For Free Expression on Palestine

Welcome to the campaign for free expression on Palestine. The campaign and this site are works-in-progress.

Please see our articles section for the latest materials.

Our declaration is as follows:

We believe that discussion and debate on the Israel/Palestine conflict falls within the realm of free expression and should not be suppressed. We believe that political criticism is among the classes of speech we should be most interested in promoting and protecting.

We demand that the full range of views on the conflict, from Israel advocacy to Palestine advocacy, be protected and not be subject to bans, penalties, or sanctions.

We reject hate speech, anti-Semitism, incitement to violence, racism and discrimination. We believe that discussion, debate, and advocacy around Palestine and Israel should be conducted in opposition to all forms of racism, discrimination, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism.

We do not believe that characterizing Israel as an ‘apartheid state’ or campaigning for ‘boycotts, divestment, and sanctions’ against Israel constitutes hate speech, anti-Semitism, incitement to violence, racism, or discrimination. We need not agree with these characterizations or campaigns to agree that these are legitimate positions that should be protected on free speech grounds.

We believe that speech that is critical of a government and its policies, which does not target an ethnicity, nationality, or religion, must not be suppressed by a democratic society. Criticizing Israeli policies toward the Palestinians does not target Jewish people just as criticizing Sudan's policies in Darfur does not target Sudanese people, criticizing Saddam Hussein's past treatment of the Kurds did not target Iraqi or Arab people, criticizing China’s policies in Tibet does not target Chinese people, and criticizing the U.S. occupation of Iraq does not target American people.