Pubs with elements template - 11

Introduction

As the US and its allies lead a sweeping assault on the global legal order to shield the Israeli regime from accountability for genocide, international outrage has sparked an extraordinary wave of pro-Palestine solidarity and organizing. Millions have taken to the streets in a broad-based protest movement that marks a profound shift in public consciousness. In addition, a growing surge of grassroots initiatives—from legal challenges by human rights groups to divestment campaigns and organizing by students, academics, and labor unions—has solidified Palestine as a central pillar in the global struggle for justice.

Al-Shabaka’s latest Focus On offers a multifaceted exploration of how solidarity with Palestine is expanding and being reimagined globally. It also highlights the significant challenges facing the movement amid a vicious crackdown on pro-Palestine activism. This collection brings together contributions from analysts working across advocacy, academia, and policy to examine the shifting landscape of global solidarity. From repressive anti-solidarity legislation in the US and Europe to the explosive rise of grassroots mobilization on university campuses and within labor movements, this collection highlights the forces working to suppress Palestine advocacy and the powerful, imaginative strategies that are emerging in resistance. Moreover, it provides vital context and insight into how this movement can be sustained and deepened. 

Repression of Solidarity in the West

The rise in global support for Palestinian liberation has been met with increasingly aggressive efforts to suppress it. Across the US, Europe, and beyond, governments, institutions, and lobbying networks have escalated campaigns to criminalize, delegitimize, and silence solidarity with Palestine. These pieces examine the wide-ranging strategies of repression—from targeted surveillance and punitive legislation to smear campaigns and institutional censorship—revealing how both state and non-state actors work to erode the legitimacy of Palestine advocacy.

Grassroots Power and Movement Building

The analyses below examine how grassroots organizing, particularly that led by students, has reignited the struggle for Palestinian liberation and reshaped the US political landscape. In the face of escalating Israeli violence and deepening repression, student movements have emerged at the forefront, mobilizing mass protests, demanding divestment from institutions complicit in Israeli apartheid, and building powerful coalitions that link Palestine to broader struggles for racial, social, and economic justice.

These discussions and analytical pieces trace the historical continuity and transformation of pro-Palestine activism in the US, connecting today’s organizing to earlier waves of solidarity. They also highlight key strategic shifts and organizing frameworks that channel public outrage into sustained political advocacy and long-term movement building.

Global South and Decolonial Solidarity 

Al-Shabka analysts engage with the changing landscape of transnational solidarity with Palestine, rooted in shared legacies of anti-colonial resistance and struggles against imperialism. These contributions foreground perspectives from the Global South, interrogating how histories of colonization continue to shape the present and inspire cross-border alliances with the Palestinian cause.

The analyses examine how solidarity is being redefined through decolonial frameworks that challenge Western-dominated narratives and center Indigenous, Black, and Global South voices. They delve into urgent questions around representation, power, and legitimacy—who gets to speak for Palestine, on what terms, and to what ends. They also grapple with the complexities of allyship in an international context marked by unequal power dynamics.

Solidarity Strategies and Tactics

The following analyses explore the evolving strategies, tools, and frontline tactics deployed by global movements to support Palestinian liberation. Moving beyond symbolic gestures, these contributions focus on grounded, practical efforts that directly challenge the institutions and systems enabling Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide.

From anti-normalization campaigns and academic boycotts to labor strikes and corporate accountability initiatives, the analyses map a diverse terrain of resistance, highlighting both the tactical ingenuity and strategic dilemmas organizers worldwide face. The contributions also highlight the role of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement: its local adaptations, global reach, growing impact, and the internal debates shaping its direction.

Article - Introducing Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network

Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network

Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to convene a multidisciplinary, global network of Palestinian analysts to produce critical policy analysis and collectively imagine a new policymaking paradigm for Palestine and Palestinians worldwide.

More From This Author
In this article
Download PDF
View PDF

Latest Analysis

Explore All Analysis
Policy Brief
 Politics

Insulation Not Isolation: Israel’s Super-Sparta War Economy

As the US and Israel escalate their assault on Iran, the Israeli regime has been constructing a war economy to sustain prolonged military campaigns while evading accountability. In September 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to transform the country into a “Super Sparta” of the Middle East—more militarized, economically self-reliant, and capable of sustaining protracted conflict despite mounting external pressure. This policy brief argues that this rhetoric reflects an emerging doctrine: a political-economic project structured around permanent national mobilization, preventative warfare, and accelerated defense-industrial expansion. Yet the Israeli regime’s shift toward self-reliance is not producing full autarky. Instead, the war economy is consolidating into a hybrid model that combines domestic substitution in critical defense sectors with deeper integration into transnational supply networks, thereby dispersing sanctions risk. This configuration blunts the impact of conventional accountability tools, such as fragmented or weakly enforced arms embargoes. As a result, effective international responses must move beyond traditional sanctions frameworks and instead target the material infrastructure and dependency nodes that sustain Israel’s war economy.
Ahmed Alqarout· Mar 11, 2026
Policy Lab
 Politics

After Gaza’s Genocide: What World Order?

Noura Erakat and Jake Romm joined us for a policy lab episode on how Gaza helped shatter the old status quo and what that break reveals about the world being built in its wake.
Al-Shabaka Nour Joudah
Al-Shabaka Tariq Kenney-Shawa
Noura Erakat,Tariq Kenney-Shawa· Feb 23, 2026
Roundtable
 Civil Society

Palestine and the Shrinking Space for Dissent in the UK

On November 4, 2025, the UK government tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to curtail protest rights under the pretext of “cumulative disruption.” The revised Bill is now in the House of Lords Committee, where it is scrutinized before advancing toward final approval. The amendment signals a profound shift in how the state regulates public protest. While the government presents the Bill as a neutral public order measure, it emerges directly from sustained national demonstrations for Palestinian rights and introduces new legal concepts that threaten long-established democratic freedoms. This roundtable examines the Bill’s political drivers, legal architecture, and wider implications for social movements and civil liberties in the UK. It shows that the amendment is not simply a public order measure; it is a coordinated political and legal project to narrow the space for dissent in the UK. While Palestinian solidarity is the immediate target of the crackdown on freedom of assembly, the roundtable argues that the consequences will reverberate across labor organizing, racial justice, climate activism, and broader democratic participation.
Al-Shabaka Zena Agha
Al-Shabaka Salma Karmi-Ayyoub
Zena Agha,Salma Karmi-Ayyoub,Celie Hanson + More· Feb 16, 2026

We’re building a network 
for liberation.

As the only global Palestinian think tank, we’re working hard to respond to rapid developments affecting Palestinians, while remaining committed to shedding light on issues that may otherwise be overlooked.

Meet Our Policy Network & Contributors