Across the United States, “heads are rolling” at the top of some
Ivy League universities amid a campus-wide crackdown on students
protesting Israel's war in Gaza, shining a spotlight on the
question of freedom of expression worldwide, said UN Special
Rapporteur Irene Khan.
“The Gaza crisis is truly becoming a global crisis of the freedom
of expression,” said Ms. Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression. “This is going to have huge
repercussions for a long time to come.”
Demonstrations around the world have been roundly calling for an
end to the war, which began in October following Hamas-led
attacks on Israel that left 1,200 people dead and 250 taken
hostage, 133 of who remain captive in Gaza.
Since then, Israeli military operations have killed more than
34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local
health ministry, which now faces a man-made famine UN agencies
have said stems from Israel's restrictions on aid deliveries.
In an exclusive interview on Wednesday, she told UN
News the way academic freedom in the United States is
being restricted is infringing on people's rights to
protest over the on-going war and occupation,
including on campuses of such elite Ivy League schools as
Colombia, Harvard and Yale universities.
“One after the another, the Ivy League heads of colleges and
universities, their heads are rolling, they've been chopped off,”
she said. “That clearly polarises even further the political
climate on this issue between ‘them' and ‘us'.”
Confusion over political views and hate speech
Pointing to a troubling rise in hate speech on both
sides of the protests, she said that at the same
time, people must be allowed to express their political views.
In many of these protests, she said there is a confusion between
what is hate speech or incitement to violence and what is
basically a different view of the situation in Israel and the
occupied territories - or criticism of the way Israel is
conducting the conflict.
“Legitimate speech must be protected,” she said, “but,
unfortunately, there is a hysteria that is taking
hold in the US.”
Criticising Israel is ‘perfectly legitimate'
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia must be prohibited, and hate
speech violates international law, she said.
Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and
opinion.
“But, we must not mix that up with criticism of Israel as a
political entity, as a State,” she said. “Criticising Israel is
perfectly legitimate under international law.”
She said special rapporteurs have already detected a bias against
pro-Palestinian supporters on social media.
“We need freedom of expression,” she said,
adding that it is a fundamental right that is important for
democracy, development, conflict resolution and building peace.
“If we sacrifice all that, politicising the issue and undermining
the right to protest and the right to freedom of expression, then
I believe we are doing a disservice for which we will pay a
price,” she said. “It will be harder to negotiate if you
shut down one side.”
Special Rapporteurs and other Human Rights
Council-appointed experts are not UN staff and are
independent from any government or organization. They serve in
their individual capacity and receive no salary for their work.
