ELSC Newsletter: February 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
Dutch court confirms: Expressing solidarity with the Palestinian resistance is protected under Dutch law
Palestinian employee Nouraldin Alsweirki has won a landmark legal victory over his former employer, Dutch software company Speakap B.V., which fired him in October 2023 over LinkedIn posts in which he supported the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Zionist settler-colonial occupation. In November 2024, the Court of Amsterdam affirmed that Speakap had discriminated against Nouraldin based on his political beliefs and ordered the company to pay a significant compensation to him. Now, three months later, Speakap officially let the deadline to appeal the Court’s decision expire, making the judgement final. This case was won in a collaboration with lawyer Seyma Arikan from Spuistraat 10 Advocaten. Read more
We call it a landmark because it shows that expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, including speaking out for the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Zionist settler-colonial occupation also through armed struggle, is a protected political belief on the basis of which you cannot be discriminated against under Dutch anti-discrimination law. The ELSC encourages employees to express any form of solidarity, keep records of the repression by your employer whenever it occurs, and reach out to the ELSC for legal support or advice as soon as possible.
This legal victory demonstrates that there can no longer be impunity for employers that repress anti-genocide, anti-apartheid, and anti-colonial voices, so let there be none. Speak out. Collect evidence. End the impunity.
Attempted criminalisation of the slogan ‘Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea’. Hearing at the Tiergarten District Court suspiciously postponed
On Monday, 27 January 2025, another case in the attempted criminalisation of the slogan ‘Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea’ should have been heard at the Tiergarten District Court. The Berlin public prosecutor had opened an investigation against filmmaker Dror Dayan for the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations (§ 86a StGB), pressing charges. The case concerns a Twitter comment from November 2023, in which Dror Dayan denounced the criminalisation of the slogan in Germany.
However, the judge postponed the ruling on spurious grounds, citing that an expert witness could not attend the trial for health reasons. The expert witness in question is a police officer in the Berlin State Criminal Police who had written and submitted an extensive report to clarify whether the slogan “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” constitutes a symbol of Hamas, highlighting that the slogan had been used by a large political spectrum for many decades, and concluding that there was no compelling evidence to claim the slogan was a Hamas symbol in particular. Check out Dror’s interview with left Berlin
Vienna Administrative Court Declares Police Raid of Palestine Solidarity Encampment Vienna Unconstitutional
ELSC’s Senior Legal Officer Kiran comments: “We welcome the ruling obtained by our partner lawyers in Austria as a legal victory against the increasingly authoritarian anti-Palestinian repression committed by European police authorities. The court made it abundantly clear that freedom of expression and assembly are constitutional rights which are not to be granted by the police but, rather, must be protected by the authorities. This ruling can serve as a legal precedent for similar unlawful police actions against the growing Palestine solidarity movement in Europe.” Read More.
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!
ELSC EVENTS
Last week, our Senior Communications Officer Abir spoke at a panel organised by Palinale 2025 in Berlin on “Manufacturing Consent in Germany: who’s (dis)informing the narrative on Palestine?”. The discussion addressed how public opinion is manufactured in Germany; how we are (dis)informed about wars abroad and at home; who’s arranging the facts and non-facts presented to us in film, news media, and academia; who determines the vocabularies and grammars used in German discussions on Palestine; and who decides which opinions are allowed and which views are prohibited in Germany.
On February 12th, we held a special discussion on the occasion of the new submission of the Ziada case before the European Court of Human Rights, challenging the Netherlands’ decision to grant immunity to Israeli officials accused of war crimes. Joined by UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, and leading experts in the field of international justice and human rights advocacy, we discussed the challenges faced by legal activists, the role of the Netherlands in upholding international justice, and the broader implications for accountability for international crimes committed by Israel.
ELSC IN THE MEDIA
Nouraldin, Seyma, and ELSC’s Juul were interviewed by several Dutch media about the landmark legal victory of Nouraldin shared earlier in this newsletter. In a video of Left Laser, for example, they explained what the ruling means for employees in the Netherlands expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and resistance.
The national Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant focused on Nouraldin’s storyfeaturing an interview with him, with Seyma and Juul putting the case into a broader perspective.
Our Advocacy and Communication Officer in Britain, Tasnima, commented on the University of Birmingham’s targeting of two students over their support for Palestine. The ELSC has observed a growing trend of repression targeting speech in solidarity with Palestine across European universities over the past year.
We also support academics like Ray Campbell, who was wrongly accused of antisemitism for his criticism of Israel’s genocidal project. Goldsmiths University has now apologised and paid a settlement. Tasnima commented: “Universities need to uphold their commitment to free expression and resist the undue influence of Zionist lobby groups that seek to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism (…). The misuse of frameworks like the IHRA definition to retroactively punish lawful speech sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the principles of academic freedom.” Read More.
RESOURCES OF SUPPORT
Repression of Palestine Solidarity in Britain
Were you arrested at the London National Palestine Protest on January 18, 2025? We’re gathering information to build a clearer timeline and push back against the state’s false narrative.
British Military Collaboration with Israel
A new report from the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) lays bare the extent of the UK’s military involvement in the Israeli assault on Gaza. Cataloguing for the first time evidence of the many layers of collaboration between the UK and Israel in this genocidal project, the report details the UK’s active involvement in the Israeli arms industry, British provisions of logistical support and weapons transfers to the Israeli military, British protection of Israel’s military infrastructure, direct military intervention from the UK in Yemen to support Israel’s goals and repeated, ongoing intelligence provision from the UK to Israel via surveillance flights. Read the report
New case related to the ban of Palestine Solidarity Duisburg (PSDU)
On 16 May 2024, the NRW Ministry of the Interior not only searched the homes of four activists of Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (PSDU), but also the workplace of Ahmad Othman, one of the four targeted activists and plaintiffs against the ban on PSDU. In addition, the police confiscated several devices belonging to Ahmad’s employer, who works in IT.
Ahmad received his final notice of termination, effective 31 December 2024. The reasons given included: alleged unconstitutional attitude due to Ahmad’s membership of the PSDU.
On Friday, 29 November 2024, Ahmad filed a wrongful dismissal suit and will continue to use all legal means to get his job back. Let’s support him in this: Keep donating to the Committee against the ban on Palestine Solidarity Duisburg, so he can get the legal representation he deserves!
OPEN VACANCIES
oin our team! We are looking for a Chief Legal Officer to lead our legal strategy across Europe. The deadline for applications is February 28th, 2025. Apply Now
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
