30.06.22

Editorial Note

On June 16, the IAM received an announcement from a group of scholars titled “The Jewish Studies Zionist Network.” 

The group comprises scholars and educators in the field of Jewish Studies who “affirm that Zionism is a legitimate movement for the national self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland.”

Members embrace a “commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the world’s sole Jewish State, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation. The uncritical use of concepts such as ‘European settler colonial project,’ ‘genocidal,’ ‘Jewish supremacist,’ or ‘apartheid,’ to describe Zionism and Israel is agenda-driven, manipulative, and therefore antithetical to promoting knowledge and scholarship in our communities.”

Their mission is: 

“1) To reaffirm as scholars and educators intimately familiar with the history of the Jewish people and Zionism, to our colleagues, our students, and the wider community the legitimacy of Zionism as the historical movement of Jewish self-determination and of the State of Israel as a Jewish State in the community of nations. 

2) To thwart efforts to demonize Zionism and Israel, via such charges as “apartheid,” “a racist endeavor,” “genocide,” and “Jewish supremacy,” which are driven by ideological rather than scholarly considerations. 

3) To foster scholarship in our respective disciplines that gives voice to multiple approaches and perspectives contributing to better intellectual and educational outcomes. 

4) To ensure that a safe space exists on college campuses for Jewish students and faculty to express their identities as Jewish Zionists in public, just as this safe space is provided to members of other minority communities.”

The announcement was also posted on the Facebook page of Bashaar Academia-IL, the Israeli network of scholars, and on H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online.

Interestingly, however, the mainstream media has ignored the new group. The only two outlets to report on the issue are Israel National News and JNS, which interviewed the founder, Jarrod Tanny, an associate professor of Jewish History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Tanny said, “As a professor of Jewish history I grew troubled at the extent to which anti-Zionism has become pervasive in academia. The animosity directed against ‘Zionists’ and Israel on college campuses, fueled by frequent condemnatory statements and petitions issued by scholarly associations and departments, BDS resolutions, and ‘Apartheid Week’ events, has led to an alarming uptick in antisemitism. Rather than speaking out against this, numerous Jewish studies scholars have publicly endorsed this trend, or at the very least have looked the other way… So we created the Jewish Studies Zionist Network to show the world that there are scholars and professors of Jewish and Israel studies who will no longer remain silent. We are speaking out, collectively, as experts in the history and culture of the Jewish people and Israel.”

Adam Fuller, a coordinating committee member, is an associate professor of Politics and International Relations at Youngstown State University. He noted, “It is our responsibility as educators to offer diverse perspectives to our students… But unfortunately, students are getting a very distorted picture of the Middle East conflict. They aren’t being exposed to Israel’s side of the story. And major academic organizations are going along with it, such as the Middle East Studies Association, which has now officially adopted BDS. It is unbelievable that the most prominent association of scholarship of the region is boycotting scholars and institutions from one of the countries that it is supposedly devoted to studying.”

Naya Lekht, an independent scholar, is also a member of the cordoning committee. Lekht said, “If once the epicenter of anti-Zionism was to be found in universities, today Jewish teens encounter anti-Israel bias in the classroom. How did this happen? It happened because for far too long anti-Zionism has remained unchecked in academia. This is why JSZN is such a vital initiative.” Other than its members’ unified belief that Zionism is a valid political movement and legitimate expression of Jewish peoplehood, the network is non-partisan and has a politically diverse array of signatories. 

The mission statement states, “We have no unified position on Israeli or Jewish politics generally, or on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, other than to uphold the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and of Israelis to craft their own future.“ We believe that the double standard to which Israel is held in the academy has not only stifled scholarship but has created a climate of fear among faculty and students who wish to express their Jewish identity – a Zionist Jewish identity – in public.” 

Over 80 scholars have signed this announcement.

As IAM reported, for more than a decade now, the campuses have been a hotbed of anti-Zionist activity. The new group should provide a much-needed push back against the academic crusade to delegitimize the Jewish State.  

References:

https://jsznetwork.weebly.com/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-YlnODOO_-YZC_XneRPnjGNOPnFQZzN7/view

The Jewish Studies Zionist Network
Mission Statement
The Jewish Studies Zionist Network is composed of scholars and educators in Jewish Studies who affirm that Zionism is a legitimate movement for the national self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland.

As experts in Jewish studies with a commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the world’s sole Jewish State, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation.

The uncritical use of concepts such as “European settler colonial project,” “genocidal,” “Jewish supremacist,” or “apartheid,” to describe Zionism and Israel is agenda-driven, manipulative, and therefore antithetical to promoting knowledge and scholarship in our communities.

Higher education plays a crucial role in shaping the minds and attitudes of younger generations.
It is therefore incumbent on higher education to deepen and enhance younger generations’ understanding of the history of Zionism and the Jewish State in ways that do justice to their nuance and complexity.

We have no unified position on Israeli or Jewish politics generally, or on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, other than to uphold the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and of Israelis to craft their own future.

We welcome scholars of all religious, national, and ethnic backgrounds who seek to advance Jewish and Israel studies, and who accept the existence of the State of Israel as a legitimate expression of Jewish peoplehood.

Our mission is the following:
1) To reaffirm as scholars and educators intimately familiar with the history of the Jewish people and Zionism, to our colleagues, our students, and the wider community the legitimacy of Zionism as the historical movement of Jewish self-determination and of the State of Israel as a Jewish State in the community of nations.
2) To thwart efforts to demonize Zionism and Israel, via such charges as “apartheid,” “a racist endeavor,” “genocide,” and “Jewish supremacy,” which are driven by ideological rather than scholarly considerations.
3) To foster scholarship in our respective disciplines that gives voice to multiple approaches and perspectives contributing to better intellectual and educational outcomes.
4) To ensure that a safe space exists on college campuses for Jewish students and faculty to express their identities as Jewish Zionists in public, just as this safe space is provided to members of other minority communities.

Coordinating Committee*
Dr. Jarrod Tanny, Associate Professor and Block Distinguished Scholar in Jewish History, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Adam L. Fuller, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Youngstown State University
Dr. Naya Lekht, Independent Scholar

Signatories*
Dr. Victoria Aarons, O.R. & Eva Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature, Trinity University
Dr. Baruch Alster, Senior Lecturer, Givat Washington Academic College of Education, Israel
Michael Bazyler, JD, Professor of Law and The 1939 Society Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, Fowler School of Law, Chapman University
Dr. Raphael BenLevi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Haifa
Dr. Moshe Y. Bernstein, Independent Scholar
Dr. Corinne E. Blackmer, Professor of English and Judaic Studies, Southern CT State University
Dr. Gabriel Noah Brahm, Professor of English and World Literature, Northern Michigan University; Senior Research Fellow, Herzl Institute for the Study of Zionism, University of Haifa
Dr. Justin Cammy, Professor of Jewish Studies, World Literatures, and Middle East Studies, Smith College
Dr. Ellen Cannon, Professor of Political Science and Jewish Studies at Northeastern Illinois University
Dr. Zvi Y. Cohen, Independent Scholar and Educator at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community (High) School
Dr. Avram Davis, Independent Scholar
Dr. Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies and Professor Emerita of Government, Smith College
Dr. Stanley Dubinsky, Professor of Linguistics, University of South Carolina
Dr. Miriam F. Elman, Associate Professor, Syracuse University
Dr. Ari Engelberg, Associate Professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem
Dr. Norman J.W. Goda, Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Florida
Stanley Goldman, JD, Professor of Law, Founder and Director of The Center for the Study of Law and Genocide, Loyola Marymount University
Dr. David Hazony, Independent Scholar
Dr. Yoram Hazony, President, The Herzl Institute, Jerusalem
Dr. David Hirsh, Senior Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London
Dr. Motti Inbari, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Dr. Oleg Ivanov, Independent Scholar
Dr. Seth (Avi) Kadish, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tivon
Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki, Independent Scholar
Dr. Nancy Koppelman, American Studies, The Evergreen State College
Dr. Phyllis Lassner, Professor Emerita Northwestern University
Dr. Holli Levitsky, Director of Jewish Studies, Professor of English, Loyola Marymount University
Dr. David A. Meola, Director of Jewish & Holocaust Studies, Meisler Assistant Professor of History & Jewish Studies, University of South Alabama
Dr. Natan Meir, Lorry I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies, Portland State University
Dr. Meir Muller, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina
Dr. Josef Olmert, Adjunct Professor, University of South Carolina
Dr. Monica Osborne, Independent Scholar; Editor-at-Large, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Jon Papernick, MFA, Senior Writer-In-Residence, Emerson College
Dr. David Patterson, Hillel Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Dr. Andrew Pessin, Professor of Philosophy, Connecticut College
Dr. Joshua Schwartz, Emeritus Professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel and, Chair, Board of Directors, Israel Antiquities Authority
Dr. Andrey Shlyakhter, Postdoctoral Fellow, Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich, Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies, Director of Catholic-Jewish Studies Program, Catholic Theological Union
Dr. Saba Soomekh, Independent Scholar
Dr. Nehemia Stern, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ariel University of Samaria
Dr. Gil Troy, Professor, Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University
Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf, Associate Professor, Talmud Department, Bar Ilan University

*Any referenced titles or affiliations are included for identification purposes only. Signing this statement reflects personal views; we are not speaking for or in the name of any university, department, or program.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDING YOUR SIGNATURE:
If you would like to sign the mission statement, please email us at: jsznetwork@gmail.com Please write that you would like your signature added.
You must include, besides your name, your institutional affiliation. If you would like to include your title (associate professor, postdoctoral researcher, etc.) then that is fine as well. If you are presently unaffiliated with a university or a think tank or a Jewish publication of record, but otherwise meet the criteria for membership (hold a doctorate and do Jewish-related scholarly/educational work) then you may write “independent scholar.” I would recommend putting Dr. Before your name if applicable. See the above signatures.
And if you are affiliated with an institution, please email us from your institutional email address.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/bashaaracil/posts/5102724913189818/

Joshua Schwartz

24 June at 12:24  · 

The Jewish Studies Zionist Network Mission Statement The Jewish Studies Zionist Network is composed of scholars and educators in Jewish Studies who affirm that Zionism is a legitimate movement for the national self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland. As experts in Jewish studies with a commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the world’s sole Jewish State, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation. The uncritical use of concepts such as “European settler colonial project,” “genocidal,” “Jewish supremacist,” or “apartheid,” to describe Zionism and Israel is agenda-driven, manipulative, and therefore antithetical to promoting knowledge and scholarship in our communities. Higher education plays a crucial role in shaping the minds and attitudes of younger generations. It is therefore incumbent on higher education to deepen and enhance younger generations’ understanding of the history of Zionism and the Jewish State in ways that do justice to their nuance and complexity. We have no unified position on Israeli or Jewish politics generally, or on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, other than to uphold the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and of Israelis to craft their own future. We welcome scholars of all religious, national, and ethnic backgrounds who seek to advance Jewish and Israel studies, and who accept the existence of the State of Israel as a legitimate expression of Jewish peoplehood. Our mission is the following: 1) To reaffirm as scholars and educators intimately familiar with the history of the Jewish people and Zionism, to our colleagues, our students, and the wider community the legitimacy of Zionism as the historical movement of Jewish self-determination and of the State of Israel as a Jewish State in the community of nations. 2) To thwart efforts to demonize Zionism and Israel, via such charges as “apartheid,” “a racist endeavor,” “genocide,” and “Jewish supremacy,” which are driven by ideological rather than scholarly considerations. 3) To foster scholarship in our respective disciplines that gives voice to multiple approaches and perspectives contributing to better intellectual and educational outcomes. 4) To ensure that a safe space exists on college campuses for Jewish students and faculty to express their identities as Jewish Zionists in public, just as this safe space is provided to members of other minority communities

Coordinating Committee* Dr. Jarrod Tanny, Associate Professor and Block Distinguished Scholar in Jewish History, University of North Carolina Wilmington Dr. Adam L. Fuller, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Youngstown State University Dr. Naya Lekht, Independent Scholar

Signatories* Dr. Victoria Aarons, O.R. & Eva Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature, Trinity University Dr. Baruch Alster, Senior Lecturer, Givat Washington Academic College of Education, Israel Michael Bazyler, JD, Professor of Law and The 1939 Society Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, Fowler School of Law, Chapman University Dr. Raphael BenLevi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Haifa Dr. Alan L. Berger, Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic University Dr. Moshe Y. Bernstein, Independent Scholar Dr. Corinne E. Blackmer, Professor of English and Judaic Studies, Southern CT State University Dr. Gabriel Noah Brahm, Professor of English and World Literature, Northern Michigan University; Senior Research Fellow, Herzl Institute for the Study of Zionism, University of Haifa Dr. Justin Cammy, Professor of Jewish Studies, World Literatures, and Middle East Studies, Smith College Dr. Ellen Cannon, Professor of Political Science and Jewish Studies at Northeastern Illinois University Dr. Zvi Y. Cohen, Independent Scholar and Educator at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community (High) School Dr. Avram Davis, Independent Scholar Dr. Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies and Professor Emerita of Government, Smith College Dr. Stanley Dubinsky, Professor of Linguistics, University of South Carolina Dr. Miriam F. Elman, Associate Professor, Syracuse University Dr. Ari Engelberg, Associate Professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem Dr. Norman J.W. Goda, Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Florida Stanley Goldman, JD, Professor of Law, Founder and Director of The Center for the Study of Law and Genocide, Loyola Marymount University Dr. David Hazony, Independent Scholar Dr. Yoram Hazony, President, The Herzl Institute, Jerusalem Dr. Jeffrey Herf, Distinguished University Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland, College Park Dr. David Hirsh, Senior Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London Dr. Motti Inbari, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke Dr. Oleg Ivanov, Independent Scholar Dr. Seth (Avi) Kadish, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tivon Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki, Independent Scholar Dr. Nancy Koppelman, American Studies, The Evergreen State College Dr. Phyllis Lassner, Professor Emerita Northwestern University Dr. Berel Dov Lerner, Associate Professor, Western Galilee College Dr. Holli Levitsky, Director of Jewish Studies, Professor of English, Loyola Marymount University Dr. Natan Meir, Lorry I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies, Portland State University Dr. David A. Meola, Director of Jewish & Holocaust Studies, Meisler Assistant Professor of History & Jewish Studies, University of South Alabama Dr. Meir Muller, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina Dr. Josef Olmert, Adjunct Professor, University of South Carolina Dr. Monica Osborne, Independent Scholar; Editor-at-Large, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles Jon Papernick, MFA, Senior Writer-In-Residence, Emerson College Dr. David Patterson, Hillel Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, University of Texas at Dallas Dr. Andrew Pessin, Professor of Philosophy, Connecticut College Dr. Joshua Schwartz, Emeritus Professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel and, Chair, Board of Directors, Israel Antiquities Authority Dr. Andrey Shlyakhter, Postdoctoral Fellow, Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich, Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies, Director of Catholic-Jewish Studies Program, Catholic Theological Union Dr. Natan Slifkin, Director, the Biblical Museum of Natural History Dr. Cherryl Smith, Professor Emerita, California State University, Sacramento Dr. Saba Soomekh, Independent Scholar Dr. Nehemia Stern, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ariel University of Samaria Dr. Gil Troy, Professor, Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf, Associate Professor, Talmud Department, Bar Ilan University *Any referenced titles or affiliations are included for identification purposes only. Signing this statement reflects personal views; we are not speaking for or in the name of any university, department, or program.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDING YOUR SIGNATURE: If you would like to sign the mission statement, please email us at: jsznetwork@gmail.com Please write that you would like your signature added. You must include, besides your name, your institutional affiliation. If you would like to include your title (associate professor, postdoctoral researcher, etc.) then that is fine as well. If you are presently unaffiliated with a university or a think tank or a Jewish publication of record, but otherwise meet the criteria for membership (hold a doctorate and do Jewish-related scholarly/educational work) then you may write “independent scholar.” I would recommend putting Dr. Before your name if applicable.

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https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/355625

Jewish studies educators start new ‘Zionists’ Alliance’

Over 80 college educators and researchers have established a new alliance advocating balance and combatting bias in Israel education

Israel National News

27.06.2220:50

Over 80 college educators and researchers have established a new alliance advocating balance in Israel education. The Jewish Studies Zionist Network, as it is called, is specifically for individuals within Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, and adjacent fields who believe that academia has become unjustly hostile to Israel. Its mission statement reads, “As experts in Jewish studies with a commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the world’s sole Jewish State, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation.”

The network was founded by Jarrod Tanny, associate professor of Jewish History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Explaining why he started the movement, Tanny said, “As a professor of Jewish history I grew troubled at the extent to which anti-Zionism has become pervasive in academia. The animosity directed against ‘Zionists’ and Israel on college campuses, fueled by frequent condemnatory statements and petitions issued by scholarly associations and departments, BDS resolutions, and ‘Apartheid Week’ events, has led to an alarming uptick in antisemitism. Rather than speaking out against this, numerous Jewish studies scholars have publicly endorsed this trend, or at the very least have looked the other way.”

Also on the coordinating committee are Adam Fuller, associate professor of Politics and International Relations at Youngstown State University, and Naya Lekht, an independent scholar. Fuller said that the network is vital for promoting balance in higher education.

“It is our responsibility as educators to offer diverse perspectives to our students,” he said. “But unfortunately, students are getting a very distorted picture of the Middle East conflict. They aren’t being exposed to Israel’s side of the story. And major academic organizations are going along with it, such as the Middle East Studies Association, which has now officially adopted BDS. It is unbelievable that the most prominent association of scholarship of the region is boycotting scholars and institutions from one of the countries that it is supposedly devoted to studying.”

Lekht highlighted the impact academic anti-Zionism has had on Jewish youth even before they begin college. She said, “If once the epicenter of anti-Zionism was to be found in universities, today Jewish teens encounter anti-Israel bias in the classroom. How did this happen? It happened because for far too long anti-Zionism has remained unchecked in academia. This is why JSZN is such a vital initiative.”

Other than its members’ unified belief that Zionism is a valid political movement and legitimate expression of Jewish peoplehood, the network is non-partisan and has a politically diverse array of signatories. The mission statement states, “We have no unified position on Israeli or Jewish politics generally, or on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, other than to uphold the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and of Israelis to craft their own future.

“We believe that the double standard to which Israel is held in the academy has not only stifled scholarship but has created a climate of fear among faculty and students who wish to express their Jewish identity – a Zionist Jewish identity – in public,” Tanny said. “So we created the Jewish Studies Zionist Network to show the world that there are scholars and professors of Jewish and Israel studies who will no longer remain silent. We are speaking out, collectively, as experts in the history and culture of the Jewish people and Israel.”

===================================================================

https://www.jns.org/more-than-80-scholars-form-group-to-fight-anti-zionism-on-campus/

More than 80 scholars form group to fight anti-Zionism on campus

“We believe that the double standard to which Israel is held in the academy has not only stifled scholarship, but has created a climate of fear among faculty and students,” Jarrod Tanny, associate professor of Jewish history, said.

(June 29, 2022 / JNS) 

More than 80 scholars of Jewish and Israel studies have joined together to form an initiative to combat on-campus anti-Zionism: The Jewish Studies Zionist Network.

The organization is the brainchild of Jarrod Tanny, an associate professor of Jewish history at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

The scholars who signed up for the initiative include Israeli political philosopher and author of The Virtue of Nationalism Yoram Hazony of the Herzl Institute, the University of Florida Holocaust historian Norman J.W. Goda and Georgetown University Center for Jewish Civilization Director Bruce Hoffman.

“As experts in Jewish studies with a commitment to the peace and welfare of all communities in Israel, the world’s sole Jewish state, we reject characterizations of Zionism and Israel that seek to discredit their legitimacy and that judge them according to standards not applied to any other nation,” the scholars wrote in an open letter published on the project’s website.

Tanny said that he founded the network after being “troubled at the extent to which anti-Zionism has become pervasive in academia,” according to a news release.

“We believe that the double standard to which Israel is held in the academy has not only stifled scholarship, but has created a climate of fear among faculty and students who wish to express their Jewish identity—a Zionist Jewish identity—in public,” Tanny said, adding that the network would “show the world that there are scholars and professors of Jewish and Israel studies who will no longer remain silent.”

The organization has a four-part mission to achieve its goal, according to its website. The plan includes stressing to the academic community that Israel is a legitimate state and that Zionism is a national self-determination movement like any other.

To that end, the network seeks to combat academic portrayals of Israel and Zionism that rely on misinterpretations of social science concepts such as apartheid, genocide and racial supremacy.

“It is our responsibility as educators to offer diverse perspectives to our students,” said Youngstown State University Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations Adam Fuller, who is also a member of the group’s coordinating committee.

The organization also seeks to ensure that campuses remain a “safe space” for students and scholars who identify as Jews and Zionists, according to its website.