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Europe’s Proscription of Palestine Solidarity with Amira Hala
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Amira Hala joins us to discuss the European Legal Support Center's latest report, which exposes and contextualizes the systematic repression tactic of proscription against pro-Palestinian solidarity activism in Europe.
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Transcript
Colonial Legacy in Counterterrorism Measures
00:00:00
Speaker
This moment represents both a significant acceleration and an expansion of longstanding repressive tactics. I think there are continuities and and some ruptures in that sense. And in the report, we make the argument that current counterterrorism measures in Europe replicate the logic of colonial emergency laws.
00:00:18
Speaker
which, as I mentioned before, were used to suspend rights and maintain imperial dominance. There is also a more contemporary legacy of state repression against Palestine solidarity in Europe and elsewhere, and I think long before October 2023 as well.
00:00:34
Speaker
From Ashabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, I am Yara Hawari, and this is Rethinking Palestine.
00:00:43
Speaker
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, European governments have escalated their instrumentalization of counter-terrorist measures to criminalize Palestine solidarity groups. From prescriptions to fabricating narratives around extremism, these efforts and more have made it increasingly clear that there is a pattern of repression that is being used to demobilize opposition to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
00:01:07
Speaker
The European Legal Support Centre, the ELSC, has published a new report detailing these efforts across Europe and in particular in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and France.
00:01:18
Speaker
Joining us to discuss the findings of this report is Amira Hanna. Amira is the Research Officer at the ELSC and the lead author of this new report.
Historical Context: Palestinian Struggle and Colonial Tactics
00:01:28
Speaker
She holds PhD in international relations where her research focused on how ideas of normal and deviant behavior are used as tools of authoritarianism.
00:01:38
Speaker
Amira, thank you for joining us on this episode of Rethinking Palestine. Thanks for having me, Yoram. So I think many of our listeners will be aware that the Palestinian struggle for liberation and the solidarity movement has long been ludicrously smeared as terrorism in an effort to crush it, but also to dissuade those from joining in efforts.
00:02:00
Speaker
Could you give us a bit more background on this and bring us up to this current moment? Yeah, absolutely. So the terrorism tag against the Palestinian struggle for liberation has been mobilized by the so-called West since at least the 1930s.
00:02:16
Speaker
um And so that would require us to go bit back in time to the Palestinian revolt that started in 1936 against Zionist presence in Palestine. And also in its later phases, it targeted the British presence in Palestine.
00:02:30
Speaker
And at the time, specifically in 1937, not only did the British Mandate Authority in Palestine outlaw the Higher Arab Committee and the Regional Arab National Committee, which at the time constituted this sort of the entire organized urban structure movement.
00:02:47
Speaker
And they were the ones who had initially called for civil disobedience. But the British mandate also appointed a chief advisor on terrorism and policing in Palestine.
Modern European Measures Reflecting Colonial Practices
00:02:58
Speaker
And this person was um Charles Tiggart, appointed in November 1937. And, you know, his big ideas included building about 70 concrete fortresses at all the main lookout posts across the country.
00:03:12
Speaker
And he also had this kind of huge wire fence put up along the 80 kilometer border with Lebanon and Syria. And all of this was done to try and stop foreign weapons and fighters from getting in and any kind of support for the revolt in Palestine um from reaching Palestinians.
00:03:30
Speaker
And this whole strategy was also basically just using a playbook that he himself had written from his time dealing with anti-colonial rebellions um up in northern India.
00:03:41
Speaker
And so in this report that we recently published, we make the connection between today's framing of Palestinians and Palestine solidarity as terrorism, as well as the colonial logic of emergency rule that acted as the legal veneer for suspending rights.
00:03:57
Speaker
And so I guess it's also important to note here that the repressive modalities that were used by Britain against Palestinians during the 1936 revolt or those by France against Algerians in Algeria and by Germany in Namibia and so on.
00:04:12
Speaker
These kinds of modalities were never really purely colonial inventions. And so this is obviously very relevant to today's banning and prescription of Palestine solidarity groups in Europe. These modalities of repression themselves also emerge from a back and forth between metropole and colonies. So they um form a kind of a connected history.
00:04:33
Speaker
of controlling populations both at home and abroad.
Propaganda and the Terrorism Narrative
00:04:36
Speaker
and But that's of course not to deny that the intensity and legal permissibility of violence were of course undoubtedly greater in the colonial sphere.
00:04:45
Speaker
But essentially it's the underlying doctrines of surveillance, population control and categorizing groups as so-called internal enemies. These things were developed and refined through this kind of constant exchange between between the metropole and the colonial contexts.
00:05:02
Speaker
And I think that it's important also, I think, to note that this long history of figuring anti-colonial resistance as terrorism is what really makes this framing of Palestinians and their allies as terrorists so powerful.
00:05:15
Speaker
It is what makes it stick with some people, what makes it believable to them in a way. So it's because essentially this long history is... why this notion of terrorism is powerful propaganda um or or more accurately a powerful propaganda tool for imperialism.
00:05:31
Speaker
And it's also a tool that is constantly being updated. So if you think about the ways in which it was revived, this this kind of tool of tagging people as terrorists, It was revived in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, for example, or in 2013 onwards against the backdrop of the rise of ISIL.
00:05:47
Speaker
In each of these instances and other instances, its entire Muslim and Arab populations are presented as innately hateful, aggressive, irrational, and so on. And these are, of course, not just recent in 9-11 or 2013. These are very old colonial representations and understandings of Islam.
00:06:05
Speaker
colonized subjects and especially of Arabs. So in a way, Arabs have all these excesses, right? So one important one is the love of violence for the sake of violence. um But at the same time, these colonized subjects in general and, you know, those who were particularly in Southwest Asia and North Africa, so Swana, were also presented at the same time as having these violent excesses.
00:06:28
Speaker
They were also presented as kind of lacking something. So that something is usually, you know, and then we hear this all the time, unfortunately, until today. So lacking civilization, lacking capacity to develop modern sensibilities.
00:06:41
Speaker
And of course, the latter it's um includes the capacity to self-govern. And so from these competing logics of excess and lack, Arabs and others and Suwana, according to Western imperial powers, of course, cannot therefore have any meaningful revolutions.
00:06:56
Speaker
Because by their or our very nature, and am Arab myself, they or we are unable to value freedom, justice, democracy, and all these things that the West purports are theirs or or their kind of inventions.
The Framing of Palestinian Resistance
00:07:12
Speaker
And so what they can do, however, these kind of, quote unquote, backward, undevelopable populations in Swana, what they can do, what we can do, and what they do and what we do when we rise up is basically terrorism and not legitimate resistance.
00:07:27
Speaker
And so today, not only have European and and more generally Western governments, of course, branded resistance in Palestine as terrorism, but they are also using so-called counterterrorism measures to ban Palestine groups, or rather, sorry, Palestine solidarity groups in Europe.
00:07:42
Speaker
And why is that? the The most obvious reason is obviously to silence the massive public opposition to the genocide and to protect their own complicity. complicity And this has been a coordinated effort between governments, Zionist lobby lobby groups, and arms manufacturers who have a financial stake in all of this.
00:08:01
Speaker
But they also have these European and Western governments an interest in maintaining the notion ah Palestinian resistance and Palestine solidarity constitute terrorism and are, of course, also, quote unquote, externally funded and encouraged by, let's say, Iran, not for the purposes of liberation.
00:08:20
Speaker
So it's important for these European governments, European states, Western states, to make it seem as though Palestinians, for example, are not resisting because they are colonized, but because there is some sort of external pressure on them to do so, or there is a financial motivation because ah somewhere like Iran, for example, gives them the money to do that.
00:08:41
Speaker
And so they're not doing it for the purpose of liberation, but for merely orchestrating chaos. And so this allows the West to appear civilized against all these kinds of um allegedly barbaric others and positions the Israeli ethno-nationalist and settler colonial project as necessary against the so-called Islamic terror.
00:09:00
Speaker
And so this is precisely where the myth that the Zionist entity is the quote-unquote only democracy in the Middle East comes from. Amira, it's really interesting that you started nearly 100 years ago, because I think most people would think to start post 9-11 on the so-called a war on terror era, and which is where we see the use of the the notion of terrorism really on on steroids.
00:09:26
Speaker
So I think it's really important to recognize that this is something that has been used and weaponized against people. people of the East and in particular Muslims and Arabs for nearly the last century.
Repression of Solidarity Movements in Europe
00:09:40
Speaker
Absolutely, it has been. And, you know, as I said, it's not just about Palestine or Palestinians, um although it's important for us to also specify exactly how this happens to Palestine and Palestinians.
00:09:52
Speaker
But as I said, it's um it's coming directly from the colonial playbook, right? so it's um and And it's been used also in the heart of Europe itself to basically halt resistance, even resistance that has a lot to do just with internal struggles.
00:10:07
Speaker
um So, for example, struggles in in Britain ah for democracy and republicanism, ah very similar tactics have been used against dissenters decades ago.
00:10:19
Speaker
So given this extensive history that that you've briefly laid out for us, what is so distinct about this moment in the repression? or is it merely an acceleration of repression?
00:10:31
Speaker
I think this moment represents both a significant acceleration and an expansion of um longstanding repressive tactics. I think there are continuities and and some ruptures in that sense. And in the report, we make the argument that the current counterterrorism measures in Europe replicate the logic of colonial emergency laws, which, as I mentioned before, were used to suspend rights and maintain imperial dominance.
00:10:58
Speaker
But there is also a more contemporary legacy of state-to-prussian against Palestine solidarity in Europe and elsewhere, and I think long before October 2023 as well. And even at the ALSC, we were established in 2019 because there already had been a gap in defending and supporting Palestine solidarity activists and organizations in Europe.
00:11:19
Speaker
um And long before 2023 and long before 2019, when we were established, we see the kind of vague definitions of terrorism and how they've been used as a tool of state control and also relying predominantly on the racist tropes I mentioned before.
00:11:36
Speaker
um their reliance on this and their reliance of these big definitions, they used predominantly to go after those who express solidarity with Palestine. And these include activists, all of this also prior to 2023. This includes activists, academics, journalists, students, doctors, and the list goes on.
00:11:55
Speaker
It's like encompassing all and anyone who expresses even just in words solidarity with Palestinians. And this is, of course, is always happening in conjunction with using the allegation that Palestinians and anyone who supports them are anti-Semitic.
00:12:12
Speaker
The labels of terrorism and anti-Semitism, I think, work really well together for the purposes of um this kind of imperial state propaganda. And we see, especially in more recent times, that you know while European countries have actually organized neo-Nazi movements who openly express anti-Jewish racism and who constitute a real threat to both Jews and Muslims,
00:12:34
Speaker
They are rarely ever branded terrorist or even criminal. And there is this kind of implicit assumption that maybe that racism um is grown out of disillusionment or ignorance.
00:12:46
Speaker
But when it comes to Palestinians and other other Arabs, their slash our alleged innate violent nature makes it so that they are always going to be hateful and extremist.
00:12:57
Speaker
And anyone in solidarity with them, with Palestinians, especially if that person is white, they're either merely brainwashed or naive. And that's, of course, according to state propaganda.
00:13:08
Speaker
But this has not been working as it had um as it had in the past, obviously, as as we we we see the increasing awareness around um settler colonialism in Palestine. And gradually and even before October 2023, Palestinians, whether in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine, have been able to show us a lot more clearly now that they have some access to the outside world through social media, for example.
Western Narratives and Palestinian Liberation
00:13:32
Speaker
And it's important to note that this access had been completely denied in the past. And now, of course, we see attempts at restricting it over and over again. ah But nevertheless, they have been able to show us what settler colonialism, ethno-nationalism, and Jewish supremacism look like in real time.
00:13:48
Speaker
So I would say that the escalating response, in part, is because more and more people are learning the truth and more often than not taking action against the Zionist project. But I think, of course, that October 7, 2023 constituted this really important moment for the West to update Yet again, the racist tropes around the innately violent and lacking and therefore terrorist Arab.
00:14:09
Speaker
So they wanted to make sure that Palestinians are never seen as freedom fighters. They didn't want anyone from direct action groups to academics to legitimately and convincingly discuss Palestinian anti-colonial resistance.
00:14:22
Speaker
And the thing is that, you know, there is a lot of work by these imperial governments that goes into framing the struggle for Palestinian like liberation as terrorists. It is not something that comes naturally to the outside observer, because simply anyone who has access to an Internet connection can easily understand the reality of what is going on.
00:14:40
Speaker
And the closer the Palestinians get to liberation, the more the work that needs to go into distorting that struggle and the more the repression. And so in the report, we show that the current moment marks a somewhat distinct acceleration in the sense that there had been a systematic and coordinated prescription across Europe in multiple countries.
00:14:58
Speaker
And so these countries um specifically would focus on Germany, um Britain, and France and the Netherlands, although the prescriptions have not fully happened in all the countries, only in Germany and Britain, but it's very much evident that they are in and in the process of doing so.
00:15:15
Speaker
And of course, a significant escalation we we find in the in the past two years is the pivot from charging activists under standard criminal law to using terrorism legislation.
00:15:28
Speaker
which of course has lower evidentiary thresholds and bypasses judicial oversight. And as I said, this kind of vague definitions of terrorism mean that governments can stretch it to mean whatever they want.
00:15:38
Speaker
So now it's being used to target protesters, to criminalize slogans like from the river to the sea and to go after online speech. But I think that the most distinct thing about this moment is also the growing strength of the movement.
00:15:53
Speaker
I don't think that Palestine solidarity or the Palestine solidarity movement had ever been this big and this powerful. And this simply means that the repression will accelerate and expand.
00:16:03
Speaker
And I think this is a very critical moment for all of us who are fighting for liberation and against genocide to really commit ourselves not to be afraid of what has happened and what is coming.
State Propaganda and Repression Tactics
00:16:15
Speaker
If you're enjoying this podcast, please visit our website, al-shabaka.org, where you will find more Palestinian policy analysis and where you can join our mailing list and donate to support our work.
00:16:29
Speaker
Amira, thanks for that. I think one of your last points is really important that solidarity activism has always been press, but through the use of terrorism legislation, authorities are now able to target many more people um with much less so-called evidence.
00:16:49
Speaker
And this means that the repression can be far more widespread. People have a tendency to dismiss this as, you know, something that's okay, maybe getting a little bit worse, but I don't think they fully realize what this kind of legislation actually enables authorities to do, which is far more than they've ever been able to do before.
00:17:12
Speaker
And I agree with you, but also it's it's not just that it enables these governments and these authorities to do a lot more, but I think also returning to a point I made in the beginning, it's that this label of terrorism is really convenient also as a way to convince others who are on the fence or who may not be so interested it that, oh yeah, these people, whether those who are in organized direct action groups like Palestine Action or simply people who are just marching down the street saying free Palestine, it gives them the idea that, yeah, these people are terrorists.
00:17:48
Speaker
Of course they are. And it's, as I said, it's so easy for people to believe that because terrorism has had this really long history. And it's like people have successfully been conditioned.
00:18:00
Speaker
to understand Palestine, to understand Arabs, to understand Muslims, to understand others with a big O in these specific terms. And these specific terms stick because of their history, but not just because of their history, because they keep being updated over and over again. So you mentioned 9-11, right? so And there were moments prior to 9-11 as well. you know So there are so many instances where this is updated and reinforced.
00:18:26
Speaker
hammered into the brains of the general public. And I think that's why terrorism, whether legislation or just discourse, is very powerful in in that sense. But I think also at the same time, it's slowly but surely being kind of challenged.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. I think it's been very effective, especially in the last two years, but ah perhaps even more the ability of the solidarity movement push back again.
00:18:53
Speaker
That kind of narrative and framing, not just about Palestine, but beyond, has also increased. And I think because out of necessity.
Case Studies: Palestine Action and Urgence Palestine
00:19:02
Speaker
Amira, I'm wondering if you could share some of the case studies that this report you worked on looked at.
00:19:09
Speaker
Yeah, of course. So as I said, the report focuses on four main countries that the ALSC has worked on for years and where we see this tool of prescription being used or potentially going to be used.
00:19:21
Speaker
But today I'll focus on two case studies specifically. So the recent prescription of the direct action group, Palestine Action in the UK, and then also the kind of really imminent threat of dissolution of the group Urgence Palestine in France. And excuse French.
00:19:37
Speaker
So first, let's talk about Palestine action and in in the UK. Palestine action describes itself as being committed to ending global participation in the Israeli genocide against Palestinians.
00:19:48
Speaker
And their primary method is direct action. So this means specifically targeting the facilities and assets of Elbit Systems, which is the largest Israeli weapons manufacturer, which is, of course, the profiting or has been profiting from the murder, maiming and displacement of Palestinians for the past two years, but not only.
00:20:11
Speaker
And for five years, Palestine Action has conducted a campaign against businesses and institutions that are complicit in the continued colonization of Palestine. And they, of course, escalated their actions significantly after the beginning of this genocide in October 2023.
00:20:29
Speaker
And for years, um and as kind of we alluded to before, activists faced standard criminal charges for their actions actions like trespass or criminal damage and were often acquitted by juries.
00:20:43
Speaker
And so even even since October 2023, actionists from Palestine Action have often been acquitted by juries once juries heard why they're doing what they're doing.
00:20:54
Speaker
But in a significant and dangerous escalation, the UK government moved to prescribe. So that basically means just outright ban and the Group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization using the Terrorism Act of the year 2000. And they did so in July 2025. only a few months And this designation really constitutes, despite all the escalating repression anyway, this designation specifically constitutes ah a really seismic shift.
00:21:21
Speaker
It means that now, not just carrying out actions, like direct action against, you know, property owned by weapons manufacturers and others, but even expressing support for the group.
00:21:33
Speaker
So, for example, holding a sign that says, I support Palestine action or sharing a post. This can lead not only to just arrest, but arrest under counterterrorism powers, which has ah far more severe implications than any, you know, than other forms of arrest or charges.
00:21:51
Speaker
And it's really, it's interesting, but really, really ah sad and that the government did this really interesting thing where they bundled the vote on this ban. So the the vote in parliament to ban Palestine action, they bundled it with those of two neo-Nazi groups.
00:22:06
Speaker
So they bundled it with the ban or the vote on a ban of two other neo-Nazi groups. So you have two neo-Nazi groups. One of them is like, I think it's called party. called something. i apologize, I don't remember the exact name, but these two words were in the in the title.
00:22:20
Speaker
um And so these two new Nazi groups were bundled with Palestine action, which forced parliament to approve all three at once without specific debate. and Maybe not forced parliament, but prompted parliament rather, because I know that many MPs also wanted to prescribe Palestine action. It's not like they had to do this against their will.
00:22:38
Speaker
And so in the report, we outlined that the Terrorism Act of 2000 is particularly dangerous because its broad definition of terrorism criminalizes even politically motivated property damage and treats political motivation as a core component of terrorism.
00:22:55
Speaker
And so in a way, this act effectively insulates government policy from any meaningful challenge or um or scrutiny. And, you know, the the prescription of Palestine action is also not really about property damage. um We see a long standing tradition of the use of direct action in protest in Britain britain and in europe in British and European history, which included, this direct action included property damage as well. And it is a tactic used by many celebrated protest movements throughout history and in Britain, specifically the suffragettes in the early 20th century and their actions.
00:23:28
Speaker
that also damage property are, and especially today, very widely celebrated as this like really important feminist thing that happened, which it it was. But in contrast, you know Palestine actions, property damage is ah terrorism.
00:23:43
Speaker
and so the prescription is really about neutralizing a group that effectively targets the armed strait, supporting and enabling genocide. But it's also about signaling to the public that Palestine solidarity is terrorism.
00:23:56
Speaker
So regardless of ah whether or not you are in Palestine action. And a judicial review of the prescription was granted by the hard high court. That was on July thirtieth 2025, and the court acknowledged that it is, quote, reasonably arguable, end quote, that the ban interferes with freedom of expression and that the Home Secretary who made the decision to ban, her name is Yvette Cooper, may have had the duty to consult the group before imposing the prescription.
00:24:27
Speaker
But despite this, the court denied interim relief, which means that the ban remains in effect until at least November 2025. ah when the judicial review is um probably going to take place.
00:24:39
Speaker
And so this means that any support for Palestine action remains criminalized. Now, looking at France, um we have the case of Urgence Palestine, and this is a collective that formed in October 2023. mobilizing for, quote, Palestinian self-determination, end quote.
00:24:56
Speaker
And in April 2025, the French interior minister initiated proceedings to dissolve the group ah using sweeping administrative powers and stated that this was necessary to, quote, strike the Islamists.
00:25:11
Speaker
And so, ah you know, don't don't be so confused by the terminology, the solution, ban, prescription. There are kind of slightly different legal frameworks that govern each, but ultimately the effect is is the same.
00:25:24
Speaker
And the French government accused Orgents Palestine of, quote, advocating for a terrorist organization and, quote, provoking hatred against jews And then, you know, you see this over and over again, this link between terrorism and um and and kind of anti-Jewish racism always coming up in this course.
00:25:43
Speaker
But importantly, and as groups like, for example, Amnesty International warned, this move could have a massive chilling effect. And this move could also deter all sorts of solidarity actions and anti-racism work in France.
00:25:56
Speaker
And this kind of dissolution action, like many other legal frameworks, utilizes France's sweeping administrative powers under the Internal Security Code, which basically allows the Council of Ministers to dissolve any association by decree for vaguely defined reasons, such as provoking hatred or engaging in actions that, quote, likely to provoke terrorism.
00:26:18
Speaker
um And so you can see how that can be interpreted in very broad terms. And obviously, as with other cases, this process also bypasses standard criminal proceedings and due process.
00:26:30
Speaker
And what is particularly alarming here is that is the process. And even before a dissolution decree was officially issued, the French government, for example, froze the assets of a spokesperson for Orgence Palestine.
00:26:44
Speaker
And this is a measure taken without any criminal conviction or even charges against the person.
Resistance and Civil Disobedience in the UK
00:26:49
Speaker
And I think that the threat to dissolve Orgence Palestine ah must also be understood to be part of a broader search in the solutions under current President Macron, which have in the past targeted Muslim civil society groups, anti-fascist collectives, and anti-capitalist organizations.
00:27:04
Speaker
And so I think overall these kind of two cases, but also other cases in the report, essentially constitute the securitization of solidarity. This is really what's what we see happening um in a kind of a coordinated Europe-wide effort and also beyond Europe, although we didn't really write about the U.S. and in that report, but we can see many parallels.
00:27:22
Speaker
And we see the use of administrative tools and counterterrorism measures to bypass judicial oversight and you know criminalize resistance to genocide and colonialism. And of course, you know, portraying solidarity as an existential threat to national security, which is precisely what this kind of label of terrorism does, is again another very powerful tool for controlling the population and maintaining the status quo in Palestine.
00:27:49
Speaker
So I know ah bit about the impact in the UK following the prescription of Palestine action. And I think it's it's not at all what the authorities expected. i don't think they anticipated the pushback and the fact that hundreds of people um literally hundreds of people would be willing to put themselves at risk of arrest just to continue voicing their support for the group.
00:28:11
Speaker
And this this is because of you know massive pushback on ah on a civil disobedience level. It's very organized. But there's also pushback on ah on a legal level. you know There's an ongoing effort to overturn the the prescription.
00:28:24
Speaker
But I think this has also had... undoubtedly a negative impact on that the wider Palestine Solidarity movement. What are you seeing on your side?
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, at ELSC, one of the main things we do is we support and defend Palestine solidarity um activists and advocates. And so were so we have seen since October 2023, but also since the ban on Palestine action and other organizations in other countries, we've seen a surge in incidents being reported to us.
00:28:58
Speaker
um And as you said, that's you're you're right, you know, the prescription and and and kind of the securitization of Palestine solidarity groups have had a significant but also intentional chilling effect on the broader on the broader movement.
00:29:11
Speaker
because Because ultimately, what these unlike what these governments claim, This is about suppressing resistance to genocide and criminalizing basic tactics of solidarity.
00:29:24
Speaker
This is about creating widespread confusion and fear among amongst people. And it's very clear to us, and you know I hope it's clear to many others, and I think it is, that this is a tool to target the wider movement, that prescription is a tool to target the wider movement. not It's not just about Palestine action in Britain. It's not just about Samadun in Germany. It's not just about Urgence Palestine. It's not about, you know, so on, so on, so.
00:29:49
Speaker
And there have been, as you said, you know, many, many arrests connected to the prescription. And so, for example, um recently, I mean, maybe last month or or or something like that, um a protester in Kent was threatened by armed police. So Kenton in the UK was threatened by armed police for holding a sign that read Free Gaza.
00:30:09
Speaker
And officers were claiming that this phrase itself could be interpreted as support for the now prescribed Palestine action. And so you see that this ban is leveraged to suppress even basic expressions of support for Palestine.
00:30:23
Speaker
And
Surveillance and Criminalization in Counterterrorism
00:30:24
Speaker
already, as you said, the UK has seen the hundreds of arrests since the prescription of Palestine action. And these are people who are merely holding protest signs reading, oppose genocide, i support Palestine action.
00:30:38
Speaker
they were taken in the hundreds by police in custody. and And so, as I said, the primary goal of these bans is to intimidate the broader public and deter from participating in solidarity actions.
00:30:50
Speaker
And this widespread and confusion about what the bans mean in practice is intentional. And like even recently, even before, the prescription or the dissolution of Urgence Palestine in France. So, you know, it hasn't happened yet. but even Even just the the discourse about banning it, Amnesty International, for example, has warned that this dissolution um of groups like Urgence Palestine in in France would have a, quote, deterrent effect on all individuals and organizations engaged on solidarity actions with the Palestinian people.
00:31:23
Speaker
And so this is this is a key impact of prescriptions. They are in themselves designed to paralyze political organizing and enforce silence in the face of genocide. But the repression also extends beyond formal bans into everyday surveillance and particularly targeting Muslim communities and activists.
00:31:41
Speaker
And these are kinds of the precursors to the prescriptions and the bans. They are the real kind of the heart of the work of this kind of counterterrorism framework. And so, for example, in the UK, you see the PREVENT strategy. So this is a kind of a pre-criminal counterterrorism arm of the state established in 2003 with stated purpose of um stopping people from becoming terrorists.
00:32:06
Speaker
or supporting terrorism. And this happens through the PREVENT program by identifying and intervening with individuals deemed at risk of so-called radicalization. And so basically, this pre-criminal counterterrorism arm mandates, for example, that teachers, doctors, social workers,
00:32:26
Speaker
report political expression. So such as displaying Palestine flags or chanting for an end to genocide, they report them as potential radicalization. And that's encouraged even before October 2023. And between October 2023 and January 2024, just in that really brief period, it's been reported that over 100 school children and students in the UK face prevent referrals for supporting Palestine.
00:32:49
Speaker
And, you know, universities are also major sites of securitization. So, you know, Palestine solidarity activism is heavily monitored as a potential security threat. So, for example, at Leiden University in the Netherlands and since 2023, counterterrorism measures transformed the campus into this kind of surveillance zone with undercover guards and ID checks and also very ridiculously framing academic subjects like conflict studies as potential vectors victorctors of terrorism and militant activists.
00:33:20
Speaker
And this is really like ah this institutional paranoia really also mirrors precisely what's happening with um the PREVENTS strategy in the UK, for example, and, you know, something that treats political engagement with Palestine as inherently suspect.
00:33:34
Speaker
Another impact that we're seeing on the rise now specifically, and so, you know, you you find that repression not only escalates and accelerates, but also expands, right? And so right now we're seeing, for example, the rise of entry bans, migration and movement across borders is really impacted.
00:33:53
Speaker
um So, for example, and the Netherlands prevented Salmedoun's Europe's coordinator from speaking at a Dutch university. And of course, Salmedoun, Palestine Prisoners Network, was banned in Germany already in 2023.
00:34:06
Speaker
And maybe, hopefully not, but maybe other countries will potentially follow suit, in other European countries banning Salmedoun as well. And Salmedoun is one of the case studies we also write about in the in the report.
00:34:17
Speaker
and And finally, we also see a pattern where states and intelligence agencies, it's as though they do it in kind of stages. So first, there is this stigmatization and securitization of solidarity in political declarations and then kind of general media discourse, which then legitimizes surveillance.
00:34:35
Speaker
And then that finally outlaws the the groups entirely. So for example, the the German Domestic Intelligence Service ah labeled Samadun as extremist. which then granted authorities greater power to survey activists.
00:34:49
Speaker
But then similarly, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, the BDS movement, has also in Germany been bred branded as, quote, secular Palestinian extremism, which also paves the way for future bans.
00:35:02
Speaker
And so you can see that this impact, and you know, these are just a few examples. um There's house raids, there is intimidation, there's smearing, there is all sorts of things that the impact on the wider movement is really kind of multi-pronged and really goes far beyond targeting specific organizations. It's all about creating a hostile environment for any form of Palestine solidarity by you know criminalizing groups, speech symbols, embedding surveillance in public institutions like schools and universities, and of course, using administrative and powers and counterterrorism measures to intimidate and silence activists.
Organized Resistance Across Borders
00:35:40
Speaker
Amira, you mentioned the work of the ELSC in the movement and um what they're doing um to to counter these repressive moves, but what can individuals do in the face of this increasing authoritarianism?
00:35:58
Speaker
I think for me, um on a kind of and a personal level, but I think also um at a movement level, the answer will always be organized collective resistance and one that also importantly transcends borders and rejects these kinds of criminalizations that are that are taking place.
00:36:15
Speaker
And there is so much to learn kind of transnationally. And this was also one of the reasons why we wanted to do this report and and you know kind of apply this transnational framework to our work, to to show people, to show activists and and others who are interested that these are these patterns.
00:36:32
Speaker
There are these patterns, there are these kind of coordinated efforts, but there are also these kind of telling signs of what enable us to predict what could happen. And I think collective organizing, collective resistance, learning from each other across borders is really important, not just across borders within Europe, but also those who have for the longest time been resisting authoritarianism elsewhere outside of the West entirely. And I would like to read you a short concluding paragraph from the report, which I think really encapsulates the spirit of our work at the LSE and also in general general in the report.
00:37:04
Speaker
And in the report in particular, so, quote, the escalating crackdown on Palestine solidarity across Europe is not inevitable. It is a challenge to be met with unity. The use of anti-terror measures and other mechanisms of repression show us the fragility of power, how fiercely it clings to silence and how easily it unravels when confronted by organized resistance.
00:37:27
Speaker
The bans, raids, and prosecutions detailed here are not signs of the movement's weakness, but of its growing strength, end quote. So this means that if you're able to continue organizing and protesting, commit yourself and encourage others to commit themselves to solidarity work, because without it, we would be enabling and ignoring genocide and supremacy.
00:37:48
Speaker
And, you know, more specific to the report, as I said, It is important to outline this pattern so that the movement is able to recognize when further bans are about to happen, for example, and hopefully this will enable them to resist them.
00:38:00
Speaker
And, you know, we are also seeing signs, some signs that the tool of prescription may be replicated in places like Belgium, Italy and Austria. So not just the the kind of the four focus countries in the report.
00:38:11
Speaker
And in the report, we also end with a section that provides some useful resources. And these include, for example, ah you know, some material on what to do during house raids, toolkits from campaigns that support victims of racist police violence, tools for requesting personal information from domestic intelligence agencies to challenge surveillance.
00:38:31
Speaker
So it's important to keep pushing with with whatever means we have at our disposal. And of course, we at the LSC and many others like us use the kind of very limited pushback that the law offers to challenge these prescriptions. So, for example, you know, the example of Palestine Action, we're trying to change this prescription and and to challenge it in court.
00:38:50
Speaker
um But the law is never going to be our salvation, essentially. So as I said, continue organizing and mobilizing against genocide. And importantly, also, if you ever get in trouble, please reach out to the e ELSC and report any incidents of repression.
00:39:06
Speaker
Anirad, thank you so much. We'll leave it there. But we hope to have you on another episode of Rethinking Palestine very soon. Thanks, Ciara. Thanks for having me.
00:39:20
Speaker
Rethinking Palestine is brought to you by Ashabaka, the Palestinian policy network. Ashabaka is the only global independent Palestinian think tank whose mission is to produce critical policy analysis and collectively imagine a new policymaking paradigm for Palestine and Palestinians worldwide.
00:39:37
Speaker
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