High Court upholds conference ban

A high court judge decided that political pressure backed up
by spurious claims of threats to health and safety outweighed
academic freedom and upheld Southampton Univerity administration’s
ban on the conference.

The conference organisers are determined that the conference
will take place at a later date. They are urgently seeking a venue
whose mangers believe that threats should not determine what may
be discussed in Britain and that the discussion of the legal basis
of the Israeli state must not be outlawed

UK
High Court backs shutdown of Israel conference – The Electronic
Intifada
Statement by the Conference
Organisers

Appeal for funds: Defend
Academic Freedom – Fight the ban on discussion of the legal
basis of Israel (or any other state)

Petition
to uphold free speech & allow the conference on Israel and international
law to proceed now has over 10,000 signatures
– add your name

Haim Bresheeth has prepared an update on developments at Southampton
University following the unprecedented ban of the academic conference
on International Law and the State of Israel, on behalf of BRICUP.
His article details the pressure Zionist organisations, Conservative
MPs and Cabinet Ministers put upon the University administration.
He demonstrates the falsity of the University’s claim that it
cancelled the conference on Health and Safety grounds. The article
places the cancellation of the Southampton conference in the context
of cancellation of events promoting Palestinian rights at other
UK and European Universities; increasing aggression by Israel;
and an escalating campaign to label all criticism of Israel as
anti-semitic.

The next stage of Israel’s
game in the UK: Lawfare, silencing and
suppression – the test case in Southampton – Haim
Bresheeth

Update
from the conference organisers -31 March
Free Speech and Academic Freedom
trumped by Zionist Pressure – BRICUP press release