21.05.26
Editorial Note
Earlier this week, the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization, posted a clip on its Facebook Page showing Dr. Marianne Hirsch, a Holocaust Studies scholar, speaking against the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. The JVP post stated that “This is an IHRA violation.” Hirsch “cannot do her research under the IHRA definition. IHRA effectively bans comparing Israel’s genocide in Gaza to other genocides, including that of the Nazi Holocaust. But the comparative methods are central to understanding and preventing future genocides. Dr. Hirsch refuses to abide by an effective ban on her book and those of her peers. To not self-censor in the classroom and in her writing, she violates the IHRA. She teaches at Columbia University,” JVP stated.
Hirsch told her audience she is a professor emerita in comparative literature and gender studies at Columbia University. “We are all here today to engage with the widely discredited definition of anti-semitism that was adopted by the international holocaust remembrance alliance, IHRA for short, in 2016. Problematically, this definition conflates evidence-based criticism of Israeli policies and actions with anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination. The problems with the IHRA definition are less in the definition of anti-semitism itself than in the examples it cites so-called to clarify, it actually confuse it. Out of 11 examples, seven mention Israel, but three are especially constraining.”
Hirsch claims that “According to the IHRA definition, declaring the Israeli state project as a racist endeavor constitutes anti-semitism, even if you don’t mention anything about Jews, Jewishness, or Judaism as a religion… [it] denies Jews as a people the right to self-determination.”
Hirsch also stated that the IHRA Definition “bans any comparisons of the actions of Israel to those of the Nazis. And thirdly, the IHRA definition says that it is anti-semitic to apply double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
For Hirsch, “The definition problematically therefore assumes that Jews are de facto identified with Israel and thus that there’s only one kind of Jewishness that being anti-Israel or anti-Zionism is the same as being anti-Jewish. This conclusion has made it the preferred definition of the Israeli state, the Trump administration, and authoritarian forces throughout the world who seek to silence those who stand in solidarity with Palestine. The IHRA definition has been cited as the basis for deporting international students, Trump’s travel plan, ban, defunding universities, repressing protesters, and targeting human rights organizations.”
Hirsch continues, “However, the contestation and violation of the IHRA definition that we’re engaging in here today is especially important in an academic setting where this definition makes our work as scholars and teachers impossible. The IHRA violates our fundamental commitments to free inquiry and social justice that have led us to express solidarity with Palestinians.”
Hirsch is part of a scholarly group that signed a petition last year, claiming, “IHRA is a widely discredited definition of antisemitism that conflates accurate, evidence-based, and revealing criticism of Israeli policies with bigotry. For this reason it has become the preferred definition of the Trump administration and authoritarian forces throughout the world seeking to silence those who stand in solidarity with Palestine. The Trump administration has relied upon IHRA as the justification for deporting international students, its travel ban, defunding scientific research, repressing protesters, attacking trans students, dismantling DEI initiatives, and even targeting human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Despite this, too many university administrators have been quick to bend the knee to Trump, adopting this censorious definition rather than stand up for free speech and academic freedom. We who work in academic settings oppose the IHRA definition of antisemitism. For many of us, this restrictive and inaccurate definition of antisemitism makes our work as scholars and teachers impossible. For some of us, it would even require banning our own books or self-censoring our classroom teaching. For all of us, it violates our fundamental commitments to free inquiry and social justice that have led us to express solidarity with Palestinians. We have no choice but to disobey.”
The petition is followed by a list of scholars who “have engaged in an act of civil disobedience in defiance of the discredited IHRA definition.”
The leader of the group is Dr. Jonah Rubin, senior manager of campus organizing at Jewish Voice for Peace. Rubin explains that the Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a “network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”
Last month, Rubin published a letter protesting the UC Berkeley settlement with the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. He wrote that the Academic Council of JVP “strongly objects to the settlement agreement,” signed on March 19, 2026, because “The settlement agreement poses a broad infringement of academic freedom and a heightening of censorship and political persecution. It will impose through administrative fiat the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism throughout the university, an overbroad definition whose aims include the censoring of speech supportive of Palestinian freedoms on campus.”
He added that “the settlement imposes a new form of surveillance and oversight that evades all accountability to the campus community, undermining the independent and rightful powers of the Academic Senate over curricula, and producing chilling effects on teaching, speech, student groups, and rights of assembly on campus.”
For Rubin, “Most concerning to us is the misuse of Title VI to persecute viewpoints critical of Zionism or supportive of Palestinian rights and freedoms as signs of antisemitism. The settlement also commits UC Berkeley to the mandatory use of the overbroad and flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism, whose main purposes are to suppress speech in support of Palestine on campus and to hijack anti-discrimination regulations to entrench this definition at the expense of the broad range of anti-discrimination concerns, including anti-Black, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racist conduct on campus.”
Rubin argued, “The placement of surveillance cameras on campus for detecting ‘antisemitic’ acts will surely have a chilling effect on free speech, producing a persecutory environment that strikes fear of retaliation in those whose academic freedom should be protected, that is, faculty engaged in research and debate on topics such as the history of the Middle East, including Palestine, and the history of Zionist settlement and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations and thought, legal definitions of genocide, and differing historical understandings of antisemitism itself.”
Rubin claimed that “Requiring mandatory training in the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism for many staff, incoming students, all instructors, including faculty, lecturers, and graduate students effectively demands support of Israel, including its racist, colonial, and genocidal powers, as a precondition of employment. This requirement constitutes a harrowing form of indoctrination, legislating a political viewpoint as a precondition of community membership.”
Rubin claims that “The current settlement destroys not only academic freedom and shared governance, but the basic rights of students, staff, and faculty to espouse critical viewpoints in the face of an ongoing genocide and relentless repression of the Palestinian people, including the new death penalty law that applies only to Palestinians. We abhor the further concentration of autocratic control without accountability at a campus whose legacies are being shredded through its repeated capitulations to authoritarian powers that mandate support for Zionism and its violent legacies and establishing new forms of political persecution for those who speak their conscience and avow their solidarity with Palestinians as the genocide against them continues.”
The JVP actions against the IHRA Definition should be read within the broader context of the struggle to shape the narrative on the Gaza war and Israel. A broad alliance of the Iranian regime, Islamist movements, and radical left-wing groups invested considerable effort in portraying Israel as a “genocidal” state that had subjected the population of Gaza to mass starvation. As part of this effort, activists and commentators increasingly sought to draw parallels between the Jewish Holocaust and the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. To make such comparisons possible, a concerted effort was undertaken to discredit the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism by various groups. The JVP recruited Marianne Hirsh, a professor of Holocaust Studies, among others, to push the notion that the IHRA Definition is discredited.
In the real world, the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism has been formally adopted or endorsed by 46 countries, as well as by numerous institutions and governments, including dozens of U.S. states and local authorities.
Unfortunately, Jewish Voice for Peace is not unique in advancing narratives that prioritize ideological framing over empirical reality, contributing to a broader discourse that portrays Israel primarily through the lens of systematic wrongdoing, including allegations of war crimes and genocidal intent.
REFERENCES
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1469396180988113https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EknxBGj1f/?mibextid=wwXIfr
This is an IHRA violation: Holocaust Studies Scholar Dr. Marianne Hirsch cannot do her research under the IHRA definition. IHRA effectively bans comparing Israel’s genocide in Gaza to other genocides, including that of the Nazi Holocaust. But the comparative methods are central to understanding and preventing future genocides. Dr. Hirsch refuses to abide by an effective ban on her book and those of her peers. To not self-censor in the classroom and in her writing, she violates the IHRA. She teaches at Columbia University.
Learn more here: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2025/10/22/no-choice-but-to-disobey-ihra/
. JVP Action, our 501c4 organization, is now doing business as JVP; JVP Lab, our 501c3 organization, continues separately and remains focused on our nonpartisan educational and cultural work.
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JVP Academic Council Statement on UC Berkeley’s Settlement with the Brandeis Center
Dear President Milliken, Chancellor Lyons, and members of the Board of Regents:
The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace* strongly objects to the settlement agreement signed by the University of California at Berkeley on March 19, 2026 with the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (no affiliation with Brandeis University) and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education. The settlement agreement poses a broad infringement of academic freedom and a heightening of censorship and political persecution. It will impose through administrative fiat the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism throughout the university, an overbroad definition whose aims include the censoring of speech supportive of Palestinian freedoms on campus. Furthermore, the settlement imposes a new form of surveillance and oversight that evades all accountability to the campus community, undermining the independent and rightful powers of the Academic Senate over curricula, and producing chilling effects on teaching, speech, student groups, and rights of assembly on campus.
Whereas several sound legal arguments have been documented by the AAUP for resisting the allegations made by the Brandeis Center, UC Berkeley has once again capitulated to demands that violate its own principles and protocols. Most concerning to us is the misuse of Title VI to persecute viewpoints critical of Zionism or supportive of Palestinian rights and freedoms as signs of antisemitism. The settlement also commits UC Berkeley to the mandatory use of the overbroad and flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism, whose main purposes are to suppress speech in support of Palestine on campus and to hijack anti-discrimination regulations to entrench this definition at the expense of the broad range of anti-discrimination concerns, including anti-Black, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racist conduct on campus.
We are particularly alarmed that the settlement vests an administrative advisory committee serving at the discretion of the chancellor with broad powers of curricular review, classroom surveillance, and disciplinary consultation with no accountability to the community. Doing so augments increasingly autocratic and secretive powers at the university at the expense of transparency and accountability. The composition of a politically biased committee that will review all complaints bypasses established university procedures, privileging a committee whose membership is shielded in opacity and given broad powers to interpret allegations of antisemitism without disclosing their criteria. The placement of surveillance cameras on campus for detecting “antisemitic” acts will surely have a chilling effect on free speech, producing a persecutory environment that strikes fear of retaliation in those whose academic freedom should be protected, that is, faculty engaged in research and debate on topics such as the history of the Middle East, including Palestine, and the history of Zionist settlement and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations and thought, legal definitions of genocide, and differing historical understandings of antisemitism itself.
Requiring mandatory training in the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism for many staff, incoming students, all instructors, including faculty, lecturers, and graduate students effectively demands support of Israel, including its racist, colonial, and genocidal powers, as a precondition of employment. This requirement constitutes a harrowing form of indoctrination, legislating a political viewpoint as a precondition of community membership.
UC Berkeley’s willingness to sacrifice its most cherished principles of free speech and accountability is once again on display, as it was in August of 2025 when it capitulated to a Department of Education inquiry, sending files to the Trump administration without disclosing those contents to members of its own community, and as it was in the unjust termination of lecturer Peyrin Kao for exercising his rights to extra-mural speech.
The current settlement destroys not only academic freedom and shared governance, but the basic rights of students, staff, and faculty to espouse critical viewpoints in the face of an ongoing genocide and relentless repression of the Palestinian people, including the new death penalty law that applies only to Palestinians. We abhor the further concentration of autocratic control without accountability at a campus whose legacies are being shredded through its repeated capitulations to authoritarian powers that mandate support for Zionism and its violent legacies and establishing new forms of political persecution for those who speak their conscience and avow their solidarity with Palestinians as the genocide against them continues.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jonah Rubin on behalf of the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace
The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. We defend employment rights, academic freedom, and rights of association within higher education and confirm the core values of Jewish Voice for Peace.
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“We have no choice but to disobey”: Scholars Violate Discredited IHRA Definition
IHRA is a widely discredited definition of antisemitism that conflates accurate, evidence-based, and revealing criticism of Israeli policies with bigotry. For this reason it has become the preferred definition of the Trump administration and authoritarian forces throughout the world seeking to silence those who stand in solidarity with Palestine. The Trump administration has relied upon IHRA as the justification for deporting international students, its travel ban, defunding scientific research, repressing protesters, attacking trans students, dismantling DEI initiatives, and even targeting human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Despite this, too many university administrators have been quick to bend the knee to Trump, adopting this censorious definition rather than stand up for free speech and academic freedom.
We who work in academic settings oppose the IHRA definition of antisemitism. For many of us, this restrictive and inaccurate definition of antisemitism makes our work as scholars and teachers impossible. For some of us, it would even require banning our own books or self-censoring our classroom teaching. For all of us, it violates our fundamental commitments to free inquiry and social justice that have led us to express solidarity with Palestinians.
We have no choice but to disobey. The following scholars have engaged in an act of civil disobedience in defiance of the discredited IHRA definition. For more information about this protest or to find out how you can join us, please contact Jonah@jvp.org.
The following scholars have engaged in IHRA violations:
City University of New York (CUNY)
· Dr. David Arnow, Professor of Computer and Information Sciences, Brooklyn College (CUNY)
· Dr. Aránzazu Borrachero Mendívil, Professor in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures, Queensboro Community College (CUNY)
· Dr. Jean Halley, Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island (CUNY)
· Dr. Joseph Juhasz, Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Colorado and Dr. Alexandra Juhasz, Distinguished Professor of Film, Brooklyn College (CUNY)
· Dr. Christopher Stone, Associate Professor of Arabic, Hunter College (CUNY)
· Dr. Ruth Wangerin, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Lehman College (CUNY)
· Dr. Renate Bridenthal, Professor Emeritus of Women and Gender Studies, City University of New York
Columbia University
· Dr. Jack Halberstam, David Feinson Professor of Humanities, Columbia University
· Dr. Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University
· Dr. Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender, Columbia University
· Dr. Jennifer S. Hirsch, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
· Dr. Salman Khan, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
· Dr. Sharon Schwartz, Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical School
· Dr. Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Humanities in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
· Dr. Michael Thaddeus, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University
Pennsylvania State University
· Dr. Joan Landes, Ferree Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality, Penn State University
· Dr. Daniel Letwin, Associate Professor of History, Penn State University
· Dr. Alex Lubin, Professor of African American Studies and History, Penn State University
· Dr. Tamir Sorek, Liberal Arts Professor of Middle East History at Penn State University
· Dr. Ran Zwigenberg, Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies, Penn State University
Other universities:
· David Letwin, Lecturer, Rutgers University
· Dr. Nikki Morse, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
· Rabbi Dr. Rebecca T. Alpert, Professor of Religion Emerita at Temple University
· Dr. Joel Benin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus at Stanford University
· Dr. Bernadette Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt Professor Emerita of Christian Studies in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department and Professor Emerita of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Religious Studies; and Greek and Roman Studies at Brandeis University
· Dr. Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Berkeley
· Jonathan Feingold, Professor of Law, Boston University
· Dr. Penny Gold, Burkhardt Distinguished Professor of History, Emerita at Knox College.
· Dr. Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University
· Dr. Nitzan Lebovic, Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values, Lehigh University
· Dr. Bruce Levine, J. G. Randall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
· Dr. Alex Lubin, Professor of African American Studies and History, Penn State University
· Dr. Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, Notre Dame University
· Dr. Penny Rosenwasser, City College of San Francisco
· Dr. Jonah Rubin, Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing, Jewish Voice for Peace
· Dr. Rayna Rusenko, Independent Scholar, National Coalition of Independent Scholars
· Dr. Jennifer Ruth, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Professor of Film at Portland State University
· Dr. Daniel Segal, Jean M. Pitzer Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Professor Emeritus of History at Pitzer College
· Dr. Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Stockton University
· Dr. Aaron Shakow, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University
· Dr. Victor Silverman, Emeritus Professor of History, Pomona College
· Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University
· Dr. Rachel Ida Buff, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
· Dr. Hasia Diner, Paul And Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University.
· Dr. Emmaia Gelman, founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.
· Dr. Lisa Heineman, Professor of History, University of Iowa
· Dr. Mark Levine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Irvine.
· Dr. Laura Levitt, Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies and Gender at Temple University.
· Dr. Zachary Lockman, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and History at New York University.
· Nina Mehta, Co-Director of PARCEO.
· Dr. Eli Myerhoff, AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom Fellow.
· Dr. Donna Nevel, co-director of PARCEO and an expert in antisemitism.
· Dr. David Slavin, Emory University.
· Dr. Arlene Stein, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University
· Dr. Alan Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_fqr96rj2wDr. Marianne Hirsch, IHRA is incompatible with my scholarship
JVP Campus Program
Oct 30, 2025
Transcript
0:00
Hi everyone.
0:04
4 seconds
My name is Mariana Hirs and I’m a professor amerida in comparative literature and gender studies here at Colombia. We are all here today to
0:12
12 seconds
engage with the widely discredited definition of anti-semitism that was adopted by the international holocaust
0:19
19 seconds
remembrance alliance IRA for short in 2016.
0:25
25 seconds
Problematically, this definition conflates evidence-based criticism of Israeli policies and actions with anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination.
0:36
36 seconds
The problems with the IRA definition are less in the definition of anti-semitism itself than in the examples it cites
0:45
45 seconds
so-called to clarify it actually confuse it. Out of 11 examples, seven mention
0:52
52 seconds
Israel, but three are especially constraining.
0:56
56 seconds
According to the IRA definition, declaring the Israeli state project as a racist endeavor constitutes anti-semitism, even if you don’t mention
1:05
1 minute, 5 seconds
anything about Jews, Jewishness, or Judaism as a religion. Declaring the Israeli State Project as a racist
1:14
1 minute, 14 seconds
endeavor, moreover, denies Jews as a people the right to self-determination according to the IRA definition.
1:22
1 minute, 22 seconds
Secondly, the IRA definition bans any comparisons of the actions of Israel to those of the Nazis. And thirdly, the Ira
1:30
1 minute, 30 seconds
definition says that it is anti-semitic to apply double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
1:42
1 minute, 42 seconds
The definition problematically therefore assumes that Jews are de facto identified with Israel and thus that
1:50
1 minute, 50 seconds
there’s only one kind of Jewishness that being anti-Israel or anti-Zionism is the same as being anti-Jewish.
1:58
1 minute, 58 seconds
This conclusion has made it the preferred definition of the Israeli state, the Trump administration, and authoritarian forces throughout the
2:06
2 minutes, 6 seconds
world who seek to silence those who stand in solidarity with Palestine. The Arab definition has been cited as the
2:13
2 minutes, 13 seconds
basis for deporting international students, Trump’s travel plan, ban, defunding universities, repressing
2:21
2 minutes, 21 seconds
protesters, and targeting human rights organizations.
2:25
2 minutes, 25 seconds
Many university administrators have structured their contestations of what they have publicly named rampant campus
2:32
2 minutes, 32 seconds
anti-semitism according to this confusing definition rather than standing up for free speech, academic freedom, and the freedom to protest.
2:42
2 minutes, 42 seconds
Last July, Colombia’s acting president Claire Shipman announced that the IRA definition would be incorporated to be
2:50
2 minutes, 50 seconds
used as a guidance to determine evidence of discriminatory invent the intent discriminatory intent by the Office of
2:58
2 minutes, 58 seconds
Institutional Equity. However, please note that the incorporation of the IRA was not part of Colombia’s deal with the
3:06
3 minutes, 6 seconds
Trump administration and that there’s still space to contest Colombia’s incorporation of the IRA definition. And
3:13
3 minutes, 13 seconds
this is why we are here today. The contestation and violation of the IRA definition that we’re engaging in here today is especially important in an
3:22
3 minutes, 22 seconds
academic setting where this definition makes our work as scholars and teachers impossible. The IRA violates our
3:29
3 minutes, 29 seconds
fundamental commitments to free inquiry and social justice that have led us to express solidarity with Palestinians. It
3:36
3 minutes, 36 seconds
is thus fundamentally incompatible with our professional lives and our moral commitments to engage in dissent and critique. But for some of us, it does
3:45
3 minutes, 45 seconds
more. It would require self-censoring our classroom teaching or even banning our own books. And let me give you just
3:52
3 minutes, 52 seconds
one example from my own 2012 book about intergenerational transmission of memories of historical trauma. And the
4:01
4 minutes, 1 second
book is called the generation of postmemory writing and visual culture after the holocaust. In a chapter that I
4:08
4 minutes, 8 seconds
called rights of return, I explicitly compare two literary texts to show the similar tropes through which they narrate dispossession, dispersal and
4:17
4 minutes, 17 seconds
return to a lost home. In the Australian writer Lily Brett 1999 novel Too Many Men, an a young Australian woman takes
4:25
4 minutes, 25 seconds
her Holocaust survivor father back to the Polish house from which he was deported. And in the Palestinian writer Gasan Kanakani’s 1969 novella Returning
4:35
4 minutes, 35 seconds
to Hifa, a Palestinian couple say and Safia returned to the Hypo apartment from which they had to flee for their
4:42
4 minutes, 42 seconds
lives during a 1948 Nagba. Both stories focus on irreparable and intimate loss
4:50
4 minutes, 50 seconds
and there is much to discover in reading them in connection to each other. But the Hyra definition stipulates that it
4:57
4 minutes, 57 seconds
is anti-Semitic to compare the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis and the Nagba perpetrated by Israel. In explicitly
5:05
5 minutes, 5 seconds
connecting these acts of force displacement and dispossession, my book can thus be accused of anti-semitism.
5:12
5 minutes, 12 seconds
But I stand by my argument and I declare that a scholarly and careful comparison between the Holocaust and the Nagba is a
5:20
5 minutes, 20 seconds
valid one and it is in no way anti-semitic.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO6YU_sJFLoJean Halley Violates IHRA
JVP Campus Program
Feb 17, 2026
Transcript
0:00
Hi, my name is Gene Holly and I’m a queer professor of sociology at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
0:11
11 seconds
I’m here speaking with you today to discuss IRA.
0:15
15 seconds
IRA or the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-semitism is a thinly veiled attack
0:23
23 seconds
on academic freedom and freedom of inquiry.
0:26
26 seconds
It is an attempt to censor any discussion of systemic racism, genocide, apartheid, and settler
0:34
34 seconds
colonialism practiced by the Israeli state. It functions as a bookbed scholars such as Judith Butler, Edward
0:43
43 seconds
Sed, Noam Chomsky, Gassan Kafani, Rashid Khaledi, and Jasper Puir.
0:51
51 seconds
These are all essential texts that I regularly cite in my scholarship and teach in my classrooms.
0:57
57 seconds
In order for the discipline that I’ve devoted my life to and for all of academia to survive, we have no choice
1:04
1 minute, 4 seconds
but to violate IHRA and to state clearly that like the United States, Israel is a racist state. Thank you.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaoKPEJYzcADr. David Arnow: “Truth Matters. Israel is a racist endeavor.”
Feb 2, 2026
Dr. David Arnow (CUNY), intentionally violates the IHRA definition of antisemitism
Hello, my name is David Arno. I’m a computer science professor at Brooklyn College, which is part of the City
0:10
10 seconds
University of New York. The purpose of this statement is to clearly, unambiguously, and publicly violate the
0:18
18 seconds
IH’s ridiculous definition of anti-semitism.
0:24
24 seconds
This definition has been widely adopted by the new fascist movement in the USA to shut down any discussion of or
0:33
33 seconds
resistance to the ongoing genocide against Palestinians.
0:39
39 seconds
The IH’s definition of anti-semitism, which you can find by searching for the terms IH and definition,
0:49
49 seconds
it’s a word salad and it reads like it could have been constructed by a long discarded pre-BA version of chat GPT. It
0:58
58 seconds
is so patently unhelpful that the authors immediately follow it with examples to clarify its meaning and
1:07
1 minute, 7 seconds
intent. One example of supposed anti-semitism listed is denying the Jewish people their right to
1:14
1 minute, 14 seconds
self-determination, for example, by claiming that the existence of the state of Israel is a racist endeavor.
1:24
1 minute, 24 seconds
Well, the state of Israel is a racist endeavor. Its aim and the aim of its
1:32
1 minute, 32 seconds
founding movement Zionism is to deny the existence of the Palestinian people and realize that denial through property
1:41
1 minute, 41 seconds
seizure, forced population transfer, the suppression and destruction of educational and cultural institutions and traditions.
1:51
1 minute, 51 seconds
The willful destruction of historical and archaeological records. Mass arrests.
1:58
1 minute, 58 seconds
economic strangulation, war crimes, and massacres of increasing magnitude.
2:06
2 minutes, 6 seconds
As such, the state of Israel has zero right to exist.
2:13
2 minutes, 13 seconds
So, there you have it. That is my own violation of the IH’s definition, a
2:20
2 minutes, 20 seconds
violation made in one paragraph of truth. Count me as a violator.
2:28
2 minutes, 28 seconds
But I will go further. It is the IH and its promulgators and weaponizers who are the anti-semites.
2:37
2 minutes, 37 seconds
By equating anti-semitism with anti-Zionism, they are identifying being Jewish with
2:46
2 minutes, 46 seconds
supporting the criminal activities of Zionism. As a person of Jewish ancestry,
2:52
2 minutes, 52 seconds
that is beyond insulting. It constitutes a new blood label and is very
2:59
2 minutes, 59 seconds
threatening and dangerous. By violating the IH definition, I am not only acting
3:06
3 minutes, 6 seconds
for the Palestinian people, I am taking a real stand against anti-semitism itself.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y026_JFGkI&t=8sDr Joseph Juhasz and Dr. Alexandra Juhasz: A Holocaust Survivor and Daughter violate IHRA
JVP Campus Program
Feb 5, 2026
Transcript
Search transcript
0:05
5 seconds
We are two Jewish scholars who work and have worked in a variety of academic settings. We are making this video to
0:13
13 seconds
oppose the IHR a IRA definition of anti-semitism as an act of civil
0:21
21 seconds
disobedience or perhaps just disobedience because this restrictive and flawed definition of anti-semitism
0:29
29 seconds
makes our work as scholars and teachers impossible.
0:34
34 seconds
The IRA definition violates our fundamental commitments to free inquiry and social justice that have led us to
0:41
41 seconds
express solidarity with Palestinians and to all those who oppose war. The IHRA is
0:49
49 seconds
fundamentally definition is fundamentally incompatible with our professional lives and our moral
0:56
56 seconds
commitments to engage in dissent and critique and pacifism. Our statement
1:03
1 minute, 3 seconds
comes from our personal, familial, and professional experience as Jewish intellectuals from a long and continuing
1:10
1 minute, 10 seconds
line that includes, to name a few, my maternal and paternal grandfathers, that’s Philip Hec and my father’s
1:19
1 minute, 19 seconds
father, Vilmos UAS, my father’s two brothers, my mother’s brother, my
1:25
1 minute, 25 seconds
mother, his ex-wife, Suzanne Yuas, and my four siblings.
1:31
1 minute, 31 seconds
While our statement is speaking just for the two of us, we wanted to frame the importance of our descent critique and
1:40
1 minute, 40 seconds
scholarship within a familial and Jewish context that includes professors who have worked and taught in Europe and the United States since the 1940s.
1:53
1 minute, 53 seconds
Dad.
1:54
1 minute, 54 seconds
Well, my name is Joseph Yuas. I was born January 38 n uh January 30, 1938 in
2:03
2 minutes, 3 seconds
Budapest, Hungary and uh I am a bonafide holocaust
2:09
2 minutes, 9 seconds
survivor having survived in the cellar of our house from the point in time when
2:17
2 minutes, 17 seconds
the German occupation of Hungary began uh to the liberation by the Soviet
2:25
2 minutes, 25 seconds
troops. That’s about was about maybe six months or so in Hungary. And in that six
2:34
2 minutes, 34 seconds
months, literally millions of people were killed by a the world’s first
2:42
2 minutes, 42 seconds
industrialized killing and the first industrialized genocide.
2:49
2 minutes, 49 seconds
Something we see. And you know, it gives me the shivers to say this out loud.
2:57
2 minutes, 57 seconds
I see industrialized killing and industrialized genocide in Palestine
3:06
3 minutes, 6 seconds
right now being committed by some people who are the children of Holocaust survivors and
3:16
3 minutes, 16 seconds
maybe even some grandchildren and possibly even some olders like me.
3:24
3 minutes, 24 seconds
I’ve had a this terribly nasty thing to say about myself. I’d say a very um
3:34
3 minutes, 34 seconds
stellar career as a professor at various universities eventually at the
3:40
3 minutes, 40 seconds
University of Colorado Boulder from 1974 until when I retired in 2012.
3:53
3 minutes, 53 seconds
And I find it immensely important
4:00
4 minutes
and I speak as a Holocaust survivor. At the same time, I speak as the former
4:09
4 minutes, 9 seconds
chair of the University of Colorado chapter of the American Association of University Professors as well as the
4:18
4 minutes, 18 seconds
American Federation of Teachers that uh we find in oursself in a
4:25
4 minutes, 25 seconds
situation that is not entirely different. In fact, it’s amazingly
4:34
4 minutes, 34 seconds
similar in equally horrifying fashion to where my father who was a professor and
4:41
4 minutes, 41 seconds
a public intellectual find found himself when the German occupation began and his
4:49
4 minutes, 49 seconds
life was threatened and he had to disappear. He was publishing uh until
4:57
4 minutes, 57 seconds
quite literally the German occupation and then boom,
5:03
5 minutes, 3 seconds
bang, the entire country becomes a
5:10
5 minutes, 10 seconds
Nazified horror where and this is maybe for me the most painful thing to say or maybe not.
5:20
5 minutes, 20 seconds
[snorts]
5:20
5 minutes, 20 seconds
because the the the the most horrible people were the ones in the front line.
5:27
5 minutes, 27 seconds
These are the ones on in contact with and the Germans made sure those were Hungarians.
5:36
5 minutes, 36 seconds
So uh the situation began became such
5:42
5 minutes, 42 seconds
eventually that the uh Germans didn’t have enough train
5:50
5 minutes, 50 seconds
cars. Eventually the Hungarian Jews were lined up and
5:57
5 minutes, 57 seconds
shot in the back into the Danube. And one of my most searing memories is
6:05
6 minutes, 5 seconds
stepping outside for some fresh air. And there I see people being herded like
6:12
6 minutes, 12 seconds
cattle or is it sheep? More like sheep to what they knew was their certain death. And I’m standing on the sidewalk and doing nothing. That is disappearing.
6:27
6 minutes, 27 seconds
That is called survivor guilt. So anyway, Alex, thank you for this opportunity. Anything you would like me to add?
6:36
6 minutes, 36 seconds
No, I I’m just going to testify briefly and
6:42
6 minutes, 42 seconds
often I speak in political settings such as this one and tell
6:50
6 minutes, 50 seconds
others about what it means to be the child of a Holocaust survivor. and I am here in Boulder for your 80th 88th
6:59
6 minutes, 59 seconds
birthday. And I invited you to do this with me so that I wasn’t speaking on your behalf. You could speak on your own behalf as you all can see with
7:07
7 minutes, 7 seconds
incredible composure and dignity and intelligence.
7:12
7 minutes, 12 seconds
And well, Alex, thank you so very very very
7:17
7 minutes, 17 seconds
much. And you know what is the miracle is that I am alive.
7:25
7 minutes, 25 seconds
You’re my oldest that I have seven children. I mean five children and seven
7:34
7 minutes, 34 seconds
grandchildren and your children are also my grandchildren.
7:43
7 minutes, 43 seconds
So I I think I this is a lot um and enough but I want to conclude by saying that
7:54
7 minutes, 54 seconds
I know uh from family history. I know from living in the home I was raised.
8:03
8 minutes, 3 seconds
I know from visiting Hungary with my father on many occasions to visit the
8:10
8 minutes, 10 seconds
cellar in which he was hidden but also starved where his mother protected him from the
8:19
8 minutes, 19 seconds
bombings that were happening in Budapest during the siege of Budapest.
8:24
8 minutes, 24 seconds
the incredible toll on children who suffer, starvation and
8:32
8 minutes, 32 seconds
heedless violence in the name of racist purges, in the name of genocide, in the name of racial hatred.
8:44
8 minutes, 44 seconds
and the consequences of that trauma
8:52
8 minutes, 52 seconds
and also the beauty of the survival for those who do survive genocides like the Holocaust in Europe,
9:01
9 minutes, 1 second
like the genocide currently in Palestine lives on in families
9:09
9 minutes, 9 seconds
as suffering but also lives in on in families as courage, as morality,
9:22
9 minutes, 22 seconds
we strive to do what we can, even if it’s dissent when we understand morally,
9:31
9 minutes, 31 seconds
as Jews, as scholars, as intellectuals, as human beings, when something is
9:38
9 minutes, 38 seconds
wrong, if we have the courage to step up, you know, I have learned that that is a necessity.
9:44
9 minutes, 44 seconds
And I’ve learned that from my father and
9:51
9 minutes, 51 seconds
from many brave people, Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians in my midst who are saying
10:00
10 minutes
uh that we will do whatever we can to stop this current genocide. And you know we can as a footnote there is a long a
10:10
10 minutes, 10 seconds
real strong Jewish resistance to the current government in Israel and in Israel.
10:18
10 minutes, 18 seconds
Yes. And those are very brave people. That is true. They’re out on the street. That is true.
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10 minutes, 26 seconds
[snorts]
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10 minutes, 27 seconds
So this act of civil disobedience or just disobedience does not seem particularly brave in the face of the
10:35
10 minutes, 35 seconds
real threats that are occurring in Israel and Palestine um and here in the streets of the United
10:43
10 minutes, 43 seconds
States as well at this moment. And we thank you for this opportunity. Well, thank you, Alex.
=========================================================
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vVML1eUtgsChristopher Stone violates IHRA
JVP Campus Program
Feb 17, 2026
Transcript
0:00
So, welcome everyone. My name is Christopher Stone. I’m an associate professor of Arabic here at Hunter. And this is the first film in our fifth
0:07
7 seconds
semester of the Hunter Palestine film series. This is our 17th screening in that time. So, we’re very happy to have
0:15
15 seconds
everyone here. We were brought together the group of people who work on these on this series by several events.
0:24
24 seconds
One of these was the Hunter Colleges the Hunter College administration’s attempt to prevent the screening of the film Israelism in the fall of 2023.
0:33
33 seconds
Things have changed a lot since then.
0:35
35 seconds
Not only is the admin now mostly new, not trying to prevent these screenings, but are actually supporting them. And
0:43
43 seconds
thanks to an anonymous donation to Hunter College for Palestinian cultural events, we are no longer having to fund raise for these screenings or pay out of pocket.
0:53
53 seconds
The other thing that brought many of us together to produce this series is that a number of us were doxed in the fall of 2023
1:02
1 minute, 2 seconds
are larger than life pictures put on the sides of the infamous accuracy in media doxing trucks with the
1:09
1 minute, 9 seconds
words above each of our pictures leading anti-semites.
1:16
1 minute, 16 seconds
I want to take a minute to talk about that accusation and just how dangerous it is. Has anyone here heard of the IH definition of anti-semitism?
1:28
1 minute, 28 seconds
The um International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition. Does can anyone say it’s it’s a little bit complex, but does anyone can anyone say
1:35
1 minute, 35 seconds
essentially what it is? How it defines anti-semitism?
1:45
1 minute, 45 seconds
or denying the state of exist.
1:48
1 minute, 48 seconds
Basically being anti-Zionist or anti-Israel or being critical of Israel is the same as anti-semitism.
2:00
2 minutes
But what is almost more disturbing than the definition itself is the fact that pressure groups are trying to turn it into law and that places like schools and universities rule.
2:11
2 minutes, 11 seconds
There’s currently a campaign asking professors with tenure like myself who are harder to be fired to discuss this policy and to violate it. Not that you
2:19
2 minutes, 19 seconds
can violate a definition, but to do this publicly. Why are we doing this? We’re doing it and we’re recording it so that
2:26
2 minutes, 26 seconds
when our more junior colleagues are disciplined or fired for violating the definition, we will have this bank of
2:33
2 minutes, 33 seconds
videos that we hope can act as a precedent to protect them. And this campaign is being led by Jewish Voice
2:41
2 minutes, 41 seconds
for Peace. By the way, we’re also doing it to show how absurd the definition is, which as I speak is being transformed
2:49
2 minutes, 49 seconds
into law and rule all across the country.
2:53
2 minutes, 53 seconds
And it’s unclear what the status is at Hunter, but or at CUNI, but when our chancellor appeared before Congress last summer, he hinted that it is in effect here.
3:05
3 minutes, 5 seconds
If the IH definition of anti-semitism were to be enforced as law in New York City or as rule at CUNI, this film
3:13
3 minutes, 13 seconds
series would cease to exist. We would be told that the series focus on Palestinian cinema despite apartheid,
3:21
3 minutes, 21 seconds
settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid is anti-semitic.
3:26
3 minutes, 26 seconds
Perhaps we’d have to rotate between Palestinian and Israeli films. Perhaps we’d have to have a Zionist speaker at every film to offer that perspective as
3:35
3 minutes, 35 seconds
Hunter forced us to do when we were finally allowed to show Israelism.
3:40
3 minutes, 40 seconds
Yes, we now have a relatively progressive administration at Hunter, but as we saw with the fired for and the no higher list, if things become law or
3:49
3 minutes, 49 seconds
even just a rule at CUNI, Hunter will fall in line.
3:54
3 minutes, 54 seconds
But for now, the series does exist. And I’m so grateful to all the faculty, students, and staff who have kept this thing going. And we are grateful to all
4:02
4 minutes, 2 seconds
of you for continuing to show up. And I’m not mentioning my co-organizers by name, not out of neglect, but out of
4:09
4 minutes, 9 seconds
fear for their safety. This is still a real thing, unfortunately.
=================================================
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zry4P7Z8r5UDr. Ruth Wangerin: Adopting IHRA is depriving student of a quality education
JVP Campus Program
Feb 2, 2026
Dr. Ruth Wangerin, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lehman College (CUNY) violates the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Transcript
0:00
My name is Ruth Wanker and I’m an adjunct assistant professor of anthropology at Lehman College at the City University of New York. As an
0:08
8 seconds
anthropologist, my role is to help students critically examine known facts and academic theories about the human
0:15
15 seconds
species in our various social groupings from prehistory through history up to the present. My goal is to encourage
0:23
23 seconds
students to engage with questions crucial to the future of our species.
0:29
29 seconds
Um, I also part of a faculty movement to protect academic freedom and scholarly integrity. Pressure has grown since
0:38
38 seconds
October 2023 to censor any speech or scholarship that is critical of actions by the Israeli and US governments toward the Palestinians.
0:48
48 seconds
One way that’s done is to accuse people of anti-semitism. But what exactly is anti-semitism?
0:58
58 seconds
Britannica defines it as hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group.
1:07
1 minute, 7 seconds
Recently, some institutions have adopted the much broader International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance or IH definition of
1:16
1 minute, 16 seconds
anti-semitism. It defines anti-semitism as a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.
1:25
1 minute, 25 seconds
According to the IH, that perception can be manifested toward Jewish community institutions.
1:32
1 minute, 32 seconds
When you examine some of the examples of anti-semitism accompanying the IH definition, you see that it considers
1:40
1 minute, 40 seconds
the state of Israel to be one of these Jewish community institutions.
1:48
1 minute, 48 seconds
If my university were to adopt the IHRE definition, I would be asked to deprive students of the quality of education they deserve.
1:58
1 minute, 58 seconds
Why?
1:59
1 minute, 59 seconds
because in some of my lessons I refer to the state of Israel in a way that the IH definition will consider anti-semitic.
2:09
2 minutes, 9 seconds
Let me explain.
2:12
2 minutes, 12 seconds
One of the examples of anti-semitism accompanying the IH definition is
2:19
2 minutes, 19 seconds
denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination. That is by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor.
2:29
2 minutes, 29 seconds
I think I do that in teaching about Latin American history. I use the concept of settler colonialism with
2:37
2 minutes, 37 seconds
everything that that entails, including the creation of hierarchical race systems in the colonies.
2:49
2 minutes, 49 seconds
I list examples of settler colonies on the whiteboard, including Israel.
2:54
2 minutes, 54 seconds
students can easily see a similar pattern whether a state is based on white supremacy or on Jewish supremacy.
3:03
3 minutes, 3 seconds
Another problematic example accompanying the IH definition is drawing comparisons
3:10
3 minutes, 10 seconds
of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. I do that too. In one of
3:17
3 minutes, 17 seconds
my courses, we read important research by a prominent Leman anthropologist about sexual violence as a method of
3:24
3 minutes, 24 seconds
genocide against indigenous people in Guatemala in the 1980s.
3:31
3 minutes, 31 seconds
Students study the trial of a Guatemalan general charged with genocide.
3:37
3 minutes, 37 seconds
The legal definition of genocide is written on the board along with cases often considered genocide.
3:48
3 minutes, 48 seconds
The list includes obvious genocides like the German attempt to eliminate the Herrera and Nama in Namibia, the Nazi
3:56
3 minutes, 56 seconds
mass murder of Jews in Roma, and the European displacement of Native Americans.
4:04
4 minutes, 4 seconds
But it also includes cases which the perpetrators have said were not genocide, such as attacks against Mayan people in Guatemala, Armenians in the
4:13
4 minutes, 13 seconds
Ottoman Empire, Accords in Iraq, and Palestinians.
4:17
4 minutes, 17 seconds
In class, students compare each example with the others and with the legal definition of genocide.
4:24
4 minutes, 24 seconds
Done correctly, this exercise draws comparisons between the policies of a list of governments, among which are the Nazis and the Israelis.
4:34
4 minutes, 34 seconds
That means according to the IH definition, this lesson is anti-semitic.
4:41
4 minutes, 41 seconds
So am I supposed to delete Israel from the list of settler colonies in one lesson
4:49
4 minutes, 49 seconds
and the list of countries accused of genocide in another?
4:56
4 minutes, 56 seconds
Am I supposed to answer no comment or worse? That sounds anti-semitic.
5:02
5 minutes, 2 seconds
If students ask whether I think genocide is occurring in Palestine,
5:09
5 minutes, 9 seconds
some cowardly administrator might try to apply a bogus definition of anti-semitism to me, but I will not stand in front of a class and lie.
5:19
5 minutes, 19 seconds
So just to make it very clear, I am committed to opposing every ugly version of racism and discrimination and that
5:28
5 minutes, 28 seconds
includes anti-semitism as well as the other anti-semitism, anti-Palestinian racism.
5:36
5 minutes, 36 seconds
In my teaching, I am committed to drawing on my expertise to give students the education they deserve. Therefore, I
5:45
5 minutes, 45 seconds
will continue to refer to Israel as one example of a settler colony organized according to something akin to racism.
5:54
5 minutes, 54 seconds
When I list cases of genocide on the board, I will continue to include both the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish and Roma people and the Israeli
6:03
6 minutes, 3 seconds
attempts to destroy the Palestinians as a people. So it doesn’t matter if someone wants to quote the IHRA definition
6:11
6 minutes, 11 seconds
and investigate me for anti-semitism for doing my job. I can do no other.
============================================================
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDD6Um6GxATamir Sorek: The Israeli regime is racist
JVP Campus Program
Feb 5, 2026
Transcript
Search transcript
0:01
1 second
My name is Tamir Sorek. I’m a scholar of Israeli and Palestinian societies. Based on my professional judgment, Israel has
0:09
9 seconds
established an apartheid like regime between the river and the sea, one rooted in racial discrimination.
0:16
16 seconds
Some individuals and organizations have long sought to silence this conclusion by labeling it anti-semitic.
0:23
23 seconds
More recently, the Trump administration under the guise of combating anti-semitism has begun dismantling the foundations of free thought and high in higher education.
0:34
34 seconds
When Trump and his allies speak of anti-semitism, they invoke the distorted definition advanced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the IHRA.
0:46
46 seconds
This definition prioritizes shielding Israel from criticism and suppressing expressions of solidarity with Palestinians.
0:55
55 seconds
According to the IHRA definition, accusing Israel of racism is itself considered
1:01
1 minute, 1 second
anti-Semitic. So, let me be clear. I do believe the Israeli regime is racist and
1:09
1 minute, 9 seconds
by the IHRA’s logic, that belief renders me an anti-semite.
1:16
1 minute, 16 seconds
Tragically, the anti-semitic persecutions my grandparents endured in Europe is now being used as a pretext to
1:23
1 minute, 23 seconds
justify the racial oppression of Palestinians. Some universities have adopted the detrimental IH definition as
1:30
1 minute, 30 seconds
a framework for addressing anti-semitism on their campuses. Fortunately, Penn State has not. Let us make sure it
1:38
1 minute, 38 seconds
remains that
israel-academia-monitor.com 