United Nation’s Special Rapporteur’s Francesca Albanese and Mary Lawlor condemn Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civil society organizations.

In a blatant attempt at intimidation, Israel is claiming that providing legal representation to Palestinian civil society organizations violates anti-terrorism laws.

The European Commission has restored funding to the Palestinian human rights groups Al-Haq despite an Israeli attack on it and five other Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as having supposed terrorist links. “They can do anything they want. They can confiscate [our laptops and files]; they can close the office; they can arrest people; they can arrest me and criminalize me,” Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq says. “We will not give up. I assure you we will not give up, and we will not step back.”

Surely a surprise to Israeli PM Bennett — the American Bar Association sent him a letter challenging the country’s designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations. “We request that you review the concerns some in the international community have expressed questioning whether the procedures utilized [in making this designation] inappropriately deprive persons or organizations of their rights,” the ABA president wrote. His letter also calls attention to Israel’s biased court system. The ABA has thus added another respected voice to the growing criticism of Israel’s apartheid laws, policies and practices and, by extension, to the silence of the U.S. State Department on this matter. 

Ubai Aboudi, the Executive Director of Bisan Center for Research & Development, was detained by Israeli forces while attempting to enter Jordan. Aboudi was on his way to attend the World Social Forum in Mexico.

Scientists for Palestine and the Bisan Center for Research and Development are launching “The Bisan Lecture Series” which aims at the full integration of Palestine into the global learning community.

Sahar Francis, the General Director of the Ramallah-based group Addameer, warns that the Israeli government’s efforts to undermine Palestinian civil society organizations may just be beginning.

More than 100 global foundations and donors, most of them U.S.-based, have signed on to an open letter expressing solidarity with Palestinian civil society after six leading human rights organizations were designated as so-called “terrorist organizations” by the Israeli military: “”As global funders of human rights and democracy, this attempt to ‘chill’ our funding and solidarity will not work. We stand with Palestinian civil society organizations and human rights defenders.”

Six Palestinian human rights activists were targeted by spyware from the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, a new report revealed on Monday, in the first reported instance of Palestinian activists being targeted by the surveillance company. The six activists are all members of the six Palestinian civil society organizations recently branded “terrorist organizations” by Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

In Israel’s latest attack on Palestinian civil society organizations, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced a list of six Palestinian human rights organizations which he claimed have links to militant “terror” groups. On the list were prominent institutions like Addameer, Al-Haq, and Defense for Children International – Palestine.