We, the undersigned, are extremely concerned about the recent attacks on Huwaida Arraf, a highly respected Palestinian-American civil rights attorney and longtime human rights activist. It is clear that these attacks are politically motivated attempts to discredit Huwaida’s message and silence all advocates of Palestinian rights. It is dangerous and we must not tolerate it. Smears and lies have been widely hurled at Huwaida, and death threats to Arab and Muslim students.

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These attacks have come in the aftermath of Huwaida’s participation in a Bloomfield Hills High School diversity assembly on March 14, 2023. Huwaida was invited by the student organizers of the assembly to speak alongside four other speakers about her experiences dealing with racism. The goal of the assembly was to promote diversity and acceptance, and raise awareness of the dangers of racism and discrimination.  

Huwaida spoke about her work campaigning for Palestinian freedom and human rights, which includes co-founding an organization that brings people of all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities together to bear witness on the ground and support the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Huwaida spoke about the importance of dismantling systems of oppression, which are built on racist ideologies, and she urged students to remember that all human beings are deserving of the same rights that we want for ourselves. 

Following the assembly, Zionist organizations launched a campaign to pressure the school to apologize for allowing Huwaida to speak, calling her and her comments “hateful” and “antisemitic.” This was followed by a special board meeting where multiple individuals were permitted to malign Huwaida’s character using racist tropes and falsehoods. Meanwhile, the students who spoke up eloquently to debunk the lies were marginalized, as the school board promised to take steps to ensure that “mistakes like this do not happen again." The principal of the school, an African American, has been put on administrative leave, and the pressure continues to fire him and other school administrators. 

It is not a mistake or antisemitic to invite a Palestinian speaker to participate in a diversity assembly. Nor is it a mistake or antisemitic to invite a speaker to talk about Palestinian rights. The mistake is equating speech about Palestinian rights and the erasure of the Palestinian lived experience with antisemitism. It is a deliberate tactic that has been used for years to intimidate people into silence about the atrocities being committed by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people. This tactic not only harms Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian rights, but it does a great disservice to the fight against real antisemitism by conflating the Palestinian struggle for liberation and criticism of the Israeli government’s policies with those who brandish swastikas and attack synagogues. 

We stand with Huwaida and the student organizers of the diversity assembly against these baseless attacks and nefarious defamation. We call on Jewish community leaders and organizations, and other social justice, human rights, and religious leaders and organizations to recognize the harm caused by denying the Palestinian experience and making false accusations of antisemitism. 

We call on the Bloomfield Hills school administration to reject all efforts to conflate speech about Palestinian rights with antisemitism. And, we call on everyone everywhere to remember the words of the late civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer —“nobody’s free until everybody’s free” — and to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle to be free. 

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Signed by:

Organizations

Jewish Voice for Peace - Detroit
Adalah Justice Project
Ahavat Olam Synagogue, BC
Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee - GA
American Friends Service Committee 
American Human Rights Council (AHRC)
Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP)
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
Ann Arbor Arab Advisory Group
Ann Arbor Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Australians for Palestine
Al-Awda Bay Area
Al-Awda NY/NJ
Al Entesgar Newspaper 
Al-Huda Islamic Association, Dearborn, MI
Balance & Accuracy in Journalism
Beit Sahour, USA
Bryn Mawr/Haverford Colleges Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine Coalition Burlington Friends Meeting, VT California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Canadian Boat to Gaza Canadians United Against Hate
Center for Babaylan Studies
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy Christian-Jewish Allies, Philadelphia, PA Church of the Messiah Detroit Committee for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Concerned Families of Westchester (CFOW)
Congregation T'chiyah, Ferndale, MI Council on American-Islamic Relations - New Jersey (CAIR-NJ) CODEPINK Dallas Palestine Coalition
Detroit Jericho
Detroit Jews for Justice
Donkeysaddle Projects
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
Episcopal Bishop's Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, Diocese of Olympia
Episcopal Peace Fellowship, IL
Episcopal Peace Fellowship-Palestine Israel Network Extend Eyewitness Palestine Face to Face Jewish-Palestinian Alliance for Reparations (Kehilla Community Synagogue, Piedmont CA) Falastiniyat
For the Binat
Freedom Archives
Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)
Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) - Pittsburg
Friends of Wadi Foquin
Great Lakes Water Protection Committee 
Haiti Action Committee
Handala Coalition
Human Rights Awareness: Palestine Israel/CD3
If Not Now - Detroit
IHM Sisters Justice, Peace & Sustainability Office
Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
International Solidarity Movement support group - Northern California Iowans For Palestine
Islamic Center of Detroit
Israel/Palestine Mission Network Presbyterian Church USA - Bay Area
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions - USA
Israeli Palestinian Confederation
Israelis and Palestinians for Peace - Jerusalem
Jerusalem Center, IL
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP-National)
Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council
Jewish Voice for Peace - Atlanta
Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area
Jewish Voice for Peace - Boston
Jewish Voice for Peace - Central Ohio
Jewish Voice for Peace - Chicago
Jewish Voice for Peace - Cleveland
Jewish Voice for Peace - DC Metro
Jewish Voice for Peace - Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges
Jewish Voice for Peace Havurah Network
Jewish Voice for Peace - Hudson Valley
Jewish Voice for Peace - Indiana
Jewish Voice for Peace - Los Angeles
Jewish Voice for Peace - New Haven
Jewish Voice for Peace - New Orleans
Jewish Voice for Peace - New York City
Jewish Voice for Peace - North Jersey
Jewish Voice for Peace - Pittsburg
Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland
Jewish Voice for Peace - Sacramento
Jewish Voice for Peace - Seattle
Jewish Voice for Peace - Tacoma
Jewish Voice for Peace - Tucson
Jewish Voice for Peace - Twin Cities
Jewish Voice for Peace - Westchester
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Jews Say No!
Justice for Palestine - Syracuse, NY
Justice for Palestinians
Justice for Palestinians - Calgary
Kairos/Franklin County Justice in Palestine Kairos West Michigan
Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War (KNOW) - Palestine Solidarity Committee
Local Alliance for Middle East Peace (LAMP), Knoxville, TN
Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights
Megiddo Peace Project
Meta Peace Team
Michigan Democratic Party Progressive Caucus
Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustices (MECAWI)
Michigan Peace Council
Middle East Crisis Committee
Middle East Justice and Peace Group of South Central Pennsylvania
Middle East Peace Now
Migrant Roots Media
Moratorium Now Coalition Against Evictions, Foreclosures and Utility Shutoffs
Muslim Voters of America
National Arab American Women's Association
National Lawyers Guild Detroit and Michigan Chapter National Lawyers Guild, Minnesota Chapter
National Lawyers Guild, Palestine Subcommittee
National Lawyers Guild, Rochester NY
New Generation for Palestine (NGP)
New Hampshire Palestine Education Network
NorCal Sabeel
North Coast Coalition for Palestine
North NJ DSA, BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group Northfielders for Justice in Palestine/Israel Oakville Palestinian Rights Association Occupy Bergen County Olive Branch Fair Trade Inc.
Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace
OneHamtramck
Oregon/Idaho United Methodist Holy Land Task Force
Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
Palestine Aid Society
Palestine Legal
Palestine Writes Literature Festival
Palestinian American Community Center, NJ
Palestinian American Organizations Network
Palestinian Assembly for Liberation
Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP)
Palestinian Feminist Collective
Palestinian Youth Movement - Detroit Chapter
Partners for Palestine
Pax Christi, USA
Pax Christi Metro DC Baltimore
Pax Christi - Michigan
Pax Christi - New York State Pax Christi - UpState NY
Peace, Justice and Earthcare Committee of the Burlington Friends Meeting (VT) Peace & Planet News
Pendle Hill
People for Justice in Palestine Person2Person International
Poor People's Campaign Project South Quaker Palestine Israel Network
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
Rebuilding Alliance
ReThinking Foreign Policy
Rochester Witness for Palestine
RootsAction Education Fund
Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Shomeret Shalom
Southeast Michigan Synod, ELCA
Southwest Coalition for Palestine, NM
Spokane Committee for Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine, UT Dallas
Students for Justice in Palestine, Wayne State University
Students United for Palestinian Rights, Michigan State University
Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice Syracuse Cultural Workers Texas Coalition for Human Rights
Texas Indigenous Council Tree of Life Educational Fund
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East - Bay Area
United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network
United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
United Methodist Upper New York Task Force on Peace with Justice in Palestine/Israel
Up North Progressive
US Boats to Gaza
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
USA Palestine Mental Health Network
Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land Veterans for Peace Veterans for Peace, Chapter 34 - NYC Veterans for Peace, Chapter 90 Veterans for Peace, Chapter 113 - Hawaii Virginia Coalition for Human Rights (VCHR)
Voices for Justice in Palestine
Voices for Middle East Peace
Washington Advocates for Palestinian Rights (WAPR)
WESPAC Foundation
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
ZinnHouse

Political & Religious Leaders Bishop Donald Kreiss, Southeast Michigan Synod, ELCA, Detroit, MI Bishop John Newbauer, Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, Fort Wayne, IN Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, MI-12 Imam Dawud Walid, Canton, MI Katybeth Davis, County Delegate, Executive Committee for CD5, Monroe, MI Kohenet Rebekah Erev, Olympia, WA Mansour Mashrah, President, Al-Huda Islamic Association, Dearborn, MI Minister Donna Whitney, Nashville, TN Nathan Goldbaum, President of Congregation Tzedek Chicago, Chicago, IL Rabbi Alana Alpert, Detroit, MI Rabbi Alissa Wise, Philadelphia, PA Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Jerusalem Rabbi Borukh Goldberg, Santa Cruz, CA Rabbi Brant Rosen, Chicago, IL Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbi Emeritus, Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia, PA Rabbi David Cooper, Berkeley, CA Rabbi David Mivasair, State College, PA Rabbi Gila Ruskin, Philadelphia, PA Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, Minneapolis, MN Rabbi Joshua Saltzman, Brooklyn, NY Rabbi Lauri Zimmerman, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, Madison, WI Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Rabbinical Director, Shomeret Shalom, Berkeley, CA Rabbi Margaret Holub, Albion, CA Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, Philadelphia, PA Rev. Allie Perry, Dr., United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network, New Haven CT Rev. Arne Bergland, Minneapolis, MN Rev. Beth Appel, Lancaster, PA Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Michigan Poor People's Campaign, Detroit, MI Rev. Charlotte K. White, Guilford, CT Rev. Daniel Dale, Chicago, IL Rev. David Grishaw-Jones, Dover, NH Rev. Donald Turman, Retired United Methodist Pastor and Missionary, Asheville, NC Rev. Elice ​​Higginbotham, United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network, New York, NY Rev. Fahed AbuAkel, Board, Joining Hands for Justice in Palestine, Atlanta, GA Rev. Frederick Harms, Grosse Pointe, MI Rev. Frederick Thelen, Weidman, MI Rev. George Klohck, Middlebury, VT Rev. Jack Eggleston, Unity Lutheran Church, Southgate, MI Rev. Jim Eby, Presbyterian Church USA, Jenkintown, PA Rev. Joe Roos, Altadena, CA Rev. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ, Chicago, IL Rev. Joy Smith, Tinley Park, IL Rev. Judith Beck, Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA Rev. Julie Rowe, San Antonio, TX Rev. Lauren Zinn, PhD., ZinnHouse, Ann Arbor, MI Rev. Martha Stone, Senior Pastor, Henrietta United Church of Christ, Rochester, NY Rev. Merle Showers, Buffalo, NY Rev. Michael, Yoshii, Alameda, CA Rev. Nancy M. Stroh, Newtown, PA Rev. Peter Dougherty, Catholic Priest, Lansing, MI Rev. Sandra Mackie, Gettysburg, PA Rev. Sharon Prestemon, Minneapolis, MN Rev. Steve Berube, United Church of Canada, Riverview, NB Sr. Barbara Beesley, Outreach Coordinator, IHM Sisters Justice, Peace & Sustainability Office, Detroit, MI Sufian Nabhan, Executive Director, Islamic Center of Detroit, Canton, MI Wallace Gilbert, Assistant Pastor, Church of the Messiah, Detroit, MI

Link to complete list of individual signatories