The Watermelon Scare: Attacks on Palestine Solidarity Activists Aim to Silence Anti-War Movement

On October 15th, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network was labeled a “terrorist entity” by Canada and subjected to sanctions by the United States. These designations follow a previous ban in Germany and the labeling of Samidoun as a “terrorist organization” by Israel. The U.S. claims Samidoun is a “sham fundraiser whose efforts have supported terrorism” by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist-Leninist Palestinian political party also labeled as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the U.S. For its part, Samidoun states it “does not have any material or organizational ties to entities listed on the terrorist lists of the United States, Canada or the European Union.”

Two days later, Republican Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General requesting he “immediately open a domestic terrorism investigation” into the popular pro-Palestine website and social media account, Unity of Fields, known for posting anonymous reports of direct actions. In a statement, the group said it is “an anti-imperialist propaganda front…we don’t do actions, we only report on them and receive anonymous submissions.”

As the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) recently noted, Rubio also pushed the Attorney General to charge four activists in Florida who were arrested for writing pro-choice graffiti following the fall of Roe v Wade for “terrorism.” One activist was sentenced to a year in prison by the Middle District of Florida, the same court that recently awarded only 8 months to a man convicted of literally firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Likewise, while Rubio is trying to claim that an Instagram account is terrorism, he has of course stayed quiet while his own party works overtime to spread rampant misinformation in the wake of two devastating hurricanes hitting his state and about the upcoming election – to say nothing of members of his own party regularly attending neo-Nazi gatherings and increasing aligning with white nationalists.

One may disagree with Samidoun and Unity of Fields on their specific political positions, but the entire movement against the ongoing war and genocide in Gaza should be concerned with the state’s move to target them. In no way can Samidoun be understood as a “sham charity” or “terrorist entity,” nor a media project like Unity of Fields as responsible for “domestic terrorism.” Even if one were to accept the legitimacy of power to deploy a subjective term such as “terrorism,” in reality, the extent of Samidoun’s work is posting statements, organizing public educational and political events, and pushing online action campaigns, while Unity of Fields maintains a counter-info website and social media accounts.

As a member of Samidoun stated in a recent interview, “They are attacking us on the basis that we were fundraising for other political groups and political parties and they know very well that this is not true. If there was any serious allegation there, many of us would be in prison right now. So there is not any legal grounds or element for any of this. It’s just a bullshit campaign to attack Samidoun and the work that we are doing.”

Samidoun in particular has done crucial work for years lifting up the cause of Palestinian prisoners held by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, often when few others have been doing so. Their work is critical during a time when Israeli detention of Palestinians has skyrocketed. Over the past year, Israel has detained 11,100 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and unknown thousands from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian prisoners are held in horrific conditions, routinely tortured, and at least 53 are known to have died in Israeli detention over the past year. The sanctioning and designation of Samidoun is nothing more than an attempt to silence an outspoken, pro-Palestine voice in the midst of a genocide being facilitated by the U.S. and the West. One may not like all that they say, but that is not the point. That they have come for Samidoun and seek to come for Unity of Fields, means that they can come for any pro-Palestine organization. As such, these moves must be vociferously denounced and as the National Lawyers Guild argues, such actions must be understood historically as part and parcel of anti-Palestinian racism and an attempt to stifle the Palestine solidarity movement.

Political repression is baked into the state, as it marshals its forces to disrupt and dismantle autonomous movements from below, often through violent means. In the 1960s, the state carried out COINTELPRO, which utilized often brutal methods including outright assassination, against groups like the Black Panthers and the growing anti-war and liberation movements. Since 9/11, we’ve also seen the Green Scare attack radical eco-activists, the RNC 8 fight off conspiracy charges following protests at the Republican convention in 2008, the crushing of the Occupy movement, direct targeting of Black liberation organizers, a massive crackdown against demonstrators at Standing Rock, repeat attempts to demonize and attack antifascists during Trump’s presidency, the J20 case which attempted to criminalize everything from wearing black at a protest to being a member of the IWW, the mass militarized crackdown of the George Floyd Rebellion, and RICO charges against Stop Cop City protesters and supporters. At the same time, we’ve seen an explosion of far-Right violence aimed at the public at large, while police continue to murder on average, about three people per day. In short, political repression in the U.S. isn’t aimed at keeping people safe, but curtailing their ability to change their material conditions.

Now, as mobilizations in solidarity with Palestine are on the upsurge, and connections continue to be made between U.S. law enforcement and Israeli apartheid, the state again is seeking to crush any challenge to its genocidal practices. As calls for a ceasefire grow louder, the state is becoming more desperate to silence those taking action, as U.S. troops are now on the ground and the war on Gaza threatens to expand into a full-blown regional conflict.

Instead of stopping the billions in military aid and weapons being sent to Israel in the midst of a deepening humanitarian crisis, the U.S. has doubled down on the war effort while pushing through a wave of draconian attacks on speech and protest at home, specifically on campuses where last spring massive student-led occupations erupted.

According to The New York Times, just last semester more than 3,100 people were arrested on 73 campuses across the U.S. While the state attempts to frame the Palestine solidarity movement as violent (despite evidence to the contrary), the real violence has emerged from law enforcement and the far-Right. Harkening back to the police-facilitated far-Right street violence against antifascists several years ago, there has also been violence by Zionists, most notably at UCLA, where a far-Right mob attacked the Gaza solidarity encampment for hours as police watched. And the state and its allies in the universities have only ramped up for more repression this fall.

Whether it be through the purchase of drones and less-lethal weaponry, the creation of new policies designed to stifle student expression, firing tenured professors, or deeming Zionists a “protected class,” the overall pattern, as summarized by Palestine Legal, is that “these policies have ultimately consolidated administrative and state power while undermining freedom of expression, the right to assembly and protest, academic freedom, and safety for students and faculty on campuses across the country.” As this article was being put together, pro-Palestine organizers in Philadelphia at Penn State had their home raided by armed police who made no arrests. This follows the university banning Penn Students Against the Occupation back in April. Combined with statements from Donald Trump that he’ll deport radicals and protesting students, or attention seekers like Republican Senator Tom Cotton calling for protesters to be thrown off bridges, there is a perfect storm of hate, fear, ignorance, repression, fascism, and genocide.

This moment has also seen the ongoing weaponization of anti-Semitism. Rather than deal with the very real threat and severity of anti-Semitism in the United States, what can be seen is a continuation of Trump-era policies, where as president he embraced the anti-Semitic far-Right while deploying his administration, notably under the tenure of Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kenneth Marcus, to crack down on speech critical of Israel in the name of fighting anti-Semitism. Recently, the Heritage Foundation, author of Project 2025, released “Project Esther,” which calls for the government to go after anti-Zionists in the name of combating anti-Semitism. The report claims groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine form an elaborate “Hamas Support Network” and should be targeted using counter-terrorism, immigration, and RICO laws. On Palestine, the state, the university “liberal elite,” and the reactionary far-Right all speak in one voice: Question the genocidal settler-colonial status quo, and we’ll come for you.

It should be lost on no-one that such draconian measures were not leveled against the Alt-Right following the coming to power of Trump in 2017, when white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups began to flood college campuses with anti-Semitic and white supremacist propaganda, organize demonstrations, and attack members of the public and the student body. Instead, university officials mobilized massive amounts of resources and police to protect far-Right trolls from the very communities they sought to subjugate and attack, while a chorus of centrists and bureaucrats bent over backwards to defend fascists from popular opposition.

As part of this context, it is important to keep in mind that at least 411 Palestinian organizations are labeled by Israel as “unlawful” or as “terrorist organizations.” The U.S. often uncritically adopts such framings. Palestine is, by its existence under settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide, a politicized society. Any political expression by Palestinians is deemed “terrorism” by Israel. To act in principled solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian liberation is to be guided by Palestinian visions for liberation, such as those embodied in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions call of 2005, signed by 170 Palestinian civil society organizations – some of whom are labeled as “terrorist.”

According to such logic, groups working in solidarity with those being genocided can be classified as “terrorist organizations” by the ones conducting and enabling the genocide. We cannot discard the fact that this move comes at a time when both the Republican and Democratic parties are steadfast advocates of genocide while the vast majority of voters in the U.S. support a ceasefire. The ruling class is hoping to stoke fear and turn the principled stand of Palestine solidarity into the bogeyman of “terrorism.” We cannot let such moves scare us or silence us, as is certainly the intent.

At the same time, it is prudent to be mindful. When in doubt, contact a friendly lawyer or the folks at the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), or Palestine Legal.

If their laws make solidarity illegal, then it should be an honor to be a criminal.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash