Statement

Public positions, opinions, or reactions from ELSC.

Joint Public Statement in Response to Independent Inquiry into Antisemitism at Goldsmiths 

A coalition of organizations has announced their withdrawal from the Independent Inquiry into Antisemitism at Goldsmiths, citing concerns over its exclusionary approach towards Palestinians and those who critique Israeli policies. The statement highlights issues such as a lack of transparency, incoherent responses from the College and Inquiry Chair, and the refusal to consider the impact of the Inquiry’s process on Palestinian and other minoritized groups. The decision underscores broader concerns about the misuse of antisemitism allegations to silence Palestinian voices and suppress academic freedom.

Solidarity With Students & Allies Protesting For Palestinian Rights 

Solidarity With Students & Allies Protesting For Palestinian Rights 

The ELSC stands in solidarity with, and endorses the principled demands of, student protestors in Europe to disclose, divest and cut all ties with Israeli universities, corporations and all those complicit in the state of Israel’s crimes of genocide, colonisation, occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.  We have seen among the most extreme police violence against…

To Confront the Ongoing Nakba and Genocide: Resistance until Liberation and Return

To Confront the Ongoing Nakba and Genocide: Resistance until Liberation and Return

Ongoing Nakba, Ongoing Genocide For more than 76 years, the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime has maintained its system of domination and oppression through a strategy that is based on three pillars: forced displacement and transfer, colonization and apartheid. This regime consists of a plethora of policies, practices, and laws that result in the creation, sustainment, and…

Justice for Palestine: we will not be deterred nor silenced 

Justice for Palestine: we will not be deterred nor silenced 

n light of the heinous actions of the State of Israel against the Palestinian people, and the extension of its oppressive structures onto Palestinians and their supporters in Europe, the ELSC expresses its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation and justice against colonial oppression and apartheid.

ELSC Statement: No to the Nakba Demo Bans, End Germany’s Criminalisation of Palestinian Existence

ELSC Statement: No to the Nakba Demo Bans, End Germany’s Criminalisation of Palestinian Existence

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. 

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 96 organisations stand with Palestinian political prisoners

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 96 organisations stand with Palestinian political prisoners

On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we joined a statement along with more than 90 organisations. The statement, initiated by Palestinian human rights organisation Addameer, shows support to Palestinian political prisoners and civil society and demands an end to the Israeli occupation authorities’ arbitrary policies.

Statement Regarding BSR’s Human Rights Due Diligence for Meta on Palestine & Israel

Statement Regarding BSR’s Human Rights Due Diligence for Meta on Palestine & Israel

7amleh, along with 73 of local, regional and international partners – including the ELSC – has issued a joint statement regarding BSR’s Human Rights Due Diligence report on Arabic and Hebrew content on Meta’s platform. Human rights organizations and civil society have been calling for an independent review of Meta’s content moderation policies as they pertain to Palestine for years, so we commend the publication of this report.

Protect the right to boycott

Protect the right to boycott

The UK government is proposing an ‘anti-boycott bill’ that, if passed, could dramatically affect the ability of individuals and organisations to campaign for social and climate justice in the UK and around the world.

More and more German courts confirm the right to BDS

More and more German courts confirm the right to BDS

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.

We Won’t Be Silenced: On the Attempts to Smear Free Palestine Maastricht

We Won’t Be Silenced: On the Attempts to Smear Free Palestine Maastricht

The student activist group, Free Palestine Maastricht, dedicated to building solidarity and awareness on the Palestinian cause is targeted in an escalating unfounded smear campaign initiated by a student at Maastricht University. The ELSC has been providing the group with legal support. In the statement below, Free Palestine Maastricht asserts its right to advocate for Palestinian rights and calls upon Maastricht University to protect students’ fundamental rights of freedom of expression, assembly, and association.

60 International CSOs to Dutch Government: “Resume Dutch funding for UAWC, reject Israel’s designation of Palestinians NGOs”
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60 International CSOs to Dutch Government: “Resume Dutch funding for UAWC, reject Israel’s designation of Palestinians NGOs”

Along with 59 other civil society organisations from all around the world, we asked the Dutch government to resume its funding for UAWC and to reject Israel’s designation of Palestinian NGOs. Indeed, the Dutch decision to cut funding was baseless, and the Dutch government also failed to reject the Israeli designation whereas it was recognised as unsubstantiated.

UK government dismisses latest attempt by UK Lawyers for Israel to harm Palestinian civil society
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UK government dismisses latest attempt by UK Lawyers for Israel to harm Palestinian civil society

For many years now, politically-motivated actors have used legal fora to inflict damage on civil society organizations supporting Palestinian rights, by attempting to silence them and delegitimise their work. These attacks, generally referred to as “lawfare”, are mostly conducted by disinformation groups supporting Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime, such as: NGO Monitor, Regavim, Shurat HaDin, International Legal Forum, Lawfare Project, and UK Lawyers For Israel (UKLFI).

Open Letter to impose a comprehensive two-way arms embargo Israel
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Open Letter to impose a comprehensive two-way arms embargo Israel

The ELSC joined a global coalition of leaders from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world– to call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act decisively to put an end to Israel’s use of arms and military equipment…

Joint statement on censorship of Palestine campaigning in schools

Joint statement on censorship of Palestine campaigning in schools

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.

Joint Open Letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: Time to Investigate Crimes in Palestine, Time for Justice
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Joint Open Letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: Time to Investigate Crimes in Palestine, Time for Justice

Along with 180 civil society coalitions and organisations, ELSC signed the Open Letter that was submitted to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on 29 April. We express our strong support for the opening of an investigation into Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which was initiated by Bensouda in December.