers, he’s launching an intimidation campaign
Milford Daily News: Trump's Education Department weighs in on anti-Semitism case

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Canary Mission’s Detestable Methods
Secretive Website’s Backers Exposed

Canary Mission is an anonymous blacklisting website that posts information on the site and in social media about students and faculty who are supportive of Palestinian rights, using intimidation to curtail the growing movement on U.S. campuses. The website posts defamatory attacks against college students and organizations who advocate for Palestinian rights and against faculty who teach, or speak publicly, about Israel/Palestine in a way that is critical of Israeli policy.

Canary Mission has compiled profiles on more than 2300 students, professors and other activists. When it started in 2015, the project said it sought to keep pro-Palestinian student activists from getting work after college. Since then the damage it does has grown considerably. Not only have students targeted by the website been questioned by current and prospective employers and schools about their support for Palestinian rights, some have been put on leave and denied bank accounts, and some have received death threats.

News sources have reported that the website is being used as an intelligence source by Israeli officials and U.S. law enforcement, leading to harassment in the U.S. and denial of entry to Israel/Palestine, thereby keeping Jewish and Palestinian students from visiting family members. Individuals acting on behalf of Canary Mission have also engaged in direct intimidation methods on campus, such as actions reported at George Washington U. when a divestment resolution was under consideration.

The website claims that “every individual and organization has been carefully researched and sourced.” On the contrary, the website's profiles have abundant errors and misrepresentations about the students and faculty it defames. The website also states, “If you’re a racist, the world should know,” erroneously equating opposition to Israeli policies to bigotry against Jews. Combine that with inferences that these profiled individuals are guilty of terrorism and/or hatred of the United States and, given the current political climate in the U.S., Canary Mission may be putting their victims in serious danger. Many have reported receiving death threats after being profiled by Canary Mission.

Even among staunch Zionist supporters, Canary Mission has been controversial. The American Jewish Congress has condemned the website, and although the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) began by supporting it, they later dubbed it “Islamophobic and racist.”

Part of Canary Mission’s power has been the anonymity

of those responsible for this detestable bullying and

blacklisting. Several revelations in 2018 have begun to

uncover the people and money behind The Canary Mission.

Reports by the Electronic Intifada and The Grayzone project,

as well as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, have provided

information about the owner of the website and organizations

that provide data and funding.

After The Helen Diller Family Foundation was revealed

as one of the funders of the Canary Mission, the

foundation said it would not be renewing that grant,

but it did not condemn the blacklisting activity or

apologize for funding it. That foundation is overseen

by one of the largest Jewish nonprofits in the U.S.,

the Jewish Federation of San Francisco, whose board

includes prominent persons associated with the

University of California and Bank of America.

Adam Milstein (left photo), a California-based Israeli-American

hedge fund director who is among the top funders of the

Israel on Campus Coalition, is named in the documentary

The Lobby–USA as a funder of the Canary Mission.

The money trail to Canary Mission leads through Megamot Shalom,

a virtually unknown low-profile organization in Israel. Funds were

transferred through the New York-based Central Fund of Israel,

an organization that transfers tens of millions of dollars a year to

various organizations in Israel, many connected to right-wing groups

and Jewish settlements.
Journalists also have uncovered the identity of the legal owner of the

Canary Mission website, a wealthy attorney named

Howard David Sterling (right photo), who is an avid supporter of Israel.

These revelations may not serve to shut down the Canary Mission, but they at least have shamed some of the individuals responsible for this detestable blacklisting and defamation. Socially prominent leaders and previously reputable nonprofits should not be allowed to engage in these activities with impunity and now will share in some of the discomfort done to the students and faculty they have targeted. Perhaps eventually they will be held accountable for the reprehensible Canary Mission attacks on human rights activists

Some activists and academics are fighting back. In April 2018, the website

Against Canary Mission was launched, "to celebrate the people and groups

that are promoting justice for Palestinians on college campuses in

North America." The website is dedicated to representing in truthful detail

the lives of activists in support of Palestinian liberation, and to narrating

accurately the conditions of Israel’s Occupation.

The student senate of UC Davis stood against Canary Mission in June,

adopting a resolution - the first of its kind in the US - says that Canary Mission

and similar sites “threaten the security of student activists, as well as create a

toxic atmosphere of fear and paranoia among fellow students, thus infringing

upon students’ ability to freely express their opinions.”

READ MORE

CANARY MISSION
The Forward: A New Wave Of Hardline Anti-BDS Tactics Are Targeting Students, And No One Knows Who’s Behind It
The Forward: Canary Mission’s Threat Grows, From U.S. Campuses To The Israeli Border
Mondoweiss: Silencing pro-Palestinian professors – Israel’s academic army
Middle East Studies Association of North America: Exposing Canary Mission
The Intercept: The FBI Is Using Unvetted, Right-Wing Blacklists to Question Activists
Haaretz: Official Documents Prove: Israel Bans Young Americans Based on Canary Mission
Jewish Voice for Peace: Canary Mission: JVP Statement and Resource Guide
Electronic Intifada: UC Davis Students Fight Back Against Canary Mission

THOSE BEHIND CANARY MISSION
Palestine Legal: Canary Mission’s Veil of Anonymity Pierced
The Gray Zone Project: Who’s Behind Canary Mission’s Anonymous

Anti-Palestinian Blacklisting Website?
Haaretz: The Jerusalem Jews Behind the Israeli Conduit Funneling

Money to Canary Mission
The Forward: Canary Mission Blacklist Is Secretly Bankrolled By

Major Jewish Federation
The Forward: Canary Mission Dumped By Diller Foundation

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Fordham Bans SJP Chapter
Freedom of speech for Palestinian rights activists has become a major issue and

a court battle at Fordham University in New York. In 2016, the Dean of Students

refused to allow Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to form a chapter at

that campus, vetoing the unanimous approval vote of the student government.

That refusal denies these justice activists access to services and privileges on

campus that other groups enjoy.

So, in 2017, SJP filed a lawsuit to compel Fordham to approve SJP for official

club status. As that court continued through 2017 and 2018, the students

involved have not been idle. This year, They took the creative action of becoming

a Study Group at Fordham and have been holding events with discussion of

written works as well as films on Palestine.

As Gunar Olsen, one of the founders of this would-be SJP chapter, observed

in her blog: “several other universities in the tri-state area—Columbia, NYU,

John Jay, Brooklyn College, Hunter, Pace, Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale—and

many other Jesuit universities—Georgetown, Boston College, Loyola Chicago,

and Marquette—have SJP chapters, among the 200 in the US advocating on

college campuses for the basic rights of Palestinians.

She also aptly observes this obstruction at Fordham is a good example

of the ““Palestine exception to free speech,” a disproportionate effort

across American institutions to stifle and punish advocacy for Palestinian

rights. State governments; officials at museums, community centers, and

non-profits; and university administrations in particular regularly capitulate

to pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists and suppress the free speech rights of

pro-Palestine activists.”

[See the resource on the right of this page: "Palestine Exception to

Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US"]

Having changed their arguments against the SJP chapter several times,

the university now has an astonishing offer - create the club but don't

call it Students for Justice in Palestine! Since SJP is a powerful nationwide

movement with an equally powerful brand - the very thing Fordham fears

apparently - the students are not accepting that offer. They are part of SJP

and they demand the freedom to be identified as such.

READ MORE
Algemeiner: Legal Battle Continues Over Fordham University Decision

to Ban 'Students for Justice in Palestine'
Democracy Now: Fordham Students Sue over Free Speech Rights to

Establish Students for Justice in Palestine Group
The Intercept: Students Await Judgment in Suit Over Fordham University

Banning of Pro-Palestine Club
Fordham Observer: SJP Lives On as Study Group
Gunar Olsen, Co-Founder of Fordham SJP: Fordham’s Arbitrary and

Capricious War on Students for Justice in Palestine
The College Fix: University says students can start pro-Palestinian club –

if it’s not called ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’

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Battle for SJP conference at UCLA
University, Zionist groups, and elected leaders use smears

and legal intimidation to suppress support for Palestinian Rights

Scheduled to be held in November 2018 on the UCLA campus, the national conference for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) came under extraordinary pressure for cancellation from diverse and powerful opponents.

UCLA threatened the organizers with cancellation of the event

in a “cease and desist” letter, claiming that their use of a generic

bear image in the conference logo constituted a trademark violation

of UCLA’s Bruin Bear. The school’s letter included the extraordinary

claim that Palestinian symbols in the logo – Palestinian flag in the

form of a kite and the keffiyeh that the bear is wearing – convey “an

intention to endorse violence against Israel.” One look at that

logo makes clear there is no incitement to violence in it. Only deeply

racist thinking about the Palestinian people and their struggle for

liberation could interpret those symbols as conveying violence.

UCLA administrators and attorneys must have been listening to the

worst possible sources to have cited such a view in their letter.

The ACLU in Southern California and Palestine Legal strongly

refuted UCLA’s claims, and the university eventually had to

‘cease and desist’ their own racist and unsubstantiated actions and

allow the conference to proceed. But not without extreme pressures

from Israel Lobby organizations as well as local political powers.

Some public statements opposed the SJP event on the basis of the then-recent deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, smearing SJP with unsubstantiated anti-Semitic motives. One such group is the misnamed ADL (Anti-Defamation League) which regularly defames activists for Palestinian rights by equating their opposition to Israeli policies and the Zionist ideology that pervades such oppression of Palestinians to the bigotry of anti-Semitism. About the SJP conference, they wrote: “We continue to call upon the UCLA administration to strongly condemn the divisive and hateful rhetoric and the aggressive tactics attributed to SJP.”

The Los Angeles City Council inserted themselves into the fray by adopting a motion, with the “concurrence” of Mayor Eric Garcetti, that condemned the conference and SJP. Spearheaded by city councilor Paul Koretz, the misinformed and offensive motion alleged that the conference “undoubtedly would promote anti-Semitism” and that Jewish students on campus would face discrimination. As Nora Barrows-Friedman observed in an Electronic Intifada article: “Both claims are well-worn tropes used by Israel lobby groups to distract from criticism of Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.”

SUPPORT FOR SJP AND THE CONFERENCE
In response to these attacks, nearly 200 UCLA students and faculty signed a letter calling on the university “to refrain from interfering against the planned NSJP conference.”

Black for Palestine issued a public statement that included:
“Black for Palestine has learned that members of UCLA’s Afrikan Student Union were added to a Zionist blacklist website in retaliation for their pro-Palestinian organizing on campus. The Afrikan Student Union at UCLA has long been an ally in the struggle for Palestinian rights…. SJP has in turn supported the ASU in its mobilizations for the Black campus community.”
….
“We offer our wholehearted support to National SJP, and to all Black students who have taken a principled stance in supporting our shared struggle in Palestine. These smears are a clear attempt to redirect attention away from Israel’s human rights abuses and occupation of Palestinian territory. Israel is not only an enemy of Palestinian liberation but of peoples’ liberation struggles everywhere.”

The ADC (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) issued a statement condemning UCLA’s characterization of the conference logo: “ADC knows all too well that our community struggles to dismantle the harmful stereotypes of Arabs in the media. By giving any sort of validation to the accusation that SJP’s logo of a bear flying a kite is violent, UCLA plays right into that stereotype and sets a dangerous precedent.

The Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, including 46 rabbis from across the U.S., published an excellent statement of support for SJP and the national conference, stating in part:

"We want to express our strong support for the young people organizing the
upcoming National Students for Justice in Palestine conference at UCLA.
We applaud these students for organizing this conference because we believe
strongly in students engaging in their world and working for justice, which
includes justice for Palestinians. Students for Justice in Palestine has not only
been an important space for students to speak up for the rights of Palestinians,
it has also been a crucial space for students to learn about antisemitism."
….
"Speaking up for the rights of Palestinians has strong support within Jewish
tradition. The Torah teaches the importance of pursuing peace, working for
fairness, and protecting the rights of all people. Our communities were deeply
affected by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last week that killed 11 Jews.
We learn from this the importance of fighting white supremacy and building
strong connections with our Muslim and immigrant neighbors.
"We resent that members of the Jewish community are using this devastating
and deadly expression of antisemitism as a way to target young people who are
working for justice in Palestine by calling them antisemitic. False charges of
antisemitism are a means of shutting down important and vibrant dialogue and
a way to suppress the voices of minority students. Universities like UCLA should
be places where free and open inquiry is encouraged. Students should learn to
think critically and be able to grapple with challenging ideas."

The Greater Los Angeles office of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemned “the outrageous and discriminatory attempts by the Los Angeles City Council and others to cancel the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) Conference” and “the UCLA administration’s hostile treatment of the campus and national chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.”

CAIR-LA went to say: “UCLA’s irresponsible cease and desist letter, and the discriminatory conclusions outlined in it, have a direct bearing on the hostility of the environment created for Muslim and Arab students on UCLA’s campus. Indeed, the targeted individuals of such an environment almost always end up being those individuals that are identified as Muslim or Middle Eastern — an
already vulnerable student community in the current Islamophobic political climate.”

UCLA CHANCELLOR’S OFFENSIVE OP-ED
University Chancellor Gene Block (photo) decided that he must allow the conference to go on, citing the university’s commitment to free speech in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. Chancellor Block’s editorial – ostensibly written to explain his reasons for permitting the event to go forward – primarily served as an attempt to appease those pressuring him to stop the event and included a not-very-subtle and reprehensible attack on these students that needed their school's support.

Block shamefully used the power of his office and the opportunity to reach thousands of LA Times readers to amplify the all-too-familiar demonization of activists for Palestinian rights. Any reader unfamiliar with the issues or with SJP would come away with the worst possible view of this justice-oriented student movement.Foregoing even the appearance of objectivity or fairness, Block did not manage to include a single positive statement from the many that had been published, praising SJP’s work for human rights. Instead, he parroted Israeli apologists’ oft-heard objections to the growing, global condemnation of Israeli oppression:

“Much of what will be said at that conference may be deeply objectionable — even personally hurtful — to those who believe that a complex conflict is being reduced to a one-sided caricature, or see a double standard that demonizes the world’s only Jewish state while other countries receive less condemnation for dreadful behavior. Indeed, there is fear among some that the conference will be infused with anti-Semitic rhetoric.

"There is no easy way to resolve that discomfort. It remains an awkward reality that our constitutional system, and democracy’s commitment to open debate, demand that Americans allow speech we may oppose and even defend the rights of those who might not defend ours.”

Note that the Chancellor does not say that he believes the conference “will be infused with anti-Semitic rhetoric.” He disingenuously maligns SJP with that accusation of racism by assigning it to anonymous parties.

CONFERENCE SUCCESS
“We had a particularly intense series of backlash and events that made it

clear to us that not just university administrators, but elected official

representatives that are supposed to represent their constituents, are

spreading very dangerous, Islamophobic, anti-Arab tropes about what SJP is,”

Ayesha Khan of National Students for Justice in Palestine (photo) said in an

Electronic Intifada podcast.

She added: “it’s so clear that [the Israel lobby] is genuinely afraid that we can

do something – that we can actually have some sort of momentum and shift

the tide in the United States at least in support of Palestine.”

If the outcome of this battle for free speech and human rights activism is any indication, the prospects for these students accomplishing that tide-shifting are good. The hugely successful student conference brought together more than 550 participants from across the U.S. and beyond, the largest student conference for Palestinian rights thus far, according to National SJP.

Given the courage, strength and unity displayed by these students and their partner movements in the face of defamation and attempted repression, it seems the hopefully titled editorial by Middle East Studies professor Maha Nassar will be proven true: "demonizing SJP actually strengthens the Palestine cause on campuses."

READ MORE

NEWS & COMMENTARY; OPPOSITION TO SJP
National SJP: The 2018 Conference
NBC News: Bear fight: Student group claims UCLA trademark complaint

is effort to stifle speech
Electronic Intifada: LA’s Israel lobby fails to ban conference on

Palestinian rights
Haaretz: Largest Ever pro-Palestinian Student Conference Held at UCLA
The Daily Bruin, UCLA: National SJP conference goes on despite

on-campus protest
National Students for Justice in Palestine Rejects Attempts to Chill

Free Speech and Reaffirms Commitment to Palestinian Freedom
Mondoweiss: Why demonizing SJP actually strengthens the Palestine

cause on campuses
Anti-Defamation League: ADL Statement Regarding SJP 2018 National Conference Being Held At UCLA
LA Times, by Chancellor Gene Block: The controversial Students for Justice in Palestine
conference will go on at UCLA. Here's why
LA Times: Letters regarding Block’s Op-Ed: UCLA will host a Students for Justice in Palestine conference. Few are pleased with its reasoning

SUPPORT FOR SJP
Palestine Legal: UCLA Falsely Claims Bear Used by Palestinian Rights Group is Trademark Violation

SJP National: Legal Letter from Palestine Legal and ACLU in Response to UCLA
Google Docs: Concerned students & faculty letter on allegations of anti-Semitism against NSJP
Jewish Voice for Peace: JVP Rabbinical Council Supports Students for Justice in Palestine
Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee: ADC Confronts UCLA’s Discriminatory Treatment of Students for Justice in Palestine
Black for Palestine: In support of Students for Justice in Palestine and Black UCLA students
CAIR-LA Decries Discriminatory Treatment of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA
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Universities Must Protect Free Speech
In April 2018, fourteen national civil rights and social justice groups wrote to 280 U.S. universities this week to demand that they take forceful action to protect free speech in response to targeted harassment by right-wing Israel advocacy groups.Citing and attaching an alarming 2017 report from Palestine Legal that documents hundreds of cases of suppression of Palestine advocacy on campuses, the letter describes the climate of suppression targeting students and faculty who are vocal supporters of Palestinian rights.

These groups ask administrators to stand resolutely against attacks on students

and faculty advocating for human rights, including by issuing a public condemnation

of defamatory blacklisting tactics, reaffirming students’ free speech rights to advocate

for Palestinian freedom, and other proactive measures. Their letter states: “Allowing

outside actors to chill campus speech undermines the very purpose of our

universities: to encourage critical thought, free from the constraints of political

orthodoxies. You have an essential role to prevent the erosion of free speech in our

universities.”

As Palestine Legal reports: “At a time of heightened attacks on communities of

color, supporters of Palestinian rights are especially susceptible targets of the

Trump administration’s anti-Muslim, anti-civil rights, anti-immigrant and

anti-free speech agenda.”
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READ MORE

Palestine Legal:Rights Groups Tell Universities Across the U.S. to Stand Up For Students and Faculty Under Attack

The Letterfrom 14 Organizations to 280 Universities
Palestine Legal:Year-In-Review: 308 Suppression Incidents in 2017

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LAWFARE: Weaponizing Litigation
After three attempts, pro-Israel lawfare strategists have failed to silence a

Palestinian American professor at San Francisco State University (SFSU).

In October 2018, a federal judge dismissed the frivolous lawsuit -

“with prejudice” which means it can’t be filed again – against professor

Rabab Abdulhadi (photo, second from right) and SFSU over her Palestine

research and criticisms of Israel. Plaintiffs claimed that Abdulhadi and her

employer had fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus

due to the growing support for Palestinian rights. The original lawsuit was

dismissed in 2017 and then refiled twice by lawyers from The Lawfare Project,

a non-profit organization that describes itself as "the legal arm of the

pro-Israel community."

SFSU also had to deal twice with a claim by the campus chapter of Hillel – a worldwide Jewish student organization – that the group was denied a table at a Know Your Rights fair at SFSU because of their religion. The University investigated and twice rejected Hillels claim for lack of evidence of any religious discrimination. Nevertheless that claim was included in the lawsuit brought by The Lawfare Project against SFSU and Prof. Abdulhadi.

This relentless targeting of the professor and the school was a prime example of the nation-wide bullying campaign known as “lawfare” which aims to intimidate and censor professors and students who advocate for Palestinian rights. This disgraceful legal strategy to stifle free speech on U.S. campuses was pioneered by Kenneth Marcus, who is now the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Dept of Education.

[See our report on Marcus' appointment in "The U.S. Scene: More from the Trump Administration."
Also Marcus-related: the report at the top of this page :"The Fox Guarding the Henhouse"]
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READ MORE

The Lawsuit

Electronic Intifada: Lawyer who says Palestinians

don’t exist sues San Francisco university
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC):

Civil Rights Lawsuit against SF State

alleges Anti-Semitism
Palestine Legal: Prominent Jewish Studies Scholars

Ask Court to Dismiss Case Against SFSU and

Prof. Abdulhadi
Palestine Legal: Abdulhadi Moves to Dismiss

Lawfare Lawsuit
Electronic Intifada: Victory for San Francisco State professor over pro-Israel lawfare suit

The Hillel Claim
Palestine Legal: SFSU Finds No Religious Discrimination, Hillel Claim "Unsubstantiated"
Palestine Legal: Appeals Office Rejects Hillel's Claims of Religious, Viewpoint Discrimination
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The Academic Boycott & Study Abroad

Programs offering study opportunities in Israel became major news in 2018, due to faculty actions at two campuses, Pitzer College in Claremont, California and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

But before either of those actions happened, in a campaign launched on Palestinian Land Day, March 30th, the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) called for the boycott of study abroad programs in Israel, beginning in Fall 2018. “To enroll in a study abroad program at an Israeli institution means ignoring if not perpetuating the ongoing violation of the academic–and, indeed, human–freedoms of Palestinians. So we call on all students, faculty, and staff of conscience to refuse participation in such programs and reject complicity with occupation, colonization, and apartheid,” USACBI’s pledge form reads. The USACBI statement adds: “Study abroad programs in Israel also potentially violate the rights of U.S. faculty and students and our campuses’ non-discrimination and equal opportunity policies.”

In September 2018, University of Michigan Professor, John Cheney-Lippold (photo), rescinded his offer to write a letter of recommendation for a student wishing to study abroad, because the country in question was Israel. He is a professor of digital and American culture and a member of the American Studies Association, which voted back in 2013 to support the academic boycott. He wrote to the student that “many university departments have pledged an academic boycott against Israel in support of Palestinians living in Palestine. This boycott includes writing letters of recommendation for students planning to study there.” Cheney-Lippold has protected tenure, but he was been denounced by the university for his stand and punished with the loss of his earned sabbatical for two years and no merit pay raise for the academic year. He also has received multiple death threats, while over 1000 people signed a petition of support for him. Not long after Cheney-Lippold’s action, another professor at U Michigan also declined to write such a recommendation for study in Israel.

In November, faculty at Pitzer College in California voted to suspend study abroad programs in Israel, saying that the programs should cease “until theIsraeli state ends its restrictions on entry to Israel based on ancestry and/or political speech” and until Israel “adopts policies granting visas for exchanges to Palestinian universities on a fully equal basis as it does to Israeli universities.”
The faculty also rejected the action of the college's trustees to nullify a 2017 resolution the the student senate had passed that supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.
_____________________________________________________________

READ MORE

BOYCOTTING STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS
Mondoweiss: Want to study abroad? Don’t pick Israel, says campaign for Palestinian rights
Palestine Legal: Faculty Advisory: Letters of Recommendation for Israeli Universities

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Washington Post: A Michigan professor supported a student’s study-abroad application — until he realized Israel was her destination

Michigan Review: Citing Security of Tenure, U-M Professor Refuses to Write Letters of Recommendation for Study Abroad in Israel

Detroit News: UM disciplines prof over Israel letter controversy
Palestine Legal: University of Michigan Unconstitutionally Punishes Professor Over Boycott
See the many sources compiled by Palestine Legal: Statements and Letters of Support,
Petitions and Action Alerts, and Media coverage of this story
Electronic Intifada: Listen: Michigan professor punished for supporting boycott
Electronic Intifada: Michigan professor stands firm despite Israel lobby attacks
Change.org Petition: Defend Lucy Peterson & John Cheney-Lippold

- Support Academic Freedom & Right to Boycott

PITZER COLLEGE
LA Times: Pitzer College faculty moves to suspend Israel program in support of

Palestinian rights

Inside Higher Ed: Faculty Vote to End Israel Study Abroad
Electronic Intifada: California faculty vote to suspend Israel study abroad

program
Mondoweiss: To the Pitzer College President: Palestinians are beyond fed up

with American inaction

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ABOUT OUR NEWS SOURCES
The articles we include in our lists to 'Read More' – in our newsletters and on our website – are provided as an informational service for our readers, and the views expressed may or may not be shared by UMKR.
Some selections may be repetitive;because some periodicals have paywalls, we provide a variety of sources in the hope that every reader will find some of them accessible, with or without a subscription.

for our work to continue.

Download 2018 Review: Part One –

UMKR & Partners News in 2018

Download 2018 Review: Part Two –

The Big Stories of 2018
________________________
Read these sections of
Part Two on our website:
• The Top Stories
• People in the Spotlight
• Events IN Israel/Palestine
• U.S. Scene: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism
• U.S. Scene: More from Trump Admin
• U.S. Scene: On Campus
• U.S. Scene: Legislation- State, Federal
• U.S. Scene: Changes on the Horizon
• Around the World
• Successes: BDS & More
• Last, But Not Least
• For Information Junkies

MORE SUCCESS ON CAMPUS
There were many victories by Palestine advocates on campuses in 2018! Across the U.S. and in several other countries, students and faculty denounced Israeli apartheid, called for their institutions to divest from companies complicit in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, enacted their own campus boycott policies, and pledged to support the academic boycott of Israel. Thirteen success stories on campuses:

Leeds Is First University in the United Kingdom to Divest
Trinity College BDS Referendum Wins by Large Majority
University of Pisa Students Denounce Israeli Apartheid, Support Academic Boycott
Canada’s Largest Student Federation Supports BDS
Sydney Faculty Pledges Support for Academic Boycott
Pitzer Faculty Suspend Study Abroad in Israel
Faculty Union in California Calls for Pension Fund to Divest
NYU Student Government Says Divest for Human Rights
Barnard College Students Support BDS, Name 8 Companies
Cal State University, East Bay: Unanimous Student Gov't Vote
George Washington U Student Senate Defies Intimidation, Endorses Divestment
UC Davis Students Stands Up to Canary Mission and Government Agencies
Univ. of Oregon Students Endorse BDS, Call for Divestment and Boycott
Univ of Minnesota Student Referendum: “Yes” to demanding school's divestment

See details on all of these in the "ACADEMIC" list, on our web page: 2018 Successes: BDS and More

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UMKR Newsletter

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United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.

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News & Analysis UMKR News & Alerts

THE U.S. SCENE
ON THIS PAGE:
On Campus
• Kenneth Marcus, the Fox Guarding the Henhouse

• Canary Mission's Detestable Methods; Backers exposed
• Featured Resource: A Movement Under Attack:
"The Palestine Exception to Free Speech"
• Fordham Bans SJP Chapter
• Battle for SJP Conference at UCLA
• Universities Must Protect Free Speech
• LAWFARE: Weaponized Litigation
• Boycott of Study Abroad Programs in Israel

SEE ALSO:
The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (ASAA)

andMore Legislation Targeting Campusus
In The U.S. Scene: Legislation, Federal and State

On Campus

Rutgers students who advocate for Palestinian rights

A Movement Under Attack
Adapted intro from the Executive Summary:
A dynamic movement in U.S. colleges and universities in support of Palestinian human rights has helped raise public awareness regarding the Israeli government’s violations of international law and Palestinians' human rights. This activism has begun to successfully change the narrative in the United States – and particularly in a younger generation of U.S. citizens – about the Palestinian people's struggle for justice and freedom.
    Fearful of a shift in U.S. public opinion, Israel’s fiercest defenders – a network of advocacy organizations, public relations firms, and think tanks – use significant resources and lobbying power to pressure universities, government actors, and other institutions to censor or punish advocacy for Palestinian rights.
    These heavy-handed tactics often have driven institutions to take punitive measures against human rights activists, such as official denunciation, administrative sanctions, censorship, intrusive investigations, viewpoint-based restriction of advocacy, meritless lawsuits, and criminal prosecutions.
    Even in the face of a variety of repressive measures, the movement for Palestinian rights continues to draw strength from the force of its ideas and the real prospect that changes to U.S. public opinion—and justice for the Palestinian people—are indeed possible. Legal, political, and educational institutions should permit this important debate to continue freely, lest they find themselves on the wrong side of history.
Watch the short video, Read the Executive Summary, See the Contents and pick areas to read, or Download the full report: https://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception