SUT JHALLY OPENING REMARKS AT 'CRIMINALIZING DISSENT' PALESTINIAN RIGHTS PANEL AT UMASS

Criminalizing Dissent: The Attack on BDS & Pro-Palestinian Speech, a panel featuring Cornel West, Linda Sarsour, Shaun King, Omar Barghouti, Tim Wise, and Dima Khalidi, was held at the UMass-Amherst Fine Arts Center on Nov. 12, 2019 in front of a capacity crowd despite being condemned by university officials and right-wing pro-Israel pressure groups. The panel addressed mounting efforts by U.S. political leaders, right-wing lobbying groups, and college and university administrators to silence pro-Palestinian speech on American campuses and criminalize support for BDS, a nonviolent movement that seeks to pressure Israel to end its violations of Palestinian human rights. Topics included the recent bipartisan vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to condemn BDS, a new U.S. Department of Education policy that threatens to withdraw federal funding from institutions that allow pro-Palestinian speech critical of Israeli policy, and a formal statement issued by the chancellor of UMass condemning the event.