When it comes to Palestine, why is free speech in the US a lopsided affair?

In New York, a woman threw hot coffee on a man as he held his toddler, accusing him of supporting Hamas because he wore the traditional Arab scarf known as a keffiyeh.

In Florida, the government attempted to order the shutdown of several campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, accusing them of being affiliated with Hamas.

And in Michigan, a man was arrested after posting a call on Facebook to “go and hunt Palestinians.”

These aren’t isolated cases. Rights groups across the US have reported a massive increase in complaints following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the country’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the bombings, including at least 4,600 children.

But expressing concern about these deaths has cost Americans their jobs, sparked investigations into campus groups and even spurred the censure of the only Palestinian-American in Congress. Some people have also faced violence, harassment and threats for speaking out against Israeli human rights abuses.

One organisation said it has received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias in the past month, a 216 percent increase over the previous year. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, said most cases included the violation of free speech, employment issues, hate crimes and bullying.

“Both Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism are out of control in ways we have not seen in almost ten years,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor in a statement. “Political leaders, corporations, media outlets, civic organisations and others all have a role to play in ending this surge in bigotry.”

Jewish Americans have also expressed fear over a rise in anti-Semitic incidents since October 7, ranging from bullying to violence.

But the Anti-Defamation League has said the group hasn’t received any reports of workplace discrimination since the Hamas attacks, the Cut reports. And under pressure to pick a side, leaders of more than 150 corporations, including Amazon, Meta and Disney have released statements of solidarity with Israel in recent weeks.

Conversely, those sympathetic to Palestine are experiencing an environment that’s almost more inhospitable than after the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Chris Habiby, National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

“It’s partly that it’s coming from all sides. There’s no side of the political spectrum that really feels like they’re on our side, defending our rights. I think that it feels very coordinated. Everyone is using the same talking points, and they’re all perpetuating a lot of the lies that have been spoken. It’s created a culture of fear,” he told TRT World.

According to the US Constitution, the government can only limit free speech or freedom of expression under very narrow parameters, such as cases of incitement or direct threats.

Private universities and employers, however, have more leeway to call out students or fire outspoken workers, said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney for the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

But that doesn’t mean they should suppress free speech, he told TRT World.

“I think that what we want to see is a ‘more speech’ solution. The answer can’t just be instinctive censorship, especially at universities. The right to freedom of expression we enjoy in the US is something that can be lost very easily. If you weaken the expressive freedom of your enemy, you wind up weakening the expressive freedom of your ally,” Steinbaugh said.

Notably, the US has considered Israel to be an ally since its inception 75 years ago. Speaking to Israelis in Tel Aviv during an October visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reinforced this notion, telling Israelis "you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists you will never, ever have to. We will always be there, by your side.”

Whether that support translates into curbing the free speech of Americans remains to be seen.

In the short term, experts forecast a big uptick in litigation, as courts process lawsuits from people who have lost their jobs and students who were accused of being connected to terrorist groups. Indeed, threats of legal liability have already prompted Florida officials to pause efforts to ban pro-Palestinian campus groups.

But in the long term, expect a prolonged fight against the suppression of free speech, rights groups warn. Pro-Israeli groups are pushing for more anti-boycott laws, expanding the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of Zionism, and making it easier to associate pro-Palestinian voices with terrorism, the Guardian reports.

Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi, however, said all hope is not lost. Speaking to the Guardian, he said a shift in popular opinion is coming.

“I think the narrative was pretty firmly in the hands of people who supported Israel, (but) there’s a generational change taking place, with young people having an entirely different set of views. They consume different media. I think they’re more educated, more worldly, and better informed than their elders.”

Indeed, support for Israel among the American public continues to drop, according to recent national polls.