ELSC Newsletter: April 2025
Dear Friend,
In the past month, we’ve fought some crucial battles and secured a number of legal victories, which we bring to you in this month’s newsletter, along with some useful resources to continue mobilising for Palestine.
▌CASE UPDATES
Anti-Palestinian repression in German companies – censorship and intimidation at Zalando
On 5 December 2024, the labour court in Berlin (Arbeitsgericht Berlin) settled the case of Mohamad S., represented by the ELSC, against his unlawful dismissal by Zalando. In June 2024, Mohamad, who was working at the Berlin based fashion retailer Zalando SE as a Senior Media Testing manager, received a termination of his contract after he had expressed solidarity with Palestine.
To find out more about Zalando’ s practices of intimidation, censorship, and anti-Palestinian repression, follow and share this campaign widely.
Discriminatory dismissals, such as in the case of Mohamad, are often illegal and can be fought. The ELSC successfully defended similar cases in court. We encourage employees to speak out, to keep records of the repression wherever it occurs, and to reach out to the ELSC for legal advice and support.
University of Birmingham must dismiss charges against two students for protesting genocide
The ELSC has submitted legal representations to the University of Birmingham’s Misconduct Panel on behalf of Mariyah Ali and Antonia Listrat, urging the University to halt disciplinary proceedings against the two students targeted for protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and demanding the university divest from arms companies like BAE Systems.
ELSC and Al-Shabaka Challenge Swiss Foreign Ministry’s Use of Funding to Silence Dissent
The ELSC and the Palestinian Policy Network Al-Shabaka acknowledge the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs’ (FDFA) recent correction to its public communications regarding its 2023 investigation into Palestinian and Israeli civil society organisations. After more than 16 months of sustained advocacy and legal pressure, the FDFA has clarified that the Swiss government did not terminate its contract with Al-Shabaka due to its 2023 investigation. The FDFA has also amended its statements, removing Al-Shabaka from the list of organisations it previously claimed had their contracts terminated.
Throughout this process, the ELSC and Al-Shabaka have remained committed not only to clearing Al-Shabaka’s name but also to defending the right of all Palestinian organisations to engage in critical, independent political analysis. We stand firmly alongside them, in full solidarity, as they continue to carry out vital work under increasingly hostile conditions.
(No) news from the Netherlands: Continuous complicity
Early April, the Dutch government announced that military and dual-use exports to Israel will now require individual approval rather than being covered by general licenses. In doing so, it is only tweaking policy while continuing to arm and enable Israel’s violence against Palestinians. Stricter licenses and diplomatic gestures don’t erase complicity in war crimes. The Dutch government must suspend all arms and dual-use exports to Israel immediately and without exception.
Check our website to read our previous press releases around this case and learn more about our ongoing work.
▌Support the Legal Aid Fund
Setting up a small monthly donation to our legal aid fund can go a long way to ensure ELSC’s stability and security at this critical time where we face an all-time-high number of repression cases. We cannot do this alone, and we need your help to continue supporting the movement!
▌News from the Movement
Germany to deport four Berlin residents for their Palestine solidarity activism
The ELSC calls the Berlin Immigration Office to withdraw the deportation orders against four Berlin residents (two Irish, one Polish and one US national) for their involvement in protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine and, more specifically, Germany’s complicity, which an investigation by journalist Hanno Hauenstein for The Intercept recently highlighted. This move is part of thelarger repression against the Palestine solidarity movement, aims to crack down on dissent, criminalise, and isolate the movement.
The team of lawyers working on the cases have so far been able to pause the expulsion of one Irish national by invoking an emergency junction. They are optimistic to also achieve this for the other three demonstrators which would allow them to remain in Germany to appeal their deportations.
▌ELSC Events
LAUNCHING THE ELSC’S MONITOR DATABASE OF ANTI-PALESTINIAN REPRESSION On 13th May, the ELSC will publish the first available data of anti-Palestinian repression in Europe.
The database, visualised by Forensic Architecture (FA), will be kicking off with our data set in Germany, later to be followed by our data collected in Britain and the Netherlands. This is the first available data on anti-Palestinian repression in Europe and provides journalists, activists and researchers access to reliable and verifiable information and evidence. We reveal both: scope and patterns of anti-Palestinian repression, which we have been closely monitoring for years. From censorship and surveillance; demonstration bans and arrests; disciplinary actions and workplace suspensions; financial repercussions and banking restrictions; repressive legislation like anti-BDS motions; harassment and intimidation; to threats to citizenship and immigration status, we have collected 765 incidents of anti-Palestinian repression in Germany alone – and it is just the tip of the iceberg.
We document and archive to equip advocates for Palestine with the information they need to hold governments, institutions, and individuals accountable, and to ensure that future generations understand how repression manifests, and how it is resisted. Stay tuned for more!
Our EU Legal Officer Andrea joined a panel discussion on ‘Defamation, Erasure, Censorship: Tearing Off the Colonial Gag’, organised by Assises pour la Palestine. Alongside other panelists, such as comrades from 7amleh, the discussion provided an overview of the different forms and strategies used to repress the Palestine solidarity movement across Europe, shedding light on new developments over the past 18 months. Andrea shared insights on the tools and strategies we develop at the ELSC to challenge anti-Palestinian repression, and reflections on what infrastructures we need to build for the movement to continue mobilising in consistent and creative ways.
Our EU Legal Officer Andrea joined a panel discussion on ‘Defamation, Erasure, Censorship: Tearing Off the Colonial Gag’, organised by Assises pour la Palestine. Alongside other panelists, such as comrades from 7amleh, the discussion provided an overview of the different forms and strategies used to repress the Palestine solidarity movement across Europe, shedding light on new developments over the past 18 months. Andrea shared insights on the tools and strategies we develop at the ELSC to challenge anti-Palestinian repression, and reflections on what infrastructures we need to build for the movement to continue mobilising in consistent and creative ways.
Zamzam, our Legal Officer in the Netherlands, was one of the speakers at the presentation of a major new report from Foundation Report Islamophobia (Stichting Meld Islamofobie), which details how Islamophobia exacerbates anti-Palestinian repression in the Netherlands. In 2024, half of the incidents received by the Foundation involved both Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian repression. The report, soon to be published, shows how Islamophobia contributes to increased surveillance, censorship, and repression of Palestine solidarity and to legitimising the complicity of the Dutch government in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
During the panel, the speakers also discussed the weaponisation of antisemitism by the Zionist government, Western governments supporting the Zionist settler colonial project, and Zionist lobby groups. This echoed the conclusions of our 2023 report in which we demonstrated how the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism is simply used as a political tool to suppress freedom of expression and curtail Palestine advocacy.
Zamzam laid out specific cases of anti-Palestinian repression in the Netherlands including our most recent legal victory. With this, she offered perspective to the attendees: report any form of anti-Palestinian repression you face to us; together we will always fight back.
The livestream of the panel is still available on Meld Islamofobie’s Instagram page.
▌ELSC IN THE MEDIA
Our colleague Agnese, ELSC Legal Officer working on defunding and derisking, joined Al-Shabaka’s podcast ‘Rethinking Palestine’ to examine how Israeli regime-backed NGOs are driving coordinated attacks on Palestinian civil society and Palestine solidarity movements across Europe.
Our colleague Alexander, ELSC lawyer in Germany, spoke to ND about the growing repression of freedom of assembly and speech in Germany, highlighting the systematic targeting of Palestine advocates in light of Germany’s relentless complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
On Drop Site News, Alexander lays out how Germany is weaponising antisemitism to stifle dissent and suppress free speech.
▌RESOURCES OF SUPPORT
Evidence collection on Digital Rights Violations
Since October 2023, there has been a sharp rise in censorship targeting voices in solidarity with Palestine on Meta platforms, particularly across Europe.Together with 7amleh, we are monitoring and collecting evidence of these violations as part of a project advocating for accountability in the digital space. If you have experienced any restrictions, intimidation, harassment, or censorship in the digital sphere, please share your experience and fill out the form below!
Exposing academic complicity in Germany
Browse this newly launched website which maps institutional ties that link German universities to Israeli universities, research institutions, state bodies and companies.
In June 2024, together with Stop Arms Trade and Solid Sustainability Research, and in collaboration with students from various Dutch universities, the ELSC published a website which provides an overview of all current institutional ties between Dutch universities and Israeli entities
We are proud to be in community with you. As you continue to organise and take action, make sure to visit our Know Your Rights resources and continue to report any form of repression.
In solidarity,
The ELSC
