Over the course of this fall, being on the side of peace and justice has gradually meant living in a state of fear. Since September, the FBI has subpoenaed and raided the homes of 19 activists seeking and end to violence in Palestine and Columbia. This rash of raids stems from a court ruling this summer that redefines the charge of "material support to terrorism." Before, material support meant supplying support in the form of finances, weaponry, intelligence, or combat training to political bodies defined by the state department as "terrorist organizations." Now "material support to terrorism" includes vocal support for such organizations or even advocating open communication with them. For activists in my community, this means that anyone who advocates negotiations with the government in Gaza could be charged with "material support to terrorism," because Gaza is currently governed by Hamas. Essentially, it is now a crime to promote direct reconciliation between Palestinian/Gaza organizations and Israel/the United States. The government has criminalized opinions that are not in line with our government's foreign policy, and it is for this reason that peace activists in Chicago, Minneapolis, and across the US have become targets of the FBI.
The raids and subpoenas have been a terrifying new reality I have had to contend with this fall, but it wasn't until last Friday that these FBI tactics affected me personally. Three members of the non-violence activism community -- two Palestinian and one Jewish -- were subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. What prompted these subpoenas? It had to do with a trip they took last summer to Israel and the West Bank. This trip was a delegation designed to bring to light realities of occupation and conflict for both Palestinians and Israelis.
I know these three very well. I call all of them my friends. I was shocked to hear they had been approached by the FBI. All three of them have been active members of the Chicago community to bring a human rights-based solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have never heard any of them espouse radical or harmful beliefs. They merely ask for Palestinians and Israelis to be held to the same rights and standards. The work they are doing is not even remotely close to advocating terrorism.
Please, help my friends! This charge is completely baseless, and they are at risk of having their lives ruined for promoting peace between Israel and Palestine. The best thing you can do is call US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald! Call 312-353-5300, dial 0 for operator, and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk (paralegal). Please don't allow the FBI to get away with this. Tell them how you feel about the intimidation of activists.
Daniel Kaplan is an intern in the American Friends Service Committee's Middle East program in Chicago. He is a recent graduate from Whitman College. In 2011, Daniel will be traveling to Jordan to study Arabic and volunteer in an NGO.
This is OT, somewhat, but in case it hasn’t been posted somewhere yet–it appears that Assange’s accuser in the Swedish rape charges has fled to Palestine.
link to rawstory.com
Add to this the arrest of a 16 year old supporter of Wikileaks by the Dutch police. Time to boycott Heineken beer?
Will do.
And Ros Lehtinen, Liebermann, the deceased Lantos, Schumer are all responsible for the racist legislation that supports this
Make no mistake Daniel, Philip and Adam: you are all fair game now.
The continental United States is not much different than Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany in terms of dissident rights.
Those who find that amusing haven’t seen one of those systems in action first hand and don’t understand the gearing up period.
This is just the beginning. Some animals have more rights than others.
I would suggest you move the publication of Mondoweiss.net offshore along with yourselves or at least prepare to do so quickly when the contingency arises.
The Republicans who don’t even feign to espouse due process anymore have control over the House. The Democratic presidency appears to be in jeopardy. Its fall is not necessarily a bad result: it’s much easier to condemn fascism which wears its black armband openly than under health care reform smocks. It may be necessary for the fever to run its course whatever “collateral damage” awaits us on that path?
Do you think the individuals that did the “denial of service” attacks on major American institutions in response to the wikileaks indictments, made the word a more open place or a more closed and defensive place?
Obviously, Dick Witty, Wikileaks is an attempt to support informed consent or dissent around the world. Those that see no use for Freedom Of Information/Speech are dead set against Wikileaks as a “security matter.” The criminalization of peace activism under the rubric of “material support to terrorism” by the US government is directly related to cutting of the balls of Wikileaks. If Wikileaks is traitorous than so was the US MSM press back in the days of Vietnam and Watergate. But I don’t see the MSM, led by the NYT, standing up for Wikileaks, nor especially for Private Manning. You can’t handle the truth! Code Red!