Institutional repression of support for Palestine/Palestinians; the systems-level perpetuation of anti-Palestinian racism; the shared interest of colonial states in normalising colonial oppression of indigenous peoples.

What are some examples of this?

• The stark difference in the way aid and military support is allocated to different peoples based on Western interests and not need or urgency; compare US Foreign and Military aid to Israeli, Ukrainian and Palestinian populations;

• Enacting anti-BDS (Boycotting, Divesting from, and Sanctioning Israel) Movement mechanisms like those in many US states, censoring Palestinian support from mainstream media and institutions, etc.

• Targeting Palestinian support in academics/education/law/medecine, with the examples of ‘blacklists,’ doxxing trucks, defamatory projects like the Canary Mission, etc.;

• Mainstream voices call Palestinian human rights “complicated,” cannot be examined properly by them.

What are the impacts of this?

• Creates an academic chill, both explicit and implicit censorship, as well as self-censorship, threat of loss of work, student repression and loss of safety, etc.

• Ignores international law and the longstanding principles of responsibility to protect, denigrates the importance and integrity of the ICC and the UN, ignoring that the “two state solution” has been dead for decades, etc.

• Requires and perpetuates the dehumanization of Palestinians, as well as the abstraction of the ongoing occupation and root causes of the Palestinian condition;

• This also manifests in nonviolent means of resistance and Palestinian solidarity are treated the same as violent ones. 

What are some responses to this?

• Our institutions reinforce systemic oppressions to uphold power dynamics, and this is the case in Palestine as well-- how else can you explain the obscene amount of money the US sends to Israel;

• Why should Palestinians accept the double standard in how their rights are seen and protected?