event

Dissent, Protest, and Palestine-Israel: Restrictions on Civic Space During Violent Conflict

Tue. December 3rd, 202410:00 AM - 11:30 AM (EST)
In Person and Live Online

Civic space is shrinking. Every year, human rights defenders, humanitarians, social justice activists and their organizations face new threats in their ability to organize campaigns and protest oppressive policies. This crisis is particularly acute in the context of dissent and speech related to Palestine–Israel. 

In the occupied Palestinian territories, civil society actors face arrest, mass surveillance and movement restrictions, while in Israel, various legal mechanisms are used to restrict dissent, and measures are being taken to limit judicial review. Meanwhile, in the United States, widespread efforts have been deployed to prohibit advocacy in support of Palestinian human rights, whether in the public square or online. 

The new volume, Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel, edited by Carnegie Fellow Zaha Hassan and H.A. Hellyer, gathers leading scholars to discuss the suppression of dissent related to Palestine-Israel at home and abroad and explains why this presents an existential threat to global civil society. 

Join the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East program for a panel discussion moderated by Ishaan Tharoor, a Washington Post global affairs columnist, featuring editors of the new volume and legal scholars examining the book’s major findings and wider implications for speech and protest on college campuses and beyond. 

Civil SocietyEducationDomestic PoliticsUnited StatesPalestineIsrael
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Zaha Hassan

Fellow, Middle East Program

Zaha Hassan is a human rights lawyer and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

H. A. Hellyer

Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program

Dr. H.A. Hellyer was a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He serves as a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London, and as a Cambridge University fellow.

Marwan Muasher

Vice President for Studies

Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at Carnegie, where he oversees research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. Muasher served as foreign minister (2002–2004) and deputy prime minister (2004–2005) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications.

Maya Berry

Executive Director, Arab American Institute

Maya Berry is executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a non-profit, nonpartisan, national Arab American civil rights advocacy organization. She also serves as the co-chair of the Hate Crime Task Force for the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights and on the board of Public Citizen.

Mona Shtaya

Campaigns and partnerships manager for Middle East and North Africa, Digital Action

Mona Shtaya is a digital rights defender working in the MENA region. She serves as the campaigns and partnerships manager for MENA and corporate engagement lead at Digital Action. She is also a 2024 Migration and Technology Monitor fellow and a non-resident scholar for the Middle East Institute in the Palestine-Israel program.  

Frederick M. Lawrence

Distinguished Lecturer, Georgetown University Law Center

Frederick M. Lawrence is a distinguished lecturer at the Georgetown University Law Center and former president of Brandeis University. An accomplished scholar, teacher and attorney, Lawrence is one of the nation’s leading experts on civil rights, free expression, bias crimes and higher education law. Lawrence has testified before Congress concerning free expression on campus and on federal hate crime legislation. 

Ishaan Tharoor

Ishaan Tharoor is a columnist on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, where he authors the Today’s WorldView newsletter and column. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine.

Kenneth S. Stern

Director, Bard Center for the Study of Hate

Kenneth S. Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and an attorney and award-winning author. For twenty-five years, he was the American Jewish Committee's expert on antisemitism. He has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States and testified before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. Stern is also co-chair of the Higher Education/Hate Studies working group for the Eradicate Hate Global Summit.