A variety of tactics is being used to silence those who support Palestinian rights: from denial of public space and online platforms, smear campaigns, closure of financial accounts to enforcing the adoption of anti BDS motions that falsely declare the Palestine solidarity movement as antisemitic.
Issue
Growing mobilisation of civil society against Israel’s flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and Palestinian human rights has prompted an unprecedented campaign of stigmatization and repression, not only by the Israeli government but also by foreign governments, parliaments and other civil society actors.
Aimed at silencing any criticism of the State of Israel, this campaign of repression targets individuals, groups and organisations advocating for Palestinian human rights, as well as agencies, NGOs and charities providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians whether they are Palestinians, Israeli or international .
The means employed are defamation, criminalization and arbitrary restrictions of lawful advocacy and humanitarian work. Political, legal, and media pressure is deployed to portray advocates for Palestinian rights as threats to Israel’s security and sovereignty. Following the USA and Canada, Europe has become the new battlefield for relentless campaigns aimed at delegitimizing any discourse about Palestine.
In the recent years, a slow semantic shift has enabled to hazardously conflate the criticism of Israel’s policy with antisemitism. This inaccurate and illegitimate amalgam has, however, been progressively implemented through mainly soft law instruments. Since 2016, several European countries have adopted a new definition of antisemitism: the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism with examples. Additional parliamentary motions outlawing the call to boycott Israel have been implemented in some countries, both at national and regional level, such as Germany, Austria and France.
Although these motions are non-legally binding, they have a significant chilling effect on civil society’s free space to engage with Israeli apartheid regime, leading to false accusations and reprisal. Solidarity groups, organisations, intellectuals, academics, students and artists have had applications for public spaces denied, funding cut off, invitations to events or prizes withdrawn, speeches cancelled, etc.
Fundamental rights to the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association are being restricted despite their protection under national laws and under Article 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
By making an exception from the freedom of expression in order to protect Israel, European states and societies contribute to the phenomenon of “shrinking space for civil society” that is arising worldwide, in both democratic and non-democratic states. Political struggles and social justice movements have less and less space to organise, to operate, to have a legitimate voice, to protest and to dissent.
Tactics
Monitoring and analysis by the ELSC and partners have enabled to outline three primary tactics employed to suppress voices advocating for Palestine:
1. Smear / Disinformation campaigns
These campaigns are based on faulty sources, on collection of data selectively interpreted and transcribed in order to label the targets as antisemitic. The aim is to discredit and/or deprive targets of the platforms used to demand accountability – such as social media, public events, etc. – hoping to deter them from publicly criticizing Israel’s actions.
1.1. False allegations of antisemitism
Our research found that most of disinformation campaigns are based upon false and baseless claims alleging antisemitic views or actions to anyone critics of Israel’s policy. Claiming a new form of anti-Jewish bigotry was on the rise, a new definition of antisemitism emerged in the 1970’s drawing a relationship between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Progressively gaining ground in the collective conscience, this equation has set the background for smearing those detractors of Israel. The adoption of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism and anti-BDS motions have enshrined this dangerous conflation and paved the way for relentless campaigns.
While antisemitism must be condemned and addressed, this harmful distortion distracts from real antisemitism and from the human rights issues that advocates for Palestinian rights raise.
1.2. False allegations of support for terrorism
Defenders of Palestinian rights and humanitarian organisations are also frequently falsely accused of supporting or having connections to terrorism. APG’s are using the assertion that some Palestinian groups are proscribed by the EU (and its members) and the USA to allege that foreign funds are being misused to support terrorism.
2. Physical and/or threatening attacks on private life
Incidents
They can hold a significant role in different attacks by disseminating false and baseless claims put forward by APG’s. Journalists often reprint stories in their entirety without fact-checking or contacting the target for comment. In some incidents, targets first came aware of the claims / complaints lodged against them through the news, showing a clear relationship between media and APG’s. In this way, the media cannot be deemed as the primary perpetrator, but plays a role as enabler and host for smear campaigns to take place.