Dirty Work: Europe's Proscription of Palestine Solidarity Sources - Visualizing Palestine - March 2026

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1	Dirty Work: Europe's Proscription of Palestine Solidarity
2	Visual by Visualizing Palestine and the European Legal Support Center (ELSC)
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4	STATEMENT	DESCRIPTION/EXCERPT	SOURCE	PUBLISHED	SOURCE URL	LAST ACCESSED

5	European governments are weaponizing counterterrorism laws to ban Palestine solidarity groups. These bans--which lead to increased arrests, police raids, and surveillance--have so far been unsuccessful in demobilizing opposition to Israeli genocide.	See "Europe's Proscription of Palestine Solidarity," a report by ELSC, for analysis of how European governments instrumentalise counterterrorism measures to criminalise Palestine solidarity groups.	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
6	1. COMPLICITY IN GENOCIDE
7	WEAPONS European countries directly supply the Israeli military & allow U.S. weapons shipments to Israel to transit through European territory.	"The EU has enabled and normalised genocide by adopting a ‘business as usual’ approach towards the Israeli state and the US, for example, by allowing US arms shipments bound for the Israeli state to transit through European territory, facilitating transfers of arms components like Elbit Systems’ Skylark drone parts transiting through Frankfurt from Budapest, supplying weapons directly, and investing in the Israeli state’s arms industry."	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
8	FINANCIAL SUPPORT The EU is Israel's largest trade partner and source of foreign investment.	"The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, and its total trade with Israel in 2024, including imports and exports, amounted to €42.6 billion. This is significantly more than the US, whose trade with Israel totalled €31.6 billion in the same year." "The EU is the largest investor in Israel worldwide, nearly twice as big as the United States (US). According to the most recent IMF data on foreign investment, EU member states held €72.1 billion in foreign investment in Israel in 2023, compared to €39.2 billion for the US."	SOMO - The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations	July 15, 2025	https://www.somo.nl/economic-sanctions-eu-is-israel-largest-investor/	March 3, 2026
9	POLITICAL COVER The EU and European governments have undermined efforts by international bodies to hold Israel accountable, while refusing to impose meaningful sanctions.	"EU states have also yet to approve suspending the trade pillar of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, despite finding Israel in breach of article 2 of the deal, which identifies “respect for human rights and democratic principles” as an essential element."	Human Rights Watch	October 17, 2025	https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/17/ceasefire-or-not-eu-should-keep-pressure-on-israel-to-end-abuses	March 3, 2026
10		The EU has refrained from imposing meaningful sanctions on Israel.	Politico	October 17, 2025	https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-unlikely-push-sanctions-israel-trump-peace-deal-maxime-prevot/	March 3, 2026
11		Germany offered to intervene on behalf of Israel in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice	Al Jazeera	January 14, 2024	https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/14/namibia-condemns-germany-for-defending-israel-in-icj-genocide-case	March 3, 2026
12		France granted immunity to Israeli leaders charged with war crimes, undermining the authority of the International Criminal Court.	Le Monde	November 28, 2024	https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/11/27/france-says-immunities-apply-to-netanyahu-regarding-icc-arrest-warrant_6734304_4.html	March 3, 2026
13	2. "DIRTY WORK"
14	ISRAEL AND WESTERN IMPERIALISM Genocide in Gaza. Record Israeli settler violence & mass incarceration. Five countries bombed in 2025. Support for Israeli violence enables Western countries to maintain imperial dominance while feigning respect for international law and human rights.	Numerous human rights organizations have concluded that Israel is carrying out acts of genocide in Gaza.	Amnesty International	December 5, 2024	https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8668/2024/en/	March 3, 2026
15		In 2025, Israeli settlers living illegally in the occupied West Bank carried our a record number of attacks on Palestinian communities resulting in casualties or property damage, according to United Nations data.	United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)	January 21, 2026	https://www.ochaopt.org/content/west-bank-monthly-snapshot-casualties-property-damage-and-displacement-december-2025	March 3, 2026
16		"According to various estimates, since 1967, Israel has imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinian men and women from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which accounts for about 20% of the total population and about 40% of all Palestinian men."	B'tselem	August 2024	https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell_eng.pdf	March 3, 2026
17		In addition to the genocide in Gaza, Israel attacked five other countries in 2025: Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen	Al Jazeera	December 29, 2025	https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/12/29/all-the-countries-israel-attacked-in-2025-animated-map	March 3, 2026
18	"This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us." –Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor, July 2025, on Israel's bombing of Iran	"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praised the Israeli offensive on Iran on Tuesday, saying Israel is doing the 'dirty work' for the West."	Haaretz	June 17, 2025	https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/2025-06-17/ty-article/germany-israel-doing-our-dirty-work-against-iran-urges-destruction-of-nuclear-sites/00000197-7e82-d717-a1df-fed2074a0000	March 3, 2026
19	3. AUTHORITARIAN REPRESSION
20	UNITED KINGDOM LAW: TERRORISM ACT Arrested thousands for "support for terrorism" for protesting the government's proscription of Palestine Action.	"On 5 July 2025, the UK government proscribed Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000." The UN Human Rights Chief condemned the proscription as being "at odds with the UK’s obligations under international human rights law."	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
21		"More than 2,000 people have been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action since, many for holding signs reading: 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.'"	The Guardian	January 19, 2026	https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/19/arresting-palestine-action-supporters-censor-free-speech-white-house-official	March 3, 2026
22	GERMANY LAW: ASSOCIATION ACT, CRIMINAL CODE SECTION 86A Dissolved Samidoun and Palestine Solidarity Duisburg (PSDU) and designated the slogan "from the river to the sea" as a "Hamas symbol," which triggered thousands of speech -related criminal charges and police raids.	See legal framework for explanation of laws used to ban organizations. Samidoun was banned by German authorities in November 2023 and Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (PSDU)92 was banned in May 2024. "In November 2023, the Federal Ministry of Interior identified the slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’ as a symbol of Hamas and Samidoun, thus criminalising the slogan...The criminalisation of symbols and slogans is invariably accompanied by intensified state violence against individuals."	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
23	FRANCE LAW: PENAL CODE ARTICLE 421-2-5 Imposed a blanket ban on Palestine solidarity protests, leading to hundreds of arrests. Initiated proceedings to dissolve Urgence Palestine, the largest Palestine solidarity group in France.	"France’s post-2014 counterterrorism laws have created one of Europe's most expansive frameworks for criminalising speech and banning organisations. The cornerstone is Penal Code Article 421-2-5." "On 28 April 2025, the French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, initiated proceedings to dissolve Urgence Palestine...If the dissolution of Urgence Palestine becomes final and an appeal is rejected, the French state will gain sweeping powers to surveil homes, phones, and individuals, restrict certain people from speaking to one another, and even impose travel bans."	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
24		French police arrested hundreds of people for “participation in an illegal demonstration” after imposing a blanket ban on protests in support of Palestinians in 2023	.+972 Magazine	October 31, 2023	https://www.972mag.com/france-gaza-war-crackdown/	March 3, 2026
25			CNN	October 12, 2023	https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/europe/france-ban-pro-palestinian-intl	March 3, 2026
26	BELGIUM, ITALY, NETHERLANDS Other countries are emulating this approach, adopting measures that could pave the wav for future bans and criminalization of dissent.	See report for analysis of legal developments in these countries.	European Legal Support Center (ELSC)	August 2025	https://elsc.support/resource/europes-proscription-of-palestine-solidarity-2/	March 3, 2026
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