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Ten Palestinian and Dutch organisations will appeal a landmark case against the Dutch State on 3 September 2025 in The Hague. They demand an end to Dutch exports supporting Israel’s occupation and war crimes in Palestine, arguing the State fails to uphold international law and prevent genocide. Media are invited to attend the hearing.
On 17 July 2025, the ELSC filed a criminal complaint against a Berlin police officer filmed violently assaulting protesters during the Nakba Day demonstration. Based on video evidence and an investigation by Forensis, the complaint challenges the official narrative and highlights systematic repression of Palestine solidarity in Germany. ELSC urges a full and fair investigation.
Fired for saying “Free Palestine” — Jasmine, a student usher at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, was dismissed after speaking out during a private event attended by top officials. Backed by ELSC and CUB union, she’s now taking legal action, challenging what she calls an unlawful dismissal and part of a wider pattern of repression.
A Berlin court ruled Germany’s political speaking ban on Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah unlawful. Backed by ELSC and ICJP, this marks a second legal win against misuse of migration law. The court affirmed Abu-Sittah’s freedom of expression, rejecting the state’s claim that his Gaza genocide comments threatened Germany’s democratic order. A key victory for civil liberties.
ELSC and ICJP are challenging Germany’s ban on Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah’s political activity and public speaking. The ban, imposed in April 2024, targeted his participation in events on Gaza. The Berlin Administrative Court will hear the case on 14 July. This follows ELSC’s success in overturning his Schengen ban earlier this year.
ELSC Takes Vienna’s Anti-BDS SLAPP Case to European Court of Human Rights
The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) is taking legal action at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) after Austria’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a BDS Austria activist. The case concerns a Facebook post deemed defamatory by the City of Vienna, which has used SLAPP tactics to suppress Palestine solidarity. ELSC argues this violates the right to freedom of expression and assembly, and warns of a broader trend of legal repression across Europe.
UK taxpayer-funded British charity CBRL is trying to force Palestinian scholar Dr Toufic Haddad into Israel’s apartheid courts, despite operating under UK law. The London Employment Tribunal will hear his case from 1–4 July 2025, challenging his dismissal and raising urgent questions about academic freedom, political discrimination, and British complicity in Israeli apartheid.
Seven rights groups, including the ELSC, have condemned the UK Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a dangerous attack on the right to protest. Hours after receiving a joint letter urging restraint, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved forward with the ban—further criminalising Palestine solidarity and deflecting from the UK’s obligations under international law.
German authorities separated a Palestinian mother from her one-year-old son, labeling the baby a “security threat” over his mother’s Palestine activism. The ELSC is now challenging this shocking abuse of migration law before Germany’s Constitutional Court, exposing how racist bureaucracy is weaponised to punish dissent and silence Palestinian voices under the guise of national security.
The High Court approved Cardiff University’s sweeping injunction banning Palestine solidarity protests across 10 campus sites. Despite ELSC’s intervention, the order targets “Persons Unknown” and applies until July 2026. This troubling precedent reflects growing repression of student protest, especially those challenging university ties to companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes, like Airbus. ELSC continues to resist.
Berlin, Germany – 7 June 2025, The European Legal Support Center (ELSC), through lawyer Ahmed Abed, has filed two emergency motions with the Administration Courts of Frankfurt and Berlin on June 6, urging German authorities to block the transit of Israeli military drone components through Frankfurt Airport.
In a troubling precedent, Berlin’s Higher Administrative Court overturned a pro-demonstration ruling on Nakba Day, enabling violent police repression. The ELSC report exposes how German authorities are silencing Palestinian solidarity through legal manipulation, disinformation, and brutal force. Read our full report and explore the new repression database.
The ELSC has applied to intervene in High Court proceedings brought by Trinity College, Cambridge, seeking to ban a Palestine solidarity encampment. The intervention aims to defend protest rights and challenge legal overreach that threatens to suppress student activism and shield investments in Israeli arms and occupation-linked companies.
Seven civil society organisations are demanding answers from the UK government after new data reveals major discrepancies in arms exports to Israel. Despite announcing a suspension in September 2024, the data shows a sharp rise in military shipments—raising urgent questions about transparency, accountability, and compliance with international law.
Arsenal FC faces legal action for firing long-serving kitman Mark Bonnick over pro-Palestine posts. With support from the ELSC, Bonnick challenges his dismissal, highlighting football’s complicity in censorship and growing repression of Palestine solidarity.
Berlin 14th May 2025 – The Berlin assembly authority has restricted this year’s Nakba demonstration in Berlin to a stationary rally at Südstern. The ELSC views this as an unacceptable restriction of freedom of expression and assembly, rights protected under Articles 5 and 8 of the German Basic Law. In response, the ELSC has filed…
The European Legal Support Center (ELSC), in collaboration with Forensic Architecture and Forensis, has launched a groundbreaking public database documenting 766 incidents of anti-Palestinian repression in Germany. The findings reveal a pattern of institutionalised censorship, criminalisation, and intimidation targeting activists, students, and cultural workers. This project marks the first in a series across Europe, providing open access to evidence supporting legal action, advocacy, and accountability.
Despite months of Zionist harassment, intimidation, and institutional neglect, TU Delft’s master’s course Architecture and Colonialism concludes with a student exhibition opening 6 May. Organised by BK Scholars for Palestine, the course exposed the colonial roots of architecture in Palestine and confronted the university’s complicity in Israeli war crimes—an effort met with smear campaigns and stalking of its Palestinian lead lecturer, Dr Nama’a Qudah.
Our database will reveal scope and patterns of anti-Palestinian repression On Tuesday 13th May the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) will publish the first available database on anti-Palestinian repression in Germany, to be followed by other countries across Europe As European governments continue to provide moral, financial and military support to Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign…
Al-Shabaka and ELSC challenge the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s use of funding to stifle Palestinian advocacy. While Switzerland corrected misleading claims about Al-Shabaka, the groups warn of broader dangers—where political pressure and donor conditions silence dissent and undermine civil society’s ability to expose injustice and defend human rights in Palestine and beyond.
Germany plans to deport four Palestine solidarity activists in Berlin. The ELSC denounces this as a politically motivated attack on dissent, exposing Germany’s escalating anti-Palestinian repression under Mayor Kai Wegner. Legal action against the order is underway.
In a single night of attacks last week Tuesday, more than 400 Palestinians were killed as Israeli air raids struck residential areas while people slept, intensifying the systematic destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure and civilian lives.
On 21 March, the High Court rejected Cambridge University’s attempt to ban Palestine-related protests. While some restrictions remain, the ruling marks a key win for protest rights and freedom of expression on campus.
BT3P returns to court on 26 March to challenge Germany’s anti-BDS resolution. This landmark case defends free speech and fights anti-Palestinian repression with support from the European Legal Support Center (ELSC).
Mohamad S., a Lebanese marketing professional at Zalando in Berlin, was unlawfully terminated for criticizing the company’s biased pro-Israel stance. Supported by ELSC, Mohamad successfully challenged his dismissal, highlighting systemic anti-Arab racism in German corporate environments.
The High Court will hear Cambridge University’s bid to restrict Palestine-related protests. ELSC and Liberty argue the injunction unlawfully limits free expression and assembly. If granted, it sets a dangerous precedent for UK universities suppressing protest rights and political dissent.
The High Court has rejected the University of Cambridge’s bid to ban Palestine-related protests until 2030. This ruling affirms students’ right to protest, pushing back against the University’s attempts to suppress political expression and solidarity activism on campus.
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…
This press release is available in English, Dutch, and Arabic. Scroll down for different language versions. AMSTERDAM, 12 FEBRUARY 2025 – 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…
Joint Press Release The Hague, 7 February 2025 On 12 February, Ismail Ziada, a Dutch-Palestinian citizen, will submit a response to the Dutch government at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), challenging the Netherlands’ decision to grant immunity to Israeli officials accused of war crimes. Ziada contends that this ruling denied his fundamental right to…
Joint press release – Amsterdam, 13 December 2024 Today, the District Court of The Hague delivered its ruling in the lawsuit filed by a coalition of Palestinian and Dutch civil society organisations against the Dutch State. The case called for the enforcement of measures to align Dutch policies with international law, particularly regarding arms exports…
+ DEUTSCHE VERSION UNTEN Berlin – November 27, 2024 Five Palestinian plaintiffs, along with the villages of Iskaka, Marda, and Taybeh in the occupied Palestinian territory, represented by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), have filed a landmark legal complaint against major German media publishing group Axel Springer S.E., alleging violations of…
On 30th September, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has warned the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH) in an open letter to comply with its obligations to prohibit genocide and apartheid and cut its cooperation agreements with the Israeli Technion University, which is directly involved in crimes against humanity in Palestine.
Berlin, 29 October 2024 – The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has filed an emergency motion with the Berlin Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin), requesting that the court mandate the German government to stop the delivery of military RDX explosives to Israel, which are currently being transported on the German cargo ship MV Kathrin. Berlin-based lawyer…
A coalition of Palestinian and Dutch civil society organisations are suing the Dutch state for failing to prevent genocide in Gaza and other Israeli violations of international law. The coalition’s main requests to the Dutch civil court include a ban on the export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel as…
GERMAN AND ARABIC BELOW In the early morning hours of the 16th of May 2024, over 50 police officers raided the homes and workplaces of alleged members of the Palestine solidarity group Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (PSDU). The Ministry of Interior of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia had outlawed the group just shortly before the raids. …
LONDON, 04 SEPTEMBER 2024: Disclosed emails reveal that the Government’s decision to
The case of Daria On 22nd August 2024, activist Daria will face her first hearing at the Berlin court Amtsgericht Tiergarten. She is accused of ‘circulation of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organisations’ (§ 86 StGB) for chanting the slogan “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” at a demonstration on the 9th…
Il Corriere Della Sera, one of Italy’s most prominent newspapers, has paid around 15,000 Euros in damages to Shawan Jabarin, the General Director of Al-Haq, for falsely accusing him in 2021 of being a terrorist and murderer, an unfounded allegation based on Israeli propaganda and smear campaigns.
DUTCH VERSION BELOW Joint Press Release by European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Stop Arms Trade, Solid Sustainability Research, The Rights Forum – Amsterdam, 7 June 2024 Relations with Israel’s military-industrial complex and Israeli human rights violations underline demands from actions at universities Today, civil society organisations Stop Arms Trade, European Legal Support Center (ELSC) and…
Press release – 23 May 2024, Amsterdam DUTCH VERSION BELOW & ARABIC VERSION HERE The European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Al-Haq, SOMO and The Rights Forum have filed a criminal complaint to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service to hold Booking.com to account for profiting from the commission of war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory…
GERMAN VERSION BELOW/DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG UNTEN Press release – ELSC (European Legal Support Center), PIPD (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Law for Palestine under the Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative, and Forensis. Berlin – 5 April 2024 On April 5, 2024, Berlin lawyers are filing an urgent application against the German government to stop the…
GERMAN VERSION BELOW/DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG UNTEN Berlin – 23 February 2024 Today, a group of German lawyers – representing families of two Gazans – is filing a criminal complaint against German Government officials (1), for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related…
Amsterdam, January 22, 2024 The Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative has issued a stark warning to European public officials of the Austrian, French, German and Dutch governments that they could be individually liable for their role in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of Genocide through their involvement…
A controversial definition of antisemitism that conflates criticisms of Israel with antisemitism has been used on campuses, leading to restrictions on the freedom of speech of staff and students, the new report reveals. This is the first study to expose the harmful implications of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism following its adoption in UK universities. It was conducted by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), the largest academic association in Europe focused on the study of the Middle East and North Africa, and the European Legal Support Center (ELSC). The report demonstrates that the definition is not fit for purpose and is infringing on academic freedom and freedom of speech, while also harming the mental health, reputation and career prospects of students and staff.
Today, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) launches its new report “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism – Violating the Rights to Freedom of Expression and Assembly in the European Union and the UK”. The report is the first case-based account of human rights violations resulting from the institutionalisation and application of the controversial IHRA definition by the European Union and the UK. The growing concerns about the negative human rights impact of the IHRA definition, have so far been ignored by the EU.
After being sanctioned for posting messages in support of Palestine on their internal work portal, two Muslim women are suing their employer for discrimination. Lloyds Bank PLC (“LBP” or “Lloyds”) is one of the biggest banks in the UK.
The Don’t Buy Into Occupation coalition releases its second report exposing European financial institutions’ involvement in the Israeli illegal settlement enterprise.
A Viennese administrative authority dismissed the legal proceedings launched by the City of Vienna to impose a fine up to €3.500 on an activist from BDS Austria after he was found guilty of defamation of the City. This positive decision leaves the door open for an acquittal in other civil proceedings targeting the activist.
On 17 October 2022, 65 Palestinian, regional and international organisations sent a joint letter to the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, welcoming him in his new position and highlighting some of the recent alarming Israeli policies and practices imposed against Palestinians.
UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, SR on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, SR on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and SR on the situation of human rights defenders sent a communication to Austrian authorities, asking clarification on the City of Vienna’s anti-BDS resolution and the lawsuit the City filed against a BDS activist.
On 16 May 2022, the Berlin Data Protection Authority (DPA) decided in favour of Dr. Anna Younes and issued a warning against VDK, representing RIAS Berlin and MBR. The two organisations had prepared a secret dossier on Dr. Younes, which aimed at identifying “her positions on Israel and BDS.” The dossier also framed her as supporter of terrorism, sexism and anti-Jewish racism and resulted in her disinvitation from a public event on anti-racism organised by Die Linke in November 2019. Furthermore, the DPA rejected RIAS/MBR’s claim and stated that they “did not have a serious scientific purpose” nor a journalistic one when preparing this dossier. After almost two years, the DPA finally found RIAS/MBR violated European data protection law (GDPR) and recognised Dr. Younes’ basic data rights as a German citizen. Further legal action will be taken.
On 6 May 2022, the Berlin District Court upheld Dr. Younes’ claims and ordered VDK – the German state-funded organisation that legally represents RIAS Berlin and MBR – to give Anna Younes access to data that the two civil society organisations had gathered on her and passed on to others. The information released so far reveals that RIAS and MBR have been collecting people’s personal data based on their “positions on Israel and BDS.”
Last week, the Berlin police prohibited public gatherings organised by civil society organisations in Berlin Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, Palästina Spricht and Samidoun, planned to take place over the following weekend to commemorate the 74 years of the Nakba (the forced transfer of hundreds of Palestinians from their homeland). In the face of this imminent threat to the rights of freedom of expression and of association and the right of non-discrimination, the ELSC sent an urgent letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on racism, on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.
In a highly contestable decision delivered on 6 April 2022 in the case between the City of Vienna and a member of BDS Austria, the Commercial Court of Vienna endorsed the City’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), ruling against the BDS activists. The Austrian activists will appeal this decision.
The ELSC published a letter signed by nearly 500 scholars, artists, activists, organisations and human rights defenders to support Dr. Anna Younes and other scholars, activists and journalists against censorship and unlawful surveillance in Germany.
We joined a coalition of more than 100 organisations asking European citizens to sign the European Citizens Initiative that will push the EU to ban trade with illegal settlements and therefore align its policy with international law. See our press release below.
Shahd Abusalama faced a smear campaign and was about to lose a teaching position at Sheffield Hallam University. Her case, which we supported, illustrates the trend of growing repression of Palestinian rights advocacy on UK campuses. Shahd’s case also illustrates that solidarity and coordination are an effective way to collectively push back against unjust repression of legitimate advocacy for Palestinian rights.
On Thursday 27 January 2022, the Court of Appeal of Lyon (Cour d’Appel de Lyon) is set to hear the case of TEVA vs. Olivia Zémor. The defendant Olivia Zémor is the President of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine which is a group of BDS activists. She was acquitted on the 18 May 2021 by the criminal court (Tribunal Correctionnel de Lyon) dismissing the allegation of incitement to discrimination. The judgement, outlined below, is a turning point in protecting the right to boycott in French courts.
A member of BDS Austria is being sued by the Municipality of Vienna for sharing a Facebook post stating: ”Visit Apartheid – Free Palestine”. The Municipality has filed a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) to deliberately repress and intimidate BDS-Austria and Palestinian rights advocates. Such a tactic threatens democratic values and fundamental rights. The hearing at the Commercial Court of Vienna will take place on the 28th of January 2022.
Today, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), an organisation that monitors incidents of repression against Palestinian rights advocates in Europe and provides them with legal support, published a report on chilling Palestinian rights advocacy in the Netherlands. The report, which is the first of its kind ever published, highlights the many attempts to stifle activism, human rights work, artistic activities or simple political expression on Israel and the Palestinian people.
672 European financial institutions have financial relationships with 50 businesses that are actively involved with illegal Israeli settlements. These financial institutions provided US$ 114 billion in the form of loans and underwritings and held investments to the amount of US$ 141 billion in shares and bonds of these companies. This is the key finding of a new research report published today by a cross-regional coalition of Palestinian and European NGOs, which looked at financial flows between January 2018 and May 2021.
The ELSC has welcomed the opportunity to make a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, for her 2021 Human Rights Council report. The ELSC submission argued that the campaign initiated by the Israeli government and several politically motivated NGOs labelling the BDS movement and its supporters as inherently antisemitic amount to disinformation.
A new legal brief produced jointly by the European Legal Support Center and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights has found that it is legal for HS2 Ltd – the company building the UK’s new high speed railway HS2 – to exclude from its procurement process companies which are complicit in ongoing breaches of international law, such as Spanish construction company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF).
The ELSC has been assisting lawyer Ahmed Abed who is representing three plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought before the Administrative Court of Berlin challenging the lawfulness of the anti-BDS motion passed by the German Bundestag on 17 May 2019.
