In March 2025, ELSC defended students’ protest rights in the UK, challenged workplace repression in Germany, and supported legal action in Italy and beyond. From major court rulings to FOI campaigns and new resources for activists, this issue highlights key wins and ways to keep mobilising for Palestinian rights across Europe.
Germany plans to deport four Palestine solidarity activists in Berlin. The ELSC denounces this as a politically motivated attack on dissent, exposing Germany’s escalating anti-Palestinian repression under Mayor Kai Wegner. Legal action against the order is underway.
BT3P returns to court on 26 March to challenge Germany’s anti-BDS resolution. This landmark case defends free speech and fights anti-Palestinian repression with support from the European Legal Support Center (ELSC).
Mohamad S., a Lebanese marketing professional at Zalando in Berlin, was unlawfully terminated for criticizing the company’s biased pro-Israel stance. Supported by ELSC, Mohamad successfully challenged his dismissal, highlighting systemic anti-Arab racism in German corporate environments.
In February 2025, ELSC secured a final victory in the Speakap discrimination case, challenged anti-Palestinian repression in Germany and Austria, and spotlighted student rights in Britain. This issue also covers urgent updates on state repression, solidarity events, media coverage, and new resources to defend Palestine advocacy across Europe.
On Monday, 27 January 2025, another case in the attempted criminalisation of the slogan ‘Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea’ should have been heard at the Tiergarten District Court. The Berlin public prosecutor had opened an investigation against filmmaker Dror Dayan for the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations (§ 86a StGB), pressing charges. The case concerns a…
In January 2025, ELSC launched major legal actions across Europe, including a corporate complaint against Axel Springer and new evidence against Booking.com. From legal wins in Milan to school repression in Berlin, we continue defending the Palestine solidarity movement. Read the latest updates, resources, and how you can join the fight.
In November 2024, ELSC secured key legal victories, including Dana Abu Qamar’s tribunal win and Shahd Abusalama’s settlement. We advanced our genocide case against the Dutch state and supported student protests and legal action in Germany and Italy. Read about our community events, legal updates, and vital resources for organisers.
+ DEUTSCHE VERSION UNTEN Berlin – November 27, 2024 Five Palestinian plaintiffs, along with the villages of Iskaka, Marda, and Taybeh in the occupied Palestinian territory, represented by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), have filed a landmark legal complaint against major German media publishing group Axel Springer S.E., alleging violations of…
Join ELSC, Team Eye4Palestine, and 4Neukoelln+Berlin on December 14, 2024, for a legal workshop on anti-Palestinian repression in German schools with lawyer Yalçın Tekinoğlu. 4:00 PM, House of Democracy, Berlin.
On 30th September, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has warned the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH) in an open letter to comply with its obligations to prohibit genocide and apartheid and cut its cooperation agreements with the Israeli Technion University, which is directly involved in crimes against humanity in Palestine.
Berlin, 29 October 2024 – The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has filed an emergency motion with the Berlin Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin), requesting that the court mandate the German government to stop the delivery of military RDX explosives to Israel, which are currently being transported on the German cargo ship MV Kathrin. Berlin-based lawyer…
In October 2024, ELSC filed a major lawsuit against the Dutch state for complicity in genocide, secured a legal win for Dr. Shahd Abusalama, and supported protests and repression cases across Europe. Read about our legal updates, solidarity actions, student wins, and how you can support the fight for Palestinian justice.
Dear Friend, In the past month, we’ve fought some crucial battles and secured a number of legal victories, which we bring to you in this month’s newsletter, along with some useful resources to continue mobilising for Palestine. CASE UPDATES BDS Austria: we’re going to the Supreme Court! Do you remember our case supporting BDS Austria against…
GERMAN AND ARABIC BELOW In the early morning hours of the 16th of May 2024, over 50 police officers raided the homes and workplaces of alleged members of the Palestine solidarity group Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (PSDU). The Ministry of Interior of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia had outlawed the group just shortly before the raids. …
In August 2024, ELSC supported landmark legal victories against repression—from fighting criminalisation of slogans in Germany to defending students and lecturers in the UK. This newsletter includes major case updates, strategic wins, and tools to push back against silencing tactics. Explore new resources and learn how to support ongoing legal actions.
The case of Daria On 22nd August 2024, activist Daria will face her first hearing at the Berlin court Amtsgericht Tiergarten. She is accused of ‘circulation of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations’ (§ 86 StGB) for chanting the slogan “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” at a demonstration on the 9th…
In June 2024 Berlin Appellate Court ruled that the freezing and cancellation of the association Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost – EJJP Deutschland e. V. / Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East – EJJP Deutschland e. V.‘s bank account by the partly state-owned bank Berliner Sparkasse was illegal. Jüdische Stimme…
In July 2024, ELSC celebrated key victories in the Netherlands, Britain, and across Europe—supporting students, workers, and activists facing repression. This newsletter highlights legal wins, updates on strategic cases, new resources for the movement, and events from Berlin to Milan. Stay informed and mobilised for Palestinian rights.
The Lawyers Collective (Anwält:innenkollektiv) supported by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Lawyers for Palestine, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and Forensis (Forensic Architecture Berlin) has paved the way for further legal action against Germany’s deliveries of war weapons to Israel.
Press release of the Berlin Lawyers’ Collective, 11.06.2024 (Deutsche Version unten) In its decision of 10.06.2024 (Az. VG 2 L 119/24), the Administrative Court of Berlin rejected the application of three Palestinians in Gaza for the denial of war weapons deliveries to Israel. The Administrative Court dismissed the application on the grounds that the Federal…
Deutsche Übersetzung unten / النسخة العربية أدناه Since October of last year, in a wave of escalating state repression, countless criminal charges and misdemeanours have been brought against the Palestine solidarity movement. But as we expected, dozens of cases have since been dropped. This should not surprise us, as most of the slogans and…
Case update – Despite a negative ruling, solidarity persists and ELSC funding campaign covers all costs for the court case. In 2019, a secret dossier was created by RIAS Berlin and MBR aimed at misinforming the public about Dr. Younes’ work and opinion misrepresenting her as antisemitic and supportive of sexism and terrorism. The latter depictions…
ENGLISH BELOW Pressemitteilung – Berlin, 24. Mai 2024 Das Landgericht Berlin hat zugunsten Yasemin Acar gegen den Tagesspiegel entschieden. Das Gericht hat eine einstweilige Verfügung verhängt, welche die Tageszeitung mit Sitz in Berlin zwingt, gleich mehrere Falschbehauptungen über die Aktivistin zurückzunehmen und zukünftig zu unterlassen. Yasemin hatte mit Unterstützung der Rechtsanwältin Ingrid Yeboah und dem…
ENGLISH BELOW Pressemitteilung – Berlin, 24. Mai 2024 Das Landgericht Berlin hat zugunsten Yasemin Acar gegen den Tagesspiegel entschieden. Das Gericht hat eine einstweilige Verfügung verhängt, welche die Tageszeitung mit Sitz in Berlin zwingt, gleich mehrere Falschbehauptungen über die Aktivistin zurückzunehmen und zukünftig zu unterlassen. Yasemin hatte mit Unterstützung der Rechtsanwältin Ingrid Yeboah und dem…
Berlin, May 15, 2024 Berlin, Administrative court Potsdam slams German Federal Police: Schengen-Information-System entry for Prof. Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah has no legal basis and is to be revoked immediately after an emergency appeal by ELSC lawyer Alexander Gorski with support from lawyers from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). This effectively ends…
May 15, 2024 Berlin, Administrative court Potsdam slams German Federal Police: Schengen-Information-System entry for Prof. Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah has no legal basis and is to be revoked immediately after an emergency appeal by ELSC lawyer Alexander Gorski with support from lawyers from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP). This effectively ends the…
GERMAN VERSION BELOW/DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG UNTEN Today 12 April 2024, Dr Anna-E. Younes is challenging anti-Palestinian organisations RIAS Berlin and MBR (Mobile Beratungsstelle gegen Rechts) in the Berlin District Court (Landgericht Berlin) with the support of the ELSC. Dr Anna Younes is a German Palestinian scholar working on the ‘New Antisemitism’ discourse, race critical theories and…
GERMAN VERSION BELOW/DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG UNTEN Press release – ELSC (European Legal Support Center), PIPD (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Law for Palestine under the Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative, and Forensis. Berlin – 5 April 2024 On April 5, 2024, Berlin lawyers are filing an urgent application against the German government to stop the…
Dear Friend, In the past weeks and months, we have joined forces with many of you who are mobilising tirelessly for an end to Israel’s heinous crimes against Gaza. In the first 2 months of 2024 alone, we’ve fought some crucial battles and secured a number of victories for the movement – which we bring to you…
GERMAN VERSION BELOW/DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG UNTEN Berlin – 23 February 2024 Today, a group of German lawyers – representing families of two Gazans – is filing a criminal complaint against German Government officials (1), for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related…
Amsterdam, January 22, 2024 The Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative has issued a stark warning to European public officials of the Austrian, French, German and Dutch governments that they could be individually liable for their role in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of Genocide through their involvement…
The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) is seeking an Advocacy Officer for Germany.
The ELSC’s new report reveals how the IHRA definition of antisemitism is weaponized to silence Palestinian rights advocacy, violating freedom of expression and assembly across the EU and UK. Read the full report here.
Bringing you relevant updates on the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe.
Today, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) launches its new report “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism – Violating the Rights to Freedom of Expression and Assembly in the European Union and the UK”. The report is the first case-based account of human rights violations resulting from the institutionalisation and application of the controversial IHRA definition by the European Union and the UK. The growing concerns about the negative human rights impact of the IHRA definition, have so far been ignored by the EU.
Bringing you relevant updates on the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe.
In another act of state repression, the Berlin police banned all events commemorating 75 years of ongoing Nakba. Following the demonstration ban from 2022, the police disrupted a Palestinian cultural event on 13 May in Neukölln, banning any political public speech, attempting to stop the distribution of books on Palestine on a discretionary basis, and preventing attendees from dancing the traditional Dabka, claiming that it was a form of “political expression”. One of the banned speeches was to be delivered by a member of the ELSC and a partner scholar, Anna Younes (PhD), with the purpose of informing people on their legal rights. Other events that were banned were scheduled for 13, 14 and 20 May 2023: these demonstrations wanted to demand justice for the Palestinian people by remembering the displacement and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the course of the founding of the state of Israel. At least 11 demonstrations on Nakba have been banned in Berlin since April 2022.
Bringing you relevant updates on the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe.
The ELSC is seeking a Chief Legal Officer based in Amsterdam to oversee the legal team on all cases and projects emanating (mainly) from Germany, The Netherlands and the UK.
Bringing you all of this month’s updates on the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe.
On 2 November 2022, exactly three years after she discovered RIAS’ covert surveillance of her activities and after two legal victories, Dr. Anna Younes launches two new lawsuits. She requests the Administrative Court of Berlin to find the preparation and transmission of the secret dossier on her unlawful, and she requests compensation.
This month, at least three cases confirmed, again, that public pressure and collective support, sometimes coupled with litigation, constitute a great tool to achieve our rights as advocates for Palestinian rights!
Palestinian-Jordanian journalist Farah Maraqa won her lawsuit against German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), which dismissed her and other 6 journalists in February 2022.
This month, at least three cases confirmed, again, that public pressure and collective support, sometimes coupled with litigation, constitute a great tool to achieve our rights as advocates for Palestinian rights!
On 16 May 2022, the Berlin Data Protection Authority (DPA) decided in favour of Dr. Anna Younes and issued a warning against VDK, representing RIAS Berlin and MBR. The two organisations had prepared a secret dossier on Dr. Younes, which aimed at identifying “her positions on Israel and BDS.” The dossier also framed her as supporter of terrorism, sexism and anti-Jewish racism and resulted in her disinvitation from a public event on anti-racism organised by Die Linke in November 2019. Furthermore, the DPA rejected RIAS/MBR’s claim and stated that they “did not have a serious scientific purpose” nor a journalistic one when preparing this dossier. After almost two years, the DPA finally found RIAS/MBR violated European data protection law (GDPR) and recognised Dr. Younes’ basic data rights as a German citizen. Further legal action will be taken.
This month, we achieved an important victory as a German court ruled in favour of scholar Dr. Anna Younes in digital surveillance case.
Last week, the ELSC sent a letter to UN Special Rapporteurs on contemporary forms of racism, on freedom of opinion and expression, and on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, following its previous communication alerting on urgent threats to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Berlin ahead of Nakba day.
In a milestone ruling delivered on 26 April 2022 by the Regional Court of Stuttgart, attempts by the State Bank of Baden-Württemberg at financial deplatforming against Stuttgart Palestine Committee were found unlawful and the activists could retain access to their two bank accounts. This decision came less than one week after another legal victory for the Committee against the City of Stuttgart.
On 6 May 2022, the Berlin District Court upheld Dr. Younes’ claims and ordered VDK – the German state-funded organisation that legally represents RIAS Berlin and MBR – to give Anna Younes access to data that the two civil society organisations had gathered on her and passed on to others. The information released so far reveals that RIAS and MBR have been collecting people’s personal data based on their “positions on Israel and BDS.”
Last week, the Berlin police prohibited public gatherings organised by civil society organisations in Berlin Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, Palästina Spricht and Samidoun, planned to take place over the following weekend to commemorate the 74 years of the Nakba (the forced transfer of hundreds of Palestinians from their homeland). In the face of this imminent threat to the rights of freedom of expression and of association and the right of non-discrimination, the ELSC sent an urgent letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on racism, on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.
This month was marked by the launch of the campaign in support of German-Palestinian scholar Dr. Anna Younes. She is a German Palestinian academic who has been subjected to several disinformation campaigns and surveilled. In 2019, she discovered that a secret dossier circulated about her, distorting her academic work and other data to frame her as anti-Jewish racist, sexist and as a terrorist sympathizer. After two long years of proceedings with the Berlin Data Protection Authority that failed to issue a final decision on her case, Dr. Younes is now filing two lawsuits to seek justice.
This month was marked by Women’s Rights Day as well as the Israeli Apartheid Week, where many students and activists organised events and protests to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and raise awareness about the Israeli apartheid. This week was not free from censorship, especially on campus, as shown by an incident in The Netherlands. We also share updates from the European Citizens’ Initiative Campaign as well as news from Germany, Austria, and a vacancy to work with us in the UK!
European courts and national data protection authorities dealt with the so-called “journalistic exemption” rule when the Data Protection Directive, preceding the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), came into force. The aim of this legal exemption is to relieve journalistic, academic, artistic expressions from certain obligations under Data Protection Law and to reconcile the right to the protection of personal data with freedom of expression and information.
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The ELSC published a letter signed by nearly 500 scholars, artists, activists, organisations and human rights defenders to support Dr. Anna Younes and other scholars, activists and journalists against censorship and unlawful surveillance in Germany.
Dr. Anna-Esther Younes is a German Palestinian academic who has been subjected to several disinformation campaigns, publicly defamed and had her freedom of expression restricted in respect of her journalism, academic and policy work. The latest in this long chain of disinformation campaigns and repression occurred in 2019, when she discovered that her academic work and other data had been privately processed and distorted to frame her as anti-Jewish racist, sexist and as a terrorist sympathiser.
This month, we share with you some victories from the UK and Switzerland, an important analysis on German case law in favour of BDS, updates on the cases of BT3P and BDS Austria, new cases of repression in Germany and The Netherlands, and a landmark European Citizens Initiative.
Over one hundred local, regional and international civil society organizations have signed an open letter in solidarity with Palestinians, condemning Deutsche Welle’s (DW) inaccurate and defamatory report, calling for the retraction of the accusations and demanding the protection of the right to Palestinian freedom of speech.
In recent years, activists for Palestinian human rights in Germany have had to turn to the courts to defend their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly against their cities, which seek to impose the anti-BDS resolutions adopted by local and regional parliaments, as well as the German Bundestag. To date, at least seven German courts have consistently upheld the right of activists to use public facilities for BDS-related events.
On January 20, Germany’s Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig confirmed that the City of Munich had violated the right to freedom of expression by denying the use of its conference hall solely because it did not like the particular theme of the planned event. The Court instructed the City to provide its hall for a public debate of Munich’s anti-BDS resolution. The ELSC commends the judges of Germany’s highest administrative court for this principled decision, which represents yet another milestone in efforts to put an end to Germany’s unethical and unlawful anti-BDS resolutions.
Dear friend, This month we share with you our 2021 achievements in pushing back against silencing Palestinian rights advocacy, a campaign in support of an activist of BDS Austria sued over a Facebook post, updates on the repression of Palestinian civil society, an important ruling in Germany on the illegality of anti-BDS motion, and unfounded…
Dear friend, This month we share with you important updates on challenging Israel’s attack on Palestinian civil society and the repression of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe including in the Netherlands and the UK, a webinar, op-eds, and other news and resources. On the 29th of November, which marked the International Day of Solidarity with the…
The ELSC released a new leaflet addressing 10 situations in which our team can defend the right to advocate for Palestinian rights.
This month we share with you news on our work to push back against the criminalisation of Palestinian civil society by Israel as well as our new report on shrinking space and Palestinian rights advocacy in the Netherlands. We also share good news from the UK where the authorities rejected unfounded allegations by a lawfare group, updates from the BT3P team who challenged the German Parliament in Court, and new job and traineeship opportunities with the ELSC.
On October 7, 2021, the Administrative Court of Berlin held the first hearing on the complaint filed in 2020 by the Palestinian-Jewish-German initiative Bundestag 3 for Palestine (BT3P) that aimed at challenging the anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution adopted by the Bundestag in 2019.
This month we share with you updates on our work protecting students and Palestinian advocates in the UK, a new report on European financial support for companies involved in the Israeli settlement enterprise, exciting news on the BT3P case challenging the German Bundestag, an important step challenging EU trade with occupied territories and a victory for academic freedom for an international legal scholar.
Since 2020, the ELSC has been supporting the BT3P team with lawyer Ahmed Abed to challenge the German Bundestag’s anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution that condemns the movement as antisemitic. Next week, the Berlin Administrative Court will hold a hearing on the case. The Palestinian-Jewish-German initiative Bundestag 3 for Palestine (BT3P) filed their lawsuit…
Our 2020 Year-in-Review provides an overview our work, achievements and cases in the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe in 2020.
This month we share with you updates from our work around Europe. In Brussels, we sent a joint letter to the EU commission challenging the political instrumentalization of the controversial IHRA definition, in the UK we assisted students and academics to challenge repression when they speak up in defence of Palestinian rights and we challenged…
Repression and censorship have increased as mobilization and protests for Palestinian rights in Europe have grown in the past few weeks. In the UK, children in schools were reprimanded, suspended or even excluded for speaking up about Palestine or showing solidarity through symbols associated with Palestine like flags. The ELSC signed this joint statement along with British organizations to ask the government of the UK to end its repressive policies against activism in schools.
This month we once again witnessed the brutal bombardment of Gaza and violent commission of human rights abuses by Israeli authorities and settlers. In a global response, communities worldwide rose in solidarity calling for freedom and justice in Palestine. Yet, this call was not without struggle as this month we share with you all too common stories of censorship and repression of Palestinian rights activists. We also share the news of a win in an EU court, part of the effort to stop trade with illegal settlements, as well as an update on the BT3P campaign challenging the German Bundestag’s anti-BDS motion.
This month, we have a few exciting victories for Palestinian rights advocacy. We recall an important success in The Netherlands, share with you a new report by Human Rights Watch detailing the crime of apartheid being committed by Israel against Palestinians, and report on the University of Toronto being censored for cancelling the employment of ELSC Advisory Board member Dr. Valentina Azarova for her human rights work.
In this month’s newsletter, we share with you the release of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, welcome a new member to the ELSC advisory board and highlight our 2021 work so far and how you can help to make this an important year for the protection of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe. JERUSALEM DEFINITION ON…
In Germany, the campaigners Bundestag 3 for Palestine (BT3P) have initiated another strategic litigation. They are now challenging the city of Munich before the Administrative Court to be granted a public facility to host a panel discussion. The event is planned for 20 March to coincide with the Israeli Apartheid Week 2021. Judith Bernstein, Amir…
On 22 September 2020, the Constitutional Court of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) in Germany delivered its final ruling in the complaint brought by lawyer Ahmed Abed and the ELSC against the anti-BDS motion of the NRW State Parliament adopted on 20 September 2018.
Another German court ruled that the denial of public spaces for BDS related events is violating fundamental rights.
ELSC Programme Director featured in a documentary on the repression of advocates for Palestinian rights and the weaponisation of antisemitism in Germany
In May 2020, lawyer Ahmed Abed, with the assistance of the ELSC, filed a complaint before the Administrative Court of Berlin against the Bundestag’s anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) motion, adopted by the German parliament in May 2019.
The ELSC has been assisting lawyer Ahmed Abed who is representing three plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought before the Administrative Court of Berlin challenging the lawfulness of the anti-BDS motion passed by the German Bundestag on 17 May 2019.
Statement by John Dugard on the legitimacy of the right to boycott
On 11 June 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgement in the case Baldassi and Others v. France ruling that calling for a boycott of goods from Israel is protected by the right to freedom of expression and cannot be considered incitement to discrimination. In 2009, 11 campaigners advocating for Palestinian…
You will find in it an overview of accomplishments in the ELSC’s first year on the main pillars of our program – Monitoring, Legal Defence and Empowerment of the movement for Palestinian rights. Read our 2019 Annual Report
Three German civil society organisations advocating for Palestinian rights were denied participation in the 2019 Bonn annual cultural festival because of their support for the BDS movement. The groups petitioned the Administrative Court of Cologne challenging their exclusion. The Court ruled in favour of the groups and consequently instructed the city council to allow all three associations to attend the festival.
I am emeritus professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University, Israel. I have taught history and philosophy of the humanities, social sciences and cultural sciences, including German history of the humanities, at this institute. Among other things, I have published on German-Jewish history, on…
In the case of three German civil society organisations against the city of Bonn in 2019, the ELSC provided a legal memo claiming the full legitimacy of BDS under International law and underlying that the right to boycott Israel falls within the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, of assembly and of association (Article 10 and Article 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, ECHR).
In February 2019, the City Council of Oldenburg refused to a grant public space to the local Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, claiming that the campaign is antisemitic. BDS Oldenburg petitioned the Court, which acknowledged its claims and instructed the city to grant the venue to BDS Oldenburg.
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