Zionist organization wants Palestine activists at University of Minnesota prosecuted

University of Minnesota Law School activists paid a steep price for peacefully protesting an event that featured Moshe Halbertal, co-author of Israel Defense Force’s Code of Ethics, last November.

Palestine Legal issued a statement following “several troubling reports” which included, forceful police intervention to suppress the non-violent protest, the removal of people of color who were not disrupting the event and the arrest of lawyer Jordan Kushner, who was recording the police’s actions.

According to Palestine Legal, the Israeli advocacy group StandWithUswas behind the arrest of Kushner, and called for the harsh prosecution of all those arrested at the event.

The arrested protesters and Kushner were exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, both covered by the Constitution. Police interference also violated the protesters’ First Amendment right to peacefully assemble by disbanding the protest and arresting nonviolent demonstrators, according to Palestine Legal.

StandWithUs often participates in the intimidation and bullying of advocates of Palestine, as seen in the baseless arrest of Kushner, in an effort to discredit its opponents and damage their professional images.

Earlier this year, the organization was also involved with a lawsuitagainst Olympia Food Co-Op for the corporation’s boycott of Israeli products. The lawsuit was appealed to the Washington Supreme Court after dismissal from the lower court, which saw the case as a SLAPP – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.

The University of Minnesota has not responded to Palestine in America’s request for comment.

Yasmeen Elagha is a Palestinian-American living in Chicago. She is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is actively involved with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and various social justice movements.