{"id":65889,"date":"2015-11-02T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=65889"},"modified":"2015-11-01T16:48:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T16:48:55","slug":"anti-israel-activism-criminalized-in-the-land-of-charlie-hebdo-and-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/11\/anti-israel-activism-criminalized-in-the-land-of-charlie-hebdo-and-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Israel Activism Criminalized in the Land of Charlie Hebdo and \u201cFree Speech\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Glenn<\/a>

Glenn Greenwald<\/p><\/div>\n

27 Oct 2015 – <\/em>The post-Charlie Hebdo \u201cfree speech\u201d march in Paris was a fraud for multiple\u00a0reasons, as I wrote at the time<\/a>. It was led by dozens of world leaders<\/a>, many of whom\u00a0imprison or even kill people for expressing prohibited views. It was cheered by many Westerners\u00a0who feign upset\u00a0only when free speech abridgments are perpetrated by Muslims, but not \u2014\u00a0as is far more common \u2014 by their own governments against Muslims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Worst of all, the march\u00a0took place in a country that\u00a0is one of the most hostile\u00a0to free speech rights in the West, as France quickly demonstrated in the days after the march by rounding up<\/a> and prosecuting Muslims<\/a> and other anti-Israel activists<\/a> for the political views they expressed. A great, best-selling book by French philosopher\u00a0Emmanuel Todd released this year argues<\/a> that these \u201cfree speech\u201d marches were a \u201csham,\u201d driven by many\u00a0political sentiments \u2014 nativism, nationalism, anti-Muslim bigotry \u2014 that had nothing to do with\u00a0free speech.<\/p>\n

\"boycott<\/a><\/p>\n

The absurdity of France\u2019s celebrating itself for free expression was vividly highlighted by this week\u2019s decision from that nation\u2019s highest court, one that is a direct assault on basic free speech rights. The French high court upheld the criminal conviction<\/em><\/a>\u00a0of 12 political activists\u00a0for the \u201ccrime\u201d of advocating sanctions and a boycott against\u00a0Israel as a means of ending the decades-long military occupation of Palestine. What did these French criminals do? This:<\/p>\n

The individuals arrived at the supermarket wearing shirts emblazoned with the words: \u201cLong live Palestine, boycott Israel.\u201d They also handed out fliers that said that \u201cbuying Israeli products means legitimizing crimes in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

In France\u00a0\u2014 self-proclaimed Land of\u00a0Libert\u00e9 \u2014 doing that<\/em> makes you a criminal. As The Forward<\/em> reported<\/a>,\u00a0the court \u201ccited the French republic\u2019s law on Freedom of the Press, which prescribes imprisonment or a fine of up to $50,000 for parties that \u2018provoke 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.’\u201d Because BDS is inherently \u201cdiscriminatory,\u201d said the court, it is a crime to advocate it.<\/p>\n

The French\u00a0court 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\u00a0increasingly trying literally to\u00a0criminalize<\/em> activism against the Israeli occupation.\u00a0For that reason, \u201cpro-Israel\u201d activists this week celebrated<\/em> this French assault on basic free speech rights.<\/p>\n

Pascal Markowicz, chief lawyer of the\u00a0CRIF umbrella organization<\/a>\u00a0of French Jewish communities, published this celebratory decree<\/a>\u00a0(emphasis in original<\/a>): \u201cBDS is ILLEGAL\u00a0in France.\u201d Statements advocating a boycott or sanctions, he added<\/a>, \u201care completely illegal. If [BDS activists]\u00a0say their freedom of expression has been violated, now France\u2019s highest legal instance ruled otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Rubinfeld, co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament and president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, told Haaretz<\/em> last February<\/a>\u00a0that he wanted other countries to follow the French model of criminalizing anti-Israeli-occupation activism.\u00a0After a French lower court convicted the BDS activists, Rubinfeld gushed:\u00a0\u201cThe French government and judiciary\u2019s determination in fighting discrimination, and the Lellouche law especially, are exemplary for Belgium and other nations where discriminatory BDS is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Haaretz<\/em> detailed in that\u00a0February article, the \u201cLellouche law\u201d held up by Rubinfeld is \u201cnamed for the Jewish parliamentarian [in France] who introduced it in 2003,\u201d and \u201cthe law is among the world\u2019s 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.\u201d Prior to this latest criminal case, there have been \u201capproximately 20 anti-Israel activists who have been convicted under France\u2019s so-called Lellouche law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The odious campaign to outlaw activism against the Israeli occupation extends well beyond France. In May, CBC reported that Canadian officials threatened to prosecute<\/a> BDS activists there under \u201chate speech\u201d laws, and after those officials\u00a0denied doing so, we obtained and published the emails<\/a> proving they did just that. The February Haaretz <\/em>article\u00a0described this troubling event in the U.K.: \u201cIn 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.\u201d In 2013, New York City officials joined an (ultimately failed) Alan Dershowitz-led campaign to threaten the funding<\/a> of Brooklyn College for the crime of hosting pro-BDS speakers.Indeed, an\u00a0outstanding Washington Post <\/em>op-ed<\/a> this week by a former IDF soldier, Assaf Gavron,\u00a0documents how such attacks on Israel critics now extend to Israeli citizens themselves. Gavron\u00a0describes how \u201cthe internal discussion in Israel is more militant, threatening and intolerant than it has ever been,\u201d and \u201cthose few dissenters who attempt to contradict it \u2014 to ask questions, to protest, to represent a different color from this artificial consensus \u2014 are ridiculed and patronized at best, threatened, vilified and physically attacked at worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel defenders love to equate \u201ccriticism of Israel\u201d with \u201canti-Semitism\u201d and then sanctimoniously deny that anyone does that.\u00a0But criminalizing<\/em> BDS advocacy \u2014 threatening people with large fines and prison terms for protesting the polices of the Israel government \u2014 is as clear of a case as it gets. As\u00a0Haaretz\u00a0<\/em>put it, \u201cThe dragnet has also swept up BDS protesters whose actions have targeted Israel, not Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponder\u00a0how 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\u00a0policy. But it is illegal \u2014\u00a0criminal<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 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<\/a> from one popular-on-Twitter Israeli extremist, Avi Mayer, I repeatedly asked this question but never received an answer:<\/p>\n

@AviMayer<\/a> You believe the law should allow a person to advocate boycott\/sanctions for Iran & Russia, but make it illegal for Israel?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 26, 2015<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

@AviMayer<\/a> Why can’t you answer what I asked? Should it be legal to advocate boycott\/sanctions for Iran & Russia but not Israel?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 26, 2015<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

@AviMayer<\/a> 1) Should it be legal for me to advocate a boycott or sanctions on Israel? 2) Legal to do so for Iran and\/or Russia? Answer that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 26, 2015<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An Egyptian wears a T-shirt with a logo of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions), a campaign started by Palestinian activists to boycott Israel and Israeli-made goods, April 20, 2015.
Photo: Amr Nabil\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

It should go without saying that one\u2019s opinions on the desirability or validity of BDS as a policy are\u00a0totally irrelevant to this discussion. It\u2019s self-evident that a belief in \u201cfree speech\u201d compels one to defend\u00a0with equal vigor the right to express views with which one agrees\u00a0and those with\u00a0which one vehemently disagrees. The issue here, obviously, is not whether BDS is a persuasive\u00a0policy 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.<\/p>\n

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 isn\u2019t the #JeSuisBDS hashtag trending in defense of these activists who have been persecuted \u2014 prosecuted \u2014 by France for their political views? The answer is clear: Many who reveled in wrapping themselves in the \u201cfree speech\u201d banner earlier this year \u2014 beginning with France itself and extending throughout the West \u2014 have no genuine belief in that right. That\u2019s why these countries not only stand silent in the face of such a fundamental assault on free speech, but aggressively perpetrate those abuses.<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

Contact the author <\/em>Glenn Greenwald<\/a>: glenn.greenwald@\u200btheintercept.com<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 isn\u2019t the #JeSuisBDS hashtag trending in defense of these activists who have been persecuted \u2014 prosecuted \u2014 by France for their political views?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}