I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and anger over the University of Southern Maine’s decision last month to cancel a conference (“The Consequence of Palestine”), because one of the speakers, Francesca Albanese, is on a U.S. government’s sanctions list. 

As the U.N. rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Ms. Albanese — at great personal cost — has documented the illegal occupation and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, even after a “peace agreement” was implemented by Israel and the U.S.

She has shown nothing but great courage and integrity in her attempt to call on the world to stop enabling and actively participating in this genocide, including the U.S. companies Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft and Amazon.

Universities and other institutions of learning are increasingly succumbing to calls for censorship by the government and Zionists who do not want to the truth about what Israel is doing to eradicate Palestinians from their native land.

Hannahlore Trickett
Norridgewock