ELSC Materials

Access the website here: https://academiccomplicity.nl    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 […]

As an organisation defending and empowering the Palestinian movement as well as supporting Palestinian agency, the ELSC has recorded hundreds of cases of repression against Palestine advocacy since its creation in 2019.   In recent months, we have monitored a drastic increase in the level of anti-Palestinian repression. At the same time, we have witnessed an […]

As the solidarity movement with Palestine is growing in The Netherlands and actions are spreading all over the country, we are encouraging protesters to know their rights! The ELSC drafted this Toolkit in response to several requests from the Palestine solidarity movement for an overview of protest law in the Netherlands. Besides answering general questions […]

Can I protest at university? What powers do my university have if I protest? What are my rights as an international student? ELSC collaborated with UK-based organisations Liberty, with support from Jude Lanchin, to publish a new ‘Know your rights’ resource for students and staff protesting at university. READ MORE HERE Liberty challenges injustice, defends […]

In questa guida troverete informazioni utili riguardo al diritto di manifestare, ai poteri delle f.o, sulla legittimità dell’utilizzo di cartelli e slogan e molto altro! Accedi al toolkit qui (in italiano) This guide contains useful information about the right to demonstrate, the powers of law enforcement, the legality of using placards and slogans in Italy, […]

Together with BRISMES Campaigns and London Region UCU Reps, we prepared a toolkit for UK higher education employees. If you work at a university in the UK and have questions about your rights or concerns when advocating for Palestine, this guide will offer some helpful answers! Access the toolkit here.

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.

On 6 June 2023, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) launched 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. 

UK-based organisation CAGE published two expert reports signed by leading scholars, Professor John Dugard SC [1] and Professor Avi Shlaim [2] on the notion of “Israel’s right to exist”.  As observed in several cases of suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy, this concept is often very broadly interpreted by pro-Israel actors and raised to purport allegations […]

On 7 January 2021, the European Commission (“EC”) published a “Handbook for the practical use of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism” (hereafter: Handbook), notwithstanding the widespread criticism and concerns surrounding the International Holocaust Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism (hereafter: IHRA-WDA) in the last years. As also reflected in its title, the Handbook aims to promote Good Practices in the application of the IHRA-WDA. It contains sections on the IHRA-WDA, presents the 11 Contemporary Examples of Antisemitism attached to it (hereafter: Examples) and lists (alleged) antisemitic incidents. It also offers Good Practices on the use of the IHRA-WDA in various policy areas, including law enforcement, the judiciary and education; and contains a Good Practices checklist.

European courts and national data protection authorities dealt with the so-called “journalistic exemption” rule when the Data Protection Directive, preceding the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), came into force. The aim of this legal exemption is to relieve journalistic, academic, artistic expressions from certain obligations under Data Protection Law and to reconcile the right to the protection of personal data with freedom of expression and information.
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In recent years, activists for Palestinian human rights in Germany have had to turn to the courts to defend their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly against their cities, which seek to impose the anti-BDS resolutions adopted by local and regional parliaments, as well as the German Bundestag. To date, at least seven German courts have consistently upheld the right of activists to use public facilities for BDS-related events.

The ELSC publishes a legal opinion on “The negative impact of the ‘anti-BDS motion’ adopted by the Vienna City Council on 27 June 2018 on the fundamental rights of freedoms of expression, association and assembly”, signed by renowned scholars Xavier Dupré De Boulois, Eric David, Richard Falk, and John Reynolds.

The ELSC released a new leaflet addressing 10 situations in which our team can defend the right to advocate for Palestinian rights.

This page includes a list of links and selected quotes from reactions by the UN and EU Officials, EU Member States and international NGOs and organisations condemning the designation of Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) as “terrorist organisations” by the Israeli Minister of Defence on 19 October 2021.

“The Attempt to Chill Palestinian Rights Advocacy in the Netherlands” is the first monitoring report on the attempted repression of civic space for Palestinian rights. It documents 76 repression incidents between 2015 – 2020, aiming to expose civic space repression, and legally challenge it through advocacy.

Our 2020 Year-in-Review provides an overview our work, achievements and cases in the defence of Palestinian rights advocacy in Europe in 2020.

Thursday 11 June 2020 marked a decisive victory for freedom of expression of Palestinian rights defenders in Europe. The European Court of Human Rights Court (ECtHR) rendered its judgement, unanimously ruling that the French highest court’s criminal conviction of BDS activists campaigning for a boycott of Israeli products violated their freedom of expression, protected by article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Statement by John Dugard on the legitimacy of the right to boycott

You will find in it an overview of accomplishments in the ELSC’s first year on the main pillars of our program – Monitoring, Legal Defence and Empowerment of the movement for Palestinian rights. Read our 2019 Annual Report

I am emeritus professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University, Israel. I have taught history and philosophy of the humanities, social sciences and cultural sciences, including German history of the humanities, at this institute. Among other things, I have published on German-Jewish history, on […]

In the case of three German civil society organisations against the city of Bonn in 2019, the ELSC provided a legal memo claiming the full legitimacy of BDS under International law and underlying that the right to boycott Israel falls within the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, of assembly and of association (Article 10 and Article 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, ECHR).