On October 7, the National Lawyers Guild re-affirmed our longstanding solidarity with the people of Palestine. The NLG’s International Committee immediately issued a statement based on the Guild’s past resolutions, stating, “The National Lawyers Guild emphasizes the legitimacy of the right of the Palestinian people to resist illegal military occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and urges the United States to stop enabling and arming Israel’s perpetration of its atrocities. The NLG stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle against the settler colonial state of Israel and calls on our members and allies throughout the United States and around the globe to stand and act in support of that struggle.”
NLG students responded to the call for solidarity by issuing statements through their school chapters, legal observing at local protests, participating in school walkouts, and speaking out for individual students, such as Ryna Workman at NYU, who were targeted for their principled support of Palestine. As a result, NLG student members have been threatened, doxxed, and censored by their law school administrations, outside groups, and even their fellow students.
NLG National expresses our full support of our student members and condemns all attacks on pro-Palestinian activism at universities and beyond. We are proud of our law students, and we share their words here as the next generation of NLG members.
NLG Student Statements On Palestine
“The weight of responsibility for the war and casualties undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government and other Western governments, including the U.S. government, which fund and staunchly support Israeli aggression, apartheid and settler-colonization. This issue of why this occurred now is not about timing. This is about root causes and a fundamental issue with Israeli occupation and the deprivation of human rights, including the lack of respect for the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to self determination. Every single political avenue available to Palestinians has been blocked, including the International Court of Justice.”
“Against the backdrop of this complete annihilation, we condemn the Israeli government’s use of a tragedy to justify the collective punishment, mass slaughter, and forced displacement of Palestinian civilians. The Israeli government’s attacks on Palestine are acts of genocide, as defined by Art. II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
We call upon the Fordham Law community to condemn Israel’s blatant war crimes, including the blockade of water, food, fuel,
electricity, internet, medicine, and any sort of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Members of the press, doctors, the elderly, and children are among those killed by Israeli airstrikes. Israel has bombed schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, residential buildings, UN facilities, and world heritage sites.”
“We, the National Lawyers Guild at Rutgers Law-Newark, stand in uncompromising solidarity with the Palestinian people in their national liberation struggle as they continue to resist Zionist colonization, illegal military occupation, and Israeli apartheid. It is impossible to comprehend the current moment outside of Israel’s 75 year colonization of Palestinian land. Israel’s official policy of maximum land with minimum Palestinians has besieged the Palestinians of Gaza, controlling their food, air, land, sea, and trade.
For the Palestinians in the West Bank, this political project has expanded illegal Israeli settlements, systematically dispossessed Palestinians of their land, segregated them as second-class non-citizens in a racist apartheid system, and terrorized them with settler violence. Colonial violence invariably begets resistance, something Israeli citizens and lawmakers have long recognized.”
“As students, activists, humanitarians, and people who believe in the sanctity and value of all human life, we are deeply concerned with the ongoing violence and genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The Israeli government, with the endorsement of the United States and other Western imperialist powers, is engaging in illegal acts of collective punishment against a civilian population, nearly half of whom are under the age of eighteen, including indiscriminate bombings of a captive population in globally recognized places of refuge, and the use of chemical munitions such as white
phosphorus – crimes that break international law and fracture our collective consciousness in their vehement disregard for humanity.”
“We stand in solidarity with all Palestinians and demand an end to collective punishment, blockade, and the entire colonial occupation. Indiscriminate bombings of a captive population and the use of chemical munitions such as white phosphorus are crimes that break international law and fracture our collective consciousness in their vehement disregard for humanity.
In order to adequately address the violence of this moment, Israel’s colonization of Palestine must end. The path towards peace means liberation and decolonization.”
“USC NLG stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people harmed by Israel’s illegal military occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. We condemn Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people and grieve the thousands of lives lost due to colonial violence. We denounce the history of violence against Jewish communities while refusing to accept that history as a justification for establishing an apartheid state or erroneously conflating anti-Zionism and anti-semitism.”
“The National Lawyers Guild – University of Oregon stands with Palestinians fighting decades of Israeli occupation. We mourn the loss of all innocent life, both Palestinian and Israeli. We join calls to hold those who perpetuate violence against civilians accountable for their contravention of the laws of war and their disregard for human life and dignity. Thus, we acknowledge the staggering brutality Palestinians have endured in their homelands since 1948.
We must acknowledge the conditions in Gaza and the West Bank and understand that this conflict is the latest episode in the daily oppression and violence perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”
Seattle University School of Law:
“We condemn any statement that portrays this as a “conflict” with two sides. There is simply no “other side” when it comes to the violence perpetuated by a settler colonial state. Comparing numbers of dead is crass, because every loss of human life is unfathomably tragic. But violence must be addressed at its root. Rhetoric that omits the systemic, unrelenting, vastly disproportionate nature of Israel’s brutalization of the Palestinian people only serves to fuel the violence. It distracts us from identifying the power structure that enables Israel’s 75-year-long, ongoing project of ethnic cleansing. What the Israeli government is executing against the Palestinian people is genocide. Our government funds support this, and we all have a moral obligation to do whatever it takes to put an end to it.”
For resources to support students facing repression at their schools, please see:
CAIR CA Palestine Response Toolkit
Palestine Legal Resources for Activists Advocating for Palestine
NLG Know Your Rights Resources
NLG Know Your Rights for Protesters Webinar (Oct 2023)
