Report on Picket of Julian Assange Extradition Hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE - GAOL THE WAR CRIMINALS

There is Only One Decision – No Extradition chanted the crowd and the Judge in the crowd.  However extradition is a real possibility unfortunately. There was a crowd of a few hundred.  I noticed that there were no members of the usual left groups like the Socialist Workers Party present. I guess there were no recruits in it.

There were also no Labour MPs present – no Jeremy Corbyn, no John McDonnell – indeed none of the spineless Socialist Campaign Group. There was no Labour Party presence, no Momentum but there were still activists who care about freedom of the press and lots of journalists though what makes it into the press remains to be seen.

In the picture above, the man with the peaked cap is 84 year old  Stephen Kapos, a survivor of the Budapest Ghetto that the Hungarian Nazis, the Arrow Cross/Nyilas set up in November 1944. Stephen is a holocaust survivor  as well as being a member of Camden Momentum.

Stephen must be a tempting choice for Herr Sturmer to expel from the Labour Party.  Not only is he Jewish but he got away from the death camps.  Herr Sturmer hopes to succeed where the Nazis failed.

Credit must go to Chris Williamson who did attend the picket, travelling down early from Derby at some expense.  Julian’s father John Shipton was also there.

We have seen how the Guardian, having benefitted from Julian’s work abandoned him and yellow gutter journalists like Luke Harding deliberately lied about him.

Anyway here is a video of the proceedings and some photos.

Tony Greenstein 

Solidarity is the Bread and Butter of Socialism – That’s Why I Called Out the Participation of Novara Media in a Celebration of Jewish Radicalism

An Injury to One is an Injury to All – Rivkah Brown’s Attack on Chris Williamson as a ‘Jew Baiter’ Causes Jewish Voice for Labour to Withdraw

It was two days ago that Becky Massey, an expelled comrade in Brighton & Hove Labour Left Alliance sent round a What’s App message about a meeting ‘A Celebration of Jewish Radicalism’ next Tuesday.

Such meetings are, of course, to be welcomed given that Starmer and his glove puppet Evans operate on the basis that the only Jews that matter are racists, Zionists and reactionaries like themselves. However the description of one of the speakers, Rivkah Brown of Novara Media as ‘radical’ is highly questionable.

Her attack on Chris Williamson as a ‘Jew baiter’ is outrageous. Despite being asked, numerous times, Rivkah has not provided a sliver of proof. If she knew anything about anti-Semitism or racism she would know that the term ‘Jew baiter’ is reserved for those few people who are not merely common and garden anti-Semites but pathological haters of Jews.

The JLM repaid Corbyn by voting no confidence in him!

Chris Williamson was someone that I and other Jewish people were happy to campaign for at the last election. There is nothing he has said that is at all anti-Semitic. This charge by the racist Zionist Board of Deputies is entirely without merit.

It is another example of how the Zionists, in order to defend the Apartheid State of Israel not only demonise their critics but drain all meaning out of the term anti-Semitism. That Rivkah Brown makes this charge, without even a sliver of proof, demonstrates that despite her alleged criticism of Israel as an apartheid state, she is borrowing her vocabulary from the Zionists she purports to oppose.

Given what Chris Williamson has been through and his demonisation at the hands of the right-wing of the Labour Party and the British press, the least he is entitled to is solidarity. The failure of Rivkah Brown and indeed the whole of the Novara Media group to extend any solidarity to Chris is shameful.

Peter Mandelson strangely enough has not been suspended for disagreeing with the EHRC Report Recommendation

It was solidarity or the lack of it from the British working class that led to the defeat of the Miners 35 years ago. It is the lack of solidarity among the Labour Left, epitomized by the role of Jon Lansman and Owen Jones in attacking Jewish socialists, which led to the crushing defeat at last December’s General Election.

There is no need to go into why the issue of ‘anti-Semitism’ in the Labour Party was always a confected and false narrative that bore no relationship to reality. For those who are interested in the details see my Open Letter to Members of Labour’s National Executive Committee.

When it came to genuine racism from the Labour's Right had no problems, it was just 'antisemitism'

Suffice to say that if the Left had stood up to the suspensions and expulsions from the very start then Jeremy Corbyn could be Prime Minister today. If the false narrative of ‘anti-Semitism’ from a right-wing that has been riddled with racism (including anti-Semitism) for decades had been called out at the start, then the anti-Corbyn campaign could have been halted in its tracks. Labour’s Right even failed to oppose the Immigration Act 2014 which introduced the ‘hostile environment policy which in turn led to the Windrush Scandal.

Let us remember that the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign began with that well known anti-racist paper the Daily Mail, the paper which employed Katie Hopkins of ‘refugees are cockroaches’ fame.

'Antisemitism is a menace' is a cliche of Jones and his identity politics - Google how many times he uses it

However the poisonous legacy of identity politics, in which Jews are held to be oppressed just like Black and Muslims triumphed.  People like Lansman and Owen Jones counterposed White privileged Jews in British society to those who are really at the sharp end of racism.

Anti-Semitism must of course be fought, not with expulsions but by challenging it whenever it rears its ugly head. I have done so tonight with a racist on Twitter and have never failed to challenge holocaust denial but not because Jews are in any danger but because racism divides us and gives false solutions to the problems of capitalism.

There is no Jewish Windrush Scandal

But to pretend that Jews are oppressed or exploited in the same way as Black people in this society is a falsehood. There is no crime of driving whilst Jewish, Jews don’t face Stop and Search, economic discrimination, disproportionate imprisonment or the institutional racism of the Police force. Being Jewish in British society is not a disadvantage which is why even Boris Johnson professes a concern for ‘anti-Semitism’ (whilst being the author of a novel 72 Virgins which is anti-Semitic).

McDonnell never stopped appeasing the Zionists

If the Left of the Labour Party had shown resolve, if Corbyn hadn’t sulked and thrown his friends under the bus and instead addressed the false narrative, if John McDonnell hadn’t appeased the Right, if Jon Lansman hadn’t obsessed about ‘unconscious anti-Semitism’ and Owen Jones hadn’t been concerned to flatter his own ego then things might have been different. However we are where we are.

Floating in the shadows in the past few years has been an outfit called Novara Media. I was never very sure as to what they stood for or represented or indeed what they did. Aaron Bastani, their founder, addressed a Brighton Momentum meeting a couple of years ago and managed to say very little of relevance as far as I can recall but he didn’t attack Chris Williamson and Jackie Walker.

Ash Sarkar I had seen on television and I can remember she used to have a Twitter account which boast that she ‘fucked like a champion’ which struck me as somewhat odd as I wasn’t aware that fucking was now a regulated sport. I am told that this particular boast has now been taken down.

What I was unaware of, until Becky drew my attention to it, was the attack by Novara Media on Jackie Walker and Chris Williamson.  According to Rivkah Brown, of whom I had heard nothing until now, he was a ‘Jew baiter’. Ash Sarkar described Jackie Walker as a ‘crank’ and also supported removing the whip from Chris Williamson (alongside Ian Austin, Tom Watson et al). Aaron Bastani was all in favour of expelling Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker.

Clearly this was a Lansmanite style set up without a principle in sight. Ash Sarkar ventured that ‘characterising proceedings as a witch-hunt helps absolutely no one’ which rather begs the question, how would she characterise the expulsion and suspension of hundreds if not thousands of activists?  The mad hatter’s tea party?

I therefore wrote 2 days ago to leading members of Jewish Voices for Labour asking that they disown the meeting, which they were down as hosting, alongside Red Labour.

Well today I was told by JVL that they had indeed withdrawn their sponsorship of the meeting, although Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi would be speaking in a personal capacity.

I also contacted some of the speakers, including Leon Rosselsson, Alexei Sayle, Andrew Feinstein and David Rosenberg to let them know who they were appearing besides.

The previously unknown Rivkah Brown attacks the one MP who stood up to those under attack

Only tonight I have learnt that Paddy O’Keefe, a long standing peace activist and who represents Equity on Brighton & Hove Trades Council has been suspended for the third time. Nearly all of the 24 pages of the allegations against Paddy relate to postings which predate his original suspension and reinstatement in Feb 2019. This is Starmer’s justice.  Someone should tell this ‘Racist without Qualification’ that there is a rule called double jeopardy. If someone has been reinstated after an investigation into a set of charges you can’t resuspend them on the basis of the same allegations!

Novara Media are the Establishment’s acceptable face of the Labour Left. We should make it clear that they are unacceptable to us as long as they feed the witchhunt of socialists.

Tony Greenstein

Reinstate Jeremy Corbyn – Stop the ‘Anti-Semitism’ Witchhunt

 Socialism Will Not Be Silenced by Starmer and his Neo-Liberal Friends

Join Zoom Meeting

https://tinyurl.com/yxf3dkg5

Passcode: 630177

UPDATE:  Chris Williamson is replacing Howard Beckett who had to pull out

If there was one message that I emphasised in the past 5 years it was that when they expelled Jackie Walker, Marc Wadsworth and myself it wasn’t us they were interested in.  We were collateral damage. The real target was Jeremy Corbyn. Unfortunately Corbyn chose not to listen and now he has become the victim of his and Jennie Formby’s own witchhunt.

On 22^nd July Canary reported that Adam Cailler of the Jewish Telegraph had tweeted, based on ‘a few Labour sources’ that Starmer would suspend Jeremy Corbyn. This was picked up by David Collier, one of the Zionist ghouls behind the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign.

Assuming that Cailler hadn’t recently come into possession of a crystal ball then it is a fair bet that this was leaked by Starmer’s office to test the water.

This appeared 3 months ago - it is clear Corbyn's suspension was planned months ago

The statement that Corbyn issued after the release of the EHRC Report had nothing to do with his suspension. It was merely a pretext, just as Rebecca Long-Bailey’s retweet of Maxine Peake ‘anti-Semitic conspiracy theories’ was also a pretext for her dismissal.

If Starmer had long planned the suspension of Corbyn then we can be sure that this was done with a view to his expulsion not reinstatement. The belief of some like Jon Trickett that he will be reinstated is just wishful thinking. Starmer’s promise to unify the party and carry on with Corbyn’s manifesto pledges was always worthless. He was brought in to purge the Left not unite with it. Expelling those who disagree with you whilst putting hard right-wingers like Rachel Reeves at the heart of his shadow cabinet.

This was posted 3 months ago

Momentum and the ‘Socialist’ Campaign Group are clinging to their illusions whilst Ian Lavery tells fellow MPs to keep their heads down. Momentum first issued statement which protested that “This suspension risks politicising Labour's response to antisemitism.”

After 5 years Momentum’s co-chairs, Scattergood and Sriskanthan, are still no wiser as to what the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign of the Right was about. They still think that the Labour Right, which has never once in its long history displayed any concern over racism against Black and Muslim people, is genuinely concerned about anti-Semitism. The same creatures who supported the ‘hostile environment’ policy which resulted in the deportation of hundreds of Black British citizens have somehow developed an acute sensitivity to anti-Semitism.  And not only them but the whole of the gutter press, from the Sun and Mail to the Guardian.

I have yet to hear a credible explanation or indeed any explanation as to why the Sun and the Mail, which employed Katie Hopkins who believes refugees are ‘cockroaches’ are so concerned about anti-Semitism. Perhaps it’s because ‘anti-Semitism’ is a weapon against the left instead of being a genuine phenomenon?

The Conclusions of the EHRC's Report were reached in advance of its writing - they were forced to delete critical comments on Chris Williamson

Who do Momentum think that Margaret Hodge, Tom Watson, Luciana Berger, all of whom drove the ‘anti-Semitism’ witchhunt, represent? Why should Tom Watson, who supported to the bitter end racist Labour MP Phil Woolas when the High Court forced him out of Parliament, be concerned about anti-Semitism? Watson confessed to having ‘lost sleep’ thinking about ‘poor Phil’.

Instead Momentum pathetically plead that the suspension ‘should be immediately lifted in the interests of party unity.’

Where have these blockheads been living?  Starmer’s only interest is in driving out the left from the Labour Party. If Momentum don’t recognise this it’s because they are wedded to the same reformist illusions as Lansman.

Momentum’s co-chairs describe the EHRC Report in completely uncritical terms as if the EHRC was a neutral, anti-racist body and not the Tory plaything it is currently. Scatterbrain says that:

for many it will make for difficult reading. It concludes that the Labour Party complaints process for antisemitism is inadequate, and expresses concern that the current process does not ensure fair and transparent sanctioning of antisemitism complaints. It also finds unlawful acts to have been committed by former Labour Party agents. 

Realising that this statement was hopeless Momentum’s leaders then issued a second statement which was even worse.

‘The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn by the Labour Party leadership is a factional attack on the left that inevitably undermines the fight against anti-semitism and makes a mockery of Keir Starmer’s pledge to unite the Party. Tonight our Party is more divided than ever.’ (my emphasis)

As if to underline that a ruthless purge is underway, London Regional Staff pulled the plug literally on the Zoom software on a London Regional Meeting which was about to discuss a motion condemning the suspension of Corbyn.

The reaction of Mick Moore, a London representative of Momentum was that ‘unity within Labour is “being systematically undermined by a culture of control-freakery and forced silence”. Wake up to reality Mick.  And what are you going to do about it with your 25,000 members?

New Momentum Chairs Scatterbrain and Sriskanthan are no different from Jon Lansman whose supporters they replaced

The new Momentum Forward leadership barely differs politically from Lansman’s Momentum. They still don’t get it that the ‘fight against anti-Semitism’ was a fight against the Palestinians. That is why, despite his concern over ‘anti-Semitism’ Starmer has refused even to meet with Palestinian representatives.  His declaration to the Times of Israel:

‘I said it loud and clear — and meant it — that I support Zionism without qualification.”

demonstrates that Starmer is a fully paid up racist when it comes to the victims of Zionism and the sooner people recognise this the better.

Momentum's 'solidarity' rally with Corbyn hauled up the white flag as they all pledge to 'fight antisemitism' still not realising that the 'antisemitism' weapon was devised to remove Corbyn

Momentum held a rally last Friday.  Below is a report which was posted by Tina Werkman of Labour Left Alliance:

 ‘In last night’s shockingly tame Momentum rally, speaker after speaker repeated the lie that the Labour Party has a huge problem with anti-Semitism (culminating in John McDonnell’s renewed apology). Deborah Herrmans from Momentum said that, “the priority for the party must be who we improve how we tackle antisemitism”.

Not a word was said in solidarity with the thousands of other victims of the campaign of the right. Nobody dared to say the word ‘witch-hunt’. Richard Burgon welcomed a Labour government under Keir Starmer. Diane Abbott and every single Momentum speaker called for the full implementation of the EHRC report, which includes the setting up of an “independent” disciplinary process with the help of “Jewish stakeholders” (and they don’t mean Jewish Voice for Labour).

This is clearly inadequate – in effect, the mainstream Labour Left has given up. There is little point in staying in Starmer’s Labour Party if you are not prepared to fight!

 

Brighton and Hove Labour Left Alliance and many Labour members, including those who have been unjustly suspended or expelled in the latest purge, aren’t willing to accept that they should be sacrificial lambs for Zionism. The mass expulsions which are now taking place, have nothing to do with anti-Semitism and everything to do with Zionism and Israel. 

That was why Labour came under severe pressure from the Zionists to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism which deliberately conflates genuine anti-Semitism, hostility and hatred of Jews, to anti-Zionism and support for the Palestinians.

Independent Socialist Councillor Kate Knight

We have four speakers including Howard Beckett, the Assistant General Secretary of UNITE and Nicki Brennan, Councillor for East Brighton, who was ‘investigated’ by Starmer’s witchhunters and decided to quit Labour at the same time as another Labour councillor, Kate Knight. Greg Hadfield, who was removed as the elected Secretary of the District Labour Party and myself, the first Jewish expellee from the party, are also speaking.

What is being called 'bitchgate' - Carmen Appich is the real face of Starmer's Labour

Kate Knight, who earlier this year quit the Labour Party, has recently been the recipient of the kinder, gentle politics of Starmer’s clones on Brighton and Hove Council.  The Chair of the Equalities Committee no less, Carmen Appich, called Kate a ‘bitch’ when she joined a meeting of the 70 strong housing management panel being held on Zoom. Fortunately she had not bothered to mute herself so her comments resounded around the meeting and everyone could know what an unpleasant individual she is as well as a hypocrite. Appich later apologised for what she called a ‘horrible mistake’ but it’s difficult to know how a comment such as that can be a mistake.  The mistake was in not muting herself.

No one bears a greater responsibility on the Left for the suspension and pending expulsion of Corbyn than John McDonnell, who leapt to the defence of Margaret Hodge who should have been expelled - McDonnell scabbed throughout

If Corbyn is now be expelled by the same fast track procedures that Corbyn himself introduced then it will be a sort of justice.  He will understand just what injustices were done to hundreds of ordinary members. He is a fool who built the scaffold that may be used to hang him with.  Nonetheless we should support him because his proposed expulsion is a dagger aimed at the heart of the left. What is need is a vigorous campaign of non-compliance with David Evan’s dictats within the Labour Party.

What will but utterly useless is to think that mild pressure on Starmer will persuade him against expelling Corbyn.

All socialists welcome to attend.  Joining details below:

Tony Greenstein

Join Zoom Meeting

https://tinyurl.com/yxf3dkg5

Passcode: 630177

Campaign for Free Speech on Palestine – Come and hear Ali Abunimah, Editor of Electronic Intifada and Ben Norton of Grayzone

Today Zionism is the main enemy of free speech only last week Zoom cancelled a San Francisco University seminar featuring Leila Khaled

On Thursday we will be holding the third meeting around Free Speech on Palestine and Israel in the wake of the Board of Deputies 10 Commandments, no. 5 of which instructs people not to appear on a platform with anyone expelled or suspended for ‘anti-Semitism’ from the Labour Party.

In fact the 10 Commandments are looking very frayed at the edges with John McDonnell and Laura Pidcock having successfully defied them at the Labour Representation Committee AGM a few weeks ago.

Steve Silverman of the CAA with Danny Thomas, Tommy Robinson's criminal bodyguard

Our last meeting with Norman Finkelstein proved somewhat controversial with the usual Zionist attacks in the Jewish Chronicle the CST and an absurd one in The Times of Israel implying that Finkelstein is a Holocaust deniers. Not forgetting of course the misnamed Campaign Against Anti-Semitism which labels any support of the Palestinians as ‘anti-Semitic’. 

Steve Silverman of the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism with Mel Gharial - the link person between the Zionists and Tommy Robinson

Zionist Hypocrisy over ‘anti-Semitism’

On 7^th August 124 Zionist groups purporting to speak on behalf of Jews, sought to impose the IHRA misdefinition of anti-Semitism on Facebook. What was ludicrous was that these organisations included genuine anti-Semites, racists and fascists!

As even the Jewish Chronicle pointed out these organisations include the Middle East Forum (MEF), whose President, Daniel Pipes is an open racist and part of the ‘counter-jihad’ movement. The MEF was, by their own admission, ‘heavily involved’ in funding the legal defence of Tommy Robinson, who was gaoled for contempt of court.

Steven Silverman of the CAA (back to camera) with Paul Besser of Britain First

Tommy Robinson is not only a virulent Islamaphobe and racist, he was a member of the neo-Nazi holocaust denying British National Party and to this day maintains links with neo-Nazis.  Nonetheless Tommy Robinson loves Israel and even declares that he is a Zionist.

Other racist groups signing the Open Letter to Facebook include the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which openly lied to the Jewish Chronicle when it declares that it had no links to Tommy Robinson. In fact it works closely with the group of far-Right Zionists around Jonathan Hoffman and Paul Besser who themselves form a Zionist fan club for Robinson.

Another group of racists petitioning Facebook was North West Friend of Israel which has also demonstrated with Tommy Robinson and fascist supporters. Not forgetting of course the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God – the biggest evangelical church in Brazil. A supporter of Brazil’s fascist President Bolsonaro, anti-abortion and anti-Indian

Also amongst the signatories was the Haym Salomn Centre, which states its aim as being “combating antisemitism, Islamic terrorism and defending Western values.” Classic identitarian politics of the far-Right.

The Haym Salomn Centre also attacks “leftist stories funded by George Soros in outlets like the New York Times and Huffington Post.” Attacks on George Soros as funding the ‘liberal’ media are standard Jewish conspiracy theories. 

Not forgetting our old friends the Zionist Organisation of America led by Mort Klein. The ZOA distinguished itself after Trump was elected by inviting the anti-Semitic Steve Bannon, Trump’s special advisor as a guest of honour. Bannon told his former wife that he didn’t want his girls going to a school where there were lots of ‘whiny brat’ Jewish children. The ZOA also invited Sebastian Gorka, a member of the Hungarian fascist Vitezi Rend.

But it’s not just Facebook. As the 2 articles below demonstrate, there is a concerted attack by the Zionist movement, aided and abetted by the Trump and Johnson administrations, to prevent us speaking out.

Absurdly this is in the name of fighting ‘anti-Semitism’ as if anti-Semitism was a phenomenon separate from what most people understand as racism.  Equally absurd is the fact that Trump, a by-word for White Supremacy and racism purports to oppose racism.  The same is true of Boris Johnson, an equally vile racist.

Below are 2 articles on how Zoom, which has become very popular with the left in the wake of COVID-19 prevented a meeting at San Francisco with Leila Khaled.  Leila Khaled was accused of being a ‘terrorist’ because she is a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Any organisation that opposes the Israeli state is classified as terrorist by the United States. Nelson Mandela and the ANC were also deemed ‘terrorists’ in their time. All opposition to colonialism and imperialism is defined as terrorism. What we don’t want are large media companies thinking they have the right to decide what we can and can’t hear, even to the extent of closing of a meeting held by a university. What was worrying was that both Facebook and Youtube cooperated in this act of censorship.

The last CFS meeting with Norman Finkelstein and Tariq Ali and David Miller

Zionist organisations today stand in the forefront of those attacking academic freedom.  Always in the name of ‘anti-Semitism’ of course as if Jews have a vested interested in the oppression of the Palestinians.

When the lockdown first occurred I joked that the Zionists would now have a problem because they couldn’t intimidate hall owners anymore into cancelling meetings.  Now it seems that they have found a way to ‘persuade’ the owners of Zoom, the largest company marketing meeting room software. It remains to be seen whether what happened at San Francisco University is a one-off but it points to the need for the socialist movement to develop its own software to enable meetings so as to bypass Facebook, Zoom and Youtube.

Indeed there is a need for a socialist social media rather than having to put up with the control freakery of Facebook.

The Meeting Tomorrow

Ali Abunimah is Founding Editor of Electronic Intifada, the most popular and respected Palestinian web site in the world, whose articles told the story of the Zionist ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign in the Labour Party.

Ali was the first to speak out against anti-Semites such as Israel Shamir and Gilad Atzmon in or around the solidarity movement. In the latter case he helped author a joint letter from Palestinians and Arabs, Granting No Quarter: A Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon.

Other speakers include Ben Norton, Associate Editor of the Grayzone, an Investigate Journalism enterprise as well as your usual favourites – Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein and Marc Wadsworth. The meeting will be chaired by Chris Williamson, the only principled MP in the Labour Party who stood up to the Zionist fake anti-Semitism campaign.

Come and join us

Tony Greenstein

 Zoom cancels panel featuring Leila Khaled amid protests from pro-Israel groups

Zoom announced that it will deny its services to San Francisco State University today to block an online panel featuring Leila Khaled from happening with its software. Pro-Israel groups, including one partially funded by the Israeli government, are taking credit for the cancellation.

By Michael Arria September 23, 2020

Zoom has announced that it will deny its services to San Francisco State University (SFSU) today and block an online panel featuring Leila Khaled from happening with its software. As a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Khaled was connected to two plane hijackings that took place in 1969 and 1970.

The event (which was titled “Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice & Resistance”) was to be sponsored by SFSU’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program and the Women and Gender Studies Department.

A statement from the company to the group reads, “Zoom is committed to supporting the open exchange of ideas and conversations, subject to certain limitations contained in our Terms of Service, including those related to user compliance with applicable U.S. export control, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws. In light of the speaker’s reported affiliation or membership in a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and SFSU’s inability to confirm otherwise, we determined the meeting is in violation of Zoom’s Terms of Service and told SFSU they may not use Zoom for this particular event.”

The event was protested by a number of right-wing, pro-Israel groups including The Lawfare Project. The Act.IL app, which targets the BDS movement and is partially funded by the Israeli government, has taken credit for helping to cancel the Zoom event:

Michael Bueckert, a PhD student in sociology and political economy at Carleton University who tracks the app online, points out that its users have sent emails to the California State University Board of Trustees and informing them that they “may be violating US law by supporting a terrorist.”

Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA, tweeted, “This is what happens when we subcontract our universities to Zoom: they decide which events are acceptable and which aren’t. It’s outrageous.”

“This is a dangerous attack on free speech and academic freedom from Big Tech: Zoom cannot claim veto power over the content of our nation’s classrooms and public events,” said Palestine Legal director Dima Khalidi in a statement “The threat to democracy is elevated by the fact that Zoom’s decision to stamp out discussion of Palestinian freedom comes in response to a systematic repression campaign driven by the Israeli government and its allies.” 

Organizers and individuals connected to the event have been responding to criticisms since the event was announced.  After SFSU President Lynn Mahoney wrote an article declaring that she welcomed diversity but condemned hate, former political prisoner (and scheduled panelist) Laura Whitehorn wrote Mahoney a letter about the webinar.

“Leila Khaled is a leader in the movement for the rights of the Palestinian people,” the letter reads. “She has fought in many ways for the right of return to historic Palestine, and she will offer important lessons and information about the history of women’s involvement in working for the rights of the Palestinian people under occupation and in exile. I found your acceptance of a narrative that brands her a terrorist or a hater to be deeply offensive and in conflict with what I believe an educator should say, teach, and promote.”

People who signed up for the event received an email from organizers, saying that they expect the school to “uphold our freedom of speech and academic freedom by providing an alternative venue to this open classroom.”

Update: Since this post was published, Facebook removed the event page from its site and YouTube shut down the stream just minutes into the talk.

Big Tech’s dangerous attack on free speech and academic freedom: Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube censor SF State Palestine class

Three tech giants censored an online class featuring Palestinian, Black, Jewish and South African activists at San Francisco State University, after pro-Israel advocacy groups complained.

The open classroom event “Whose Narratives?: Gender, Justice & Resistance” featured Palestinian activist Leila Khaled and was scheduled to take place at 12:30 PDT before being erased from Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.

One day before the scheduled event, Zoom announced it would not permit the event with Ms. Khaled to take place. Zoom had previously threatened to terminate the account for the entire California State University (CSU) system if SFSU allowed the event to proceed.

Facebook removed the event page the day of the event, and YouTube repeatedly shut down streams of the event within minutes after they began streaming on that platform.

“This is a dangerous attack on free speech and academic freedom from Big Tech: Zoom cannot claim veto power over the content of our nation’s classrooms and public events,” said Dima Khalidi, director of Palestine Legal. “The threat to democracy is elevated by the fact that Zoom’s decision to stamp out discussion of Palestinian freedom comes in response to a systematic repression campaign driven by the Israeli government and its allies.” 

The event is organized by the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies program and program in Women and Gender Studies at SFSU and features Ms. Khaled in conversation with several prominent activists from Black and South African liberation movements and Jewish Voice for Peace.

As of Wednesday morning, event registration was open on Zoom and an event page was live on Facebook. By 9:30 a.m. PDT, both pages had been taken down.

“This censorship violates our freedom of speech and academic freedom as faculty to teach, deprives our students from the right to learn, and denies the general public the right to hear from speakers who are not readily available on mainstream media,” said Drs. Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa, co-organizers of the event, in an email to the SFSU Provost Jennifer Summit. “SFSU and CSU should not participate in such censorship directly or indirectly.”

“It’s outrageous for Zoom, which has assumed such a prominent role in online learning during the pandemic, to interject itself into this university-approved classroom event by threatening to sever its contract with CSU completely,” said attorney Dan Siegel, who is representing Professor Abdulhadi.

Zoom’s actions followed pressure from right-wing Zionist organizations including the Lawfare Project and an Israeli government-sponsored app that is taking credit for the cancellation.

These right-wing groups peddle a dangerously over-broad theory that hosting Ms. Khaled, who is 76, to discuss critical narratives of resistance, gender and sexual justice constitutes criminal activity. They argue that because she has been publicly affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, professors at San Francisco State are not allowed to host her as a speaker.

Ms. Khaled is not being compensated for her talk and the exchange of ideas in a university setting is constitutionally protected free speech.

Several of the other speakers were part of resistance and liberation movements that were once criminalized, including:

• Sekou Odinga, a former member of the Black Liberation Army and political prisoner for 33 years
• Ronnie Kasrils, a Jewish anti-Zionist activist and former member of the armed wing of the African National Congress
• and Laura Whitehorn, a political prisoner for 14 years and current member of Jewish Voice for Peace, which has been attacked by Zionist groups and the Israeli government. 

Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, a prominent Palestinian scholar-activist has faced relentless attacks from Zionist organizations – most recently after giving a guest lecture at UCLA in 2019 where she critiqued Zionism as a political ideology of supremacy akin to white supremacy.

UCLA concluded that there had been no wrongdoing in an investigation of the lecture due to a complaint from a student who disagreed with her views.

Despite this, the right-wing Zionist group StandWithUs filed a federal civil rights complaint against UCLA in October 2019 over the lecture, which the Trump administration opened as a formal investigation in January 2020 following an executive order adopting a distorted redefinition of antisemitism that targets advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Last month, over 120 pro-Israel groups sent a letter lobbying Facebook to censor criticism of Israel by labeling it as hate speech using Trump’s definition of antisemitism. Adopting this definition will give even broader latitude to the censorship of Palestine advocacy.

“Right-wing Israel proxy groups, the Trump administration, and Big Tech firms are conspiring to censor any and all discussion about or advocacy for Palestinian freedom at a time when Trump’s foreign policy seeks to liquidate the Palestinian issue,” said Dima Khalidi. “They will not succeed, because people who believe in democracy, dissent, and freedom for all will not be silenced.”

The General Union of Palestine Students at SFSU issued the following statement: 

“If SFSU prides itself on its values of critical ethnic studies thought, and representation in curriculum of all ethnicities and races, it should itself as an institution uphold those values and defend its faculty against censorship and attacks. SFSU must ensure that Zoom does not have control over its curriculum.”