As the ADL and other Israel lobby organizations reignite smear attacks on our partner Zahra Billoo, we are reposting our statement from September 2019 to call for safety in solidarity.
palestinelegal.org/news/2021/zahr…
"Zahra is on the national stage, but I know her as a community partner, laboring in the daily grind of caring for each other. Zahra zigzags across the Bay Area every day, through traffic congestion, from one community center to another.
She is an essential know your rights educator for people facing persecution simply because they are Arab or Muslim and viewed as dangerous. She is on the mic at huge protests about immigrant rights,
but she also sits on metal folding chairs listening to teenagers describe how they are routinely, and cruelly bullied at school. She counsels college students who are unsure how to talk to their parents about their political activism.
She listens to mothers, to elders, to Jewish, Black, Asian and Latinx allies working to build thriving communities. She patiently explains to city councilors what it feels like when the FBI comes knocking at your door asking if you are loyal to the U.S.
She reassures us–Jews and Muslims alike–when we are threatened with bombs and rape, and mass shootings. She wins landmark civil rights cases that protect all victims of religious discrimination. But she also bakes cupcakes, gives rides, makes agendas, takes notes." - Liz Jackson

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Palestine Legal

Palestine Legal Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @pal_legal

10 Dec
"We have to reject Israel's attempts to make pariahs out of organizations and individuals. ... The best defense is to increase our numbers, to increase our voices, to make it clear that we're not going to let people be dragged under the bus in silence and alone." - Dima Khalidi
"We see our job really as making sure that efforts to make people and groups radioactive don't work, that people aren't isolated, that they have the confidence and the courage to keep going and doing the work ... to reject the goal of intimidation and silencing."
"Part of this is the critical work of connecting our issues. We're not alone here. The repression is not unique. We know that governments throughout history have repressed dissent. We have to learn from those movements historically and ally with those movements here."
Read 6 tweets
16 Nov
BREAKING: We initiated a discrimination complaint against George Washington U. (@GWtweets) for canceling university trauma services for Palestinians this past spring after a pro-Israel group falsely alleged that doing so was anti-Jewish. palestinelegal.org/news/2021/11/1…
The story just broke at @JewishCurrents, which details how GW's Office of Advocacy & Support provided services to Asian, Black, and Jewish students (among other groups), but canceled advertised services for Palestinian students after pressure from admin.
jewishcurrents.org/george-washing…
“Palestinians at GW deserve to access the same services as any other student here," said GW employee Nada Elbasha. "To have high-level administrators cancel our support programming was a shocking declaration that GW does not care about its Palestinian students.”
Read 10 tweets
22 Oct
1/ Israel’s expansion of the so-called “terrorist” designation is racist propaganda based on unfounded accusations. It's another escalation of Israeli efforts to isolate Palestinians organizations doing critical work to expose Israel’s constant violations of Palestinian rights.
2/ Israel and its allies’ primary strategy is to criminalize and undermine any resistance to its continued violent colonial expansion by targeting outspoken individuals around the world through smear and harassment campaigns, and through lawfare.
3/ Baseless terrorism accusations are a scare tactic that cause enormous harm to Palestinians, and rely on guilt by association in the most attenuated forms.
mondoweiss.net/2021/10/israel…
Read 5 tweets
24 Aug
As students head back to school (in person?!), we wanted share the top reasons why students might want to reach out to Palestine Legal this year. palestinelegal.org/intake
1. CENSORSHIP.
You and your activism for Palestinian rights are being silenced, and you want to challenge it, or confidentially share your story with us.
2. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
You want to know your rights around safely and confidently protesting Israel propaganda events, putting up a mock apartheid wall, organizing a divestment campaign, or holding an event on campus.
Read 11 tweets
30 Jul
A Must-Read Thread: Palestine advocates in the US faced severe and intensifying backlash from Israel and its allies this spring for speaking out for justice.

Palestine Legal just published a deep dive into six major trends in activism and backlash:
palestinelegal.org/news/2021/7/29…
Statements supporting Palestinian rights and freedom came under fire in universities—in some cases just months after people were praised for issuing similar statements of support for Black and Asian lives and against domestic state violence and racism.
palestinelegal.org/news/2021/7/29…
Some complaints about messages of support for Palestinian freedom focused on getting workers or students fired from their jobs or expelled from school.

Most of these efforts failed, but still harmed those impacted and cast a broader chilling effect.
palestinelegal.org/news/2021/7/29…
Read 9 tweets
15 Jul
This is believed to be the first statement from a US-based university condemning censorship campaigns against students supporting Palestinian rights and anti-Palestinian hate.

Congrats @NerdeenKiswani @CUNYLawSJP @cunyjlsa & your allies in this struggle.
palestinelegal.org/news/2021/7/15…
On June 30, after months of student organizing, CUNY Law issued a statement in support of rising 3L @NerdeenKiswani, who has faced a barrage of anti-Palestinian hate over the past 9 months in response to her years-long activism supporting Palestinian freedom.
The statement, issued by Interim Dean of the Law School Eduardo R.C. Capulong states, “the Law School supports the free speech rights of @NerdeenKiswani, other Palestinian students, and their Jewish and non-Jewish allies, who have been vilified for their activism.”
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(