Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights Condemn US Designation of Palestine Advocacy Group as Genocide Escalates
/Contact: media@palestinelegal.org; press@ccrjustice.org
The US Treasury Department recently added the advocacy group Samidoun to its “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) list. Inclusion on the SDGT list, a designation long criticized as politically-motivated and lacking in due process, nonetheless marks a major and dangerous development that is intended to chill the growing movement for Palestinian rights.
This action is the latest escalation in attacks on Palestine advocacy, and underscores how the US government is doing more to try to shut down opposition to a genocide than to stop the genocide itself. We strongly condemn the Biden administration’s attempt to criminalize advocacy for Palestinian rights, even as it continues to arm and support Israel’s campaign of extermination of Palestinians, and its egregious war crimes in Lebanon and throughout the region.
Amid the last year of Israel’s US-fueled genocide, the US government has decided to designate an advocacy group focused on uplifting the plight of Palestinian political prisoners and that has denied any material or organizational connections with US-designated “foreign terrorist organizations.” The action recalls how the entire US antiterrorism regime – encompassing the laws, executive orders, regulations, designations and jurisprudence that determine the what and who of “terrorism” – has grown out of and been shaped by successive efforts to undermine Palestinian freedom.
The designation nevertheless has far-reaching implications and elevates the risks in this climate of increased repression. We encourage groups and individuals who have questions about the implications of the designations to contact a trusted attorney.
At this precarious time and in the face of such blatant targeting of what should be protected speech and association under the First Amendment, we are committed to protecting the movement by foregrounding the collective safety of diverse movement groups. And we are committed to the urgent, morally necessary work towards Palestinian freedom, ending U.S. complicity in this genocide, and challenging the very premises of the antiterrorism regime that has historically made criminals of justice activists, while war criminals act with impunity.
If you or your group needs legal advice or representation, please contact Palestine Legal, who can refer you to trusted attorneys with relevant expertise.
For background, read our joint report, Anti-Palestinian at the Core: The Origins and Growing Dangers of U.S. Antiterrorism Law.
Palestine Legal is an independent organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people in the US who speak out for Palestinian freedom. Our mission is to bolster the Palestine solidarity movement by challenging efforts to threaten, harass and legally bully activists into silence and inaction. Visit www.palestinelegal.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org. Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on social media: Center for Constitutional Rights on Facebook, @theCCR on Twitter, and ccrjustice on Instagram.