Two organizations issued reports this week to supporting their claim that pro-Israel organizations and donors have made significant efforts to stifle pro-Palestinian views, particularly at American universities.
Jewish Voice for Peace, put out a 70 page report:
Stifling Dissent: How Israel's defenders use false charges of anti-semitism to limit the debate over Israel on campus
For years, under the banner of defending Israel, advocacy organizations have launched attacks against those who advocate for Palestinian rights and express political criticism of Israel, often deploying spurious charges of anti-Jewish bigotry, shutting down conversations, and policing the boundaries of legitimate Jewish identity and acceptable debate. Seeing campuses as a “battleground,” they have helped shape problematic definitions of anti-Semitism in order to limit open debate on college campuses, and intimidate students, faculty, and administrators. The intent of these silencing tactics is to shut down conversation before it can even begin, limiting the range of political inquiry, expression and debate on campuses.
The report lists various strategies JVP says are used to stifle dissent:
- Attempts to brand criticism of Israel as anti-semitism
- Stigmatizing and marginalizing Jewish organizations and Jews who are critical of Israel
- Legal threats against faculty and administrators
- Attempts to apply civility standards to discussion of Israeli policies
- Disciplinary proceedings against students for protests
They highlight targetted campaigns to deny tenure or impact the careers of faculty including Norman Finkelstein at DePaul, Steven Salaita at UIUC, Rashid Khalidi at Columbia, Nadia Abu El-Haj at Barnard, Rabab Abdulhadi at SFSU, Kristofer Petersen-Overton at Brooklyn College, Joseph Massad at Columbia, Terri Ginsburg at NCSU. The JVP report is definitely written from an activist's perspective, it takes offense at a few too many things in my view.
I'd previously written a diary on the Salaita case which explores that incident in depth.
CCR's report is a bit more thorough and highlights many more incidents, I'll cover it below the orange apartheid wall.
The Center for Constitutional Rights issued their own lengthy report, which is titled:
The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement under attack in the US
Fearful of a shift in domestic public opinion, Israel’s fiercest defenders in the United States—a network of advocacy organizations, public relations firms, and think tanks—have intensified their efforts to stifle criticism of Israeli government policies. Rather than engage such criticism on its merits, these groups leverage their significant resources and lobbying power to pressure universities, government actors, and other institutions to censor or punish advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. In addition, high-level Israeli government figures, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and wealthy benefactors such as Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban have reportedly participated in strategic meetings to oppose Palestine activism, particularly boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.
It covers much of the same ground as Stifling Dissent, but broadens the scope to off-campus examples, including a case where an
exhibit of Palestinian children's art in Oakland was cancelled.
CCR's taxonomy of the tactics used against pro-Palestinian organizations and individuals is slightly different from JVP's:
- False and Inflammatory Accusations of Antisemitism and Support for Terrorism
- Bureaucratic Barriers
- Cancellations and Alterations of Academic and Cultural Events
- Administrative Sanctions
- Threats to Academic Freedom
- Lawsuits and Legal Threats
- Legislation
- Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions
The report comments on the private communications of US citizens being shared with Israeli military units by the NSA.