A huge global people power movement has arisen to protest at Israel’s murderous campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. But there is now a blatant campaign of intimidation to silence people. Here is the pattern:
In a sinister move, the Israeli army targeted and murdered the family of the Al Jazeera Gaza Bureau Chief Wael Dahdouh. He lost his wife, a daughter, a grandson and a 15-year-old son. His family had fled northern Gaza to the south on Israel’s advice but were killed anyway.
The attack came only a couple of weeks after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Qatar’s emir to tone down Al Jazeera Arabic’s coverage of the war on Gaza. When he saw his slain family, Dahdouh said “They seek revenge through our children.”
In the US, billionaires are blackmailing universities to, crack down on pro-Palestinian protests. Many of these universities, unfortunately, rely on philanthropy rather than full state funding.
Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics heir, criticised a recent Palestinian literature festival held at the University of Pennsylvania and said he would pull funding.
Others withdrawing support included venture capitalists David Magerman and Jonathon Jacobson, and Jon Huntsman, the former US ambassador to China and ex-governor of Utah, who said he was “closing his checkbook”.
Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner, who has a building named after him at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said in an email to the university’s board of overseers that his foundation was “formally ending its financial and programmatic relationships”.
Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire, called Harvard to identify students behind a statement from societies on campus that held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”. The move was needed “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members”, he argued
Davis Polk, the law firm, told the Financial Times it had withdrawn job offers to three Harvard and Columbia law school graduates linked to pro-Palestinian statements that expressed views “in direct contravention of our firm’s value system”.
In Ireland, the Wix software company sacked Courtney Carey (26), from Clondalkin over her statements criticising Israel on social media. In an internal memo to its staff, the company told them that they should ‘show Westernity’ in posts by backing Israel because ‘unlike Gazans we look and live like Europeans’.
These incidents show that the power of money will be used to silence free speech. The far right who have campaigned for their right to hate speech do not say a word about this corporate intimidation.
But the left speaks out exposing their blackmail that is endeavouring in vain to stop people power.
