Pro-Palestine Group Denounces US Senate Crackdown on Gaza Protests

By Staff, Agencies

Palestine Legal, a Chicago-based advocacy organization has condemned recent US Senate hearings on Gaza protests as a "McCarthyite witch-hunt" aimed at silencing students and professors in the US who advocate for Palestinian rights.

The group said the hearings followed an executive order from US President Donald Trump targeting college advocates for Palestinian rights, adding that it is part of a larger strategy detailed in the Heritage Foundation's “Project Esther,” which was designed to dismantle the Palestinian rights.

Project Esther, created by the conservative think tank aligned with Trump, aims to eliminate dissent against Zionist policies, restrict educational access on related issues, and mobilize support for a crackdown on individuals and organizations opposing systemic racism and colonialism, starting with the Palestinian rights movement.

“It is imperative that universities refuse to collaborate with Trump’s efforts to silence and criminalize dissent, and to put an end to the McCarthyite crackdowns on students advocating for Palestinian rights,” the organization emphasized.

The hearings, organized by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary under the title “Stemming the Tide of Anti-Semitism in America,” have faced criticism for targeting advocates of Palestinian rights within academic settings.

The term "McCarthyism" refers to the campaign led by US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, which sought to expose alleged communist sympathizers, often resulting in widespread fear and the persecution of individuals based on flimsy evidence.

In the latest act, Trump has threatened to halt federal funding for any college or university that allows “illegal protests” to take place, saying he would punish students who participate in the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Leo Terrell, head of the US Department of Justice [DOJ] task force on anti-Semitism, said last week student protesters who took part in pro-Palestine protests could face years in prison, vowing vowed to “financially attack” the universities where such demonstrations took place.

This came as students at Columbia University began fresh pro-Palestinian protests after two students were expelled for their anti-genocide activism.