Israel’s recent criminalization of six Palestinian human rights organizations has sparked global outcry. But this tactic fits into a global trend of lawfare led by right-wing and conservative governments, including in the US and Europe, against activists and grassroots organizers. it must be actively resisted politically and legally.

On the anniversary of the First Intifada, Al-Shabaka asks Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and Dima Khalidi, the founder and director of Palestine Legal: How can Palestinians and their allies move away from defensively responding to criminalization accusations towards a proactive strategy which challenges the Israeli regime’s lawfare tactics? How can this approach combine political and legal strategies? How can it engage intersectionally with other progressive movements?