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US Supreme Court to rule on constitutionality of lawsuits targeting Palestinian authorities
The US Supreme Court has agreed to decide the legality of a federal statute designed to facilitate lawsuits against Palestinian authorities by American citizens impacted by attacks in Israel and elsewhere.
The law, called the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, was passed in 2019, and is part of a years-long debate as to whether US courts have jurisdiction in cases involving actions taken abroad by Palestinian authorities.
The 2019 law was passed after the Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016 threw out a civil case judgment awarding $655m to families impacted by a series of shootings and bombings around Jerusalem between 2002 and 2004.
The families alleged that officials and employees from the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority – the governing body in the occupied West Bank – planned, directed and participated in these attacks.
But the Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that American courts lack jurisdiction in such overseas cases, with the earlier ruling in favour of the families violating Palestinian authorities’ right to due process as part of the US Constitution.
The Supreme Court is expected to hold arguments in the case
US, Canadian universities hire Israeli firms to curb pro-Palestinian protests: Report
A report published on Saturday by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth says that several universities in both the US and Canada have entered into agreements with Israel-linked security companies to suppress pro-Palestinian protests occurring on their campuses.
The report notes that after the election of Donald Trump, who pledged to penalise academic institutions that failed to control “radicals and Hamas supporters,” a number of universities in both countries turned to Israeli security firms to manage pro-Palestinian protests.
The year 2024 saw a wave of campus uprisings across the West in support of Palestine and against Israel’s war on Gaza. Students largely demanded their institutions end investments in Israel and Israeli companies.
The City University of New York (CUNY), a major hotspot for protests last year, has recently signed a $4m contract with Strategy Security Corp. This company, owned by Yosef Sordi, a former New York City police officer, has publicly disclosed his professional training in Israel.
Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, also enlisted two Israeli security firms: Perceptage International, led by Adam Cohen, the former head of security for the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem, and Moshav Security Consulting, operated by Eyal Feldman, a former Israeli army reserve commander and ex-advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Defence.
What the fuck. The opposite of Divesting, hiring Israeli firms to suppress freedom of speech. I hate my country now.
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