Abby Martin Blocked From Speaking at Georgia Southern for Refusing to Sign Pro-Israel Loyalty Oath

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jan. 14, 2020

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Journalist Abby Martin has revealed that she was blocked from delivering a keynote speech at Georgia Southern University for refusing to "sign a contractual pledge to not boycott Israel" to comply with Georgia's anti-Boycott, Divest and Sanctions law.

"After I was scheduled to give keynote speech at an upcoming @GeorgiaSouthern conference, organizers said I must comply with Georgia's anti-BDS law and sign a contractual pledge to not boycott Israel," Martin said Friday on Twitter. "I refused and my talk was canceled. The event fell apart after colleagues supported me."

After I was scheduled to give keynote speech at an upcoming @GeorgiaSouthern conference, organizers said I must comply w/ Georgia’s anti-BDS law & sign a contractual pledge to not boycott Israel. I refused & my talk was canceled. The event fell apart after colleagues supported me
— Abby Martin (@AbbyMartin) January 11, 2020

The global awareness & success of BDS has terrified the political establishment, which has pursued an aggressive, bipartisan push to ban Israel boycotts across the US, especially at universities. Trump’s recent executive order furthers cements this goal. https://t.co/jYmqX9pcZi
— Abby Martin (@AbbyMartin) January 11, 2020

.@nolan_higdon & @Mythinfo of @ProjectCensored discuss how these selective, politicized narratives about free speech lead to bi-partisan attacks on First Amendment protections & support for censorship against critiques of empire. https://t.co/YLrtZLG69C
— Abby Martin (@AbbyMartin) January 11, 2020

This censorship of my talk based on forced compliance to anti-BDS laws in Georgia is just one level of a nationwide campaign to protect Israel from grassroots pressure. We must stand firmly opposed to these efforts and not cower in fear to these blatant violations of free speech. pic.twitter.com/Saj5IPY4sl
— Abby Martin (@AbbyMartin) January 11, 2020

President Trump in early December gave a speech at Sheldon Adelson's Israeli American Council on Dec 7 insisting Americans must "love Israel."

Trump: "We have to get the people of our country, of this country, to love Israel more, I have to tell you that. We have to do it. We have to get them to love Israel more. Because you have people that are Jewish people that are great people -- they don't love Israel enough." pic.twitter.com/i26RNDbCIO
— The Hill (@thehill) December 8, 2019

Days later, he signed an executive order to punish critics of Israel on college campuses.

We might not have gotten Trump's promised executive order on birthright citizenship or his EO on Big Tech censorship but at least we got a blatantly unconstitutional executive order punishing criticism of Israel! https://t.co/HYespX7ytl
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) December 12, 2019

Incidentally, around three weeks later the Trump administration worked with Israeli intelligence to assassinate Israel's number one enemy, Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and tried but failed to assassinate another top figure of Iran's Quds Force while he was in Yemen, Abdul Reza Shahlai.

Israeli intel helped US carry out strike that killed Iran’s Soleimani — report https://t.co/BfwyUpfWQS
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) January 12, 2020

In October I did a piece on who could be on #Israel's potential hit list. Two of them are deadhttps://t.co/wszfKuz7ej
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) January 3, 2020

US tried strike on another senior Iranian military official the same day it killed Suleimani in Iraq. But the other attack, in Yemen, failed. Trump had put several officials on a kill list — an attempt at decapitation. w/ @EricSchmittNYT @julianbarnes. https://t.co/jbSMxx154B
— Edward Wong (@ewong) January 11, 2020

What's next?

Courts across America have ruled repeatedly that anti-BDS laws are blatantly unconstitutional and clear violations of the First Amendment but such laws are being passed and enforced throughout the country -- First Amendment be damned.

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