Greenwald writes: "The absurdity of Frances celebrating itself for free
expression was vividly highlighted by this weeks decision from that
nations highest court, one that is a direct assault on basic free speech
rights. The French high court upheld the criminal conviction of 12 political
activists for the 'crime' of advocating sanctions and a boycott against
Israel as a means of ending the decades-long military occupation of
Palestine."
Protestors march along Huntington Avenue at Northeastern University in
support of Palestinians. (photo: NBC)
Criminalization of Anti-Israel Activism Escalates, This Time in the Land of
the Charlie Hebdo Free Speech March
By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
29 October 15
The post-Charlie Hebdo free speech march in Paris was a fraud for multiple
reasons, as I wrote at the time. It was led by dozens of world leaders, many
of whom imprison or even kill people for expressing prohibited views. It was
cheered by many Westerners who feign upset only when free speech abridgments
are perpetrated by Muslims, but not as is far more common by their own
governments against Muslims.
Worst of all, the march took place in a country that is one of the most
hostile to free speech rights in the West, as France quickly demonstrated in
the days after the march by rounding up and prosecuting Muslims and other
anti-Israel activists for the political views they expressed. A great,
best-selling book by French philosopher Emmanuel Todd released this year
argues that these free speech marches were a sham, driven by many
political sentiments nativism, nationalism, anti-Muslim bigotry that had
nothing to do with free speech.
The absurdity of Frances celebrating itself for free expression was vividly
highlighted by this weeks decision from that nations highest court, one
that is a direct assault on basic free speech rights. The French high court
upheld the criminal conviction of 12 political activists for the crime of
advocating sanctions and a boycott against Israel as a means of ending the
decades-long military occupation of Palestine. What did these French
criminals do? This:
The individuals arrived at the supermarket wearing shirts emblazoned with
the words: Long live Palestine, boycott Israel. They also handed out
fliers that said that buying Israeli products means legitimizing crimes in
Gaza.
In France self-proclaimed Land of Liberté doing that makes you a
criminal. As The Forward reported, the court cited the French republics
law on Freedom of the Press, which prescribes imprisonment or a fine of up
to $50,000 for parties that provoke discrimination, hatred or violence
toward a person or group of people on grounds of their origin, their
belonging or their not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, a race or a
certain religion.' Because BDS is inherently discriminatory, said the
court, it is a crime to advocate it.
The French court ruling is part of a worldwide trend. As more and more
people around the world recognize the criminal and brutal nature of the
Israeli government, its loyalists have been increasingly trying literally to
criminalize activism against the Israeli occupation. For that reason,
pro-Israel activists this week celebrated this French assault on basic
free speech rights.
Pascal Markowicz, chief lawyer of the CRIF umbrella organization of French
Jewish communities, published this celebratory decree (emphasis in
original): BDS is ILLEGAL in France. Statements advocating a boycott or
sanctions, he added, are completely illegal. If [BDS activists] say their
freedom of expression has been violated, now Frances highest legal instance
ruled otherwise.
Joel Rubinfeld, co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament and president of
the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, told Haaretz last February that he
wanted other countries to follow the French model of criminalizing
anti-Israeli-occupation activism. After a French lower court convicted the
BDS activists, Rubinfeld gushed: The French government and judiciarys
determination in fighting discrimination, and the Lellouche law especially,
are exemplary for Belgium and other nations where discriminatory BDS is
happening.
As Haaretz detailed in that February article, the Lellouche law held up by
Rubinfeld is named for the Jewish parliamentarian [in France] who
introduced it in 2003, and the law is among the worlds most potent
legislative tools to fight the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
movement, or BDS, and has catapulted France to the forefront of efforts to
counter the movement through legal means. Prior to this latest criminal
case, there have been approximately 20 anti-Israel activists who have been
convicted under Frances so-called Lellouche law.
The odious campaign to outlaw activism against the Israeli occupation
extends well beyond France. In May, CBC reported that Canadian officials
threatened to prosecute BDS activists there under hate speech laws, and
after those officials denied doing so, we obtained and published the emails
proving they did just that. The February Haaretz article described this
troubling event in the U.K.: In 2007, the British University and College
Union said it would drop plans to boycott Israeli institutions after legal
advisers said doing so would violate anti-discrimination laws. In 2013, New
York City officials joined an (ultimately failed) Alan Dershowitz-led
campaign to threaten the funding of Brooklyn College for the crime of
hosting pro-BDS speakers.
Indeed, an outstanding Washington Post op-ed this week by a former IDF
soldier, Assaf Gavron, documents how such attacks on Israel critics now
extend to Israeli citizens themselves. Gavron describes how the internal
discussion in Israel is more militant, threatening and intolerant than it
has ever been, and those few dissenters who attempt to contradict it to
ask questions, to protest, to represent a different color from this
artificial consensus are ridiculed and patronized at best, threatened,
vilified and physically attacked at worst.
Israel defenders love to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism
and then sanctimoniously deny that anyone does that. But criminalizing BDS
advocacy threatening people with large fines and prison terms for
protesting the polices of the Israel government is as clear of a case as
it gets. As Haaretz put it, The dragnet has also swept up BDS protesters
whose actions have targeted Israel, not Jews.
Ponder how pernicious this is. It is perfectly legal to advocate sanctions
against Iran, or Russia, or Sudan, or virtually any other country. Indeed,
sanctions and boycotts against those countries are not only frequently
advocated in the West but are official policy. But it is illegal criminal
to advocate boycotts and sanctions against one country: Israel. It
requires sky-high levels of authoritarianism, even fascism, to abuse the
criminal law to outlaw advocacy of policies and activism when it involves
one country, and one country only. In response to the celebrations over this
ruling from one popular-on-Twitter Israeli extremist, Avi Mayer, I
repeatedly asked this question but never received an answer:
It should go without saying that ones opinions on the desirability or
validity of BDS as a policy are totally irrelevant to this discussion. Its
self-evident that a belief in free speech compels one to defend with equal
vigor the right to express views with which one agrees and those with which
one vehemently disagrees. The issue here, obviously, is not whether BDS is a
persuasive policy but whether people should be criminalized for advocating
it. As extremist and oppressive as it is, the criminalization of BDS
activism is increasing in multiple places around the world.
Where are all the newfound free speech activists who insisted after the
Charlie Hebdo murders that a defense of free expression was so vital to all
that is good and just in the Western world? Why isnt the #JeSuisBDS hashtag
trending in defense of these activists who have been persecuted prosecuted
by France for their political views? The answer is clear: Many who reveled
in wrapping themselves in the free speech banner earlier this year
beginning with France itself and extending throughout the West have no
genuine belief in that right. Thats why these countries not only stand
silent in the face of such a fundamental assault on free speech, but
aggressively perpetrate those abuses.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Protestors march along Huntington Avenue at Northeastern University in
support of Palestinians. (photo: NBC)
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/27/criminalization-of-anti-israel-activism-
escalates-this-time-in-the-land-of-the-charlie-hebdo-free-speech-march/https
://theintercept.com/2015/10/27/criminalization-of-anti-israel-activism-escal
ates-this-time-in-the-land-of-the-charlie-hebdo-free-speech-march/
Criminalization of Anti-Israel Activism Escalates, This Time in the Land of
the Charlie Hebdo Free Speech March
By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
29 October 15
he post-Charlie Hebdo free speech march in Paris was a fraud for multiple
reasons, as I wrote at the time. It was led by dozens of world leaders, many
of whom imprison or even kill people for expressing prohibited views. It was
cheered by many Westerners who feign upset only when free speech abridgments
are perpetrated by Muslims, but not as is far more common by their own
governments against Muslims.
Worst of all, the march took place in a country that is one of the most
hostile to free speech rights in the West, as France quickly demonstrated in
the days after the march by rounding up and prosecuting Muslims and other
anti-Israel activists for the political views they expressed. A great,
best-selling book by French philosopher Emmanuel Todd released this year
argues that these free speech marches were a sham, driven by many
political sentiments nativism, nationalism, anti-Muslim bigotry that had
nothing to do with free speech.
The absurdity of Frances celebrating itself for free expression was vividly
highlighted by this weeks decision from that nations highest court, one
that is a direct assault on basic free speech rights. The French high court
upheld the criminal conviction of 12 political activists for the crime of
advocating sanctions and a boycott against Israel as a means of ending the
decades-long military occupation of Palestine. What did these French
criminals do? This:
The individuals arrived at the supermarket wearing shirts emblazoned with
the words: Long live Palestine, boycott Israel. They also handed out
fliers that said that buying Israeli products means legitimizing crimes in
Gaza.
In France self-proclaimed Land of Liberté doing that makes you a
criminal. As The Forward reported, the court cited the French republics
law on Freedom of the Press, which prescribes imprisonment or a fine of up
to $50,000 for parties that provoke discrimination, hatred or violence
toward a person or group of people on grounds of their origin, their
belonging or their not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, a race or a
certain religion.' Because BDS is inherently discriminatory, said the
court, it is a crime to advocate it.
The French court ruling is part of a worldwide trend. As more and more
people around the world recognize the criminal and brutal nature of the
Israeli government, its loyalists have been increasingly trying literally to
criminalize activism against the Israeli occupation. For that reason,
pro-Israel activists this week celebrated this French assault on basic
free speech rights.
Pascal Markowicz, chief lawyer of the CRIF umbrella organization of French
Jewish communities, published this celebratory decree (emphasis in
original): BDS is ILLEGAL in France. Statements advocating a boycott or
sanctions, he added, are completely illegal. If [BDS activists] say their
freedom of expression has been violated, now Frances highest legal instance
ruled otherwise.
Joel Rubinfeld, co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament and president of
the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, told Haaretz last February that he
wanted other countries to follow the French model of criminalizing
anti-Israeli-occupation activism. After a French lower court convicted the
BDS activists, Rubinfeld gushed: The French government and judiciarys
determination in fighting discrimination, and the Lellouche law especially,
are exemplary for Belgium and other nations where discriminatory BDS is
happening.
As Haaretz detailed in that February article, the Lellouche law held up by
Rubinfeld is named for the Jewish parliamentarian [in France] who
introduced it in 2003, and the law is among the worlds most potent
legislative tools to fight the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
movement, or BDS, and has catapulted France to the forefront of efforts to
counter the movement through legal means. Prior to this latest criminal
case, there have been approximately 20 anti-Israel activists who have been
convicted under Frances so-called Lellouche law.
The odious campaign to outlaw activism against the Israeli occupation
extends well beyond France. In May, CBC reported that Canadian officials
threatened to prosecute BDS activists there under hate speech laws, and
after those officials denied doing so, we obtained and published the emails
proving they did just that. The February Haaretz article described this
troubling event in the U.K.: In 2007, the British University and College
Union said it would drop plans to boycott Israeli institutions after legal
advisers said doing so would violate anti-discrimination laws. In 2013, New
York City officials joined an (ultimately failed) Alan Dershowitz-led
campaign to threaten the funding of Brooklyn College for the crime of
hosting pro-BDS speakers.
Indeed, an outstanding Washington Post op-ed this week by a former IDF
soldier, Assaf Gavron, documents how such attacks on Israel critics now
extend to Israeli citizens themselves. Gavron describes how the internal
discussion in Israel is more militant, threatening and intolerant than it
has ever been, and those few dissenters who attempt to contradict it to
ask questions, to protest, to represent a different color from this
artificial consensus are ridiculed and patronized at best, threatened,
vilified and physically attacked at worst.
Israel defenders love to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism
and then sanctimoniously deny that anyone does that. But criminalizing BDS
advocacy threatening people with large fines and prison terms for
protesting the polices of the Israel government is as clear of a case as
it gets. As Haaretz put it, The dragnet has also swept up BDS protesters
whose actions have targeted Israel, not Jews.
Ponder how pernicious this is. It is perfectly legal to advocate sanctions
against Iran, or Russia, or Sudan, or virtually any other country. Indeed,
sanctions and boycotts against those countries are not only frequently
advocated in the West but are official policy. But it is illegal criminal
to advocate boycotts and sanctions against one country: Israel. It
requires sky-high levels of authoritarianism, even fascism, to abuse the
criminal law to outlaw advocacy of policies and activism when it involves
one country, and one country only. In response to the celebrations over this
ruling from one popular-on-Twitter Israeli extremist, Avi Mayer, I
repeatedly asked this question but never received an answer:
It should go without saying that ones opinions on the desirability or
validity of BDS as a policy are totally irrelevant to this discussion. Its
self-evident that a belief in free speech compels one to defend with equal
vigor the right to express views with which one agrees and those with which
one vehemently disagrees. The issue here, obviously, is not whether BDS is a
persuasive policy but whether people should be criminalized for advocating
it. As extremist and oppressive as it is, the criminalization of BDS
activism is increasing in multiple places around the world.
Where are all the newfound free speech activists who insisted after the
Charlie Hebdo murders that a defense of free expression was so vital to all
that is good and just in the Western world? Why isnt the #JeSuisBDS hashtag
trending in defense of these activists who have been persecuted prosecuted
by France for their political views? The answer is clear: Many who reveled
in wrapping themselves in the free speech banner earlier this year
beginning with France itself and extending throughout the West have no
genuine belief in that right. Thats why these countries not only stand
silent in the face of such a fundamental assault on free speech, but
aggressively perpetrate those abuses.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize