Press release: Lawsuit filed against German Bundestag based on its anti-BDS resolution

Activists with Jewish, Palestinian and German roots sue the German Bundestag for violating the German Basic Law with the anti-BDS resolution of May 2019.

The Bundestag 3 for Palestine (in short: BT3P), are defending themselves with the lawsuit against the violation of their freedom of expression and assembly (German Basic Law - Art. 5 and 8 GG) as well as the violation of their general personal right and freedom of association from (German Basic Law - Art. 2, Art. 1 GG, Art. 9 GG). The BT3P are the Israeli-born Jew Judith Bernstein, the German-Palestinian Amir Ali and the long-time BDS activist Christoph Glanz.

In May 2020, Berlin-based human rights lawyer Ahmed Abed filed the lawsuit on behalf of his clients against the anti-BDS resolution of the Bundestag of 17.05.2019 (Drs. 10191/19) at the Administrative Court of Berlin (Az. VG 2 K 79/20). The legal goal is to achieve the nullity of the anti-BDS resolution.

The anti-BDS resolution of the German Bundestag prohibits the support, opinion and assembly of BDS supporters and human rights activists and calls on all public actors, such as states, cities and municipalities, to withdraw public spaces and finances. As justification for this decision, the German Bundestag portrays the BDS movement as anti-Semitic, although this has already been denied by German and European courts.

In May 2019 - even before the Bundestag's decision - 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars also warned the German Bundestag not to "label supporters of Palestinian human rights as anti-Semitic." On June 3, 2019, the same group stated, "We conclude that the rise of anti-Semitism is clearly not the concern that inspired the motion passed by the Bundestag. On the contrary, this motion is driven by the political interests (...) of Israel's most right-wing government (...)."

In Frankfurt am Main, Oldenburg, Munich and Berlin, the authorities there have repeatedly tried to deprive the plaintiffs of public spaces for their events with reference to the Bundestag resolution. Only through legal enforcement in front of various courts (including the Oldenburg Administrative Court, Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court, Munich Regional Court, Frankfurt am Main Regional Court, Cologne Administrative Court) were the plaintiffs finally able to assert their right to freedom of expression and assembly. However, they are not the only ones affected by this kind of restriction of their fundamental rights. This also affects a large number of human rights activists, artists and scientists, including for example the renowned philosopher Achille Mbembe.

Due to the untenability of the accusations against the BDS movement, European courts have also regularly ruled in favor of the plaintiff activists in the past. In particular, the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights stands out: in a judgment from spring 2020, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs (BDS activists) and against the Republic of France (Baldassi et al. v. France, Az. 15271/16).

The lawsuit is supported by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) and the internationally renowned international law scholars Prof. Eric David, Prof. Xavier Dupré De Boulois, Prof. Richard Falk (former UN Special Rapporteur) and Prof. John Reynolds. They contributed an expert opinion to the Statement of Claim entitled: "Legal Implications of the Anti-BDS Resolution Adopted by the German Bundestag on May 17, 2019".