IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a Kansas law designed to punish people who boycott Israel is an unconstitutional denial of free speech. The ruling is a significant victory for free speech rights because the global campaign to criminalize, or otherwise legally outlaw, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement has been spreading rapidly in numerous political and academic centers in the U.S.
on January 31, 2018
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Kansas law barring state contractors from participating in boycotts against Israel, saying the state law violates their free speech rights. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree wrote in his decision that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the "First Amendment protects the right to participate in a boycott like the one punished by the Kansas law."
on January 30, 2018
On 6 February 2017, the Israeli Knesset (legislature) passed a law permitting the expropriation of housing built on private Palestinian land in the Occupied Territories. Under the legislation, referred to herein as the ‘Expropriation Law’ (but also described as the ‘Regularisation Law’ or simply the ‘Theft Law’) Palestinians from whom land was taken would have no right to claim it back ‘until there is a diplomatic resolution of the status of the territories.’
on March 3, 2017
An independent investigation has vindicated a pro-Palestinian group charged with fostering an anti-Semitic climate at the nation’s largest urban public university. Two lawyers hired by the City University of New York to investigate alleged instances of anti-Semitism...
on September 13, 2016
The emergency regulation that restricts family reunification among Palestinians was again extended by the Knesset on Monday, with 65 MKs voting in favor and 14 against, on Monday. Despite Zionist Union’s criticism of the measure, faction members supported it. The directive, which has been extended annually since first instituted in 2003, limits the granting of citizenship or residency to Palestinians who marry Israelis.
on June 14, 2016
In recent weeks, governors, mayors, major businesses, and entertainers have joined a boycott of North Carolina and Mississippi as a way of protesting new state laws that license discrimination against LGBT people. Similar boycotts of Indiana were threatened or announced last year when that state also passed homophobic legislation.
on April 29, 2016
The parents of the youngest Palestinian prisoner in Israel, a 12-year-old girl, filed urgent requests for her immediate pardon or parole on Tuesday. The pardon request was submitted to Maj. Gen. Roni Numa, head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command, and the parole request to the head of the Israel Prison Service, Ofra Klinger.
on April 6, 2016
Mohammad Abu Sakha, a 24-year old Palestinian circus clown, juggler, and tightrope walker, was on his way to work at the Palestinian Circus School when he was arrested by Israeli troops. According to Addameer, the legal aid organization representing Abu Sakha, he was crossing a military checkpoint in the West Bank when Israeli soldiers boarded his bus to check passengers’ identification cards.
on March 9, 2016
A group of Palestinians has launched an ambitious $34.5bn lawsuit against United States-based tycoons, charities and firms for supporting Israeli land grabs, settlement-building and other violations of Palestinians' rights these past four decades. They seek damages from Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, Irving Moskowitz, a philanthropist with property interests in East Jerusalem, and megachurch pastor John Hagee for financing the construction of settlements on Palestinian soil.
on March 9, 2016