New Report On Israel Restricting Free Expression And Assembly

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Israel claims human rights laws don't apply in Palestine. In fact, they're more important there than anywhere because occupied people are vulnerable. International human rights and humanitarian laws protect them, or they should.

It's especially unreasonable for a population occupied and denied basic rights long-term to be quiescent about it. It's their right to demonstrate and speak freely for liberation and justice.

ACRI criticized recent Knesset bills jeopardizing basic freedoms, including expression, assembly, thought and opinion. Israel's "boycott law" is particularly repressive.

It permits sanctions against supporters of anti-Israeli boycotts and "discriminates against people holding certain political views and greatly hurts a legal, legitimate and nonviolent means of protest.

"Israel's Naqba Law was also cited. It withholds funding from organizations that oppose its core principles and "does great damage to the freedom of political expression, to artistic freedom, and to the right to demonstrate.

The report also addresses human rights violations against children and foreign nationals held in detention facilities and silenced social rights in Israel. It exposes emerging Israeli fascism and sham democracy.

Israel long ago abandoned its pretense. Arundhati Roy's description of India defines Israel: "A limbless, headless, soulless torso left bleeding under the butcher's clever with a flag driven deep into her mutilated heart."

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