Occupied Thoughts

Three major stories broke over the past week about Israel’s cyber-surveillance of Palestinians, from hacking the phones of human rights defenders and officials, to increased monitoring of Jerusalemites, to the mass deployment of facial recognition software against Palestinians in the West Bank. To discuss these issues and their broader implications, FMEP is proud to host a conversation with four experts – Andrew Anderson (Front Line Defenders), Marwa Fatafta (Access Now), Avner Gvaryahu (Breaking the Silence), and Sophia Goodfriend (7amleh), in conversation with FMEP President Lara Friedman.

For biographies and a list of resources shared during this webinar, please visit: https://fmep.org/event/welcome-to-the-panopticon-israels-systematic-surveillance-of-palestinians-and-the-implications-for-the-world/

In late October, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable.

Leading human & civil rights experts – Jamil Dakwar (ACLU), Rabea Eghbariah (Adalah), and Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal) – to discuss the work of the targeted Palestinian NGOs, the context and impact of this terror designation, reactions from governments and NGOs in the U.S. and the EU, and expectations of impact.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman talks to Ubai Aboudi, director of Bisan Center for Research and Development - a Ramallah-based Palestinian human rights organizes established in 1989. Aboudi talks about Israel's move on October 19 to designate Bisan and five other Palestinian human rights organizations as "terrorist groups" under Israel's 2016 anti-terror law, and its follow-up move this week to make a parallel declaration in the West Bank via military order. Ubai, who is an American citizen, also discusses this week's bombshell news of the hacking of employees of several of the targeted groups, including Ubai, by sophisticated Israeli software (Pegasus), and the implications of the timing of the terror designations, which coincided almost perfectly with the discovery of the hacking.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Israeli journalist Oren Ziv (Local Call, +972 Magazine) about the blockbuster article published today by +972 and the Intercept: "Secret Israeli dossier provides no proof for declaring Palestinian NGOs 'terrorists'." Together with journalists Yuval Avraham and Meron Rappaport, Oren combed through the classified dossier that Israel shared with representatives of European countries in a bid to persuade to end funding for designated Palestinian human rights organizations. Today's article exposes this dossier - which is believed to be the same dossier that Israel just shared with representatives of the U.S. government - as well as hundreds of pages of summaries of interrogations that Israel drew from in formulating the dossier. The journalists conclude: "contrary to the Israeli Defense Ministry’s claims, the dossier did not provide a single piece of evidence proving the six organizations diverted their funds to the PFLP or to violent activities."

See more at www.fmep.org

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Michael Sfard, Israel's preeminent human rights lawyer. Michael offers his insights into the recent designations by Israel of 6 prominent Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations, including: the Israeli government efforts that led to it, why there is such deep skepticism about Israel's claims about evidence incriminating the groups, the way that the "terrorist" label has been rendered almost meaningless by Israel, which applies it to virtually all forms of Palestinian political activity and organizing, the implications of the designations for Palestinian civil society, Israeli civil, and human right defenders worldwide, and prospects for challenging or overturning the designations.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Gaby Lasky, Member of the Israeli Knesset and human rights attorney with extensive experience defending Palestinians in Israeli military courts and working closely with Israeli human rights organizations. Background: In late December, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that effectively outlaws the groups, criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush the Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable. For more on this topic, see FMEP's extensive coverage, "On Israel’s Declaration of Palestinian Human Rights Groups as “Terrorist Organizations." 

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al Haq, the preeminent Palestinian human rights organization, which is now directly targeted and threatened by the Israeli government.

On October 22, 2021, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that effectively outlaws the groups, criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush the Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable.

Visit www.fmep.org for full coverage of Israel's declaration of war on Palestinian human rights defenders.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with award-winning Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab about the case of Mohamed Halabi -- a Palestinian employee of World Vision arrested by Israel in 2016 for alleged support for terrorism and held by Israel ever since. Among other things, they discuss: What does the Halabi case teach the world about Israel's politicization/weaponization of terrorism chargers? And what does it say about the ability of Palestinians to receive justice from an Israeli judicial system that is designed to promote the interests of Israel over the rights of Palestinians?

For background, bio, and resources - please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/using-terrorism-charges-to-target-ngos-lessons-from-the-case-of-mohamed-halabi/

In this episode of FMEP's Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, about Israel's "appalling and unjust " designation of 6 leading Palestinian human rights NGOs as "terrorist organizations," including Israeli actions/policies targeting NGOs that preceded the decision, the implications of the designations for Palestinian human rights, and the role of the international community in granting Israel impunity that has for years enabled, fueled, and legitimized Israel's attacks on human rights defenders.

FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Sarit Michael (Btselem) and Ines Abdel Razek (PIPD) about the Israeli government's announcement that it has declared a list of Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organization” -- and act that Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard called “a declaration of war on the entire human rights community.”

For bios and more, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/israel-declares-war-on-palestinian-human-rights-defenders/