Israeli efforts at silencing pro-Palestinian voices in US ongoing
5 Min Read
Numerous conferences, as well as journalists and authors, are being canceled after Zionist groups in the US and UK rallied to silence them.
-
100,000 people take part in protests in support of Palestine and Gaza in London, UK (Social media)
According to The Guardian, many attempts to suppress pro-Palestinian views have been taking place in the US after the initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.
Major conferences were canceled, workers who expressed sympathy for Palestinians were fired, and intimidation efforts targeting Arab American voices critical of Israeli policy were launched.
A Jewish organization in the United States forced the cancelation of a major Palestinian campaign organization's national conference early this week, claiming it was a front for Hamas.
According to Palestinian American activists, following a campaign of "listener complaints", NPR and the BBC dropped advertisements for a critically acclaimed new book about the war on Palestine.
Hilton Hotels were pressured into canceling the Campaign for Palestinian Rights event in Houston at the end of October by The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce. Rashida Tlaib was scheduled to be the main speaker at the event.
Duvi Honig, the chamber’s founder and CEO, claimed that the conference was for “Hamas supporters” and accused Tlaib and other speakers of being “notoriously proud Jew-haters."
Ahmad Abuznaid, director of the USCPR, a coalition of more than 300 groups opposed to the occupation, disclosed that when contacted by Hilton, the group was told it had to pay $100,000 for security within 48 hours. Hilton also told them they were receiving calls to cancel the event.
'No conversation' before events canceled
Abuznaid recalled that there was no "conversation", just a decision to cancel the event, which he called unjust and discriminatory.
The chamber of commerce, based in New York, attributed the decision to the power of Jewish community groups.
The chamber is also moving to close Starbucks stores and terminate thousands of workers after the Starbucks workers' union posted on X a post of solidarity with Palestine.
#Starbucks and the labor union representing its workers filed lawsuits against each other on Wednesday in light of the Israeli aggression on the #Gaza Strip.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 19, 2023
Starbucks filed a federal lawsuit in Iowa against #WorkersUnited, alleging that a pro-Palestinian social media post from… pic.twitter.com/sT4B65NFZa
After receiving bomb threats, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) postponed its annual luncheon in Arlington, Virginia, on Saturday. Cair stated a new location was decided on but would not be disclosed publicly.
According to Palestinian American activists, the efforts are a campaign by hardline "Israel" supporters to silence voices critical of Israeli policies.
Read more: Donors pressure university to stand 'forcefully in defense of Israel'
Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American human rights lawyer, appeared live on CBS and ABC only to have the parts removed from internet replays of the broadcasts.
In contrast, when Jonathan Greenblatt, the chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, came on MSNBC, he was allowed to deliver a long and uncontested statement comparing the Hamas operation to the Nagasaki atomic blast and chastised the network for broadcasting "the rubble in Gaza" when he said it should instead speak to affected Israelis only.
According to Erakat, “They want us on to cry about our dead but not to provide context or discuss responsibility."
Journalists also being targeted
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) accused Sara Yasin, the Palestinian-American managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, of sympathizing with Hamas and violating professional ethics after she reposted an article on X written by an Israeli in an American Jewish magazine critical of the Gaza attack and for previous retweets.
Yasin was vigorously supported by the Los Angeles Times, which expressed in a statement that such accusations are "inaccurate, irresponsible and reckless."
Camera regularly criticizes Israeli journalists for not being pro-"Israel" enough and places billboards facing the New York Times accusing it of being against "Israel".
According to an anonymous journalist, “This is about silencing Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices. This is about saying there is only one legitimate way of looking at what’s happened and nothing else must be discussed."
Nathan Thrall, a Jewish American author, was scheduled to speak about his new book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story, before finding out numerous events of his had been canceled.
However, Thrall said several events for the book have been called off. NPR and the BBC’s America platforms also removed his advertisements for the book following what they called “listener complaints”.
Thrall said he was "very skeptical" after they refused to provide him with the complaints, adding that he was "quite sure that a book advocating for Israel would not have had its advertisements pulled."
Thrall also revealed that in the United Kingdom, police "directly intervened" to advise Conway Hall in London to cancel his book discussion in front of hundreds of people.
“There’s an atmosphere that is wholly intolerant of any expression of sympathy for Palestinians living under occupation, any discussion of the root causes of the conflict."
Read more: Pro-Palestine stances land Muslim Congress members death threats
Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, revealed that his reading in New York City was canceled by a Jewish group just a day after he signed an open letter criticizing Israel's "indiscriminate violence" against Palestinians in Gaza.
Nguyen wrote on Instagram that he found out about the cancellation of the event by the group, 92NY, which identifies itself as a "a proudly Jewish organization" on its website.
View this post on Instagram
A 92NY spokesperson told Reuters the event was canceled due to Nguyen's stance on "Israel".
Nguyen revealed in a Thursday post that he signed the open letter with other authors since the result of "Israel's" policies was the unavoidable killing of civilians.
"That is wrong and it must stop," he added, also voicing support for the BDS movement.
