Solidarity with Zé Maria in Brazil! No to the criminalization of voices in support of Palestine!

A preliminary hearing in the case against the National President of the PSTU, José Maria de Almeida, will be held on February 11. The Brazilian Israeli Confederation (CONIB) brought the case and, together with its network of allies, has sought to criminalize all voices criticizing the genocide in Palestine.

The accusation stems from a statement Zé Maria made at a 2023 demonstration, where he delivered a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people on behalf of the PSTU.

Attempts to silence pro-Palestine voices are not new, but they gained momentum when the genocide in Palestine began in October 2023. For example, in 2023, a Bolsonaro supporter drew up a list of 130 activists for the Palestinian cause and sent it to the U.S. government.

Since then, there has been a bit of everything. For example, there was a physical attack on two PT Palestine nucleus activists at the door of the Hebraica club in São Paulo. Other legal actions have been taken against activists in São Paulo, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. The most well-known case was the action taken against journalist Breno Altman.

Additionally, dozens of pro-Palestine voices have been attacked, threatened, and defamed on social media by Zionists and Brazilian far-right extremists. For example, this month, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Liberal Party advisor used social media to defame members of the Palestinian Front of São Paulo, including Soraya Misleh, Muhammad Kadri, and Rawa Al-Sagheer, as well as the Al-Janiah Palestinian bar and cultural center in São Paulo.

Legal actions exploit the false equivalence between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism or any criticism of Israel’s genocidal actions. Abusively, they seek to frame these acts under Brazilian anti-racism law, which is a complete contradiction.

Around the world, Zionist allies also resort to repressing and criminalizing voices in solidarity with Palestine.

In Berlin, Germany, it is illegal to carry Palestinian flags or scarves and to use the slogan “Free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

In France, demonstrations of solidarity with Palestine are prohibited and repressed by the police.

In Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, the president of the Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and other members of the Palestinian community have been imprisoned on false charges.

In the United Kingdom, the case of the pacifist group Palestine Action became well known when its members painted the premises of an Israeli arms production factory red. The British Labour government accuses Palestine Action of terrorism, so anyone who expresses solidarity with the group, whether through a poster or verbal intervention, can be arrested for condoning terrorism.

Additionally, the University of London denied access to its facilities to students who are members of the SOAS Liberation Zone movement.

In the United States, both the Biden and Trump administrations pressured universities to expel students who support the Palestinian cause.

These actions are part of an international effort by the Zionist state and its allied governments to silence voices in solidarity with Palestine and hide the ongoing genocide.

We call for solidarity with our comrade Zé Maria. We demand the charges be withdrawn and the persecution of all pro-Palestine voices end.

They will not silence us!

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism!

Free Palestine from the river to the sea!

—National Executive Committee of the PSTU