31.10.24
Editorial Note
The IAM posts occasionally receive responses from readers, but when several academics respond to our publications, it merits our attention.
Recently, IAM reported that “Israeli Academics Sign Petition Calling to Sanction Israel.” The post discussed an online petition titled “Call for International Pressure,” signed by over four hundred petitioners, including a group of Israeli academics. Their names are Anat Matar (TAU), Smadar Ben-Natan (U of Oregon), Moshé Behar (U of Manchester), Tamir Sorek (Penn State U), Rafi Greenberg (TAU), Shira Klein (Chapman U), Lior Sternfeld (Penn State U), Ophira Gamliel (U of Glasgow), Hilla Dayan (U of Amsterdam), Regev Nathansohn, Uri Hadar (TAU), Snait Gissis (TAU), Amalia Saar (U of Haifa), Avishai Ehrlich (Academic College Tel Aviv-Jaffa), Efraim Davidi (BGU), Maya Rosenfeld (BGU), Avraham Oz (U of Haifa), Ronnen Ben-Arie (Technion), Yael Berda (HUJI), Anat Biletzki (Quinnipiac University), Sivan Rajuan Shtang (Sapir College), Hannan Hever (HUJI), Orly Lubin (TAU), Raz Chen-Morris (HUJI), Hannah Safran, Revital Madar (European University Institute), Ilana Hairston (Tel Hai College), Amos Goldberg (HUJI), Tamar Hager (Tel Hai College), Miriam Eliav-Feldon (TAU), Noga Kadman.
The petition stated, “We, Israeli citizens, living in Israel and abroad, are calling on the international community – the United Nations and its institutions, the United States, the European Union, the Arab League and all the countries of the world – to intervene immediately and apply every possible sanction… save us from ourselves, put real pressure on Israel for an immediate ceasefire.”
In other words, the group condemned Israel and absolved the Palestinians and Iran from any responsibility. Moreover, the petitioners urged weakening Israel.
Soon after the publication of this post, IAM received an email from Shlomo Sand, an emeritus professor at Tel Aviv University, who had expertise in French culture and cinema. Sand made a name for himself by claiming that Jews are not a people and have no rights to the land of Israel – although there is ample evidence otherwise. Sand wrote IAM and asked for his name to be added to the signatories list.
Worth noting that Sand is among the more notorious examples of anti-Israel Israeli academics. The damages he has caused are considerable. He published two polemical books masquerading as academics – the Invention of the Jewish People and the Invention of the Land of Israel. Sand, who has no academic background in the history of the Jewish People, wrote many errors. As a result, antisemites loved his books. They needed an academic stamp of approval for their antisemitic theories. Not surprisingly, Sand did not publish these two books in academic presses.
Several responses from an anti-Israel Israeli academic came from Micah Leshem, professor emeritus of Psychology at the University of Haifa. When IAM reported on “Claremont Colleges as Battleground for BDS,” Leshem wrote back to say it was “encouraging.” In an earlier post, when IAM reported on “Anti-Israel Academic Erica Weiss from Tel Aviv University,” Leshem responded, “glad to see there are more and more scholars in the field. Your Mantra of Anti-Israel falls rather hollow – what you are really preaching is for hate among people living here. That’s what it boils down to. Again, thnx for showcasing this, it is heartwarming, and I often post it on, albeit without your facile commentary.” IAM could not resist the temptation to respond with irony, “I know, you were always very fond of antisemites, I noticed it already twenty years ago. You should check what is wrong with you.”
Other responses came from academics like Ian Lustick, professor emeritus at the Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, who wrote IAM, “Thanks so much for bringing this courageous initiative to my attention and to the attention of so many others so that the world can know that Israel is more than what it now seems to be.” To an earlier IAM post titled “Moshe Zimmermann Empowers Antisemites,” Lustick responded, “Thanks for providing such an accurate and compelling account of Zimerman’s powerful analysis.” To recall, as IAM concluded in this post that Zimmemman’s obsession with finding parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany blinds him to the fact that despite his egregious comparisons, his academic career flourished and he retired with full benefits. Zimmermann ignored the fact that Israel was not even slightly similar to Germany in the 1930s. If he were teaching there and trashing the Nazi regime, he would have been sent to any of the extermination camps. Zimmermann’s new book empowers antisemites by comparing religious Jews to radical Islamists.
But, the final misunderstanding comes from Prof. Hannah Herzog, professor emeritus of Sociology at Tel Aviv University, who complained about the IAM post “Israeli Efforts to Combat Academic Boycotts.” IAM detailed in a post how the Technion is leading an initiative to battle BDS. IAM referred to a discussion by academics about the initiative, which was circulated by the Academia-IL forum. IAM cited a message by Herzog, who stated she “was amazed to receive this email – is this what the Neaman Institution was created for? To be part of the Shin Bet or any other state body. And all for money. Where did we get to?” When IAM cited Herzog, we stated it was “egregious” of her because “The BDS crowd made no secret of their desire to degrade Israel’s leading role in advanced technology in a variety of fields, including medicine, environmentally friendly agriculture, and environmental amelioration.” Herzog, who IAM never accused of supporting BDS, blamed IAM for suggesting she supports BDS.
As IAM repeatedly stated, many Israeli academics were recruited and promoted due to their political activism rather than merit.
Unfortunately, academic authorities turned a blind eye to the abuse of academic positions. With few exceptions, Israeli universities are public institutions and should follow the guidelines for public universities in Western countries. In the United States, for example, the governors have a say in the institutions through the board. In Great Britain, where tenure was abolished decades ago, advocacy writing masquerading as scholarly endeavor is rare.
Given the extreme wave of antisemitism on Western campuses, the Israeli academic authorities should do more to prevent scholars from fueling the flames.
REFERENCES:
———- Forwarded message ———
From: shlomo sand<shlomosand@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: Israeli Academics Sign Petition Calling to Sanction Israel
To: Israel Academia <iam.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
אני חותם: שלמה זנד shlomo sand
==============================================
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Lustick, Ian<ilustick@sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: Israeli Academics Sign Petition Calling to Sanction Israel
To: Israel Academia <iam.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Thanks so much for bringing this courageous initiative to my attention and to the attention of so many others so that the world can know that Israel is more than what it now seems to be.
===========================================
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Micah Leshem<micahl@psy.haifa.ac.il>
Date: Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 5:01 PM
Subject: RE: Claremont Colleges as Battleground for BDS
To: Dana Barnett <email.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Thank you, Dana – encouraging!
Kol tuv
Micah
==========================================
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Hanna Herzog<hherzog@tauex.tau.ac.il>
Date: Thu, Aug 8, 2024 at 6:32 PM
Subject: FW: Israeli Efforts to Combat Academic Boycotts
To: Israel Academia <iam.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
שלום רב,
קבלתי את ההתכתבות שלהלן. בו אני מצוטטת –
Herzog’s comment lamenting that the Neaman Institute is “part of the Shin Bet” is even more egregious. The BDS crowd made no secret of their desire to degrade Israel’s leading role in advanced technology in a variety of fields, including medicine, environmentally friendly agriculture, and environmental amelioration. Not incidentally, many of the scientific-military developments, including the Iron Dome, saved the lives of countless Israelis from targeted attacks of Iran and its proxies on the civilian population
מבקשת להביא הוכחות על כך שתמכתי בBDS מעולם לא! זו הוצאת דיבה.
אני אף פעם לא חתמתי על עצומה של תמיכה בBDS, וגם הערתי היתה בעצם שאלה מי הם הגופים שצריכים לעשות מחקרים מסוג זה.
תהיתי אם גופי מחקר אקדמיים זה (מכון נאמן) תפקידם להיות הגוף שעושה מוניטור בסוגיות אלה. בדיוק ההיפך מהפרשנות שלכםן. חשבתי שזה תפקיד של גופים הממונים על בטחון המדינה ולא גופים אקדמיים.
אגב, “בשער” אף פעם לא קיבל את מה שכתבתי כי אינני חברה רשמית בפורום. אבל ציטוט אחד הכניס אותי לרשימה “שחורה שלכםן” ופגעתם בשמי הטוב. עילה לתביעה משפטית. אני כמובן לא אעשה זאת, זה מתחת לכבודי. אבל, נראה לי שמתחייבת התנצלות על פגיעה בשמי הטוב.
לימים של יושרה
וביטחון חברתי ומדינתי
חנה
י================
חנה הרצוג
פרופסור אמריטה לסוציולוגיה
החוג לסוציולוגיה ואנתרופולוגיה
אוניברסיטת תל אביב
מנהלת שותפה “שוות”
לקידום נשים בזירה הציבורית
מכון ון ליר בירושלים
http://www.vanleer.org.il/en/wips
ושותפה ל”יודעת – מרכז ידע דיגיטלי למגדר”
כלת פרס אמת ( 2018)
AIS Life Achievement Award (2022)
======================================
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Lustick, Ian<ilustick@sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: Moshe Zimmermann Empowers Antisemites
To: Israel Academia <iam.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Thanks for providing such an accurate and compelling account of Zimerman’s powerful analysis. IL
============================================================
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Micah Leshem<micahl@psy.haifa.ac.il>
Date: Thu, Sep 19, 2024 at 6:20 PM
Subject: RE: Anti-Israel Academic Erica Weiss from Tel Aviv University
To: Dana Barnett <email.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Thnx, Barnett – glad to see there are more and more scholars in the field.
Your Mantra of Anti-Israel falls rather hollow – what you are really preaching is for hate among people living here. That’s what it boils down to.
Again, thnx for showcasing this, it is heartwarming, and I often post it on, albeit without your facile commentary.
Kol tuv
Micah
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Dana Barnett<email.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: Anti-Israel Academic Erica Weiss from Tel Aviv University
To: Micah Leshem <micahl@psy.haifa.ac.il>
I know, you were always very fond of antisemites, I noticed it already twenty years ago. You should check what is wrong with you.
israel-academia-monitor.com 