“The suppression of dissenting voices, at this moment, especially those advocating for peace and non-violence, is antithetical to the very foundations upon which our democracy stands.”
More than 1,700 lawyers and law students on Tuesday urged the American Bar Association to take action to combat the growing trend of censorship and discrimination against those voicing solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s devastating bombing campaign, ground invasion, and siege in Gaza.
Since Israel launched its latest military assault on the Gaza Strip following a deadly Hamas-led attack on October 7, there have been “increasing instances of discrimination and censorship faced by Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, South Asian, Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other communities within law schools, universities, law firms, and other corporate entities, particularly due to their expression of support for the Palestinian people,” the lawyers and students wrote in a newly released letter to the ABA.
“These incidents include rescinding job offers, terminating employees, and harassing and doxxing law students, among others,” the letter states. “We share our grave concerns that the target of these incidents are law students and legal professionals seeking to uphold international law and Palestinian human rights. Censorship and retaliation cause democratic backsliding, against which our profession is one of the guardrails, and is antithetical to the very foundations of a free society.”
The letter, which was also backed by a collective of more than 125 legal institutions, comes after Columbia University suspended two pro-Palestinian groups and the prominent New York-based law firm Davis Polk rescinded job offers for three Harvard and Columbia law students over their purported roles on campus organizations that signed a pair of statements in the wake of the October 7 attack.
One of the statements extended “heartfelt condolences to the individuals and communities at Columbia University affected by the tragic losses experienced by both Palestinians and Israelis” and argued that “the weight of responsibility for the war and casualties undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government and other Western governments, including the U.S. government, which fund and staunchly support Israeli aggression, apartheid, and settler-colonization.”
The other statement, released by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, argued that the events of October 7 “did not occur in a vacuum” and stated, “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”
Davis Polk is reconsidering its decision for two of the students after they objected to the rescissions, saying they did not authorize the statements—neither of which named individual signatories.
Read more at https://www.commondreams.org/news/lawyers-censorship-pro-palestinian
