The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: Censorship, Harassment Intensifies on Campus Amid Gaza War

[Uncle Joe]

A free speech battle is playing out on college campuses, as students, professors and others advocating for Palestinian rights across the United States are facing racist attacks and retaliation that threaten their safety and livelihoods. These attacks aim to suppress criticism of Israel and U.S. support of its actions in Gaza. This comes as the U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution "condemning Hamas and antisemitic student activities on college campuses." The resolution references a student at New York University's law school whose job offer was withdrawn after they sent a newsletter to classmates expressing "unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination." We're joined by that student, Ryna Workman, who was also suspended from their position as president of the NYU Law Student Bar Association after publicly expressing support for Palestine, and by Dima Khalidi, the founder and director of Palestine Legal, a legal aid organization dedicated to documenting and supporting people who face retaliation for supporting Palestinian rights. "Folks are now afraid to speak up, in fear that they might become the next me," says Workman about what Khalidi terms "the Palestine exception to free speech."

[JohnSJ]

1. On October 7th Hamas declared war on Israel by invading Israel,

targeting and killing over 1200 civilians, desecrating their bodies and taking hostages

Actions have consequences

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-students-barricade-in-nycs-cooper-union-as-protesters-chant-free-palestine/amp/

[Uncle Joe]

2. You are absolutely correct

"Actions have consequences"

That's the point.

[JohnSJ]

3. Incidents of harassment are occurring throughout the country on both

Muslim and Jewish students

[Uncle Joe]

5. My mistake, I thought you were speaking of the history between Israel and Palestine n/t

[Think. Again.]

6. hamas is not Palestine...

...in the exact same way that maga is not America.

[SouthernDem4ever]

8. Interesting statement

maga is America in the Congressional House at the moment. Maga is America while Dump is in the White House. The Palestinian people who supported Hamas are just as culpable as those that support the magats and everyone ends up suffering.

[Think. Again.]

11. And what about the Palestinians...

...currently being bombed, who do NOT support hamas?

"The argument that the entire population of Gaza can be held responsible for Hamas’s actions is quickly discredited when one looks at the facts. Arab Barometer, a research network where we serve as co-principal investigators, conducted a survey in Gaza and the West Bank days before the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The findings, published here for the first time, reveal that rather than supporting Hamas, the vast majority of Gazans have been frustrated with the armed group’s ineffective governance as they endure extreme economic hardship. Most Gazans do not align themselves with Hamas’s ideology, either. Unlike Hamas, whose goal is to destroy the Israeli state, the majority of survey respondents favored a two-state solution with an independent Palestine and Israel existing side by side.

(Full article: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/what-palestinians-really-think-hamas )

[SouthernDem4ever]

12. Well it's obvious Hamas doesn't care what happens to the average citizen

or they wouldn't have attacked. Until Hamas is removed, a solution seems unlikely. How would you accomplish this?

[Think. Again.]

13. I would take out hamas.

[SouthernDem4ever]

15. Which is what they are doing.

[Think. Again.]

16. No, you're wrong...

...thay are taking out all Gaza citizens.

[SouthernDem4ever]

17. They are huh?

Well assuming you are even one fifth correct, which according to their population doesn't seem likely, what other method would you use to rout out Hamas then? That was the intent of my original question.

[Think. Again.]

18. I don't have...

...anywhere near the inteligence information needed to make a strategy for that.

What they are doing is like going into a school to take out a shooter, and killing every living thing in the building instead.

[SouthernDem4ever]

20. you are making an assumption then?

Unless you are on the inside, you don't really know how they are doing this.

[Think. Again.]

21. the indiscriminate killing...

...that is being reported is very widely accepted as fact.

[SouthernDem4ever]

23. No, there is a goal. It doesn't seem indiscrimate to me. Unfortunately, innocent people are getting hurt, just as in

Israel.

[Think. Again.]

24. I believe the majority of reports...

...coming in disagree with your assesment.

[SouthernDem4ever]

25. Then we will just disagree.

Have you seen this post?

https://democraticunderground.com/100218404786

[Think. Again.]

27. I did...

...hamas is a terrible group, obviously.

And my heart breaks for the Palestinians who suffer not only under hamas, but also suffer from the unjust treatment (and killing) they are getting from so many other countries, groups, and even random American individuals who are joining right in with hamas to terrorize and demonize the Palestinians who are NOT hamas.

[Haggard Celine]

4. I don't think it's wise to stifle resistance to ideas.

I understand why some people don't like pro-Palestinian speech, but we shouldn't quash it. That can cause people to have anti-Israeli views. Some people are going to be anti-Israeli no matter what, but most people want to hear the evidence and make up their own minds. Telling people what they're allowed to say and think is not going to help the Israeli cause.

[BeyondGeography]

7. Canceling people for their views and trying to stain their futures is not just unfair

It’s fucking dumb.

[SouthernDem4ever]

9. Why would ANY woman have solidarity with Palestine

Where they have no rights and are second or third class citizens. SMH

[The Magistrate]

10. Hamas Has Presented The Student Left With A Pop-Quiz On Moral Character, Sir

A good many have failed it, Ms. Workman among them.

The line she presses is exactly that pressed by neo-nazis and such, namely that 'Free speech' does not just mean I can say what I please, but that I can do so without experiencing the slightest consequences to reputation and social station. This is no more true for her than any Nazi spotted in the mob who loses his job at the shop.


"You will not rise to the occasion. You will default to your level of training."

[Uncle Joe]

14. Or anyone perceiving that they're speaking against a Nazi equivalent that loses their job

"The line she presses is exactly that pressed by neo-nazis and such, namely that 'Free speech' does not just mean I can say what I please, but that I can do so without experiencing the slightest consequences to reputation and social station. This is no more true for her than any Nazi spotted in the mob who loses his job at the shop."

[The Magistrate]

19. A Little Clarity, Sir?

Are you saying Ms. Workman spoke against equivalents to Nazis?

[Uncle Joe]

22. I'm simply taking your position to its' logical conclusion

You posed the worst possible scenario in regards to Ms. Workman's motivation, I just added some balance.

[The Magistrate]

26. Do You Imagine I Had Not, Sir?

Of course people who say things I agree with may find themselves in grief because of it. Sometimes I even feel they had it coming , because they were stupid to do or say that particular thing in the existing circumstances.

You will have to spell out my imputation regarding the young lady's motivations. I stated that she failed a test of moral character. Her position boils down to Hamas did nothing particularly wrong, certainly not of their own volition, but because the actions of someone else drove them to it, and she does not seem aware that in doing so she is declaring only Israel has any moral agency, or obligation to good conduct, and that those who conceived, planned, and executed atrocity are not solely responsible for what they did. I don't see much reason to doubt this is because the first news of some bloody strike against Zionist occupation was good news for the cause, and advancing the cause is all that matters, but I do not state that as a fact.