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
The new version of the nation-state bill has passed the first stage of enactment into law. On Wednesday, the bill passed its preliminary Knesset reading when 48 lawmakers voted in favor of the the bill, including Prime Minister...
on May 10, 2017
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
The David Horowitz Freedom Center plastered derogatory posters on and around campus Oct. 5 in an attempt to suppress student activism for Palestinian human rights and scare potential supporters. The posters implicated Students for Justice in Palestine...
on October 11, 2016
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 California Legislature had a busy final few days in August, passing about 800 bills, not counting the hundreds passed earlier in the year. Some are mundane, some profound. But all will go now to Gov. Jerry Brown for his approval. He has until the end of September to sign or veto them...
on September 6, 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