‘BaShaar – Academic Community for Israeli Society’ as a Political Organization

27.05.26

Editorial Note

On August 4, 2023, just two months before the Hamas attack against Israel, a petition by Academics for Peace, titled “The Elephant in the Room,” was circulated. The petition attracted more than 3000 signatures, including many Israeli academics. The petition found a “direct link between Israel’s recent attack on the judiciary and its illegal occupation of millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian people lack almost all basic rights, including the right to vote and protest. They face constant violence: this year alone, Israeli forces have killed over 190 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and demolished over 590 structures. Settler vigilantes burn, loot, and kill with impunity. Without equal rights for all, whether in one state, two states, or in some other political framework, there is always a danger of dictatorship.”

The petition even claimed, “There cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid, as Israeli legal experts have described it. Indeed, the ultimate purpose of the judicial overhaul is to tighten restrictions on Gaza, deprive Palestinians of equal rights both beyond the Green Line and within it, annex more land, and ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population.” 

The petition pointed to “Jewish supremacism” and argued that “Israel’s long-standing occupation… has yielded a regime of apartheid.” It urged to “Support the Israeli protest movement, yet call on it to embrace equality for Jews and Palestinians within the Green Line and in the OPT.; Support human rights organizations which defend Palestinians and provide real-time information on the lived reality of occupation and apartheid;” And “Demand from elected leaders in the United States that they help end the occupation, restrict American military aid from being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and end Israeli impunity in the UN and other international organizations. No more silence. The time to act is now.”

Surprisingly, many of the Israeli academics who signed the petition are senior members of the Israeli academic NGO “BaShaar – Academic Community for Israeli Society.” 

BaShaar’s ‘About Us’ page states that it was established in 1999 by senior faculty members from all Israeli higher education institutions. It is “a non-political organization that operates outside any political framework.” BaShaar notes that “The values and ethos of the academia, which are based on academic freedom and include freedom of research and speech, openness to new ideas, tolerance, equality, pluralism, rationality, critical thinking, open discussions based on scientific facts and methodologies, are all intertwined and can flourish only in a liberal democratic society.” And that “A critical component of such a society is a strong, independent, autonomous higher education system granted full academic freedom, yet closely connected with society at large. The academia is one of the pillars of a liberal-democratic and secular society… Protecting academia and its values is therefore inseparable from the struggle for liberal democracy and rational thinking. BaShaar’s mission is to instill these values in society at large, alert and fight against any actions which undermine these values.” 

BaShaar’s stated goals are: “Promoting rational thinking based of facts, according to scientific methodologies, as well as liberal and universal values, and the values of Israel’s heritage, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence all of which are part of the academic values; Defending academic values and ethos and promoting them in society at large, especially among the younger generations; Promoting scientific achievements and scientific thinking and making it accessible to Israeli society, particularly to youth in the periphery.” 

BaShaar claims to be non-political, but its next paragraph clarifies that the organization has a political position. It stated, BaShaar is “committed to providing rapid responses to ad-hoc issues pertaining to the higher education system and its core values. This is of particular importance nowadays in view of the current crisis in Israel. In the past year, due to the so-called ‘judicial reform’, many non-democratic bills and statements were presented by members of the government, some of which are directed at academia. Consequently, our activities in this channel have focused on their disastrous implications for higher education and scientific research. Many of the threats faced by academia also pose a threat to liberal democracy. We issued several open letters addressing these threats. We also mobilize leading scientists and scholars from around the world to address the upcoming dangers,” BaShaar stated.

Its political orientation becomes clear in its new Journal, titled “Remaining in the Streets,” which BaShaar has just published. Prof. Doron Cohen wrote in his introduction, “There will be elections. With a high probability, Netanyahu will not have a blocking bloc. On the other hand, the left bloc – Democrats and Arab parties – will have more than 20 seats. The public that calls itself liberal will have the ability to prove its adherence to democracy, and to effect a turnaround by establishing a partnership of centrist parties with the left-wing bloc. The Haredim will also join such a coalition – on the one hand, they will have no choice, on the other hand, they will not have the ability to blackmail. Adherence to universal values. Preserving the human image. No more Jewish terrorism. It is also important to raise morale and restore the humanistic image of the State of Israel and its citizens. No more a racist messianic and murderous state, but a democracy that serves all its citizens… We need to think outside the box. We need to break free from the rapprochement and the Jewish superiority complex. This is the mission of the protest movement – to promote this vision – to be an incubator for a different politics.”

Much of the Journal is dedicated to the New Israel Fund and its activities, which are not academically oriented. The Journal also provides a platform to Professor Oren Yiftachel and Professor Yael Berda. To recall, Yiftachel has been a long-time political activist who popularized the notion that Israel is an apartheid state, and Berda called for sanctions against Israel. 

Clearly, BaShaar operates within a distinctly politicized framework. Several points merit attention and have been discussed repeatedly in previous IAM posts.  

First, the writings adopt the new-Marxist, critical scholarship method in which Israel is presented as the colonial villain and the Palestinians as its perpetual victims, rather than agents in the narrative. This is highly convenient because it avoids some hard historical questions: why did the Palestinians refuse to accept the 1947 UN Partition Plan? It also avoids the thorny question as to why, after the Oslo Accord of 1993, the Palestinian Authority did not stand up to its obligations and let the Islamist groups that are supported by Iran – Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – start a wave of suicide bombings that discredited the Accords?  

Second, despite its claims of balance and neutrality, BaShaar advances a narrative closely aligned with the perspectives of left-leaning academic circles while ignoring the fact that Israel is both democratic and Jewish. 

Third, the narrative about the West Bank is equally skewed. Many Israeli officials have publicly condemned episodes of settler violence, and several settlers were arrested. However, the war in Gaza and the continuing threat posed by Hezbollah in the north created significant manpower constraints that hindered more effective policing. Similar manpower shortages also limited the IDF’s ability to prevent numerous attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israeli residents of the West Bank. 

Fourth, the Journal promotes the activities of the New Israel Fund, an American, not Israeli, NGO, supported by George Soros, the Ford Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, among others.

An academic organization such as BaShaar should provide balanced views and a marketplace of ideas. It would be more than appropriate that the next issue of the Journal should offer a platform for those who hold different opinions. 

REFERENCES:

https://www.bashaar.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99-2026.pdf

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הקדמה 

בחוברת זו אנו מרכזים מכתבים הצהרות ועצומות שפורסמו על ידי חברות/חברי/מוסדות הקהילה האקדמית בישראל בקריאה למיגור הטרור היהודי. המחאה ממשיכה, אנו עדיין יוצאים/חוזרים/נשארים ברחובות. החוברת כוללת מבחר של נאומים ומאמרונים בנושאים שעל הפרק, עם זרקור על המלחמה, עם עיניים על עזה, עם מבט על הגזענות והערבות ההדדית בנגב, ועל החתירה לעתיד של דמוקרטיה שיוויון ושלום. הדרך לגבש מחנה היא לדמיין – תמונת ניצחון -. כבר היתה התקדמות בכיוון הנכון: קריאה לשותפות יהודית ערבית, הפגנות משותפות. והנה פרצה מלחמת הנצח, לא במקרה, והשיגה את מטרתה – הסטת המיקוד של המחאה. במקום לגבש אופוזיציה אנו עוסקים במאבק חסר אופק, קריאה לסיום המלחמה, ללא רציונל ברור עבור היום שאחרי. אז ראוי לרענן את תמונת הניצחון. יהיו בחירות. בהסתברות גבוהה לא יהיה לנתניהו גוש חוסם. לעומת זאת, לגוש השמאל – דמוקרטים ומפלגות ערביות – יהיו יותר מ-20 מנדטים. לציבור שקורא לעצמו ליברלי תהיה יכולת להוכיח את דבקותו בדמוקרטיה, ולבצע מהפך על ידי הקמת שותפות של מפלגות מרכז עם גוש השמאל. גם החרדים יצטרפו לקואליציה כזו – מצד אחד לא תהיה להם ברירה, מצד שני לא תהיה להם יכולת סחטנות. יש להם רק מה להרוויח – כי רק קואליציה שחותרת להסכמים מדיניים ולשלום תוכל לאפשר לאזרחיה להקדיש את עצמם ללימודים ולמחקר, במקום להמשיך בהתבהמות ברוח חזון ספרטה. דבקות בערכים אוניברסליים. שמירה על צלם אנוש. לא עוד טרור יהודי. וגם חשוב להעלות את המורל, ולהחזיר את התדמית ההומניסטית למדינת ישראל ולאזרחיה. לא עוד מדינה גזענית משיחית ורצחנית אלא דמוקרטיה המשרתת את כלל אזרחיה. אפשר להשתעשע ברעיון איך בונים ממשלה שמשדרת את הערכים האלה: מנסור עבאס יהיה השר לפיתוח הנגב? עאידה תומא סלימאן תהיה שרת החוץ? צריך לחשוב מחוץ לקופסה. צריך להשתחרר מההתקרבנות ומתסביך העליונות היהודית. זו המשימה של תנועת המחאה – לקדם את החזון הזה – להיות אינקובטור לפוליטיקה אחרת שתביא להגשמת מטרה משותפת: שיקום, ביטחון ושגשוג. מדינת ישראל, ברוח ההצהרה של מגילת העצמאות, תשקוד על פיתוח הארץ לטובת כל תושביה; תהא מושתתה על יסודות החירות, הצדק והשלום; תקיים שיוויון זכויות חברתי ומדיני גמור לכל אזרחיה בלי הבדל דת, גזע ומין; תבטיח חופש דת, מצפון, לשון, חינוך ותרבות; תשמור על המקומות הקדושים של כל הדתות; ותהיה נאמנה לעקרונותיה של מגילת האומות המאוחדות. פרופ’ דורון כהן 3 מאי 2026

נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) צילום: רן דמבו | חיפה 4 תוכן העניינים

זוהי חוברת אינטראקטיבית. לחיצה בתוכן העניינים תוביל לעמוד המתאים. ניתן לחזור אל עמוד התוכן מכל דף על ידי לחיצה על הבית הקטן עם מספר העמוד. נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 

הקדמה תמונת הניצחון – פנטזיה ריאלית 3חוברות קודמות 6 הטרור היהודי 8 מכתב מאת חברות וחברי הסגל של המוסדות האקדמיים 10הצהרת הסנאט של אוניברסיטת תל אביב14 עמדת “בשער” 16 הצהרת סגל אוניברסיטת בן גוריון בנגב 18 הצהרת סגל האוניברסיטה העברית 20 הצהרת סנאט מכון ויצמן 22 פניית חברי הסגל האקדמי אל הקהילה הבינלאומית 24פרופ’ דניאל אורנשטיין 26 גזענות וערבות הדדית בנגב 30 הקרן החדשה לישראל 32 עו”ד חנאן אלסאנע 34 בדואי מודאג 36 מתוך עדכוני המועצה לכפרים הבלתי מוכרים 38טאלב אבו ראשד 40 פוקוס על ‘עיניים על עזה’ 42 ד”ר ליאור לוי ופרופ’ איילת בן-ישי ‘ 44 וורוד אמיר 48 די למלחמת הנצח 50 גדיר האני 52 פרופ’ יעל ברדה 54 ליאורה אילון 56 שולי דיכטר 58 מאבק לדמוקרטיה שוויון ושלום 60 פרופ’ אורן יפתחאל 62 הרבנית לאה שקדיאל 66 סאווסן מסארווה 68 עו”ד גאלב סלאמנה 72 דברי סיום 74 סומיה בשיר 75 פרופ’ דוד הראל 76 תודות 

 79 5 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23 )יצאנו לרחובות #4 חזרנו לרחובות #6 חזרנו לרחובות #12 חזרנו לרחובות #5 חזרנו לרחובות #11 יצאנו לרחובות #3 חזרנו לרחובות #4 יצאנו לרחובות #2 חזרנו לרחובות #3 חזרנו לרחובות #10 חזרנו לרחובות #9 מאי 2026 

 חוברות קודמות יצאנו לרחובות #1חזרנו לרחובות #2 חזרנו לרחובות #8 חזרנו לרחובות #1 חזרנו לרחובות #7 חזרנו לרחובות #17 חזרנו לרחובות #16 Speak Out #1חזרנו לרחובות #15 Speak Out #2חזרנו לרחובות #14 Speak Out #3חזרנו לרחובות #13 6 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23 )נשארים ברחובות #1 מאי 2026 צילום: אדיר סטופ | קניון דרורים matehaacademia@gmail.com 7 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026חיפה 7 מרץ 2026 הטרור היהודי 8 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 9צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026מרץ 2026 

שומרים על צלם אנוש – קריאה למיגור הטרור היהודי מכתב מאת חברות וחברי הסגל של המוסדות האקדמיים 

לכבוד: הרמטכ”ל, הפצ”ר, קציני צה”ל, שר הביטחון וחברי הממשלה, דובר צה”ל, וחברי הכנסת, 

 אנו פונים אליכם מתוך דאגה עמוקה לביטחון המדינה, מתוך מחויבות לערכים אוניברסליים, ובמנותק מכל עמדה פוליטית בנושאי מלחמה וריבונות. איננו יכולים לעמוד מנגד מול העדויות היומיומיות על פעולות טרור יהודי בשטחים שהביטחון בהם נמצא תחת אחריות צה”ל. אירועים אלה מנוגדים באופן מוחלט לערכים שעליהם התחנכו דורות קודמים של לוחמים. אנו חוששים שכבוד האדם, טוהר הנשק והמשמעת הצבאית, המהווים נדבכים מרכזיים ברוח צה”ל נשחקו, ונורמות של טיוח משפטי השתרשו. בנוסף, בהמשך למכתב המילואימניקים, אנו חרדים מהחדירה של אג’נדות משיחיות שאינן תואמות את מהות צה”ל כצבא ממלכתי, והופכות אותו למעין אכסניה של מיליציות שמטרתן לקדם מדיניות של טיהור אתני בניגוד לחוק הבינלאומי. אנו קוראים לעמדה של אפס סובלנות כלפי סוג זה של עבריינות. אנו קוראים לדובר צה”ל לספק דיווח על בסיס יומיומי על המתרחש, ועל הפעולות המשפטיות המתבצעות כדי למגר את התופעה. אנו קוראים לחברי הכנסת לגנות בזמן אמיתי כל פעולת טרור, ולהבהיר שאין אנו עומדים מנגד, אין אנו שותקים, ואין אנו מאפשרים לבצע פשעים נגד האנושות, גם בעת מלחמה. 

בברכה, 

רשימת חותמים רצ”ב (מעל 1400): Google Form הטופס נחתם באמצעות *** יש ברשימה אנשים שונים עם אותו שם – אלו לא כפילויות 

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גילרון, גילי דרורי, אטה ליבנה, ליאורה פרויג, נתן קלר, משה לוי, עדי מכמל, עידו אריאל, אורית סוניה ויסמן, נילי הרניק, אילנה לח, שרי איתן, תמר שליט ברלב, מרטין קופייק, נאוה לויט בן נון, דני קורניק, אפרים אייזנמן, בתי לובינשטיין, אורה אביעזר, רונית רפ, רן גינוסר, אלכס ליברזון, תמר מגידו, אורית עליון, efrat lurie, עומר מואב, אמנון תאשמע, אור קומאי, מירה בלבן, מיכל רמות, אלינור עמית, נעמה גורן-ענבר, צפריר קופליק, אוהד דוד, אסיא פזי, גילי בריקס, אלונה וזאן, יואב ליבני, רחל ויסברוד, הגר זיבנר, שרון גנות, ענת זנגר, דפנה ארדינסט-וולקן, מיכל קרמר, יעל רוט ברקאי, יהודה הלפר, סיגל דוידי, דינה לשקוביץ, אורי רביב, רוני בן ישי, עדי מרחב, עמיעל אילני, שחר סמורודינסקי, תמר קשתי, ענת גלעד, רן סמורודינסקי, עודד שוורץ, גבי גייר, איתי גרינשפן, ניצנית בראון, טליה מירון-שץ, שרי שביט, יעל שר-שלום מוכיח, נעמה קופלמן, אליס ברזיס, אלה שובל, קובי מצר, שאול מרקוביץ׳, אורית אונגר, מלכי גרוסמן, איה מלצר-אשר, ניר בן-טל, דר מעיין בורשטיין, מיכל שוורץ, נועם דובר, תמר סוברן, מיכל בן גל, יצחק ונציה, רוניתה היימן, נויה רימלט, דפנה משקובסקי, רפאל בן דרור, אסף ברק, פיליפ טרוגובוף, יואל גרומן, בתיה סגל, תמי ליברמן, דודי צפתי, שני גרנק עשבי, רונית ריצ׳י, 11 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026סיון טולדו, עודד נבון, נעמה ברנר, שילה יערי, עמיחי ורדי, אנדראה ברגר, שרה זנדברג, חיים גנז, עוזי פרוינד-ארז עציון, נורית אלפסי, גלית ארגמן, ארנון שור, ישי יפה, עפרה רותם, גיא פינקו, נעמה גרשי צחור, אהרן מאיר, פיינשטיין, שחר גינדי, סיגל ברק ברנדס, שמוליק מרקו, Ilana Lotan, דוד בלנק, קובי מאירי, אריקה עמיר, סיגל רבינא, ניר קליסמן, סער אלון-ברקת, אורית יעל, איילת ארז, נעמה ברבי, אפרת זלוטקין ריבקין, קרן אונגר, עינב קטן-שמיד, דליה נחמן פרחי, אסף ענבל, ערן לדרמן, רונית עיר-שי, איתי לינזן, גליה אבידן, גליה פלוטקין, גונן אשכנזי, נילי שטיינפלד, נורית גרונאו, ליטל אלפונטה, אברהם קלוגר, גנית מייזליץ כסיף, יונה גרינמן, ישראל נלקן, אורית יפה, תמי תמיר, סינטיה כראל, סקוט אורי, עופר סיטבון, אריאל פרידמן, אורית טיקוצינסקי, עדית זכאי אור, עמליה סער, ברק פלמן, אביטל ליכט מורבה, פני יובל, מאיר שחר, אורנה זגורי שרון, יעקב צור, אביב וינשטין, מיכה אשר, Nataly Kravchenko Balasha, Tamar Pertzov, לילה מועלם, עדית בן-ברוך, עליזה מאיר אפשטיין, אסתר (נתי) דורון, רפי גרוסגליק, גילי לויתן, עודד מילוא, מיכל בת אור, רינת רייזנר, אלכסנדרה קלב, בועז הוס, ורדה סרוק-מירון-הולץ, דן ממלוק, אריה נדלר, רם בן-שלום, הללי בלבן, ג’קי פלדמן, יורם מיטל, יעל מוזס, אפרי בר נדב, עינת ז’פה, טלי ביתן, יעל אמתי, רוני אמיר, יפעת גוטמן, רפי מלניק, כרמן סגל, זואי בינסטוק, מירה טנצר, גנלה מוריס, עדי רדיאן, עדי ברן, ענת ויסמן, סמדר בן טבו דה לאון, שרון נמרוד לרון, אליעזר גלעדי, עידית גיל, אירית פינצ׳ובסקי, אביגדור גל, יהודה פולק, רויטל חכמוב שפירא, אבנר ניב, ברכה אלפרט, יוסי שפיגל, שני גרוסמן, רינה בובראוגלו, רות רונן, אייל נווה, תמי עמיאל האוזר, יעקב שול, אורית דודאי, גיורא גלילי, יוליה פורשיק, ורד כספי, יוליה אוסטינובה, אורנה פלג, יורם בן-שאול, דנית לוריאן, לין שלר, קמליה נרקיס, אמנון חיזי, גייגר עדו, אלון לוטן, גדעון בך, חני ישראלי, ניר ברק, מאיה זהבי, Luisa Ferretti Cuomo, רוני הנקין-רויטפרב, דליה מרקס, תלמה לויתן, מורן בנהר, עינת שטרית, ספי חפץ, יוסי יובל, דוד כהן, נמרוד פלג, ילנה קרבצובה, יובל אלפיה, שי מורן, עופר אשכנזי, אפרים זהבי, גרשון אלבר, שלמה רזמט, אורין שחר, שי הרן, נגה רון-הראל, אלון גרינברג דנה, מנחם כץ, הדס דבשי, רלי שכטר, רובי גוטמן, יעל אלואיל, שאול קציר, עודד לוינזון, דפנה הירש, נחום שיצקין, יוסף שטינברג, אורי הרשברג, אלדד דן, מיכל ארבל, נעם אדיר, גלעד אבן צור, רועי צהר, דורית אשור, אריה פאר, עומר יחזקאלי, זאב פרוש, נאוה מיכאל-צברי, רויטל תמרי, שי מוזס, שחר רגב, רננה פורן, רמי אתר, אורן גזל אייל, יובל יעיש, מונא חורי, חיים אוטו רכניצר, מירי גור אריה, אהוד קינן , רונית שריד, שירלי ליכטמן-שדות, אלון רשף, תמר ברקאי, מאיה רנד, אלי אפלבוים, אילת הראל, חנן חריף, אונית אלאלוף, עודד אבט, סיגל עוזרי רוייטברג, חנה אולמן , שירי כנעני, אורית רוזין, גליה אנקורי, אסף חסון , רוני גולדשטיין, עמרי בר גיורא, דנה כהן, ליאורה שאלתיאל הרפז, תמר הגר, אבנר סופר, חנה סוקר שווגר , מרלין עיסאוי, David budescu, אורי אשרי, ורד סלונים נבו , אורי קשת, אריאל קפלן, אהוד גבזה, מארן ניהוף, שקמה ליטמנוביץ , תומר כרמל, אורן ברגמן, אבי רובין, תמר פז , דפנה צירולניק יונג, גז’גוז’ יונג, י.ע. מוזס, עמית פלטי, נטלי, זוהר ינאי, רות פרסר, ירון קציר, שחר איל, גיא דורון, אורלי אידן, משה מאור, יואב יאיר, מיכל מחט שמיר, מיכה לשם, יובל טל, מיכל הרשמן, פול בן ישי, נדב לוי, מיכל קאול, אורן בן-צבי, משה ארמון, רז קופרמן, עדי אלדג’ם מלצר, יוסי מורי, רות מאיו, תמר זילבר, ורד ברק, יובל טל, גילה בר-גל, אבי מאיו, ד״ר לי צ׳יפמן, מיכל פרנקל, יהודה גודמן, דוד לוי-פאור, מיכל שמיר, שמעון הרוש, ברק מדינה, איה בן יעקב, מתי יהושע, מנחם הופנונג, אילון, רענן סוליציאנו-קינן, שירן רייכנברג, עידן שגב, משה קול, דלית סלע-דוננפלד, דוד עומר, יואל מגדל, מיכאל אלבאום, אלכסנדר קרט, איל ארט, עינת אהרונוב, אהרון טרואן, רונן מנדלקרן, שירי שקדי רפיד, חגי ברגמן, אבי עשור, בתיה בן הדור, ערן משורר, ארטיום ז’לנוב, עמית קרן, דבי בביס, אילנה פרדס, שלמה חורי, לינדה יעקב שדה, אביטל בייקוביץ, איילת בן-ישי, אדם ויילר גור אריה, אלי פיינרמן, גיתי יהל, קרל מרטנס, יעל פרג, ניצה ברקוביץ, פניה עוז-זלצברגר, מיה נגב, סיימון קורמן, ורד לב כנען, יובל שקד, נורית נוביס דויטש, ענבר ליבנת, שרה שילה, יהודה אנזל, בועז יובל, דניאל שר, יאיר זיו, יואב לניר, נעמי אורי, שרון רזון, מעיין נגר, גלית קליין, דן פורת, עדי עקביה, איתן שטיינברג, אורי הרץ, קלאודיה קדר, ענת זעירא, דן פלד, שי זמיר, הדס ויסמן, ורדית ריספלר חיים, מיכל בן דוד הדני, אור חסון, פאינה מילמן-סיון, אמיר רייכר, איילת לנדאו, בתיה זיבצנר, ישראל עמירב, אדר כהן, סדריק כהן סקלי, רונית גרוסמן, חגי כץ, Naomi Habib, אביטל בינה פולק, סלביה פוגל ביזאוי, אביבה חלמיש, אנה גוטגרץ, גוני טישלר, סנדרה צוקרמן, זיו לידרור, ארן ליביו, אורלי בנימין, ורד ויניצקי- סרוסי, נורית מלניק, יהונתן ורדי, זוהר קמפף, רני עמית בר-און, דן רוקני, דמיטרי שומסקי, יהושע גולדברג, דפנה כרמלי, אבי אורפז, ענת ברנע, יעל יונג, ישי לנדא, ראסם חמאיסי, אורי גוראל-גורביץ’, חנה מרגלית, דינה שטיין, מתן חופרי, שמואל וולף, אורי בן-דוד, מיכל יובל, מיקה לאון בק, עמוס אופיר, אורי רום, אורי פרזנצבסקי, נעמי ביטרמן, לירון דיין, אלי פיקרסקי, דפנה מנור-אורן, יעקב הל-אור, מרדכי שטיין, מושיק לביא, עידו דגן, מיה וולף, רינה טלגם, מורן גודס, אלון לבני, רחל צורן, יואב פלד, יעל נצר, אורלי סבר, חגית עטיה, רון נעמן, שירה רוה, הללי פינסון, הדס זהבי, נעמה בשארי מידן, טלילה וולק, ענת רוזנטל, אורית אלטרץ, מיכאל אייזנבך, ערן בן-אליא, שרגא שוורץ, רוני קרסנטי, עמוס ירום, ניר אוריון, ינון רודיך, משה גולדשמיד, תמי חיון, ליהי מגריץ רונן, אילת וילן רגב, ענת בשן, שלומית יובל-גרינברג, מוטי בניטה, תמר גיגר, אסא מרון, ארי אלסון, אורן יפתחאל, עדי שטרן, ניעה ארליך, תמר קיסר, סיון בלסלב, רון דיסקין, נועה אפרת, ידין דודאי, סבינה דבורה סגרה, עמית פינקלר, רוחמה אבן, מיכל אירני, אברהם סלע, אורי קרמר, ג׳ניפר לוין, ורד רום קידר, ניר דודזון, אריאל אמיר, שחר רהב, אסף סטי אל-בר, מיכל שפירא, רעות הררי, כפיר בלום, פאולה פדר-בוביס, כריסטיאן גרוסלר, עידו פנקס, ימימה דוכין רפ, רוני רגב, קלרה סבג, עפר זיתוני, אורן טל, יוסי קלפטר, אבישי ברוורמן, מיכל נאמן, עמוס שפירא, נעמי לוי וינר, רבקה כרמי, עירד בן-גל, עמיחי מזר, שרי יסין, גל אריאלי, 12 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026דוד אופנהיים, אורה פורמן, אורלי מנור, יוסי אברון, מנחם מגידור, יצחק אפלויג, זאב תדמור, ליעד מודריק, רון ליבנה, שמוליק שפר, חגית מסר ירון, שרית ברזלי, שלומית תמרי, דוד אנגלברג, יעל סופר, תמנע נפתלי, טלי שימקין, תמר מילשטיין, יצחק מקובסקי, דנה בר, אברהם ירון, הדס זריז, יעל שוב, מוטי מיכאלי, אסתי שהמי, יאיר סאקוב, אסתר פלדמסר, סיגל קני-פז, ליאת בן דוד, מאיה פניג, רונית ליכטנטריט, קרן בצר, אדוה ברקוביץ’ רומנו, דנה קירשנבאום, נורית גלזר חודיק, איה ענבר, בל גבריאל-פריד, עמרם אילון, אבי ביגלמן, נגה צור, זאב רכס, נורית שילה בן הרוש, סופי וולש, דניאלה טלמון-הלר, דנה אברהמי צפתי, הילה אביאלי, עינת פלד, אשל גדעון, עדינה ברימן, עדי ארטום, גליה ינושבסקי, יעל וילנר, לילי ירון מלמד, דניאלה שבאר שפירא, גיהאד אלצאנע, תם מאירוביץ, עינת גינת, איציק רנרט; גבריאלה גולדשמידט, סמדי מלמד, אוהד נחתומי, נחשון מירן, לורה ורטון, יאיר זרמי, יובל גפן, ראובן עמיתי, רות גלזנר, טליה מיטל שוורץ טיירי, גיולי צוויקל, יליזבטה שטוף, דורית סגל-אנגלצ׳ין, נדב קשטן, עפר פיינרמן, רותי הדרי, גלית יובל, עמית סבר, הדס הרמתי, הילה ברוקמן, ישראל סקלר, ענת ר. לדאני, תמיקציר, שירי כהן קמיניץ, אסתר דרומי, אופירה אילון, דפנה ישועה-כ״ץ, Pia Rotshtein, דניאלה גורביץ, עינת ליכטינגר, ניב אחיטוב, אֹורי ויזל, יעל אלרז שפירא, גלעד פרז, שירי אלון, טליה אריאב, יעקב סיון, אביגיל פרדמן, אסנת דור, אסנת עקירב, רונית דולב שחם, יהודה אפק, דפנה שרב, רן גרוס, עתליה חי וייס, סיון לרר, יונתן גושן, עדיה מאירוביץ, אורית קמיר, ענת קציר, רוזנברג, Marius Usher, טל בן טוב, חנה אורנוי, אפרת מצ׳יקווה, רותי קנטור, מיכל בירקנפלד, עמוס ישראל-אהוד הלפרין, מושון זר-אביב, יעל רימר-כהן, שירי רגב מסלם, מיכאל בירנהק, יעל זיו, שרה כהן, טלי גל, רתם פליסהואור, שולמית גלר, ענת ירדן, מיכאל קנטרוביץ, לילי רוטשילד יקר, גיל שחם, יואב ליבנה, רות פיין, רותי הלר, דני מטוס, יונתן מזרחי, אוה שלנק, ענת ארזי, יואכים מאיר, שוש רייזמן, דפנה ברגרבסט, יעל בנימיני, הדס נצר דגן, דפנה ברקן, אורי הדר, מיכל סליטרניק, רונית רוט חנניה, רוני זסלבסקי, בני אפלבאום, דותן פרסיץ, חן שפירא, רחל רביד, אילנה בן חיים, דפנה כנעני, לימור יהודה, עפרי עקביא, דב אביגד, אוריאל הרן, חיים דימנט, ארנון לוטם, לימור לנדסמן, אריאל צמח, סמדר הרפז סעד, הדס שבת נדיר, שרון חלבה-עמיר, עינת לידר, לי ינור, עפר גולן, דיויד גוס, גל מנור, נטע פולברמכר, מיקה גבל, יונתן שפיר, עטרה איזקסון, מאיה שיאון, שולה גלעד, רועית דהן, רחל רביד, דפנה יואל, קרין לדרמן, רועי טרגן, אודליה נתן, אפרת דרסלר, צופיה שרייבר, יעקב מלינוביץ, איריס לנה, אילן גונן, גדי אריאב, רועי קיבריק, פרנסס רדאי, הדס ירון מסגנה, אילנה מזרחי נאור, מיכאל שטרנברג, עינת וגר-אטיאס, סיגל ראב, מיכאל ברנדיס, תמר פרידלנדר, רן ספוזניק, ערן ישיב, יואב קפשוק, שירה פרבי, אורן באדר, נועה הייזלר רובין, אילת טוקר, צחי רז, טל אייל, דלית בלוך, אילן הירשברג, שחר ארזי, איתי בר-סימן-טוב, רותי קמחי, עודד גולדרייך, מיכל רייפן תגר, אפי שהם, יאנה צ’חנובץ, אילת שאואר, שרון בן אריה, קרן אגאי שי, אורן פורקוש, ארז לבנון, דן שגיב, גדעון רהט, עתליה שרגאי, גליה מורן, יעקב בודוך, צבי ציטרון, מירי טלמון, אילה שיבר, יואב ברתל, אריה שלו, אביגיל רובין, אוהד גלץ, מילי מאסס, שרינה חן, יעל גולדברג, גלעד סופרין, רוני גרנק, עודד פרגו, איתן צלגוב, פיטר הריס, נעמי קליין, ברק אוירבך, רון פולמן, אסתי יגר לוטם, עינת דוידי, חלי דנקנר, עדי ציטרין, מירית שרעבי, עדנה להב-צימרמן, הגר אור, אריאל וינשטוק, א. ישראל, דרור ארליך, עידית בן אור, שבולת זית, מעיין ג׳יימס, שגיא ברגר, יעקב רחמילביץ, אור רפל קרויזר, רועי שור, אביב מצר, יניב זיו, עֹפר יזהר, אייל ביטון, רועי קופר, איריס ליברמן, סימוני זינגר, גלעד גולי כהן, ניר רצקובסקי, נחמה ורבין, מרטין מגל, דן יקיר, ליאת טיקוצקי, Eytan Sheshinski, ארנית שני, מרים ארז, ארנון אברון, חיים אברון, ורד ויניצקי סרוסי, משה רון, מיה בר-הלל, דינה פורת, אוה אילוז, נועם כוכבי, דורית רביד, ישראל אמיר, מיכאל סופר, אסתר מאיר, שפרה שינמן, רם רייפן, מישל ברקוביאר, מיכה לשם, אילת זהר, דפנה בן בעשט, איתן אליני, נעמי המאירי, אנה ספרד, נתן שיפריס, אתי גורדון גינזבורג, שמשון בלקין, יעל שמש, טאובה, נסים פרנסיז, אורן לם, דניאלה גולדפרב, ניר רותם, אד גרינשטיין, מלאת שמיר, ליובה פרידמן, שרית שלו-גדעון שרייבר, משה רון, אורנית ספקטור-לוי, אמיר גולדשטיין, הגר גל, מאיר גלבוע, צבי בקרמן, צופר מניב, משה עיני, עדי אריה, יונתן בלמקר, אורית קרניאלי-מילר, דרור פייטלסון, יצחק נוסינוביץ, אסתר כהן, אבנר טלר, יובל ,Eyal Rotenberg ,עמירם מושיוב, יונתן מושיוב, ישעיהו (אישי) טלמון, ב”ז קדר ,Ronny Neumann ,שוהם, יעקב קלייןרחל צלניק-אברמוביץ, ורד ויניצקי-סרוסי, נעם גל, מנור מנדל, אבנר גלעדי, יורם יום-טוב, מלאת טריינין, מיכאל טוך, ימימה בן מנחם, דורון אברהם, חיה קלכהיים, סאם ליימן-ווילציג, דורית סגל-אנגלצ’ין, עקיבא כהן, חנה קרן, יוסף הירשברג, ולדימיר לוין, רוני כהן, יונתן ארזי, אבי שגיא-שורץ, יוסף שלומאי, בני לאוטרבך, גד מרום, דניאל קורניצר, ג’ני קורמן, חוה בת זאב שילדקרוט, דנה קפלן, נתן נלסון, רחל תא-שמע, נגה וולף, ורדה סוסקולני, ערן פייטלסון, מיכל טל, יהושע גרנט, חנה אדוני, סיני רוסינק, ניקול אהרוניאן, יונתן ארז, רייצ׳ל בק, אריאל אפל, איתן אלימי, דניאל רץ, מיכאל קרן, יהודית גל-עזר, אלה זימרמן, יחיאל מ. בר אילן, פול פרוש, חיים רוזן, גדעון שלח-לביא, אילנה קראוזמן, איילת אילני, מעיין אברג׳יל, דבי גולדן, סיביל היילברון, אורי ינאי, Kamal Moed, ישראל ולודבסקי, אילן קורן, יזיד גנאים, זאב וייס, אמוץ עגנון, ברק מדינה, תמר רפופורט 13 

נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 22 מרץ 2026 

הצהרת הסנאט של אוניברסיטת תל אביב 

מזה תקופה ארוכה שאנו עדים לגילויי אלימות של תושבים יהודים ביהודה ושומרון כלפי תושבים פלסטינים. מעשים אלו, הכוללים פגיעות קשות בגוף וברכוש, הפחדה, השפלה וגירוש, הגיעו במקרים מסוימים לכדי מעשי רצח מזעזעים. תופעות אלו אך התעצמו בחודש האחרון, בחסות המלחמה מול איראן. כאזרחי מדינת ישראל, אנו נושאים באחריות מוסרית כבדה וחשים בושה עמוקה לנוכח גילויי הטרור היהודי המשתולל. אנו מוחים על אוזלת ידם של הממשלה ושל כוחות הביטחון מלפעול בעוצמה הראויה נגד תופעה זו בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם. טרור המופעל נגד חפים מפשע אינו משתנה בהתאם לזהות המבצע או הקורבן; טרור הוא טרור, ודינו להיות ממוגר. על מדינת ישראל, כאחראית בשטח, מוטלת חובה ברורה, הן מכוח המשפט הבינלאומי והן מכוח החוק הישראלי, להגן על שלומם של כלל התושבים, יהודים ופלסטינים כאחד. מעבר לחובה המשפטית, מוטלת על הממשלה חובה מוסרית ראשונה במעלה: לא להתיר, במעשה או במחדל, את דמם של תושבי יהודה ושומרון. אנו, כעם שחווה על בשרו פוגרומים ורדיפות על רקע גזעני, מחויבים לזכור לאן עלולה תהום זו להוביל. אל לנו לעמוד מנגד. ההיסטוריה מלמדת כי בעתות מלחמה, זכויות אדם נוטות להידחק לקרן זווית בשם “צורך השעה” או השאיפה לניצחון. אנו מסרבים להשלים עם מציאות זו! הטרור היהודי אינו משרת שום מטרה לגיטימית; נהפוך הוא: הוא מכרסם ביסודות קיומנו. שתיקה מול הטרור שבתוכנו היא כתם מוסרי שלא יימחה, שכן חוסנה של מדינת ישראל אינו נמדד רק בכוח נשקה, אלא בראש ובראשונה בטוהר ערכיה.

  14צילום: ליזי שאנן | תל אביב 15נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202623 מרץ 2026 

טרור יהודי בשטחי יהודה ושומרון – כתם מוסרי על כולנו | עמדת “בשער” 

ארגון “בשער – קהילה אקדמית למען החברה בישראל” מגנה בחריפות את גילויי הטרור, האלימות והפרעות שהתעצמו מאוד לאחרונה מצד תושבים יהודים בשטחי יהודה ושומרון, כלפי תושבים פלסטינים. מעשי טרור יהודי אלו כוללים רציחות, השחתה וגזל של רכוש, השפלה וגירוש וזאת במטרה להגיע לטיהור אתני של אזורים שלמים. מעשים אלו מנוגדים לחוק הבינלאומי שמדינת ישראל מחויבת לו כמו גם לחוק הישראלי. הם מטילים כתם מוסרי חמור על מדינת ישראל כאחראית לשלום כלל התושבים באזור, ועל כל אחד ואחת מאיתנו כאזרחי המדינה. ברמה המוסרית כולנו אחראים על מעשים נפשעים אלה. “בשער” קורא לממשלת ישראל למלא בנחרצות את חובתה להגן על כל תושבי שטחי יהודה ושומרון ולגלות אפס סובלנות מול מעשים נפשעים אלו של טרור יהודי. כוחות הביטחון ומערכת המשפט חייבים למגר אותם בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם. גם בימי מלחמה אסור לאבד ערכי מוסר, זכויות אדם וצלם אנוש. אלה עומדים בבסיס קיומנו כמדינה דמוקרטית וליברלית. “בשער” קורא למוסדות להשכלה גבוהה לנקוט עמדה מוסרית ברורה בנושא כפי שעשה הסנאט של אוניברסיטת תל-אביב. 

  16צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילומים: מרסלו שניידמן | תל אביב צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב 17 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026מרץ 2026 

הצהרת סגל אוניברסיטת בן גוריון בנגב | אוניברסיטת בן גוריון בנגב אנו, חברות וחברי סגל באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, מביעים זעזוע עמוק ושאט נפש מן ההתנכלות חסרת הרסן לפלסטינים בגדה המערבית ומהעלמת העין המתמשכת מצד הממשלה ומערכת הביטחון. האלימות באה מידיהם של יהודים, והיא כוללת הפחדה, השפלה, גירוש, הצתה, התעללות בבעלי חיים, פגיעה פיזית ומינית ורצח. בחודשים האחרונים, ובעיקר בתקופת המלחמה עם איראן, היא הולכת ותופחת לממדים מפלצתיים, ואי אפשר עוד לשתוק. במציאות הנוכחית שתיקה כמוה כשיתוף פעולה. האחריות לעצור את התופעה מוטלת קודם כול על המדינה, הן מתוקף המשפט הבין-לאומי והחוק הישראלי הן מתוקף החובה המוסרית למנוע אלימות כלפי חפים מפשע, ובהם ילדים, חולים, פגועי נפש ובעלי חיים. זו חובתה של כל אומה, ועל אחת כמה וכמה אומה כשלנו, שקמה כתשובה לפשעי שנאה ולאלימות גזענית ממוסדת ונשבעה “לעולם לא עוד”. אבל האחריות מוטלת גם על העם, וכשהמדינה אינה ממלאת את משימתה, תפקידם של אזרחים ואזרחיות להשמיע קול. דווקא בשעת מלחמה ומשבר, כשהמשימות הלאומיות משכיחות את זכויות הפרט וזכויות קבוצות המיעוט, יש חשיבות להתנגדות תקיפה לכל הידרדרות מוסרית, והיא צריכה להישמע מכל המחנות הפוליטיים החפצים חיים, משמאל ומימין. זהו חוסנה האמיתי של אומה, שיאפשר לה להתקיים בבטחה גם בימי שלום, ולא רק הישגיה הצבאיים. אנו קוראים לעצירה מיידית של הטרור היהודי, לגינוי רחב וחד-משמעי של האלימות המשתוללת בגדה ולפעולות מניעה וענישה דחופות. 

158 חתימות 18צילום: ליזי שאנן | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: איילת אניסמן | באר שבע צילום: הדס שניר | צומת העוגן צילום: איילת אניסמן | באר שבע 19 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026מרץ 2026 

הצהרת חברות וחברי סגל אקדמי באוניברסיטה העברית 

מזה תקופה ארוכה שאנו עדים לגילויי אלימות של גורמים באוכלוסייה היהודית כלפי האוכלוסייה הפלסטינית ביהודה ושומרון / הגדה המערבית. מעשים אלו, הכוללים פגיעות קשות בגוף וברכוש, הפחדה, השפלה וגירוש, הגיעו במקרים מסוימים כדי מעשי רצח מזעזעים. תופעות אלו התעצמו בחודש האחרון בחסות המלחמה מול איראן. אנו חשים בושה עמוקה לנוכח גילויי הטרור היהודי המשתולל. אנו מוחים על אוזלת ידם של הממשלה ושל כוחות הביטחון מלפעול בעוצמה הראויה נגד תופעה זו, בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם. טרור המופעל נגד חפים מפשע הוא פשע; טרור הוא טרור, ואינו משתנה בהתאם לזהות המבצע או הקורבן, ונדון לגינוי מוחלט. על מדינת ישראל, כגורם האחראי בשטח, מוטלת חובה ברורה הן מכוח המשפט הבינלאומי והן מכוח החוק הישראלי להגן על שלומם של כלל התושבים – יהודים ופלסטינים כאחד. מעבר לחובה המשפטית, מוטלת על הממשלה חובה מוסרית ראשונה במעלה: לא להתיר, במעשה או במחדל, את שפיכות דמם של תושבים יהודים ופלסטינים ביהודה ושומרון / הגדה המערבית. הטרור היהודי אינו משרת שום מטרה לגיטימית; להפך – הוא מכרסם ביסודות קיומנו. שתיקה אל מול טרור היא כתם מוסרי שלא יימחה. 

(על החתום: 507 חברות וחברים) 20צילום: EC אי-סי | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים צילום: ליאור שגב | תל אביב 21 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026מרץ 2026 

הצהרת סנאט מכון ויצמן 

 המועצה המדעית (סנאט) של מכון ויצמן למדע מצטרפת להצהרת הסנאט של אוניברסיטת תל אביב מזה תקופה ארוכה שאנו עדים לגילויי אלימות של תושבים יהודים ביהודה ושומרון כלפי תושבים פלסטינים. מעשים אלו, הכוללים פגיעות קשות בגוף וברכוש, הפחדה, השפלה וגירוש, הגיעו במקרים מסוימים לכדי מעשי רצח מזעזעים. תופעות אלו אך התעצמו בחודש האחרון, בחסות המלחמה מול איראן. כאזרחי מדינת ישראל, אנו נושאים באחריות מוסרית כבדה וחשים בושה עמוקה לנוכח גילויי הטרור היהודי המשתולל. אנו מוחים על אוזלת ידם של הממשלה ושל כוחות הביטחון מלפעול בעוצמה הראויה נגד תופעה זו בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם. טרור המופעל נגד חפים מפשע אינו משתנה בהתאם לזהות המבצע או הקורבן; טרור הוא טרור, ודינו להיות ממוגר. על מדינת ישראל, כאחראית בשטח, מוטלת חובה ברורה, הן מכוח המשפט הבינלאומי והן מכוח החוק הישראלי, להגן על שלומם של כלל התושבים, יהודים ופלסטינים כאחד. מעבר לחובה המשפטית, מוטלת על הממשלה חובה מוסרית ראשונה במעלה: לא להתיר, במעשה או במחדל, את דמם של תושבי יהודה ושומרון. אנו, כעם שחווה על בשרו פוגרומים ורדיפות על רקע גזעני, מחויבים לזכור לאן עלולה תהום זו להוביל. אל לנו לעמוד מנגד. ההיסטוריה מלמדת כי בעתות מלחמה, זכויות אדם נוטות להידחק לקרן זווית בשם “צורך השעה” או השאיפה לניצחון. אנו מסרבים להשלים עם מציאות זו! הטרור היהודי אינו משרת שום מטרה לגיטימית; נהפוך הוא: הוא מכרסם ביסודות קיומנו. שתיקה מול הטרור שבתוכנו היא כתם מוסרי שלא יימחה, שכן חוסנה של מדינת ישראל אינו נמדד רק בכוח נשקה, אלא בראש ובראשונה בטוהר ערכיה. 

  22צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב 23צילומים: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 מרץ 2026 

פניית חברי הסגל האקדמי אל הקהילה הבינלאומית 

 An Urgent Appeal from Israeli Academics: Stop Settler Violence in the West Bank 

We write to express deep concern about the extreme violence committed by Israeli citizens against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. We call for urgent Israeli and International action to stop this violence. In recent years, and more so since the Oct 7th massacre, extremist Israeli settler groups have been carrying out a coordinated campaign of violence across the West Bank, aimed at displacing rural Palestinian communities and erasing their presence. Thousands of attacks resulting in deaths, injuries, and property damage have been documented. Dozens of Palestinian communities have already been displaced. This violence is led by Jewish settlers, with support from state infrastructure and resources. Israeli police and military forces have for the most part failed to intervene. In some cases, they have even assisted the attackers. Despite clear evidence and clear identification of many perpetrators, no meaningful arrests have been made, and the perpetrators act with a chilling sense of impunity. Since the outbreak of the current war with Iran, the situation has rapidly escalated. Multiple communities have been savagely attacked: Israeli settlers have killed at least seven Palestinians, injured dozens more, and caused extensive damage to livestock and property. The surge in violence is tied to the current government’s agenda of settlement expansion, de facto annexation of the West Bank, and erosion of liberal democratic institutions. The government’s judicial overhaul was designed, in part, to remove legal and administrative constraints on the exercise of arbitrary power in the West Bank. It has led to an erosion in the state’s ability and willingness to investigate, prevent, and prosecute violence carried out by civilians and armed persons in the occupied territories. The result is a rapidly expanding governance vacuum, in which the rule of law no longer functions as an effective constraint on severe violence against Palestinians. Given the current government’s agenda and the collapse of effective domestic safeguards, ending the violence requires a joint effort by Israeli citizens and governments and citizens worldwide. We urge the International community to: 24 Demand of the Israeli government to protect communities that are under threat and punish the perpetrators of violence • Ensure the ongoing violence and impunity become central matters of Israeli and international concern, and expand documentation and protective presence in the area • Consider far-reaching measures against individuals and entities involved in acts of violence and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank 

First signatures: Prof. David Harel, Prof. Rivka Carmi, Prof. Barak Medina, Prof. Kobi Metzer, Prof. Sarah Stroumsa

צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים 25 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202621 אפריל 2026 

פרופ’ דניאל אורנשטיין | הטכניון – מכון טכנולוגי לישראל

 Not flying the flag this Independence Day First published: The Blogs – Times of Israel 

This Independence Day I’m not going to fly the flag. I’m not going to gush over Israel as a modern-day miracle. Despite my deep attachment to Israel and its people, if Israel had a flag that looked different upside down, I would wave it upside-down as a sign of distress. I grew up in an intensely Zionist home in Los Angeles. We celebrated Israel’s Independence Day walking 18 kilometers each year, raising money for the state. I spent every summer at a Zionist summer camp and spent my college years counter-demonstrating against students who called into question Israel’s right to exist. When I immigrated to Israel in 1992, I took pride in every visitor I could bring, every bit of taxes I paid in support of the country. I studied, served in the army and the reserves, married, and had children )two of whom served in combat units(. I reveled in Israel’s achievements. I was a proud Israeli abroad. But that pride has been battered, if not broken, and waving the flag this week would signal the denial of the unacceptable crimes perpetrated by our citizens. Each day in the West Bank, our citizens – Israeli citizens – set out from their unauthorized hilltop trailers to attack men, women, and children whose land they covet and whose presence they reject. They are, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, a “handful of kids… about 70 children from broken homes.” Yet, they have been burning cars, assaulting residents and activists, destroying olive trees, and stealing sheep with impunity. That “handful of kids” somehow continues to escape justice, even when clearly documented, while police and soldiers stand by. This occurs because the violence is not an aberration; it persists due to state tolerance. The articles linked above end the same way: No arrests are made. Israel’s security services should have made those arrests. Some of the world’s most capable security services fail to act against “70 children from broken homes” who terrorize their Palestinian neighbors. Sustained and highly visible violence should not be able to evade enforcement, but it somehow does. It’s not incompetence; it is selective non-enforcement )or worse(. It is not coincidental that several of the country’s main security services ) army, police, Mossad, and Shin Bet ( are now headed by Netanyahu-appointees widely criticized for prioritizing political loyalty over professional independence. As such, the Netanyahu government has secured political discipline across the security services. With the Shin Bet and Mossad appointments, the pattern is clear: leaders brought in from outside, with limited intelligence experience and close political alignment. The Shin Bet’s David Zini, has already, in his first year on the job, provided Netanyahu with a letter allowing him to be excused from attending his corruption trial – a letter that the previous head would not provide. On the Israeli violence directed towards Palestinians in the West Bank, Zini reportedly changed the Shin Bet official reference to their acts not as “terrorism” but as “friction.” The security services, of course, are beholden to the government. The problem of politicizing professional roles is systemic, not only in the security services but across the civil service: political appointments and pressure on professional civil servants, often smeared as “deep state”, are a hallmark of this government’s illiberal agenda. Despite massive public opposition and nearly three years of war, the government continues to aggressively pursue divisive policies, while attempting to circumvent Netanyahu’s corruption trials. It continues to incite against large segments of the population )those protesting corruption and defending 27 democratic norms(, labeling them “traitors.” Government ministers incite against judges, legal advisors, former army officers, and media personalities, and coddle violent activists who harass individuals with the goal of silencing them )often the same actors working to protect Palestinians from settler violence(. These actions tear apart Israeli society, fuel anti-Israel sentiment globally, and deepen our isolation. To wave the flag this Independence Day would be to ignore the country’s slide into a militant and increasingly illiberal and rogue state. What I describe here is an assault on a set of values shared by Israelis and Jews worldwide. There is a path to preserving Israel as a democratic, Jewish state. It requires the political support to install a government committed to equality, the rule of law, and the pursuit of peace and coexistence. One that respects professional civil servants, seeks diplomatic solutions, and protects the independence of media, judiciary, and universities. These are Zionist and universal principles that transcend the right-left divide. Celebration is not a default on Independence Day; it is earned. When the “handful of kids” terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank are arrested and jailed, and government ministers cease to enable them, I will again be able to wave the flag. When Israel returns to its commitments to democracy, equality, and law, it will once again be a country worth celebrating. 28

צילום: ELAN | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 29 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026חיפה 7 מרץ 2026 גזענות וערבות הדדית בנגב 30 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 31צילום: איילת אניסמן | באר שבע נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202619 מרץ 2026 

גזענות היא לא “זיכרון היסטורי” | הקרן החדשה לישראל גזענות היא לא “זיכרון היסטורי”, זו מדיניות שמתרחשת ואף מרימה ראש כאן ועכשיו – בישראל 2026, תחת הממשלה הנוכחית ובחסות ההפיכה המשטרית. השבוע (21.3) יצוין ברחבי העולם היום הבינלאומי לביעור האפלייה והגזענות. יהיו מי שידברו על רוזה פארקס, ירגישו שמדובר במאבק של זמנים ומקומות אחרים, ויתקשו להסתכל על מה שקורה כאן ולהכיר באמת הכואבת: גזענות ואפלייה בישראל הן לא דבר חריג, לעתים קרובות זו שיטה. היא שיטה שבה מאות אלפי אזרחים ביישובים הערבים ובכפרים הבדואים בנגב חיים ללא מיגון מפני טילים – לא בגלל שאין תקציב, אלא כי אין רצון. היא שיטה שבה האלימות בחברה הערבית משתוללת, והמדינה לא באמת מתערבת. היא שיטה שבה דווקא עכשיו, בעיצומן של ההפגזות מלבנון – תקציבי השיקום של הצפון והעוטף מקוצצים בצורה בוטה. היא שיטה שבה הסתה, סתימת פיות של אזרחים ערבים, הדרת נשים, פגיעה בחופש הדת ובחופש מדת ופגיעה בזכויות אדם הופכות לנורמה. ועכשיו, בתוך ההפיכה המשטרית, זה הופך משיטה לתכנית פעולה ברורה. חקיקה שמחלישה שומרי סף ומצמצמת זכויות היא לא ”רפורמה“ – היא תשתית לגזענות ואפלייה ממוסדת. אבל מול כל זה יש מי שמסרבים לשתוק. עשרות ארגוני חברה אזרחית ממשפחת הקרן החדשה לישראל פועלים גם בימים קשים ומסרבים להוריד את הראש. 

צילום: גל מוסנזון | מאיבטין לסחנין צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים 32 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026

כך למשל, מרכזים לצדק חברתי מפעילים מנהיגי קהילות בפריפריה הצפונית כגון בקרית שמונה ובנהריה, עוזרים לתושבים במיפוי צרכים, מציעים תמיכה לקשישים ומנגישים מידע על סיוע ממשלתי. בסניפי נצרת ומג’ד אל-כרום הם חילקו ערכות עזרה ראשונה לתושבים המרותקים לבתיהם, ודאגו לתרומת מיכלי מים לבתי ספר ומסגדים המשמשים כמקלטים. קולקטיב מזרחי-אזרחי מפעילים מערך סיוע רגשי ראשוני ועורכים מיפוי צרכים בחירום עבור תושבי שכונות באופקים. אג’יק أجيك Ajeec Nisped והמועצה האזורית לכפרים הלא מוכרים בנגב المجلس للقرى مسلوبة ֿ גייסו االعتراف חמ”ל חירום בנגב, ופועלים להנגשת אפשרויות מיגון. עומדים ביחד نقف مًعًا תרומות דרך קמפיין מימון המונים והציבו מיגוניות ביישובים בדואים. ארגון Ir amim עיר עמים عير عميم וקבוצות אקטיביסטים יהודים-ערבים בירושלים פועלים למען פתיחת מקלטים, ואילו אזרחים בונים קהילה – مواطنون يبنون المجتمع בלוד שיפצו והשמישו מקלטים ציבוריים בשכונות פלסטיניות בעיר המעורבת, והפיצו בערבית מידע חיוני על זכויות עובדים בזמן המלחמה. Arab Center for Media מרכז אל-כרמה ועמותת אעלאם إعالم – المركز الًعربي للحريات االعالميةFreedom מפיצים, בין היתר, מדריכי זכויות בערבית להתמודדות עם אלימות משטרתית והגבלות על מחאה. וזה רק חלק קטן ממה שנעשה בימים אלה. ביום ביעור האפלייה והגזענות צריך להגיד את זה בלי להתייפייף: המאבק בגזענות בישראל לא שייך לעבר. הוא קורה עכשיו – בשטח, כל יום. 

צילום: גל מוסנזון | מאיבטין לסחנין צילום: גל מוסנזון | מאיבטין לסחנין 33 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202622 מרץ 2026 

עו”ד חנאן אלסאנע | מנכ”לית שותפה באיתך-מעכי בלילה בין שבת לראשון (21-22 מרץ) עשרות תושבים מהמועצה האיזורית ערערה בנגב פרסמו בקבוצות של דימונה וערד הזמנות לתושבים שבתיהם נפגעו להגיע להתארח עד שתסודר להם קורת גג. נאיף אבו עראר (ראש מועצת ערערה בנגב לשעבר) כתב “אבקש מכל הרופאים והאחים והאחיות מערערה בנגב והסביבה להגיע ולהתגייס מייד ובמהירות לעזרה לשכנינו בדימונה וערד לאיזורי האירועים הטראגים שקרו שם. מאחל החלמה מהירה לכל הפצועים, גורלנו משותף, וצו השעה ערבות הדדית”. תושבים של דימונה וערד שלחו ברשתות תודות למתנדבים, לאנשי הבריאות, ולאנשי הבינוי שהגיעו בעקבות הקריאה לאזורי הפגיעה כדי לסייע. חדשות שבע דרום | N12 MAKO | בחדרי חרדים 

כותבת עו”ד חנאן אלסאנע, מנכ”לית שותפה באיתך-מעכי: ערבות ההדדית שלא תופיע בכותרות ראיתם את הערבות ההדדית היום בנגב אחרי הפגיעות בערד ובדימונה? זה לא יופיע בכותרות. זה לא יפתח מהדורות. זה קורה בשקט, בקבוצות וואטסאפ, בין אנשים. יישובים בדואים בנגב פתחו את הבתים שלהם למשפחות שנפגעו. רופאות ורופאים מערערה בנגב הגיעו לסייע. אנשים פשוטים בחרו להיות שם אחד בשביל השנייה בלי לשאול מי, מאיפה, או למה. זו המציאות שאנחנו רוצות! מציאות של אנושיות, של אחריות הדדית, של צדק, של חיים משותפים. זה הביטחון האמיתי. זה החוסן שאנחנו דורשות. ומול זה, יש מי שמנסה לפגוע, לפלג, ולהחליש בשביל לקדם אינטרסים פוליטיים וכלכליים בממשלה הזו! למרות כל הרעש, הפחד והמלחמה, אנחנו ממשיכות להיאבק למען עתיד של כולנו ולהגן על האזור ועל המדינה מהנהגה כושלת! לבי עם כל הפצועים.ות ומשפחותיהם.הן! לבי עם כל הנשים, הילדים והמשפחות בכפרים הלא מוכרים שחיים ללא מיגון! לבי עם כל יושבות ויושבי הארץ! 

 34 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: EC אי-סי | תל אביב צילום: ליאור שגב | תל אביב 35 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202623 מרץ 2026 

פנייה של בדואי מודאג | הודעה שהופצה בקבוצת שותפות השלום בנגב בתקופה האחרונה הולכת ומתרחבת תופעה מדאיגה בשיח הציבורי: ייחוס גורף של תופעות שליליות לציבור הבדואי, לעיתים תוך שימוש במונחים קשים או בהדבקת תיוגים שאינם מבוססים על עובדות. לא מדובר רק בעיוות תקשורתי נקודתי. כאשר שוב ושוב מוצגים מקרים בודדים כאילו הם מייצגים אוכלוסייה שלמה, נוצר דימוי ציבורי מעוות – כזה שפוגע באנשים חפים מפשע ומעמיק פערים חברתיים. חמור מכך, ישנם מקרים שבהם גם נבחרי ציבור משתתפים בשיח הזה, ומעניקים לו לגיטימציה. כאשר אמירות לא מדויקות או מכלילות מגיעות מבעלי תפקידים, השפעתן רחבה הרבה יותר – והנזק בהתאם. יש לזכור כי פרסומים הפוגעים בשמם הטוב של אנשים או קבוצות עלולים להקים גם עילה משפטית. במקרים מסוימים, כאשר נגרם נזק ממשי ונעשה פרסום מכליל או מטעה, עשויה להתעורר אפשרות לבחינת צעדים משפטיים – לרבות תביעות בתחום לשון הרע, ואף בחינה של הליכים ייצוגיים, ככל שהדבר עומד בתנאים הקבועים בחוק. אין בכך כדי לומר שאין בעיות או אתגרים – כמו בכל חברה. אך יש הבדל מהותי בין דיון ענייני ומבוסס עובדות לבין יצירת תיוג כוללני. הדבקת ”שם“ שלילי לציבור שלם אינה רק לא הוגנת – היא גם מסוכנת, משום שהיא מעודדת חשדנות, ניכור ולעיתים אף הסתה. חברה דמוקרטית מחויבת לדיוק, להוגנות ולמורכבות – גם כאשר המציאות אינה פשוטה. האחריות לכך אינה רק של התקשורת, אלא גם של המנהיגות הציבורית. ראוי שנדרוש שיח שמבוסס על עובדות, שמבחין בין יחידים לבין כלל, ושנמנע מהכללות הפוגעות בציבור שלם. בברכה, בדואי מודאג * השם שמור במערכת 

  36צילום: שני תמים | זכרון יעקב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: רוני שפירא | תל אביב צילום: מרסלו שניידמן | תל אביב 37צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202615 אפריל 2026 

מתוך עדכוני המועצה לכפרים הבלתי מוכרים: (בעקבות אישור מתווה “הסדרת” ההתיישבות הבדואית בנגב 15 אפריל) אנו קוראים שוב למדינה להתעורר מהחלום על טיהור אתני של שטחים נרחבים בנגב, לטובת צמצום פערים בהקצאת אדמות, העומדים היום על פי 56 לטובת ההתיישבות הכפרית היהודית בצפון הנגב: 28 דונם לתושב, לעומת חצי דונם לתושב בהתיישבות הכפרית הבדואית. יש לנו סבלנות, מאבקנו מאוחד עם המאבק העממי הנרחב למיגור הפופוליזם הפשיסטי ולכינון דמוקרטיה מתוקנת – ובסוף, ביחד, ננצח! تحديثات مجلس القرى | עדכוני המועצה לכפרים 

צילום: מירי פורת | חיפה 38 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב צילום: ידין גלעדי | שילה צילום: גל מוסנזון | צומת אלונים צילום: ידין גלעדי | שילה צילום: ליאור שגב | תל אביב 39 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202618 אפריל 2026 

טאלב אבו ראשד | מגדל צאן מהכפר אלפוח’רי המיועד למחיקה תרגם והעיר יצירה שמיוחסת למשורר כרים אל עיראקי כאשר ייאוש שורר בקרב תושבי כפרים לא מוכרים אל תתלונן לאחרים על פצע שאתה נושא בעצמך רק מי שחש את הכאב באמת מבין אותו להתלונן לאחרים, ידידי, זו חולשה ומי מאיתנו באמת בריא, נקי ממחלה כלשהי? כי צער זורם כמו נחל, ומחלות רבות הסימנים ברורים, לא משנה כמה מנסים הסובלים להסתיר אותם אם תתלונן למישהו שחייו טובים, עיניך יעלו על גדותיהן, וזה שאתה מתלונן עליו יהיה כמו אליל ואם תתלונן למישהו ששמחתו נובעת מתלונתך, אתה מוסיף פצע נוסף לפצע הקיים שלך, פצע שנקרא חרטה האם נחמה שחררה אי פעם אומה? או שמא תנחומים הם תחליף כאשר הדגל נופל? מי שמתאבל על גורלו מכבה את אור שאפתנותו כי לגורל אין עין אם שאפתנות לא יכולה לראות כמה פעמים התאכזבתי מאלה שבידיהם הפקדתי את אמוני! (מערכת המשפט והשופטים) והאשמות אילצו אותי לנטוש אותן כמה פעמים הפכתי לגשר עבור אלה שאהבתי, רק כדי שיילכו על צלעותיי, וכמה פעמים החליקו רגליהם? הם רמסו את לבי, למרות שזה היה ביתם איזו נאמנות אוכל להביע לחבר שאין לו ערכים? לא ייאוש הוא לבושי ולא צער ישבור אותי פצעי עקשן, אך הוא מרפא בעוקץ אש שתה את דמעותיך ובלע את מרירותן כדבש אש פולשת לנרות, אך הם מחייכים קשור את דאגותיך וחבוש אותן כמו סוס קום כמו חרב כאשר להבים מתנגשים 

 40צילום: אלון בנקי | גשר כפר יהושע נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026

צדק הארץ הזו מאז בריאתה, מזויף וצדק על הארץ… אין צדק ולא כבוד כי הטוב הוא כבש עדין, מפחד וחרד והרע הוא זאב ערמומי, בוגדני וחמדן כל הסכינים ממהרות לעבר הכבשים כדי להרגיע את הזאב שהעדר מאוחד הייה ערמומי והייה גנב ללא ידיים תראה תענוגות תחת אחיזתך זה מציף כי עושר ומעמד הם שני פסלי זהב להם, בכל לשונותיהן, מתפללות אומות והחזקים הם עריצים, פרעונים ורוב האנשים הם משרתים מתחת לכסאותיהם תלונתך היא תלונתי, הו אתם הסובלים כאב לא דמעות זלגו על לחייכם, רק דם זרם ומי מלבד אלוהים אנו מחפשים מקלט בצילו? ובו אנו מחפשים עזרה והגנה? הייה פילוסוף, ותראה שכולם כאן נלחמים על כלום והם עצמם הם כלום 

 41צילום: אלון בנקי | גשר כפר יהושע נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026חיפה 7 מרץ 2026 פוקוס פוקוס על ע ל’עיניי ם’עיניים על עזה’ 42 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 www.eyesongaza.net 43 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026אפריל 2026

 ד”ר ליאור לוי ופרופ’ איילת בן-ישי | אוניברסיטת חיפה ו’עיניים על עזה’ ‘עיניים על עזה’: למידה ומחאה ‘עיניים על עזה’ היא סדרת הרצאות מקוונת המבקשת להביא בפני הציבור מידע עכשווי ומדויק על הג’נוסייד בעזה, על ההקשרים הרחבים שמאפשרים אותו – היסטוריים, משפטיים, סוציולוגים ואחרים, ועל קשריו לטיהור האתני והאלימות המשתוללת בגדה, כמו גם לחוסר השוויון המבני בתוך ישראל. הסדרה נוסדה על ידי מרצים מ”פורום שמאל” באוניברסיטת חיפה, מתוך תחושת דחיפות לנוכח הכאוס וחוסר אונים שמייצרות המלחמות הבלתי פוסקות. מפגשי ‘עיניים על עזה’ משלבים למידה ומחאה, מתוך מחשבה שהעלמת העין מהזוועות מאפשרת את המשכן ומתוך אמונה בכוחה של קהילה לומדת להביא לכדי שינוי. אנחנו נפגשות בזום מזה אחד עשר חודשים, בכל יום שני וחמישי, כדי ללמוד על מה שקרה ומה שממשיך לקרות בעזה, בגדה, ובישראל, לחפש דרכים להתנגד, ולסרב לקבל בשתיקה את הפשעים הנעשים בשמנו. ההרצאות המוקלטות מהווות מעין “ארכיון של ההווה,” המאיר את ההקשרים הקרובים והרחוקים של מלחמת ההשמדה בעזה ומשרטט את דמותה של ההתנגדות לה. ***כנגד הנסיונות לדה-פוליטיזציה של האקדמיה, חשוב לנו, בפרט כאקדמאיות ישראליות, להמשיג את הקשר בין מחאה ולמידה ש’עיניים על עזה’ מגלמת. ראשית, צריך לציין את המובן מאליו: האקדמיה אינה מנותקת מפוליטיקה ואסור לה שתהיה מנותקת ממנה. אם “ידע הוא כוח,” הרי שגם “בערות היא כוח” ובמציאות בה מושקעים כוחות אדירים בעידוד בערות, ברור לנו שאנו חייבות להתעקש על למידת והכרת העובדות. האקדמיה מחויבת לחתירה בלתי מתפשרת לאמת, כבסיס לפעולה ראויה ואפקטיבית. כדי לחתור לאמת – גם מתוך ידיעה שהאמת איננה מוחלטת – עלינו להמשיג את הידע שאנחנו מייצרות, על הקשריו הרחבים ביותר, ולהקנות אותו לחברה ולציבור הרחב. עלינו להתעקש על כך גם כשאמת זו מכאיבה לנו, משפילה ומייאשת אותנו. זה תפקידנו כאקדמאיות גם כאשר רוב הציבור ממלא אוזניו שעווה ולא רוצה לשמוע, גם כאשר הרוב הזה הוא אנחנו. ולכן, אין סתירה בין אקדמיה ופוליטיקה או בין למידה ומחאה אלא דווקא קשר הדוק: הידע ההולך ומצטבר על מה שנעשה בעזה בשמנו ועל ידינו כקולקטיב הוא זה המחייב אותנו להתנגד למלחמת ההשמדה בעזה, להתנגד לרצח עם, להתנגד לכיבוש, לאפרטהייד, לטיהור אתני. בה בעת, ההתנגדות הא-פריורית שלנו (העקרונית-מוסרית-פוליטית) לעוול, לשקר, לחוסר צדק ולפשע מחייבת אותנו להמשיך ולדרוש במציאות, להביט בה, ולהכיר בה. זה הבסיס להכל. ההכשרה האקדמית שלנו (כמו גם המשכורת הנאה והקביעות שהוענקה לנו), מטילה עלינו את החובה להשתמש בכלים שלמדנו ושכללנו כדי לומר אמת, כמיטב יכולתנו, גם כשהאמת מורכבת, וחסרה, ומצמיתה וכמעט לא מאפשרת לנו לנשום. ועוד חשוב לציין: מתנגדי החרם האקדמי על האוניברסיטאות בישראל נוהגים לומר כי למדע ולידע אין גבולות וכי אסור לחסום אותו. אם כך הם הדברים, איך יכולה האקדמיה בארץ 44 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026להחריש לנוכח השמדתן המוחלטת של האוניברסיטאות והמכללות בעזה במה שמכונה היום במחקר scholasticide? כיצד ניתן לשתוק לנוכח פלישת חיילים לאוניברסיטאות בגדה? אם חפצת חיים ודעת היא, האקדמיה בישראל חייבת לעמוד בסולידריות ולהתנגד בכל כוחה (ויש לה כח) להשמדת האוניברסיטאות בעזה, למחיקת התרבות, המדע, והחינוך הפלסטיניים. כל אלה הם חלק מהמארג האקדמי שלנו ופשע הריסתם הוא כתם על ידינו שלא ימחה. כי מה שווה לנו האקדמיה – הפרסומים, הפרסים, הדירוגים, והכנסים – אם אנחנו משתמשים בהם לקידום עצמנו במקום קידום האמת? מה שווה לנו אקדמיה הרואה את תפקידה להתחנף לחברה ולא לאתגר אותה? סופה הפרדוקסלי של אקדמיה כזו היא שהיא מנותקת מהחברה המממנת אותה ולמעשה טפילה עליה. בניגוד למה שאומרים לנו, הישרדותה של האקדמיה בזמנים קשים כאלה לא תלויה בריצוי השלטון (שאף פעם לא יתרצה) אלא בעמידה על עקרונותינו כאקדמאיות ועל האמונה ביכולתנו, זכותנו, וחובתנו לומר את האמת כמיטב יכולתנו ולפעול לפיה. כפי שהוכיחו כבר 44 שבועות של “עיניים על עזה,” יש מי שממש רוצים לשמוע ולדעת. ואכן, אנחנו פועלות מתוך דחיפות ותחושת אחריות. לא קראנו למלחמה הזו ולא הצדקנו אותה. למעשה התנגדנו לה מיומה הראשון – מחוץ לקמפוס ובתוכו – עם הקולגות והסטודנטיות שלנו. אבל המלחמה הזו, על שלל חזיתותה ומבצעיה, נעשית בשמנו, ולכאורה למעננו, והיא הונחה כאן לפתחנו, על כל זוועותיה, ולנו אחריות עליה. מהמקום הזה, אנחנו ממשיכות את ‘עיניים על עזה’ ופועלות להכרה ישראלית בג’נוסייד בעזה. ברור לנו שכל עוד נתכחש למציאות, כל עוד נתחפר בקרבנותינו כמגן וכהצדקה לאלימות הבלתי פוסקת, כל עוד נראה את מלחמת ההשמדה רק בהקשר של השבעה באוקטובר ורק כתחומה בתוך עזה, לא תהיה לנו תקומה. כל עוד לא נכיר באנושיותם של אלה שאנחנו מרעיבים, מזניחים לקפוא מקור, מגרשים ומפלים, כך אנחנו מאבדים את אנושיותנו אנו. כל עוד אנחנו חיים בפנטזיה של הפרדה והכחשה, כך אנחנו מאיינים את עתידנו, הוא העתיד של כולנו כאן, בין הירדן לבין הים. צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב 45 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026אנחנו משוכנעות שיש דרך לעצור האסון שאנחנו ממיתים על עצמנו וכי רק הכרה במופעיה השונים והקשים של האלימות המתמשכת תוכל להביא לריפוי ולעתיד בר-קיימא. אנחנו יודעות גם כי תפקיד מרכזי בהכרה זו מיועד לאקדמיה, לנשותיה, לאנשיה, ולציבור שאותו היא משרתת. ואיך אנחנו יודעות את זה? בין השאר כי אנחנו כבר אחד עשרה חדשים מקשיבות לחוקרות, מומחים ופעילות החולקים איתנו, ב’עיניים על עזה’, את הידע שלהם, ומתוך כך יכולות יחד לדמיין עתיד אחר. ***לרגל פרסום חוברת זו, בחרנו לשתף את אחת ההרצאות האחרונות בסדרה, מאפריל 2026. זוהי הרצאתה של וורוד אמיר, תושבת עזה העקורה מביתה, חברת ‘פורום המשפחות השכולות הישראל-פלסטיני.’ הרצאתה של וורוד – ולמעלה מ-120 הרצאות נוספות – זמינות באתר שלנו https://www.eyesongaza.net, בספוטיפי וביוטיוב. נשמח לראותכם במפגשי ‘עיניים על עזה’. למידע נוסף, עקבו אחרינו ברשתות החברתיות והצטרפו לרשימת הוואטסאפ שלנו. כל הקישוריות נמצאות ב https://linktr.ee/eyes_on_gaza או בסריקת הברקוד: 46צילום: ליזי שאנן | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: ליאור שגב | תל אביב צילום: ללא קרדיט | תל אביב 47 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202623 אפריל 2026

  וורוד אמיר | פורום משפחות שכולות חיים והשרדות בעזה היום עמליה סער, מנחה: וורוד, תודה שנענית להזמנה שלנו לדבר איתנו כאן בפורום ‘עיניים על עזה’. וורוד חברה בפורום המשפחות השכולות, אבל קודם כל היא אמא לילדה עם מוגבלות. וורוד תדבר איתנו על החיים בעזה היום, על מצב הנשים, ובעיקר על ה”קורבנות הבלתי נראים” של המלחמה הנוראה הזו. ביניהם ילדים חולים שאינם קורבנות ישירים של המצב, ולכן הם נדחקים מחוץ לרשימות הטיפול. וורוד תספר לנו על הבת שלה ועל המאבק ההירואי שלה להשיג לה את הטיפול לו היא זקוקה. וורוד, הבמה שלך ל-8 דקות. וורוד אמיר: ראשית, אני מאוד שמחה להיות ביניכם ועל ההזדמנות שנתתם לי לדבר על הבת שלי ועל המצב בעזה. תסלחו לי על הרעש והקולות ברקע, אני לא בבית. אין אינטרנט ואין חשמל, אז נאלצתי להגיע למקום ספציפי כדי לדבר היום. כפי שאמרת, אני אמא לארבעה ילדים. אני לא מדברת היום רק כמי שנפגעה מהמלחמה, אלא כאמא – הבת שלי, שגם שמה וורוד, סובלת משיתוק מוחין. היא איבדה את יכולת התנועה שלה במלחמה המקוללת הזו על רצועת עזה. ניסיתי להוציא אותה לטיפול שיקומי בחו”ל, ניסיתי להשמיע את קולי לאנשים טובים כמוכם כדי שיעזרו לי, אבל האמת היא שנכשלתי. הרופאים בעזה מסרבים לרעיון שהיא תצא מהרצועה כי זו לא “פציעת מלחמה” – יש לה מוגבלות מלידה. לגבי החיים שלנו כרגע, כמו שאתם רואים אני בבית קפה כדי לדבר איתכם, כי אין לי בית. או ליתר דיוק – אין חשמל ואין אינטרנט. אני נפגעתי מהמלחמה הזו בכמה דרכים: איבדתי את הבית שלי, איבדתי את המכונית של בעלי, שגם איבד את עבודתו, ואיבדתי את אחי חמוד. אחי נהרג במלכודות המוות, כפי שקוראים להן, בנצר סאלם. הוא הלך להביא סוכר וקמח בימי הרעב עבור הבת שלי, ושם הוא נהרג. האירוע הזה השפיע קשות על הבת שלי. היא הייתה הולכת קצת, אבל אחרי מות אחי היא הפסיקה ללכת לגמרי. חמוד (מוחמד) נהרג בלי שהיה לו קשר לשום דבר (פוליטי/צבאי). החלום שלו היה לגדול, להתחתן ולבנות עתיד. הוא כבר לא איתנו אבל הוא בלבנו. אני לא רוצה לבכות כי אני במקום ציבורי. אני כאן כדי לדבר על מוחמד ועל רבים כמוהו. המצב של בתי טרגי. הפיזיותרפיה כאן פסקה לחלוטין. אני מנסה לעזור לה ללכת ולסמוך על עצמה אבל זה קשה. בגלל היעדר טיפול רפואי ו”מות” בתי החולים בעזה, המצב גרוע. בחדשות אומרים שהמלחמה נעצרה, אבל היא לא. לפני שבוע בת דודתי בת ה-17 נפגעה מכדור בראש, והיא כרגע בבית החולים שיפא. המלחמה לא נגמרה. אני לא בבית שלי, אני במקום ציבורי בלי פרטיות. יש עדיין אוהלים, אין מים, אני עומדת שעה בתור כדי להשיג לחם לילדים. אנחנו עדיין מאוימים מהפצצות. הנושא העיקרי שלי הוא הבת שלי. ניסיתי להוציא אותה לטיפול וזה נכשל כי הרופאים מסרבים לתת דוח רפואי – הם מתעדפים רק את מי שכרתו לו יד או רגל במלחמה. כרגע אני עובדת במרכז לנשים. אנחנו נותנים להן תמיכה נפשית וכוח להמשיך את חייהן אחרי המלחמה. אני שמחה לתת לנשים את הכוח הזה. הרעיון התחיל כשדיברתי עם חברתי 48 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026לי כתמיכה לשלוח את הילדים ללמוד וסיפקה כיסא גלגלים לוורוד. עברתי מעזה לדיר אל-המדהימה רינה. אמרתי לה שהבת שלי צריכה טיפול. בגלל שהמעברים סגורים, היא הציעה בלח. לא היה לי כסף לכלכל את הבית, אז ביקשתי עבודה מרינה. היא עזרה לי מאוד. רינה היא יהודייה ואני גאה להכיר אותה. היא נתנה לי לעבוד במרכז הנשים כעוזרת מנהלת. אנחנו מביאים נשים, נותנים להן תמיכה נפשית. אי אפשר להגיד לאישה “בואי תעבדי” לפני שהיא פורקת את האנרגיה והמועקה מהמלחמה הבזויה הזו. הייתי אמורה להיות באוהל, אבל בזכות אנשים שהכירו את המצב של הבת שלי, הם עזרו לי לגור בבית. אוהל זה חול, חוסר במים, חולדות. זה דבר מבזה ונורא. אני אחת ממיליונים. המלחמה לא תסתיים מבחינתי עד שלא יהיו יותר אוהלים ולכל אחד יהיה חדר משלו. הישראלים ידועים כמומחים הכי גדולים ברפואה, במיוחד בשיתוק מוחין. הם אישרו שאין “ריפוי” מוחלט, אבל צריך שיקום ופיזיותרפיה. בעזה זה לא קיים בגלל המלחמה. לגבי האוכל – יש הכל, אבל במחירים אש. הכל יקר מאוד. לפני שבוע אחי הביא אבטיח. הבן הקטן שלי שיחק איתו כאילו זה כדורגל, הוא מעולם לא ראה אבטיח כי הוא נולד שבוע לפני המלחמה. פירות הם נדירים ויקרים. יש אנשים בעזה שעד היום לא אכלו עוף. המצב קטסטרופלי, אל תאמינו לחדשות (שאומרות שהכל בסדר). אני נמצאת כרגע בדיר (אל-בלח). לגבי טיפול מרחוק – זה לא מספיק. זה כמו לנסות לחבק מישהו מרחוק, הוא לא ירגיש את החיבוק. היא צריכה מקום בלי הפצצות, בית חולים נקי, חדר כושר לשיקום. אני צריכה רק דוח רפואי שמתאר את מצבה כדי שאוכל להיעזר באנשים בחוץ. החלום שלי הוא לפתוח מקום לנשים, שיוכלו לשתות כוס נס קפה בשקט, עם חשמל, שמישהו יקשיב להן. אני רוצה שתמצאו לי פתרון עבור הבת שלי. השם שלה כבר הגיע לאמירויות והם הסכימו לקבל אותה, אבל בגלל שאין לי דוח רפואי מעזה, הכל בוטל. היינו אמורים לצאת בדצמבר האחרון ולא קרה כלום. וורוד היא ילדה יפה ומדהימה, מגיע לה ללכת ולראות את החיים. בבקשה תעזרו לי בזה. צילום: מרסלו שניידמן | כפר סבא צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב 49 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026חיפה 7 מרץ 2026 די למלחמת הנצח 50 51נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026קריית טבעון 27 מרץ 2026 גדיר האני | חברת הנהגה בתנועת עומדים ביחד ובתנועת נשים עושות שלום כנס חרום: “הצפון דורש – די למלחמת הנצח!” בשנת 2006, בדיוק לפני 20 שנה, פגעו רקטות בחצר הבית שלנו בעכו. אמא שהייתה בבית למרבה המזל לא נפגעה פיזית, אבל נפשית היא לא התאוששה. החרדה נשארה, ובתקופה הזו כמובן היא מתקשה לתפקד. המקרה הפרטי של המשפחה שלי הוא רק דוגמא אחת קטנה למחירים העצומים של המלחמות הבלתי נגמרות המלוות את חיינו שוב ושוב. אני חושבת על הילדים, על הקשישים, על הנכים, על מי שגר בקו העימות- בין אם בצד הישראלי שלו או בצד הלבנוני שלו. כל אותם בני אדם שהפכו לבני ערובה של ממשלות וכוחות אופל, כוחות רוע של אלימות, של ניצחון מוחלט. מול אותם אמירות מאיימות ללא הרף של שר הביטחון, אני שומעת את ראשי חיזבאללה- מי הקורבנות שלכם אני שואלת? אנחנו, בני האדם- יהודים וערבים, ישראלים, פלסטינים ולבנונים השכנים האחד של השני בערים ובכפרים. רבים אומרים לי- אבל מה את מציעה? את היית מוכנה לחיות תחת כוח רדואן? היית מוכנה שארגון טרור רצחני יתמקם 300 מטר מהבית שלך? בוודאי שלא. החלופה למלחמה היא מאמץ בלתי פוסק לקדם הסכמים מדיניים. ואני פה היום לא רק בכדי להגיד שמלחמה לא תביא ביטחון, אלא בעיקר כדי להגיד- הדרך למנוע עוד ועוד מלחמות היא באמצעות הסכמים ובריתות. ממשלת לבנון מבקשת למנוע בכל דרך את ההרס הצפוי למדינה אם המלחמה תימשך. אומרים אבל אין להם את היכולת להכניע צבאית את חיזבאללה, ואני אומרת יש מדינות רבות שמבקשות לסייע במשימה הקשה הזו. אין ספק שהסכם חייב להבטיח את הביטחון לישראלים, אך הסכם חייב לתת גם ביטחון לתושבי דרום לבנון. מיליון פליטים הגרים באוהלים במגרשי כדורגל ומתחת לכל גשר בביירות, חייבים לחזור לבתיהם. ההרס שמבצעת ישראל ברצועת עזה הפך להיות איום כלפי דרום לבנון. לצערי האיום הזה כבר ממומש. יש גם שרים החוגגים את ההרס ומחככים ידיהם בהנאה. אני חושבת על המשפחות העניות שברחו ואין להם לאן לחזור. בליבי יש מקום גם לסבלם, כמו גם לסבל של תושבי מטולה וקריית שמונה. אנו כולנו קורבנות של מנהיגות רעה, שלא רואה את בני אדם, רואה נתינים. לא נותנים שום פתרונות מיגון אבל דורשים שלא נעזוב את היישובים, גם שאין לנו אמצעי מיגון ראויים. זו מציאות מזוויעה של ממשלה לא לגיטימית, שגוררת אותנו ממעגל דמים אחד לשני. קו ישיר עובר בין הזנחת תושבי הצפון להזנחת תושבי העוטף. גם בצפון וגם בעזה- אפשר היה לעשות הרבה מאוד דברים בכדי למנוע מלחמה. יש עם מי לדבר. יש עם מי לקדם הסכמים. מדינות ערביות רבות יעשו הסכם עם ישראל אם יהיה הסכם עם הפלסטינים, האם ניסו בממשלת ישראל לאמץ את היוזמה הסעודית שהייתה מביאה להסכמי שלום רבים בין ישראל למדינות ערב? בוודאי שלא. אבל לחמש את מילציות הטרור היהודי בשומרון- את זה יודעים לעשות היטב. לחמש את ארגוני הפשיעה בחברה הערבית בכדי שנהרוג זה את זה- בוודאי יודעים. זו אותה ממשלה ואותו ראש ממשלה- שעסוק כבר שנים במה ייצא לו באופן אישי מכל החלטה. מה יהיה הרווח הפוליטי. גם בזמן מלחמה הוא מוצא זמן להתעסק בפוליטיקה הקטנה- אבל 52 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026לטפל בטרור היהודי- זה לא הוא לא יודע. לטפל בפשיעה שלא עוצרת- לא יודע. לספק מיגון לתושבי קו העימות ול 200 אלף אזרחים בדואים ביישובים הבלתי מוכרים בנגב- לא יודע. מלחמת לבנון הרביעית, היא המשכה של מלחמת איראן השנייה, שהיא המשכה של ההרס הטוטאלי והבלתי-אנושי של רצועת עזה ושל טרור המתנחלים בגדה המערבית. מבחינת נתניהו וממשלת הימין הקיצוני, מה שעל הפרק זו מלחמת נצח, מלחמה שאין לה סוף. רק לפני תשעה חודשים, אחרי שנתניהו פתח במלחמה מול איראן, הוא טען שהוא השיג “ניצחון היסטורי, לדורי דורות”. ועכשיו, תשעה חודשים אחרי – אנחנו שוב באותו תסריט. שוב פעם, אומרים לנו שצריך להפציץ מהאוויר כדי להסיר איום, שרק לפני תשעה חודשים הבטיחו לנו שהוסר. שוב פעם, מנסים לשכנע אותו שבאמצעות ערעור היציבות במזרח-התיכון, איך שהוא דווקא זה יביא לנו חיים בביטחון. לא סמכנו על נתניהו כשהוא שיקר לנו ש-“רק לחץ צבאי יחזיר את החטופים”. לא סמכנו על נתניהו כשהוא שיקר לנו ש-“אנחנו כפסע מהניצחון המוחלט בעזה”. אז שנסמוך על נתניהו כשהוא מוכר לנו עכשיו את אותם השקרים על איראן שהוא מכר לנו לפני תשעה חודשים, ואת אותם השקרים על לבנון שהוא מכר לנו לפני שנה וחצי? אין אמון בנתניהו, ואין אמון בממשלה של נתניהו, ואין אמון בדרך של נתניהו, ואת כולם צריך להחליף בבחירות הקרובות לכנסת: את נתניהו הפושע – אבל גם את המדיניות הפושעת שלו. לסיום הכיבוש, להקמת מדינה פלסטינית עצמאית בצד מדינת ישראל, ולהשתלבות במזרח-במקום מדיניות של מלחמת נצח, צריך לחתור להסכמים מדיניים, לשלום עם העם הפלסטיני, התיכון; במקום מדיניות של אפלייה לאומית כלפי האזרחים הערבים בישראל, צריך לנקוט במדיניות של שוויון מלא, אזרחי ולאומי; במקום העברת עוד ועוד תקציבים להוצאות צבאיות ולהתנחלויות, להשקיע בבריאות, ברווחה, בחינוך, בדיור, בתחבורה הציבורית, בחיים עצמם. זה הכיוון שצריך ללכת בו. המלחמות הבלתי פוסקות מתישות אותנו, הרבה איבדו את האנרגיה למחות, לצעוק, להפגין. אנו רק בהישרדות שלנו ושל יקירינו. אסור לנו לוותר. אסור לנו להרים ידיים. אסור לנו לאבד את התקווה- שיכול להיות עתיד אחר למקום המיוחד בו זכינו לחיות. אני לא מוותרת. אני לא אפסיק להשמיע את קולי. הלוואי ונראה את הימים האחרים. ימים של דיאלוג, של ידידות, של ביטחון ושוויון. של חיים בטוחים לילד משדרות, מח’אן יונס, ממרג’ עיון או מטולה 53צילומים: גל מוסנזון | גשר כפר יהושע נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026תל אביב 11 אפריל 2026 פרופ’ יעל ברדה | האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים חברות וחברים, אנחנו עומדים כאן היום, 40 ימים מתחילת המתקפה על איראן בליבה של הפסקת האש הלא יציבה , כי צריך לומר את האמת בפשטות: את המלחמה הזו חייבים לעצור. עכשיו. לא כי היא “לא השיגה את מטרותיה” אלא כי לא היתה צריכה בכלל להתחיל. והיא צריכה להיפסק לא כי האמריקאים לוחצים עלינו, אלא כי כל יום נוסף שלה הוא עוד אובדן חיים, עוד העמקה של השנאה, עוד התרחקות מהאפשרות לחיות כאן יחד. אני מייצגת כאן את עשרות ארגוני שותפות השלום הערבים והיהודים שהפגינו נגד המלחמה כבר מהשבוע הראשון של התקיפה על איראן. התפקיד שלנו היום הוא לא רק לעצור את המלחמה הזו, אלא לעצור גם את המלחמה הבאה. את הסבב הבא. את מלחמת הנצח שמוכרים לנו כגורל. ואני רוצה לומר משהו ברור: ביטחון לא יבוא ממלחמה. ביטחון לא יבוא מחיסולים. ביטחון בטח לא יצמח מהמשך השליטה צבאית על מיליוני פלסטינים שחיים כאן באותה מולדת. ביטחון יכול לצמוח רק מתוך שלום. ושלום – רק מתוך שוויון. אבל כדי להגיע לשם אנחנו חייבים להביט בעיניים פקוחות על מה שמוביל אותנו שוב ושוב למעגל הזה. המלחמה הזו היא לא רק תגובה לאירוע כזה או אחר — היא תוצאה של תפיסה עמוקה של עליונות. עליונות שיש לה שני פנים: מצד אחד, האמונה שיש עם שהוא טוב יותר, זכאי יותר, חשוב יותר. ומצד שני — האמונה שאנחנו נרדפים לנצח, שאין לנו ברירה אלא לחיות על החרב. שתי האמונות האלה יחד מייצרות מציאות שאין בה אופק – רק פחד, רק אלימות, רק עוד מלחמה. והגיע הזמן לומר גם את זה: מצב החירום של ישראל לא התחיל בשביעי באוקטובר ובטח לא התחיל בדיבורים על האיום האיראני, הוא איתנו מאז 1948. במשך שנים אמרו לנו שזה הכרחי. שאפשר להיות דמוקרטיה – ולשלוט על מיליוני פלסטינים בלי זכויות. שאפשר לרצות שלום – ולהמשיך להחזיק בעליונות. אבל זה לא עובד. זה אף פעם לא עבד. והיום אנחנו רואים את התוצאה: הרס, אובדן, ושבר מוסרי עמוק. בגדה המערבית מתרחשת נכבה מתמשכת. נישול אלים וטיהור אתני מאורגן. ובעזה- הרס והרג והמשך ההשמדה. וכאן – הפיכה משטרית ממשיכה בזמן שילדים רצים בין אזעקות למקלטים, ודור נוסף גדל על פחד. אבל אנחנו מסרבות לקבל את זה כגורל. ולכן אנחנו כאן כדי לומר: יש דרך אחרת. לא עוד גאווה רגעית של כוח. לא עוד אשליה של שליטה. במקום זה – אומץ. אומץ לבחור בשוויון. אומץ לדמיין עתיד אחר. משותף, אומץ לבחור בשלום. 54 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026כל עוד לא נפתור את השליטה בעם אחר לא נחיה את החיים הבטוחים והטובים שאנחנו כל כך מייחלים להם. כי בין הים לירדן יש שני עמים החולקים את אותה מולדת ואף אחד מאיתנו לא הולך לשום מקום. כי רק הסדרים של שלום ושוויון יכולים לפתוח כאן חיים אפשריים. רק הם יכולים לתת אופק פוליטי אמיתי – לשני העמים. וזה מתחיל בהחלטה אחת פשוטה ואמיצה: להפסיק את המלחמה. לדרוש שלום. תודה. צילום: צחי דברת | תל אביב צילום: אורנה קופרמן | ירושלים צילום: רן דמבו | חיפה 55 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026באר שבע 18 אפריל 2026 ליאורה אילון | ניצולת כפר עזה, אימו של טל אילון ז”ל, מפקד כיתת הכוננות ערב טוב. שמי ליאורה אילון, אני בת 73, אמא לארבעה, סבתא לשבעה נכדות ונכדים. בשבעה באוקטובר הייתי נצורה בממ”ד שבביתי, בכפר עזה, במשך 35 שעות, עם שתיים מנכדותי, ושניים מילדי. בני טל, שהיה מפקד כיתת הכוננות בכפר עזה יצא מביתו בשעה 6.42 בבוקר של השבעה באוקטובר, ומעולם לא שב אליו. הוא נלחם במחבלים עד טיפת דמו האחרונה. בהיותו פצוע, הוא המשיך לפקד על כיתת הכוננות, ובנשימותיו האחרונות, רגע לפני שנהרג מכדור נוסף שפגע בו, הוא בחר להתקשר למפקד כיתת הכוננות של הקיבוץ השכן, קיבוץ סעד, ולהתריע בפניו שיש המון מחבלים בכפר עזה, שידאג לנעול את כל השערים בקיבוצו, שיוציא את כיתת הכוננות ושיפרוס אותה על גדרות הקיבוץ. בעשותו כן, טל הציל את אנשי קיבוץ סעד, שאיש מהם לא נפצע ואיש מהם לא נרצח. זהו סיפור על בני אהובי, שברגעים האחרונים לחייו, פעל על פי אמונותיו וערכיו. אני זוכרת שכבר באוטובוס שלקח אותנו, הניצולים האחרונים מכפר עזה, לקיבוץ שפיים, כשאני עדיין המומה, מבולבלת, לא יודעת מה עם שאר בני משפחתי שהיו בכפר עזה, ידעתי בוודאות שני דברים. הדבר הראשון היה, שהעולם, כפי שהכרתי אותו, איננו עוד. העולם השתנה לבלי הכר, ושום דבר לא יהיה עוד כפי שהיה. הדבר השני שידעתי כבר אז באוטובוס לשפיים היה, שאני לא אתן לעולם לשנות אותי, את האמונות שלי, ואת מי שאני. 56צילום: ליזי שאנן | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026הייתי פעילת שלום לפני השבעה באוקטובר, ואמשיך להיות פעילת שלום גם לאחר מה שקרה לי, למשפחתי, לקהילה שלי ולמדינה שלי. מתוך ידיעה זו, הצטרפתי כבר בשבעה של טל לפורום המשפחות השכולות הישראלי – פלשתיני. בתוך האבל הכבד על טל שלי, על חברי הקהילה שלי, 64 במספר שנרצחו ונהרגו, בתוך השבר הגדול שקרה לנו, ידעתי כי זה הדבר הנכון לעשות. כמו בני, טל, פעלתי על פי ערכי ואמונותי. ידעתי שאין תוחלת למלחמת נצח. ידעתי, שללא אופק מדיני, לא יהיו לנו חיים. לא לנו, ולא לשכנינו בגדה המערבית ובעזה, החיים ללא אופק וללא תקווה כלשהי, מזה שנים. הדרישה לאופק מדיני, הדרישה להחיל במדינה הזו ערכים שהם לב ליבו של המוסר היהודי, זו, בעיני, משימת חיינו בעת הזו. מוטל עלינו, כחובה אזרחית, להשיב לעצמנו מדינה שבה יש שלטון שרואה את האזרחים, שדואג להם, אך רואה גם את שכניו, ומתוך עמדה של כוח מושיט להם יד לשלום. עשרת הימים הנוראים הללו, שבין יום השואה ליום הזיכרון, הם ימים קשים עבורי במיוחד. אך אלו גם ימים של חשבון נפש לכולנו. האם עשינו מספיק כדי לדאוג שמה שאנו מאמינים בו אכן יקרה? האם פעלנו די כדי שמה שאנחנו מייחלים אליו יהיה בהישג ידינו? אנו חיים בתוך זמן קשה מנשוא, זמן בו נראה שאנו במדרון חלקלק שסופו מי ישורנו. אך זהו גם זמן שיש בו תקווה לשינוי. חובתנו היום היא לשאול איש ואישה את עצמנו: מה חשוב באמת, כאן ועכשיו? אני עומדת כאן היום, מעל במה זו, בימים הקשים האלה, כי עבורי משימת החיים היא לפעול לכך שהמדינה שאני כה אוהבת תהיה מדינה דמוקרטית, ליברלית, כזו שנשענת על ערכים יהודיים, מתוך אהבת האדם וראיית האחר. שכחנו כבר כמה חמלה, אהבת הגר, הדאגה ליתום ולאלמנה יש בתרבות היהודית. וכפי שציטט הנביא הושע מפיו של אלוהים בעצמו: “ִּכּ י חֶ סֶ ד חָ פַצְ ִּתּ י וְֹלא זָבַ ח וְדַ עַ ת אֱֹלהּ ים מֵעֹלֹות”. מי ייתן ונדע לפעול יחד למען מדינה שתהיה ראויה למותו של טל בני, ולמותם של רבים וטובים, חיילות, חיילים ואזרחים, שחייהם נגדעו לשווא על מזבחות מלחמות הנצח. 57צילום: רן דמבו | חיפה נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026נס ציונה 18 אפריל 2026 שולי דיכטר | מייסד-שותף של מרכז ניסאן לחקר החברה המשותפת במכון ון-ליר חבר בתנועת ‘ארץ לכולם’ ערב טוב, אני מביא אליכם הערב ברכה חמה מצומת כרכור, שם כבר יותר משלוש שנים אנחנו מחזיקים את לפיד השינוי במוצאי השבתות, כמוכם כאן. הבחירות הקרובות יתנהלו מסביב לשחיתות השלטונית; ההפקרה הבטחונית; יוקר המחיה, ועוד. הערב אני רוצה להפנות את המבט שלכם אל עניין שהכי משפיע על החיים שלנו, אבל מדברים עליו הכי פחות: השלום עם העם הפלסטיני. כשנולדתי, המשפחה שלנו התגוררה כאן בנס ציונה, במרחק של 1500 מטר מכאן, במבנה של בית-באר באמצע פרדס שבעליו ותושביו הפלסטינים נאלצו לעזוב אותו, או יותר נכון – גורשו ממנו, כי הרי מי עוזב מרצונו פרדס ובית? מלחמת מאה השנים בין העם שלנו החוזר למולדתו, לבין העם שישב בה זה מכבר, הגיעה לשיא בשנת 1948 ועכשיו אנחנו בשיא השני שלה. עכשיו כבר עמוק לתוך ההיסטוריה, הממשלה הזאת מובילה בהכרה מלאה אל מלחמת-נצח; ואני כל כך מקווה שהממשלה שתבוא עלינו לטובה בעוד חצי שנה בערך, תוביל לסיום מלחמת מאה השנים ותעצור רגע לפני שנכנסים למלחמת-נצח. אפשר לעשות את זה בהשלמה עם קיומם הלאומי של הפלסטינים במולדת שלנו; והשלמה של הפלסטינים עם קיומנו הלאומי במולדת שלהם. כי הארץ כולה, בין הירדן לים, היא מולדת שאיננה שייכת לאף אחד משניהם, אבל שני עמים משתייכים אליה בעבותות של אהבה וכיסופים, בחזון לאומי, בהיאחזות ובצּומּוד. שני עמים במולדת אחת. בשנת 1905, לפני 120 שנה, יצחק אפשטיין, איש ראש פינה, נתן הרצאה באולם צדדי בקונגרס הציוני בבאזל ותיאר בה את הגירוש של תושבי ג’עוני ותושבי אלמוטלה ובמקומם הוקמו ראש פינה ומטולה. ההרצאה הזאת התפרסמה בשנת 1907 כמאמר בעיתון ״השילוח״. תחפשו באינטרנט לפי שם המאמר: “שאלה נעלמה” מאת יצחק אפשטיין. “לכל עניני ארצנו אנו שָ מים לבנו, על הכל אנו דנים ומתוַכחים, את הכל אנו מהללים ומחללים, אך דבר אחד של מה בכך שכחנו: כי יש בארץ חמדתנו עם שלם, שנאחז בה זה מאות בשנים ומעולם לא היה בדעתו לעזבה.” זה לא מה שכתבתי השבוע. השורות האלה נכתבו בשנת 1905 ואפשטיין התריע כבר אז שהגשמת הציונות לא תיתכן על חורבות העם הפלסטיני. נכון, כעבור 120 שנה יש לנו במה להתגאות: תחיית השפה העברית; חקלאות חדשנית; שירה וספרות; המוזיקה הנהדרת; הקואופרציה שהפכה למדינת רווחה; המדע המשגשג; ההיי-טק. יו ניים איט – אבל כל גן העדן המדינתי הזה נבנה על חורבות העם הפלסטיני והחורבות האלה לא מפסיקות לנוע מתחתינו. החרבת עם היא פגיעה קשה במוסר האנושי. אין עם שישלים עם מה שהעם הפלסטיני עבר, ועובר גם עכשיו. לא אנחנו השלמנו עם גלות, וגם הם לא ישלימו לעולם עם הגלות שלהם, מחוץ למולדת וגם בתוכה. 58 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026והיום – שבעה מיליון פלסטינים בין הירדן לים; שבעה מיליון יהודים בין הירדן לים. שני העמים כאן להישאר. אלה הם שני הלוחות הטקטוניים המונחים מתחת לפני הנוף שבין הירדן לים; והעתיד שלנו, החיים מעל פני האדמה, תלויים באופן מוחלט ביחסים בין שני הלוחות הללו. מהו העתיד הזה? ממה מורכבים יחסים טובים בין הפלסטינים והיהודים? עכשיו אנחנו נלחמים, אבל העתיד דווקא מורכב משותפות בפיתוח הארץ לטובת כל תושביה, ללא הבדל דת גזע ומין. (נשמע מוכר?) עקרונות של שותפות בין העמים נראים דמיוניים היום, כמו שהאיחוד האירופי נראה דמיוני בשנות ה-30 וה-40 באירופה, וכמו שארצות הברית של אמריקה נראתה דמיונית בזמן מלחמת האזרחים שם, ויש עוד הרבה דוגמאות. גם כאן זהו העיקרון: היחסים בינינו לא ייבנו על הפרדה, אלא על שותפות בניהול החיים במולדת: המסגרת המדינית יכולה להכיר בשֹונּות בינינו – ִּבּ שתי מדינות, שיש להן מוסדות משותפים המחייבים את שתי הממשלות לשיתוף פעולה מּ בני ביניהן. קונפדרציה. ותוכלו למצוא פרטים על ההצעה באתר A Land for All ארץ לכולם بالد للجميع. גם המשטר החברתי שאנחנו חיים בו עכשיו הוא משטר של הפרדה. צריך לשבש את ההפרדה הזאת כל הזמן – באמצעות מגע ישיר ושוויוני, בשותפות. ורבים מאד מאמינים בשלום מתוך שותפות, ותומכים בעתיד מדיני שיוכל להכיל אותנו כאן במולדת האהובה, הפצועה, הכואבת. אם נצליח למנוע את מלחמת-הנצח, נוכל לרפא גם את הקרעים בעם פנימה. וכשנסיים את מלחמת מאה השנים, נוכל להתפנות באמת לבניין המולדת. ביחד. המרחבים המשותפים ליהודים ופלסטינים קיימים כבר ממילא: באוניברסיטאות, בבתי החולים, בקניונים, ובכלל, במרקם החיים שלנו. אבל יש גם יותר מזה: עשרות אלפים בארץ כבר מקיימים שותפות יהודית-פלסטינית: בקהילות; בבתי הספר הדו לשוניים; בתרבות ובאמנות; בעסקים; ברשויות המקומיות. לסיום, הנה, דוגמה לשותפות בעסקים: המשקפים האלה שאני מרכיב עכשיו. קניתי אותם בכרכור, בחנות שנקראת “אופטיקס”, בבעלות משותפת של אופטומטריסטית פלסטינית מוואדי עארה ואופטומטריסט יהודי מפרדס חנה. המשקפים האלה לא ורודים… הם חדים ובהירים, אלה הם המשקפים שלי לַטווח הרחוק. תודה רבה על ההקשבה. 59צילום: נעם אמיר | תל אביב צילום: שני תמים | זכרון יעקב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026חיפה 7 מרץ 2026 מאבק לדמוקרטיה שוויון ושלום 60 61נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026אפריל 2026 פרופ’ אורן יפתחאל | אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב ‘מהים עד הנהרות’ – אפרטהייד מתפשט במקום שלום? היתוך של נאום בארוע מחאה והרצאה במכינת הנגב בניצנה לכולם שלום – חשוב שבאתם לכאן היום למחות נגד הממשלה למרות הפסקת האש השברירית. כל הכבוד! לא יהיה שינוי בישראל ובכול האזור בלי שאנשים כמוכם יחשבו ויפעלו נגד המלחמות והעוולות מסביב. אך אני כאן היום לא רק למחות נגד ממשלת הדמים – אלא להבין יחד את האירועים האחרונים אל מול השלב הנוכחי של הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני. אתחיל באמירתו המפורסמת של מהטמא גאנדי, לוחם החופש ההודי “אם מדינאי צריך לבחור בין פחד לבין שלום, תמיד עדיף השלום”. לצערנו ולזעמנו אצל ממשלת ישראל, המצב בדיוק הפוך, כמעט תמיד יבחרו להשליט פחד, אלימות ומלחמות. לפני הכל יש לומר – ממשלת ישראל הנוכחית ראויה לכל גינוי והתנגדות. ממשלה שמבקשת לקטב ולפורר את החברה למען הנצחת שלטונה, לחשוף את תושבי הארץ לסכנות חסרות תקדים ומלחמת נצח, להעמיק את דיכוי הערבים הפלסטינים בכול הארץ ולבודד את ישראל למקום הנמוך והבזוי ביותר בו הייתה המדינה אי פעם. בו בזמן, קריטי גם לראות איך יוצאים מהמבוך. כדי להבין איפה אנו נמצאים צריך לצאת לרגע מאירועי השעה ולהרחיב את העדשה, או יותר נכון את המראה. אם נעשה זאת נראה גם שרוב הציבור בישראל כולל המרכז שמאל – ואולי גם חלק מהקהל כאן – לא רואה כיצד גם הוא חלק מהמצב המשברי העמוק שהוליד את המלחמה הנוכחית, ולצערנו כנראה יוליד עוד סכסוכים אלימים. מצב זה אני מכנה ‘אפרטהייד מתפשט’. אין הכוונה להאשים אלא להבין היכן אנו נמצאים ולמצוא דרכים לצאת מהמשבר. כדי להבין חייבים להסיט את העדשה לשנת 1948, שהיא ‘שנת האפס’ של הסכסוך אותו אנו חווים עד היום. שנה מפוארת זאת ליהודים היתה אסונית לפלסטינים. כמעט שלושה רבעים מהעם הפלסטיני גורש, ברח והכי חשוב, לא הורשה לחזור לבתיהם ‘בנכבה’ הפלסטינית. מעל 400 כפרים ועיירות הוחרבו על-ידי ישראל. כאן כבר מתחיל תהליך ההתפשטות והדיכוי – ישראל כובשת שטחים הרבה מעבר להחלטת האו”ם ומטילה ממשל צבאי על הערבים. נכון שזה לא חד-צדדי – הפלסטינים ומדינות ערב התנגדו להחלטת החלוקה, ועל כך הם משלמים מחיר, של אובדן טריטוריה וגירוש המוני. אבל ישראל לא עצרה בניצחונה המזהיר במלחמת הישרדות ולא שאפה לשלום, אלא לעוד ועוד התפשטות. כך המשיכה ישראל במסע שלא נפסק עד היום של “ייהוד הארץ” או בערבית ‘תהוויד אל-ארד’- הפקעת קרקעות, הריסת בתים, התנחלויות, והגבלת הפלסטינים שנשארו במובלעות קטנות, ומחוץ למעגלי הכוח הפוליטי. 62 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026שימו לב להיקף – בתוך הקו הירוק בבעלות היהודים היו לפני 1948 רק 8 אחוז מהקרקע, פלוס 5 אחוז של קרקעות המנדט. היום המספר הזה עלה מ 13 ל 96 אחוז! כלומר תהליך נישול עמוק לפלסטינים שכלל הקמת כ700 יישובים בכול חלקי הארץ, רבים מהם על קרקעות פלסטיניות. אבל ישראל לא עצרה גם שם – משטר ההתפשטות והדיכוי עבר לשטחים שנכבשו ב67 ומאז הוא בעיקר, אך לא רק, פועל שם, עם המנגנון העצום והחזק שהוקם – הצבא, רשות מקרקעי ישראל, הקק”ל, תנועות התיישבות ועוד. בשלב הראשון, עד שנת 2000 הוקמו כ120 התנחלויות, הופקעו במחצית הקרקעות הפלסטיניות בגדה, והוקמו מועצות אזוריות יהודיות החולשות על 60 אחוז מהגדה. בשלב שני, בעשרים שנה הראשונות של המאה ה21 קמו גם כ180 ‘מאחזים’ ללא תכנון ממשלתי, אך כולם חוברו לתשתיות על ידי הממשלה והן מוגנות בידי הצבא. בו בזמן נהרסו מעל 3,000 בתים של פלסטינים, כביכול עקב חוסר אישור תכנוני. האפרטהייד זועק לשמיים. בשלוש השנים האחרונות אנו חוזים בשלב חדש. בעקבות טבח החמאס הנורא ב7 באוקטובר– מעשה הטרור האיום ביותר בתולדות הסכסוך – פרצה מלחמת ‘חרבות ברזל’ שהובילה להשמדה של רוב רצועת עזה וכיבוש ישראלי מתמשך של מחצית השטח. גם בגדה היהודים שולטים כבר במעל מחצית הקרקעות. כך, מאז השביעי באוקטובר ישראל שמטה כל רסן, ניפצה את חוקי המלחמה והמשפט הבינלאומי בניסיון להשתלט סופית על השטחים הפלסטינים. כך קמו עוד במאה מאחזים וכששים חוות של מתנחלים, ואיתם רשת תשתיות שנבנתה רק ליהודים. בו בזמן, טרור יהודי עקבי ואכזרי תוקף כפרים, מחריב, הורס והורג. מסע זה גרם כבר לכ-80 קהילות פלסטיניות לעקור מבתיהם. למבצע הזה קוראים ‘טיהור אתני’ שהוא פשע מלחמה ופשע נגד האנושות. אך התיאבון לא נגמר שם. הד.נ.א של משטר ההתפשטות והדיכוי דחף את ישראל עוד מזרחה וכעת גם צפונה עם כיבושים בסוריה, מתקפת ששת השבועות באיראן, וחשוב ביותר ניסיון להשתלט על לבנון עד נהר הליטני, יחד עם גירוש כמעט מיליון לבנונים, ובמקביל תוכניות התיישבות יהודית מטעם כמה ארגונים. אסור לשכוח כמובן את פעולותיהן של איראן וחזבאללה ושרידי חמאס, התוקפים את ישראל, אך קרב האגרוף הזה אינו שוויוני. ישראל חזקה פי כמה ומנצלת את התגרות אויביה להתפשט, לדכא, לגרש ולהרוס. כך בעוד הפגנות הפלסטינים ברחבי העולם מהדהדות את הסיסמה ‘מהים עד הנהר, פלסטין תשוחרר’, ישראל למעשה מקדמת מהלך דומה אך הפוך בשטח, לא בהפגנות, תחת הכותרת ‘מהים עד הירדן והליטני – כל הארץ היא שלנו’. תשאלו – מה רע? אנחנו חזקים אז מתפשטים. אז זהו שלא!! כידוע המשפט הבינלאומי, שגם נתן זכות קיום לישראל, קובע שאסור להשתלט על טריטוריות בכוח. אסור! רוסיה למשל חטפה סנקציות רציניות בגלל הפלישה הלא חוקית לאוקראינה. אותו משפט הבינלאומי שהביא תקופת שלום ושגשוג חסרת תקדים לעולם בשבעים השנה האחרונות גם מגן עלינו. וכאן נכנסת ההפיכה המשטרית, שלא רק מבקשת לפורר את הפרדת הרשויות ולהעביר את כל הכוח לממשלה, אלא גם להבטיח שההשתלטות על השטחים לא תיעצר בידי הרשות 63 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026השופטת, בה קיימים עדיין שופטים רבים שערכיהם דמוקרטים והם מבקשים לבצר את שלטון החוק. כמו שכתב מיכאל ספרד בספרו האחרון. ההפיכה המשטרית היא ‘כיבוש מבית’. מהלכי ההפיכה המשפטית יחד עם ההתפשטות היהודית מעמיקים את האפרטהייד – משטר לא דמוקרטי שבאופן מבני וחוקי מפריד ומטפח את עליונות קבוצת זהות אחת על שכנותיה. כך עושה ישראל בנגב, בגדה, בעזה וכעת גם בלבנון. נזכיר שאפרטהייד הוא אחד מהפשעים הגרועים ביותר נגד האנושות, ומוביל תמיד לסכסוכים, אי יציבות ובעיות ביטחוניות. מלחמת איראן, שתוצאותיה לא ידועות עדיין, היא חלק מאותו תהליך התפשטות, הפעם הפעלת כוח במרחק מדהים של 1500 ק”מ. אך עיקר חשיבותה לסכסוך המקומי נעוץ בהסטת תשומת הלב מהמשך ההתפשטות המקומית, בנגב, בגדה, בעזה ובלבנון. לכן אפשר להגיד שמתקפת איראן והתשוקה להגיע לליטני כרוכות אחת בשנייה, ושתיהן מחזקות את דמיון ההתפשטות ‘מהים עד הנהרות’. אסור לשכוח שהמהלכים האלה מופרעים, אלימים, בלתי חוקיים, ושהם מכניסים את כולנו למלחמת נצח, נגד הפלסטינים והשכנים בעולם הערבי. נכון גם חמאס, ג’האד אסלאמי וארגונים אחרים מתנגדים לשלום ופועלים בטרור. אסור לזלזל בהם, אך גם לא לתת להם משקל יתר. אנחנו יכולים להחליט על פיוס בין העמים, ללא ספק רוב הפלסטינים יצטרפו, כי רובם שואפים לשלום. אך הממשלה? במקום ללחוץ את היד המושטת לעברינו מהפלסטינים ורוב מדינות ערב לשלום כבר שנים ארוכות. במקום להתקדם לשלום עם סעודיה, סוריה ולבנון – מדינות המעוניינות בנורמליזציה על בסיס החוק הבינלאומי — ישראל ממשיכה להפר את החוקים, לבנות התנחלויות, חוות ולגרש פלסטינים בשטחים וגם בנגב. במקום לשלב ידיים עם מדינות האזור נגד איראן, ישראל מתחפרת במדיניות ההתפשטות והדיכוי הפושעת שאף אחד לא יקבל, לא היום ולא מחר! אז מה עושים? קודם כל מתנגדים ומוחים. יופי שבאתם לכאן, זה מעולה אבל לא מספיק. כל אחת ואחד ימצאו את הדרכים שלהם, אבל אזכיר לכם שזאת לא רק אפשרות, אלא חובה להתנגד בצבא לפקודות לא חוקיות. זכותכם להחליט שאתם לא משרתים את הכיבוש הלא חוקי, לא מהווים את צבא האפרטהייד. כל אחד בדרכו שלו. אך מעבר להתנגדות חייבים לבנות אלטרנטיבה. האופוזיציה היהודית בארץ חלשה בזה מאוד, והיא חוטאת לתפקידה. מעבר ‘לרק לא ביבי’ האופוזיציה לא מציעה כמעט כלום מול משטר הכיבוש, התנחלות ואפרטהייד שיצרו ממשלות הימין. אני מציע לכם את תוכנית ‘ארץ לכולם’. וכאן רוצה להזכיר לכולם את תנועת השלום היחידה המשותפת לפלסטינים ויהודים – תנועת ‘ארץ לכולם’. בתנועה זו, שאני גאה להיות ממייסדיה, אנו מאמינים שרק הכרה בכך שהארץ היא מולדת של שני העמים שווים תביא לפיוס. הכרה הדדית שכזאת תוביל להקמת שתי מדינות, כמו שקובע המשפט הבינלאומי, אבל מדינות אלה יישאפו לגבולות פתוחים, בירה משותפת באזור ירושלים, וזכויות מלאות ליהודים שיבחרו לגור בפלסטין, ופלסטינים שיגורו בישראל. 64 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026זהו מסלול שונה מהמטרה העמומה ‘היפרדות מהפלסטינים’ – ‘אנחנו שם והם פה’ כפי שהשמאל דרש שנים ארוכות. לטעמנו רק שילוב כלכלי ומדיני בין שתי המדיניות, תוך בניית קונפדרציה במודל האיחוד האירופאי, יובילו לשלום אמיתי, יציב ובר קיימא אם כך — לא טהרן, לא ליטני, אלא שתי מדינות במולדת המשותפת — פלסטין וישראל. במקום התפשטות ואפרטהייד, שוויון, צדק ודמוקרטיה. זה העתיד אליו אני וגם אתם מקדמים. זהו גם הסיכוי היחידי לכם, וגם לילדים ולנכדים שלי, לחיות בארץ שתחדל ממלחמות, ותבנה כאן חברה דמוקרטית צודקת ומשגשגת. בשביל זה צריך להתארגן, להציב חלופות למלחמות ולפשעים, לשלוח את הממשלה הזאת הביתה. ונסיים במקורותינו האומרים – “ס֣ ּור מֵ ֭ רָ ע וַעֲֵׂשֵ ה־ט֑ ֹוב ִּבַ ֵּ֖קֵ ָׁ֖ש ָׁשָ ל֣ ֹום וְרָ דְ פֵֽהּו”! ויפה שעה אחת קודם! צילום: ללא קרדיט | באר שבע 65 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026באר שבע 25 אפריל 2026 

הרבנית לאה שקדיאל | מחנכת ואקטיביסטית חברתית כשהוזמנתי לדבר בהפגנה הראשונה בבאר שבע נגד המהפכה המשפטית, ליד בית יד לבנים, הגעתי עם דגל ישראל ודגל פלסטין מוצמדים אל החולצה שלי. כי מהרגע הראשון טענתי כי נייר הלקמוס שלנו הוא היחס אל הערבים – האם אנחנו מדינה יהודית אתנוצנטרית שמבקשת לחיות לאור האמירה בתנ”ך שהארץ הזאת ניתנה רק לנו, או מדינה יהודית דמוקרטית מודרנית המבוססת על החזון הציוני, יהדות ריבונית אחראית. אני חושבת שאנחנו נמצאים במצב של הכרעה קריטית לגבי הזהות שלנו. כל הסיסמאות על אחדות שמנסות לטשטש את ההכרעה הקריטית הזאת הן בעיניי מצג שווא, שקר מסוכן. אני עומדת פה היום כדי לתמוך בהכרעה חד משמעית לטובת יהדות של דמוקרטיה. אני מתביישת שהציבור הדתי שמתוכו אני באה, נושא את שם היהדות והתורה לשווא, מחלל אותה על כל צד ושעל, ונושא גם את שם הציונות לשווא, מחלל אותה על כל צד ושעל. אני שמחה שאני יכולה היום להגיד, כששואלים אותי לאיזה ציבור את שייכת, אז אני יכולה להגיד אני השמאל האמוני, ולא “ציונות דתית”. השבוע חגגנו את יום העצמאות. במגילת העצמאות, שהוא מסמך שמצביע על כיוון, על הצהרת כוונות. איך זה יכול להיות שהמסמך הזה הפך להיות למשהו שרק חלק מהציבור שלנו דוגל בו היום? במסמך הזה יש שני עקרונות שאסור להתפשר עליהם. אחד הוא שוויון לכל האזרחים. יהודים, ערבים, לא משנה, כל האזרחים, שוויון. והעיקרון השני – הושטת יד לשלום גם בעיצומה של מלחמה. גם המילה שוויון וגם המילה שלום הפכו למילים גסות שכל מי שמזכיר אותן נתפס כאויב, כאדם מסוכן. צריך לסתום לו את הפה. אני צריכה להזכיר שסתימת הפיות של אזרחים ערבים במדינה הזאת היא הרבה יותר חמורה מסתימת הפיות של אזרחים יהודים. אני גאה מאוד להשתתף יחד עם יהודים דתיים אחרים בתוך השמאל האמוני, בקבוצה אקטיביסטית שנקראת “בני אברהם”. אנחנו מבצעים נוכחות מגינה על פלסטינים בשטחי הגדה המערבית. פרעות מתרחשות שם יום יום. ביזה, התקפה, התגרות, אלימות, גניבה, שוד, פגיעה והרג. רצח. גם רצח. הזוועות האלה מתרחשות שם יום יום, בקושי מגיעות לתקשורת, מסתובבות בקבוצות וואטסאפ מסוימות וכמובן בתקשורת הבינלאומית. הזוועות האלו מתרחשות כביכול על ידי נוער שירד מהפסים. שטויות. אנחנו רואים בשטח את הרבש”צים של היישובים, דוהרים על טרקטורונים ועל ריינג’רים. אנחנו רואים את החיילים, את משמר הגבול ואת המשטרה משתפים פעולה עם המאחזים הללו, משתפים פעולה עם האלימות הנוראה שמתרחשת. עוצרים את הפלסטינים במקום את אלה שמבצעים את האלימות הזאת נגד בני אדם שנבראו בצלם אלוהים. נגד בני אדם שחולקים יחד איתנו את הארץ הזאת, ואיתם אנחנו חייבים לעשות שלום. חשוב מאד להגן על בית המשפט. הרי אנחנו יודעים שהמשטר הנוכחי שלנו כבר למעשה ביטל את ההפרדה בין הרשויות, מפני שהכנסת כבר איננה רשות עצמאית, מחוקקת. תפקידה של הרשות המחוקקת הוא להגביל בחוקים את הרשות המבצעת, לא להיות זרוע של הרשות 66 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026המבצעת. אז המטרה הבאה היא למחוק כמובן גם את העצמאות של רשות השופטת, את היכולת המובנית של הרשות השופטת להגביל את הרשות המבצעת. ברור שהמאבק על בית המשפט הוא בלב ליבו של המאבק שלנו, אבל אי אפשר לבודד את הנקודה הזאת מתוך כל המסכת. כל עוד ממשיך ממשיך הטיהור האתני הזה בשטחים הכבושים, כל עוד ממשיכות הריסות הבתים בנגב, הדיכוי של הציבור הבדואי בנגב. כל עוד אין כאן שוויון ערך של כל בני האדם – לא נשיג את מטרתנו – מדינה משגשגת, שגשוג ממנו נהנים כולם. הדמוקרטיה המודרנית היא חידוש היסטורי, מצב של ווין-ווין, מצב שבו כולנו שותפים, כולנו מוכנים שכל אחד מאיתנו יוותר קצת, כדי שלכולם יהיה מספיק. אף אחד לא יכול לקבל את הפנטזיות הפרועות שלו. כל אחד יקבל מספיק כדי שלכולם יהיה מספיק. זאת המשמעות של דמוקרטיה. זאת לא שאלה של חרדים או של אתאיסטים, של טרנסים או כל דבר שהוא. כל אחת מהזהויות הללו עומדות לבחירה של האזרחים, אבל כולם, חרדים ואתאיסטים כאחד, צריכים להיות מחויבים למדינה יהודית כפי שהיא מוגדרת במגילת העצמאות, מדינה של שוויון ושל שלום. שוויון מלא ליהודים ולערבים, ושלום עם כל הערבים, ובראשם הפלסטינים. צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב 67 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 202621 אפריל 2026 

סאווסן מסארווה | אשת חינוך, חוקרת עיצוב מקומי ומפתחת תהליכים פדגוגיים לחשיבה ביקורתית ושינוי חברתי חברת ועד בתנועת “ארץ לכולם “מתי אקדמיה מפסיקה לשאול – ומתחילה להצדיק ?האם זה עדיין מרחב של חשיבה ביקורתית, או מנגנון שמנהל מציאות? זה הרגע שבו הבנתי: האקדמיה בישראל כבר לא מתבוננת מהצד – היא בחרה צד. זה לא כשל, לא עיוורון ולא ”מורכבות“ בלתי נמנעת. זו בחירה מודעת, מצטברת ושיטתית – בחירה שאינה מתרחשת בהחלטה אחת גלויה, אלא נבנית דרך שפה, מדיניות, סדרי עדיפויות וגבולות שיח. זו בחירה להישאר בתוך גבולות המשטר, לשרת את יציבותו, ולשמר את תנאיו – גם כאשר המציאות עצמה דורשת בדיוק את ההפך. וברגעים שבהם ידע אמור להפוך לעמדה, שבהם מחקר אמור להתנגש עם כוח – האקדמיה בישראל אינה רק נמנעת מהתנגשות; היא מתמקמת בפועל בצד שמגן, מצדיק וממשיך את הסדר הקיים. זו לא היעדר שפה – זו שפה שמגינה. האקדמיה אינה שותקת; היא מדברת ללא הרף. אך היא מדברת באופן שמאפשר להמשיך הלאה מבלי לשנות דבר. כאן בדיוק נכנסת השפה – לא ככלי לתיאור המציאות, אלא כמנגנון שמארגן אותה כך שלא תהיה בלתי נסבלת. כאשר יש מאות מקרים מתועדים, מצולמים ומופצים של אלימות מתנחלים כלפי פלסטינים – לעיתים בנוכחות או בגיבוי כוחות צבאיים – האקדמיה נמנעת מלקרוא לזה ”טרור יהודי“. במקום זאת היא בוחרת במונחים כמו “אירועים חריגים”, ”חיכוך“, ”הסלמה מקומית“ או ”מורכבות בשטח“. זו אינה רק בחירה סגנונית; זו פעולה אתית ופוליטית. משום שהשפה האקדמית אמורה להיות מחויבת לדיוק, לאחריות וליכולת לקרוא לדברים בשמם. כאשר היא מחליפה ”טרור“ ב”חיכוך“, היא אינה מדייקת – היא מערפלת. היא אינה מנתחת – היא עורכת. בכך היא ממלאת תפקיד הפוך מזה שהיא אמורה למלא: לא לחשוף מנגנוני כוח, אלא להגן עליהם. והפער מתחדד עוד יותר כאשר בוחנים את היכולת של אותה אקדמיה עצמה לפעול באופן הפוך לחלוטין בהקשרים אחרים. כאשר מדובר בפעולות של חמאס, השפה האקדמית אינה מהססת: היא מדויקת, חד-משמעית, נחרצת – קוראת לדברים בשמם, מגדירה, מסווגת ומגנה. כאשר מתרחשים אירועים לאומיים רחבים, האקדמיה אף יודעת להתגייס לשיח ציבורי מגויס להדהד סיסמאות כמו ”ביחד ננצח“, לארגן יוזמות, לייצר קונצנזוס לשוני ומוסרי ברור. כלומר, אין כאן חוסר יכולת לשונית – יש כאן הבחנה. יש כאן תרגום שונה של המציאות, תלוי מקרה .הבחנה זו אינה טכנית; היא נוגעת בלב האתיקה האקדמית. אם אקדמיה מחויבת לשקיפות, לדיוק ולניתוח ביקורתי – כיצד ייתכן שהיא מפעילה סטנדרטים שונים של תיאור והגדרה? כיצד ייתכן שהשפה משתנה לא לפי העובדות, אלא לפי זהות הפועלים? ברגע שבו השפה מפסיקה להיות כלי לחשיפת אמת והופכת לכלי לניהול מציאות – האקדמיה אינה רק מפרשת את העולם; היא משתתפת בעיצובו. 68 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026לאורך ההיסטוריה, זו אינה תופעה ייחודית להקשר המקומי. שפות מוסדיות שימשו שוב ושוב לטשטוש אלימות: משטרים קולוניאליים דיברו על ”פציפיקציה“ במקום דיכוי, מלחמות הוגדרו כ”מבצעים“, ואפלייה ממוסדת כונתה ”סדר חברתי“. השפה אינה רק מראה של המציאות— היא תנאי לאפשרות להתכחש לה. וכאשר דוחות מתמשכים מצביעים על דפוסים שיטתיים של אלימות—והאקדמיה ממשיכה לפרק, לרכך ולמסגר – מתברר שהיא אינה מבקשת להבין טוב יותר; היא מבקשת להימנע מהכרעה. זו בדיוק השפה שמגינה. ומתוך המקום שבו השפה אינה רק מתארת אלא גם קובעת גבולות – מתבהרת גם המשמעות של מה שנקרא ”ניטרליות“. האקדמיה יודעת לפעול בנחרצות כאשר היא בוחרת בכך. כאשר סטודנטים נקראים למילואים, נפתחות מיד מערכות של תמיכה: הקלות, דחיות, הכרה מוסדית ושפה ברורה של סולידריות. ברגעים הללו אין ”ריבוי נרטיבים“ ואין היסוס – יש עמדה, יש שפה מגויסת, יש פעולה. אך במקביל, כאשר אותם כוחות עצמם מעורבים – ישירות או בעקיפין – באלימות כלפי אוכלוסייה אזרחית פלסטינית, מתרחש שינוי: השיח מצטמצם, הזהירות מתרחבת, והעמדה נעלמת. לא משום שאין מידע, אלא משום שיש גבול למה מותר לומר. הגבול הזה אינו מקרי; הוא מגדיר את המרחב כולו. בתוך מרחב זה פועלים סטודנטים פלסטינים אזרחי ישראל, הנושאים מציאות כפולה: השתייכות למוסד אקדמי מחד, וקשר חי ולעיתים כואב למציאות שמחוץ לו מאידך. עבורם, הכניסה לכיתה אינה מעבר לניטרליות – אלא מעבר למרחב שבו השפה עצמה קובעת אילו חוויות מוכרות ואילו נותרות מחוץ למסגרת. לא מדובר רק בהיעדר ייצוג, אלא בהיווצרות היררכיה: יש כאב שמקבל מילים, ויש כאב שנותר ללא שפה. פער זה אינו מופשט; הוא מתגלם בפרקטיקה היומיומית. כאשר אובדן של סטודנט אחד זוכה להכרה, שיח ותמיכה – ואובדן של אחר נותר מחוץ למרחב הדיבור – נוצר סדר בלתי מדובר אך עמוק. זהו סדר שבו לא כל חוויה נחשבת לידע, ולא כל כאב מוכר כחלק לגיטימי מהמציאות האקדמית. יש מי שיכולים להישאר ברמת הדיון, ויש מי שנושאים את המציאות בגוף. עבורם, הפער אינו אינטלקטואלי בלבד – הוא קיומי. זהו רגע שבו השפה אינה רק מתארת את העולם, אלא קובעת מי נכלל בו ומי מודר ממנו. וכאשר ההדרה הזו אינה נובעת מחוסר מידע – מתבהר שמדובר במשהו עמוק יותר. האקדמיה מכירה את הנתונים, קוראת דוחות, מנתחת תיעודים. תפקידה של ההשכלה הגבוהה אינו רק לייצר ידע, אלא גם לעודד חשיבה ביקורתית ואחריות חברתית. אך כאן מתגלה הפער המהותי: לדעת זה לא להכיר. להכיר פירושו להסכים שהידע מחייב עמדה; לשאול מה משמעותה של אזרחות כאשר אלימות מתבצעת בשמה; להודות בכך שהשיח האקדמי עצמו אינו ניטרלי. וזה אינו רגע חריג – אלא ביטוי למבנה עמוק יותר. 69 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026הבעיה אינה רק במספר האירועים, גם אם מדובר במאות מקרים בפרק זמן קצר. הבעיה היא שהמספרים אינם משנים את השפה. וכאשר השפה אינה משתנה, המציאות יכולה להחמיר מבלי לייצר שבר. לאחר אירועים דרמטיים, האקדמיה הישראלית הראתה עד כמה היא חלק מהמבנה: היא ידעה להתגייס, לתמוך, לנסח שפה ברורה – אך גם להמשיך לתרגם מחדש מציאות אחרת, להימנע מהתנגשות, ולשמר את הסדר דרך ניסוח ושתיקה. בנקודה זו, מתברר שהשאלה אינה רק מה נאמר – אלא כיצד נקבע מראש מה בכלל ניתן לומר. כפי שהראה הפילוסוף מישל פוקו, כוח אינו פועל רק דרך איסורים ישירים, אלא דרך ייצור של שיח – דרך קביעת הגבולות של מה שניתן לחשוב ולומר. מוסדות אינם רק מגיבים למציאות; הם מגדירים את תנאי האפשרות שלה. האקדמיה אינה חייבת לצנזר באופן מפורש – די בכך שהיא מייצרת נורמות של ”איזון“, ”מורכבות“ ו”מקצועיות“, שבתוכן כבר ברור מה יישאר מחוץ לגבולות הלגיטימיות. כך נוצרת מציאות שבה שתיקה אינה נכפית – אלא נלמדת, מופנמת ומוצגת כבחירה רציונלית. וכאשר מנגנון כזה פועל בדיוק כה רב – מתחדדת השאלה מה נותר מתפקידה של האקדמיה. האקדמיה אינה מתעלמת ואינה מנותקת; היא מתפקדת. אך היא מתפקדת כך שהידע לא יהפוך לאיום, שהשפה לא תהפוך להתנגשות, ושביקורת לא תהפוך לאחריות. מכאן ואילך קשה להמשיך לקרוא לזה ”חשיבה ביקורתית“; מדויק יותר לראות בכך ניהול של מציאות – ניהול שמייצר יציבות לשונית דווקא במקום שבו המציאות עצמה מתפרקת. ואז עולות השאלות שלא ניתן עוד להדחיק: מה ערכו של ידע שאינו משנה דבר? מה משמעותה של אחריות אקדמית אם היא נעצרת בדיוק במקום שבו מתחיל הסיכון? האם ניתן לדבר על מוסר כאשר השפה עצמה בוחרת את מי לכלול ואת מי להשאיר מחוץ לגבולותיה? ומה נשאר מהאדם – כאשר גם הידע וגם המילים מפסיקים להגן עליו? ההיסטוריה כבר הראתה לאן מוביל הרגע הזה. כאשר מוסדות ידע בחרו להישאר בתוך גבולות המשטר – ולא לאתגר אותו – הם לא נשארו ניטרליים; הם הפכו לחלק מהכוח. באירופה של המאה ה־20, אקדמיות ומדענים שיתפו פעולה עם משטרים טוטליטריים, לעיתים דרך שפה מדעית לכאורה, שסיפקה לגיטימציה למדיניות של הדרה, אפלייה ואף אלימות. במשטרים קולוניאליים, ידע אקדמי שימש לא רק להבנה של עמים ותרבויות – אלא גם לניהולם, לשליטתם ולהצדקת הכפפתם. גם במקומות אחרים, כאשר האקדמיה בחרה ”מורכבות“ במקום עמדה, ”איזון“ במקום אמת – היא לא עצרה את ההידרדרות; היא לעיתים איפשרה אותה. וזו בדיוק הנקודה: לאקדמיה יש כוח. כוח להגדיר מציאות, לנסח שפה, לקבוע מה ייחשב ידע ומה יישאר מחוץ לו. וכאשר כוח כזה פועל בתוך משטר – הוא אינו יכול להרשות לעצמו אשליה של ניטרליות. הבחירה לא להתערב היא עצמה התערבות; הבחירה לא לקרוא בשם היא עצמה פעולה. כי ברגע שבו האקדמיה יודעת – אבל אינה מוכנה לומר, רואה – אבל אינה מוכנה להכיר, מבינה – אבל מסרבת להשליך מכך מסקנות – היא אינה רק נכשלת בתפקידה. היא הופכת לחלק מהמנגנון שמאפשר למציאות הזו להימשך. 70 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026וזה הרגע שבו השתיקה כבר אינה ניטרלית. היא עמדה. ולכן, אם יש משמעות למילים כמו אחריות, אזרחות וידע – הן אינן יכולות להישאר בגבולות הנייר או הכיתה. הן דורשות פעולה. הן דורשות מאיתנו, מתוך האקדמיה ומחוצה לה, לשאול לא רק מה נכון לחשוב – אלא מה נכון לעשות. יש כבר קולות רבים – סטודנטים, חוקרות, מרצים ואזרחים – הקוראים לשוויון מלא, המתנגדים לדיכוי, המבקשים לדמיין מחדש מרחב אזרחי משותף שאינו מבוסס על היררכיות של כוח, זהות או כאב. אולי דווקא מתוך הסדקים הללו ניתן להתחיל לבנות משהו אחר: מרחב שבו השפה אינה מוחקת אלא מכירה, שבו ידע אינו מסתפק בתיאור אלא מחייב עמדה, שבו האקדמיה אינה חוששת לאבד את נוחותה כדי לשמור על יושרתה. זו אינה קריאה מופשטת. זו פנייה ישירה לבעלי ובעלות תפקידים – למרצים, לראשי מחלקות, לנשיאי אוניברסיטאות, לוועדות אתיקה – לבחון מחדש את גבולות השיח שהם מגדירים, את השתיקות שהם מאפשרים, ואת האחריות שהם נושאים. זו קריאה לפתוח מרחבים אמיתיים של שיח, לא כטקס של ”הכלה“, אלא כפעולה של הכרה: הכרה בזהות, בכאב, בהיסטוריה ובזכויות. זו גם הזמנה לסטודנטים ולסטודנטיות לא להסתפק במקום שניתן להם, אלא לדרוש מרחב שמכבד את קיומם המלא – בשפה, בזיכרון ובנוכחות. להיאבק על זכות הדיבור, על הזכות להישמע, ועל הזכות שהידע לא יופרד מהחיים עצמם. כי בסופו של דבר, מאבק אזרחי אינו מתחיל ברחובות בלבד – הוא מתחיל גם במילים, בשאלות, בנכונות להקשיב ובאומץ להפר את הסדר הקיים. ואם האקדמיה היא עדיין מקום של ידע, אז עליה לבחור האם היא משרתת את הקיים – או משתתפת ביצירת מציאות אחרת. אולי מכאן יכולה לצמוח התחלה: לא מתוך הסכמה מלאה, אלא מתוך מחויבות משותפת – לצדק, לשוויון, ולאנושיות שאינה תלויה בזהות. השאלה היא כבר לא מה אפשר לומר – אלא מה אנחנו מוכנים לעשות כדי שזה ייאמר. 71צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026באר שבע 25 אפריל 2026 

עו”ד גאלב סלאמנה | פעיל חברתי, מערך עוטף עצורים אני עומד לפניכם היום מתוך זעם ועצב כשאני רואה את הבית שלנו עולה בלהבות של שנאה. אני מתנדב במערך עוטף עצורים. ויצא לי לעמוד בקו החזית, במקום שבו האלימות המשטרתית הכי קשה פוגשת את דרישות הצדק של המוחים. אני רואה בעיניים שלי איך הכל מתפורר. ואני אומר לכם בדם לבי, ברגע שתקרוס מערכת המשפט, תפתחנה דלתות הגיהנום לאנרכיה שתבלע את כולנו ללא רחמים. המראות שראינו השבוע בבית המשפט העליון בפתח האולם שרפו לי את הנשמה. ראיתי אנשים חסרי רסן שמאיימים על קודש הקודשים שלנו. ראיתי את מבצר הדמוקרטיה הופך לזירה של אלימות מזוקקת. איך הגענו לשפל כזה? איך הפך המקום אליו נושאים עיניים כשאין כבר לאן ללכת, למטרה להסתה, זה ביזיון לכל הדמוקרטיה בעולם! המתקפה הזו היא סכין בגב של המדינה. מי שמרים יד על בית המשפט העליון, מרים יד על הביטחון של הילדים שלנו. אני זועק אליכם: בלי בית משפט חזק וזקוף, אנחנו מופקרים לחסדי האלימות! ועל הצדק הבא אי אפשר לדבר בלי לצרוח את האמת מהאדמה. הקמת ועדת חקירה ממלכתית היא צו דמים מוסרי!!! זהו חוב שאי אפשר לכמת לאלפי הנרצחים! לגיבורים שחירפו נפשם! ולחטופים שסבלו ונרצחו! אנחנו חייבים את האמת הזו למשפחות שעיניהן כבו מרוב בכי, ולאלו שאיבדו את עולמם! אני מסרב לעמוד מנגד כשהבית שלי עולה בלהבות של שנאה! אני מסרב לשתוק כשאנשים מנסים לקבור את האמת עמוק באדמה יחד עם הנופלים שלנו! 72צילום: ורדית אלון קורפל | מודיעין נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026החוסן שלנו נמדד עכשיו – לא בכוח הזרוע, אלא בעוצמה שבה נעמוד כולנו לצד הצדק, לצד החוק, ולצד האמת האחת והיחידה שאין בלתה! אנחנו נמצאים ברגע של הכרעה. אנחנו יכולים לבחור להמשיך לדמם בנפרד, או לבחור לחיות יחד, ערבים ויהודים, כי כולנו ישראלים! יש שלום שאני מדבר עליו והוא לא שלום של טקסים, אלא שלום של בני אדם. אל תהיו עצובים רק על מה שאיבדנו. תהיו עצובים על מה שאנחנו עלולים לאבד אם לא נתעורר! ואני מבטיח לכם, בסוף יבוא היום שנסתכל זה לזו בעיניים. ונראה את שותפות הגורל שהפכה לברית חיים. אנחנו נעבור את זה! אנחנו נבנה כאן חברה שראויה לכל ילדינו! הלילה הוא ארוך, אבל השחר כבר מפציע. יחד, ורק יחד, אנחנו ננצח את הייאוש ונכתוב פרק חדש של תקווה!!! השלום שאני חולם עליו הוא לא שלום של פוליטיקאים, הוא השלום שראיתי בעיניים שלכם ושל כל האנשים שאני פוגש ברחובות. זה השלום של הידיים המושטות. חבריי, אל תתנו לייאוש לנצח. אנחנו נעבור את זה! למרות שהלב שלנו אולי קרוע, אבל לב קרוע הוא לב פתוח. יחד, מתוך השברים, אנחנו נכתוב את הפרק הכי יפה בהיסטוריה שלנו. כי מעבר לכל השנאה, מעבר לכל הקריעות, הטוב ינצח את הרוע והצדק ינצח את השנאה. אני מאמין בנו! בנו! אני מאמין בשותפות הגורל שלנו. אני מאמין בחיים. 73צילום: רן דמבו | חיפה צילום: דנור אהרון | כפר סבא נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026טקס הדלקת המשואות 21 אפריל 2026

 דברי סיום את משואת “החברה והמדע” בטקס הדלקת המשואות הישראלי-ליברלי-דמוקרטי, הדליקו הפעילה החברתית לקידום שותפות יהודית-ערבית סומיה בשיר ונשיא האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים, פרופ’ דוד הראל. נביא להלן את דבריהם. 74 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026סומיה בשיר | פעילה למען שותפות יהודית-ערבית, שוויון אזרחי, וקידום מעמד האישה בחברה הערבית; מייסדת של התנועה “אין לנו ארץ אחרת” ועמותת אינסאן; חברה בפורום ההנהגה של “עוגן לעתיד” ובמפלגת הדמוקרטי םאני סומיה בשיר, בת רשידה והשאם, משיאה משואה זו, לכבוד שלום! לכבוד עתיד טוב לכולם, לכבוד קדמה, לכבוד חיים משותפים וערבות הדדית שוויון וצדק וחופש הדת והאמונה במדינת ישראל. ערב טוב, יש רגעים בהיסטוריה שבהם לא שואלים רק מה קרה אלא מי בחרנו להיות בתוכם. זה רגע כזה. אני עומדת כאן כאישה ערבייה־פלסטינית, אזרחית מדינת ישראל, לא כדי להסביר את עצמי, אלא כדי להיות. עם זהות שלמה שלא מתנצלת, כי קיום הוא לא בקשה – הוא עובדה. יש מי שחוגגים עצמאות, ויש מי שנושאים אובדן; והעתיד שלנו יוכרע ביכולת שלנו לא למחוק אף אחד מהם. ואני מכירה את שני הקולות האלה מקרוב, לא מהכותרות, אלא מהחיים עצמם. כי מדינה חזקה לא מפחדת ממורכבות היא נבנית ממנה. עתיד לא נבנה ממחיקת הבדלים אלא מהאומץ לחיות איתם. אני מדליקה משואה, לא על שלמות אלא על הדרך. על היכולת שלנו לא להיכנע לפחד, לא להתרגל לפילוג, ולא לוותר אחד על השני. ועל מדינה שמבינה שביטחון אמיתי נולד רק כשיש שוויון. כי בסוף הבחירה היא לא בין עבר לעתיד, אלא בין פחד לאומץ. ואם נבחר באומץ לא רק שנישאר כאן יחד, נבנה כאן מדינה שראויה לכולנו. אנו קוראים גם בתוך התקפת הדמים הנערכת עלינו זה חודשים, לבני העם שלי הערבים תושבי מדינת ישראל להמשיך לשמור על שלום וליטול חלקם בבניין המדינה על יסוד אזרחות מלאה ושווה ועל יסוד נציגות מתאימה בכל מוסדותיה, הזמניים והקבועים. לכבוד מדינת ישראל דמוקרטית וליברלית, מתחייבים לדמוקרטיה ולתפארת מדינת ישראל. 75צילום: גל מוסנזון | מאיבטין לסחנין טקס הדלקת המשואות 21 אפריל 2026 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 

פרופ’ דוד הראל | נשיא האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים אני דוד הראל, בן לאהרן הרולד וגו’יס לבית פיש, משיא משואה זו לכבוד הקּ דמה, לכבוד המדע והרוח, לכבוד חינוך ותרבות עצמאיים, ולכבוד הצדק, החירות, והשוויון. כל זאת, כדי שנחיה במדינה עוצמתית ומתקדמת, דמוקרטית, ליברלית, ושוחרת שלום. כמי שעלה ארצה מאנגליה כילד, בן למשפחה ששילבה מחקר אקדמי עם אמונה יהודית עמוקה וציונות אמת; כבוגר ישיבה תיכונית, וכמי שנלחם כמ”פ במלחמת יוה”כ באוקטובר שנת 73, ואשר החל מאוקטובר שנת 23 נלחמים שלושה מנכדיו בגזרות השונות; ובעיקר, כמי שזוכה כבר יובל שנים להימצא בטבורו של עולם המדע, בארץ ובעולם; מכל אלה למדתי על חשיבותה של העוצמה המדעית, הרוחנית והביטחונית של ישראל. עוצמה זו, המסר שהיא מעבירה לעולם, ותרומתה המשמעותית לאנושות כולה, חייבים להישען על ערכי היסוד הליברליים והאוניברסליים של שוויון זכויות מלא, ושל חירות, צדק ושלום. לכן, על כל הדוגלים בערכים אלה לאחד כוחות כדי להיאבק בניסיונות הנואלים לקעקע אותם. אין לנו זכות לעמוד מנגד, ולא נוכל לשתוק! ציטוט ממגילת העצמאות: ֶ ץ לְ טֹובַ ת ִּכָ ל ָ אֵ ל ִּתְ הֵ א ִּפְ תּוחָ ה לַ עֲלּ ּיָה יְהּודּ ית ּולְ קּ ִּבּוץ ָּגָלֻּיֹות; ִּתּ ָׁשְ קֹד עַ ל ִּפּ ִּתּוחַ הָָאר ּ ינַת יֵּׂשְ ר ֵ י יֵּׂשְ רָ אֵ ל.” ֶ ק וְהַ ָּׁשָ לֹום לְ אֹור חֲזֹונָם ָׁשֶ ל נְבּ יא “מְ ד ִּתֹוָׁשָ בֶ יהָ ; ִּתְ הֵ א מָֻׁשְ ִּתָ תָ ה עַ ל יְסֹודֹות הַ חֵ רּות, הַ ֶּצֶד אני מדליק משואה זו לכבוד מי שמעניקים בעבודתם לתושבי המדינה, על כל מגזריה, את הקּ דמה; ולכבוד הנאבקים למען ישראל יהודית, דמוקרטית וליברלית, שחיה בשלום מלא עם כל שכנותיה, ולתפארת מדינת ישראל! צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב 76 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב צילום: איילת אניסמן | חיפה 77 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026צילום: אורנה נאור | תל אביב צילום: נעם אמיר | תל אביב 78 נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) מאי 2026 תודות תודה לצלמים : ,www.eyesongaza.net ,ELAN ,אי-סי ECאדיר סטופ, אורנה נאור, אורנה קופרמן, איילת אניסמן, אלון בנקי, אלון קורנגרין, גל מוסנזון, דנור אהרון, דניאל אורנשטיין, הדס שניר, ורדית אלון קורפל, ידין גלעדי, יורם שפירר, ליאור שגב, ליזי שאנן, מירי פורת, מרסלו שניידמן, נעם אמיר, נעם אמיר, צחי דברת, רוני שפירא, רן דמבו, שני תמים תודה לחברי המערכת: איתי אטר, אוניברסיטת תל-אביב אלון קורנגרין, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן דורון כהן, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב יאיר שגיא, אוניברסיטת חיפה צמרת ריקון, מכללת אורנים רוני גבע, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן רונית כהן-ספר, הטכניון – מכון טכנולוגי לישראל רות שרץ-שובל, מכון ויצמן עורך חוברת זו: דורון כהן עורך הסדרה: אלון קורנגרין עריכה גרפית: רונית כהן-ספר צילום: איילת אניסמן |באר שבע 79 מאי 2026נשארים ברחובות 2 (23) 80צילום: אלון קורנגרין | תל אביב

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Published August 4, 2023

We are no longer accepting signatures for this petition. Please see our new petition,
Genocide is Plausible: No More Arms to Israel.

The Elephant in the Room

We, academics, clergy, and other public figures from Israel/Palestine and abroad, call attention to the direct link between Israel’s recent attack on the judiciary and its illegal occupation of millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian people lack almost all basic rights, including the right to vote and protest. They face constant violence: this year alone, Israeli forces have killed over 190 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and demolished over 590 structures. Settler vigilantes burn, loot, and kill with impunity.

Without equal rights for all, whether in one state, two states, or in some other political framework, there is always a danger of dictatorship. There cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid, as Israeli legal experts have described it. Indeed, the ultimate purpose of the judicial overhaul is to tighten restrictions on Gaza, deprive Palestinians of equal rights both beyond the Green Line and within it, annex more land, and ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population. The problems did not start with the current radical government: Jewish supremacism has been growing for years and was enshrined in law by the 2018 Nation State Law.

American Jews have long been at the forefront of social justice causes, from racial equality to abortion rights, but have paid insufficient attention to the elephant in the room: Israel’s long-standing occupation that, we repeat, has yielded a regime of apartheid. As Israel has grown more right-wing and come under the spell of the current government’s messianic, homophobic, and misogynistic agenda, young American Jews have grown more and more alienated from it. Meanwhile, American Jewish billionaire funders help support the Israeli far right. 

In this moment of urgency and also possibility for change, we call on leaders of North American Jewry – foundation leaders, scholars, rabbis, educators – to

1.       Support the Israeli protest movement, yet call on it to embrace equality for Jews and Palestinians within the Green Line and in the OPT. 

2.       Support human rights organizations which defend Palestinians and provide real-time information on the lived reality of occupation and apartheid.

3.       Commit to overhaul educational norms and curricula for Jewish children and youth in order to provide a more honest appraisal of Israel’s past and present.

4.       Demand from elected leaders in the United States that they help end the occupation, restrict American military aid from being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and end Israeli impunity in the UN and other international organizations.

No more silence. The time to act is now.

List of signatories

Congregations

1.       Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia

Academics, clergy, public figures

1.       Shira Klein, Associate Professor of History,Chapman University2.       Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust andGenocide Studies, Brown University3.       Meir Amor, Associate Professor ConcordiaUniversity (ret.) 4.       Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of Historyand Jewish Studies, Penn State University5.       David N. Myers, Professor of Jewish History,UCLA 6.       Yair Mintzker, Professor of History, PrincetonUniversity7.       Tamir Sorek, Professor, Penn State University8.       Nitzan Lebovic, Professor of History, ApterChair of Holocaust Studies, Lehigh University9.       Samuel Moyn, Professor, Yale University10.   Amos Goldberg, Research Institute ofContemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 11.   Zach Adam, Professor Emeritus, the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem12.   Sarah Stroumsa, Professor Emerita, the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem 13.   Daniel Blatman, Professor Emeritus, Departmentof Jewish History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 14.   Ella Segev, Associate Professor, the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem15.   Ben Kiernan, Professor of History, YaleUniversity (ret.) 16.   Efraim Davidi, lecturer, Tel AvivUniversity 17.   Yael Hashiloni Dolev, Professor, Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev 18.   Anat Matar, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, TelAviv University 19.   Dr. Noga Wolff, Independent Scholar 20.   Omri Boehm, Associate Professor of Philosophy,The New School for Social Research 21.   Oren Yiftachel, Professor of Geography, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev22.   Naama Meishar, Technion – Israeli Institute ofTechnology23.   Yael Sela, Research Associate, MosesMendelssohn Center, Potsdam University 24.   Yiftah Elazar, Senior Lecturer in PoliticalScience, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 25.   Dudy Tzfati, Associate Professor of Genetics,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 26.   Ofer Ashkenazi, Associate Professor of History,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 27.   Sara Helman, Associate Professor, Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev (ret.)28.   Outi Bat-El Foux, Professor Emerita, Tel AvivUniversity 29.   Benny Morris, Professor Emeritus, Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev 30.   Meron Mendel, Professor, Frankfurt Universityof Applied Sciences 31.   Yitzhak Hen, Professor, The Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem32.   Ronen Segev, Professor, Ben Gurion Universityof the Negev 33.   Uri Mor, Associate Professor, Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev34.   Michael Steinberg, Professor of History, BrownUniversity 35.   Avraham Sela, Professor Emeritus, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem 36.   Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict,and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame 37.   Jung Cyrulnik Daphna, Social Worker38.   Alon Confino, Professor of History and JewishStudies, UMass Amherst 39.   Isaac Nevo, Associate Professor, Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev40.   Raya Morag, Professor, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem 41.   Katharina Galor, Hirschfeld Senior Lecturer inJudaic Studies, Brown University42.   Guy Stroumsa, Professor Emeritus, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem & University of Oxford 43.   Dr. Tammy Razi 44.   Yosi Avron, Professor Emeritus, Technion -Israeli Institute of Technology45.   Rachel Burnett, Fellow at the Y&S NazarianCenter for Israel Studies46.   Liora Halperin, Professor, University ofWashington 47.   Steven J. Zipperstein, Daniel E. KoshlandProfessor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University 48.   Hanno Loewy, Jewish Museum Hohenems 49.   Avrum Burg, Associate Professor, former speakerof the knesset, former chairman of the Jewish Agency 50.   Abigail Jacobson, Associate Professor, TheHebrew University of Jerusalem 51.   Susan Neiman, Director, Einstein Forum 52.   David Enoch, Professor of Law and Philosophy,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 53.   Assaf Hasson, Associate Professor, Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev54.   David De Vries, Professor Emeritus, Departmentof Labor Studies, Tel Aviv University 55.   Galit Hasan-Rokem, Professor Emerita, TheHebrew University of Jerusalem, and Palestine-Israel Journal Editorial BoardMember  56.   Ron Naiweld, Centre National de la RechercheScientifique – CNRS57.    Edouard Jurkevitch, Professor, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem58.   Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Professor Emerita, TheHebrew University of Jerusalem59.   David Abraham, Professor of Law, University ofMiami 60.   David Guggenheim, Associate Professor, JohnsHopkins University61.   Ian Balfour, Professor Emeritus, YorkUniversity 62.   David Feldman, Director, Birkbeck Institute forthe Study of Antisemitism, University of London63.   Michael Rothberg, Professor of English,Comparative Literature, and Holocaust Studies, UCLA64.   Fareed Mahameed, Assistant Director, Center forTransboundary Water Management, The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies65.   Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor, The University ofChicago66.   Iris Hefets, Psychoanalyst, Berlin67.   Meir Aridor, Associate Professor of CellBiology, University of Pittsburgh 68.   Elazar Barkan, Professor, ColumbiaUniversity 69.   Atina Grossmann, Professor of History, CooperUnion, New York 70.   Dmitry Shumsky, Associate Professor of History,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 71.   Li Wai-yee, Professor of Chinese Literature,Harvard University 72.   Nina Robins, Masters Student of Global PublicHealth, New York University 73.   Hannan Hever, Professor of Jewish Studies andComparative Literature, Yale University 74.   Haim Bresheeth, Professorial ResearchAssociate, SOAS 75.   Dr. Adi Avivi76.   Avner Ben-Amos, Professor Emeritus, Tel-AvivUniversity 77.   Oded Heilbronner, Professor of History andCultural Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem78.   Ivy Sichel, Professor of Linguistics, UC SantaCruz 79.   Dr. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer, co-founder gate48and Academia for Equality, Amsterdam University College80.   Khalefah Alghanim, Graduate Student Researcher,UCLA 81.   Nomi Erteschik-Shir, Professor Emerita, BenGurion University of the Negev82.   Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Associate Professor ofEnglish, Universty of Haifa 83.   Margaret Olin, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, YaleUniversity 84.   Jacob Katriel, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry,Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology85.   Yuval Tal, Assistant Professor, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem86.   Stefan Rokem, Professor Emeritus, The HebrewUniversity – Hadassah Medical School87.   Heather Stone, Adv. 88.   Uri Horesh, Senior Lecturer in ArabicLinguistics, Achva Academic College89.   Ariel Chipman, Professor of EvolutionaryBiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem90.   Lev Grinberg, Professor Emeritus, Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev91.   Arie M. Dubnov, Max Ticktin Professor of IsraelStudies and History, George Washington University92.   Aaron Hahn Tapper, Mae and Benjamin SwigProfessor of Jewish Studies, University of San Francisco93.   Yael Poznanski, Senior Lecturer, Achva AcademicCollege94.   Oded Bein, Postdoctoral Researcher, PrincetonUniversity95.   Tamar Katriel, Professor Emerita, University ofHaifa96.   Tal Bruttmann, Researcher, Paris CergyUniversité 97.   Marcello Flores, Professor, University of Siena(ret.)98.   Nurit Peled Elhanan, Lecturer, David YellinAcademic College of Education99.   Rela Mazali, Writer, Independent Scholar,Activist100.                       Daniel Lieberman,Professor, Harvard University 101.                       Froma Zeitlin,Professor Emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature, PrincetonUniversity 102.                       Adi M. Ophir,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University 103.                       Hasia Diner,Professor Emeritus of American Jewish History, New York University104.                       David Zonsheine,Former chairperson of B’Tselem and Courage to Refuse 105.                       Yuri Pines,Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem106.                       Avigail Arnheim,Musical Director107.                       Dr. TheodorBughici108.                       Robert A. Slayton,Professor Emeritus, Chapman University109.                       Diana KormosBuchwald, Professor of History, Caltech110.                       Ronald Zweig, TaubProfessor of Israel Studies (Emeritus), New York University111.                       Itzik Goldberger,Adjunct Professor, Saint Mary’s College112.                       David M.Mittelman, Assistant Professor of Portuguese, United States Air Force Academy(personal speech, not a statement on behalf of the U.S. Government or anyagency) 113.                       Yael Niv,Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Princeton University114.                       Ze’ev Rosenkranz,Senior Editor, California Institute of Technology115.                       Eyal Landman,Architect and Masters Student, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design 116.                       Hannah Safran,Haifa Feminist Research Center117.                       Bennett Simon,Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, Harvard University118.                       Marion Kaplan,Professor Emerita of Modern Jewish History, New York University 119.                       Dr. Ira Avneri,Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem120.                       Renee Poznanski,Professor Emerita, Ben Gurion University of the Negev 121.                       Mark Roseman,Distinguished Professor, Indiana University Bloomington122.                       Lawrence Baron,Emeritus Professor, San Diego State University123.                       Joseph Zernik,Human Rights Alert NGO124.                       Ran Zwigenberg,Associate Professor of Asian Studies, History, and Jewish Studies, Penn StateUniversity125.                       Phyllis Albert,Local Affiliate, Center for European Studies. Harvard University126.                       Allon M Klein,Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School 127.                       Einor Cervone,Associate Curator, Denver Art Museum128.                       Anjuska Weil,former member of parliament, Canton of Zurich129.                       RanenOmer-Sherman, Endowed Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Louisville 130.                       Yair Wallach,Reader in Israeli Studies, SOAS, University of London 131.                       Ron Barkai,Professor, Tel Aviv University132.                       Rogers Brubaker,Professor of Sociology, UCLA 133.                       Liron Mor,Associate Professor, UC Irvine 134.                       MordechaiFeingold, Van Nuys Page Professor of History of Science and the Humanities,Caltech135.                       Roberta Apfel,Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School 136.                       Judith Zeitlin,William R. Kenan, Jr Professor, University of Chicago137.                       Carolyn Dean,Professor, Yale University138.                       Kenneth B. Moss,Professor, University of Chicago 139.                       HelaineBlumenthal, Ph.D. 140.                       Ziva Galili,Emerita Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University 141.                       Nili Gesser,Postdoctoral Fellow, Drexel University 142.                       Ian Barnard,Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, Chapman University 143.                       Shaul Magid,Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College 144.                       Aneil Rallin,former Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition145.                       Hagit Borer,Professor, Queen Mary University of London 146.                       Tamar Barkay,Lecturer, Tel Hai College 147.                       Avner Cohen,Professor, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey 148.                       Renate Bridenthal,Emerita Professor, The City University of New York 149.                       Nadav Amir,postdoctoral fellow, Princeton University 150.                       Eyal Sivan,Filmmaker, Independent scholar, essayist 151.                       Omer Tamuz,Professor of Economics and Mathematics, Caltech 152.                       Ruvik Horesh,Professor (retired) 153.                       Dr. Liat Tsuman,Psychoanalytic Candidate, New York University 154.                       Zamir Shatz,artist155.                       Reshef Agam-Segal,Associate Professor, Virginia Military Institute156.                       Wu Hung,Professor, University of Chicago 157.                       Ori Yehudai,Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University 158.                       Snait Gissis,Researcher & Teacher, Tel Aviv University 159.                       Teddy Fassberg,Tel Aviv University 160.                       Dr Moshe Behar,Herzlia/Manchester 161.                       Lisa Leitz,Delp-Wilkinson Professor of Peace Studies, Chapman University 162.                       Sahar Bostock, PhDcandidate, Columbia University 163.                       Nomi Stolzenberg,Professor of Law, University of Southern California 164.                       Janice Hamer,composer, Visiting Associate Professor, Swarthmore College (retired)165.                       Derek Penslar,William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University 166.                       Sherry Gorelick,Professor Emerita, Rutgers University 167.                       Ariela Gross,Distinguished Professor, UCLA School of Law 168.                       Mira Sucharov,Professor of Political Science, Carleton University 169.                       Katya Frischer, MD170.                       Irena Klepfisz,Barnard College, (retired) 171.                       J.S.Varsano,Doctor of Veterinary Medicine 172.                       Ruti Margalit,Visiting Professor, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem173.                       Amanda Bloom,Physician Associate (retired)174.                       Allon Pratt,Teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary (retired)175.                       Shai Haran,Professor, Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology 176.                       Orly Benjamin,Professor, Bar Ilan University 177.                       Aviva Halamish,Professor, The Open University of Israel 178.                       Yofi Tirosh,Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University 179.                       RachelZelnick-Abramovitz, Professor, Tel Aviv University (retired)180.                       Avi Rubin,Associate Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 181.                       Daniel DeMalach,Lecturer, Sapir Academic College 182.                       Gila Svirsky,Former CEO, New Israel Fund in Israel 183.                       Rivka Nir Grinshtein,Lecturer, The Open University of Israel 184.                       Haggai Ram,Professor of History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 185.                       Elchanan Reiner,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University 186.                       Harvey Goldberg,Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem187.                       Rotem Tellem MD,Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv University188.                       Frances Tanzer,Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture, Clark University 189.                       Rotem Geva,Lecturer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem190.                       Avihay Dorfman,Professor of Law, Tel Aviv University 191.                       Gilad Sharvit,Assistant Professor, Towson University 192.                       Rachman Chaim,Associate Professor, Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology (retired)193.                       Celia WassersteinFassberg, Professor Emerita, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem194.                       Amal Jamal,Associate Professor of Political Science, Tel Aviv University 195.                       ShiriRegev-Messalem, Associate Professor, Bar Ilan University 196.                       Chana Kronfeld,Professor of the Graduate School and Prof. Emerita, University of California,Berkeley 197.                       Anat Ascher,Lecturer and Course Coordinator in Philosophy, The Open University of Israel198.                       Roee Kibrik,Researcher, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem199.                       Anat Keidar,Social Worker200.                       Natalie Davidson,Senior Lecturer, Buchman Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University 201.                       Dr. Chemi Shiff,Head of Research, Emek Shaveh 202.                       Efrat Eizenberg,Associate Professor, Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology203.                       Maxim Reider,Journalist/Photographer 204.                       Goren Hilit,Psychologist205.                       Orr Comay, PhD,Tel Aviv University 206.                       Claude Stern,Lawyer, former Stanford DCI 2020 cohort member207.                       Dr. Suzy Ben Dori208.                       Gina Ben David,Performance Artist209.                       Dr. Chen Misgav,The Open University of Israel210.                       Yoav Di-Capua,Professor of History, The University of Texas at Austin 211.                       Mr. Gilad Melzer,Artist, Beit Berl College 212.                       Maayan Padan, PhDStudent, Bar Ilan University, Adjunct Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University of theNegev 213.                       JenniferRobertson, Professor Emerita, University of Michigan  214.                       YehoudaShenhav-Shahrabani, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University 215.                       Alma Itzhaky,research fellow, Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research, ZfLBerlin 216.                       Itamar Haritan,PhD Student, Cornell University217.                       AmnonRaz-Krakotzkin, Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev218.                       Sagit Mor,Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa 219.                       Rachel Kallus,Professor Emerita, Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology220.                       Ophira Gamliel,Lecturer in South Asian Religions, University of Glasgow221.                       Alon Marcus,Teaching faculty member, The Open University of Israel 222.                       Ido Roll,Associate Professor and Deputy Senior Vice President, Technion – IsraeliInstitute of Technology223.                       Erica Weitzman,Associate Professor, Northwestern University224.                       SimonLevis-Sullam, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice225.                       Raz Chen Morris,Associate Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem226.                       Chen Bram,Research Fellow, Truman Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem227.                       MatityahoShemoeloff, Author and poet228.                       GideonFreudenthal, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University229.                       Uri Ram, ProfessorEmeritus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 230.                       Roii Ball,Historian, University of Münster 231.                       Edith Lutz, PhD inJewish Studies232.                       David Winizki, MD,Zürich 233.                       Marcelo Svirsky,University of Wollongong, Australia 234.                       Chamutal Eitam,Humanitarian advisor MSF – Médecins Sans Frontières235.                       MichalKaiser-Livne, Psychoanalyst, Berlin236.                       Na’ama Rokem,Associate Professor, University of Chicago237.                       Jenna M Gibbs,Associate Professor of History, Florida International University 238.                       Ruth Luschnat,case worker, Berlin239.                       Rafi Greenberg,Professor, Archaeology, Tel Aviv University 240.                       Jeff Peck,Professor and Dean, City University of New York (retired) 241.                       Eran Fisher,Associate Professor, The Open University of Israel 242.                       Ruth Fruchtman,Writer and Journalist, Berlin 243.                       Leah GruenpeterGold, PhD candidate, Tel-Aviv University 244.                       Jonathan Zeitlin,Distinguished Faculty Professor of Public Policy and Governance Emeritus,University of Amsterdam 245.                       Dr. David Senesh,senior clinical psychologist246.                       Betty AmstutzGerson, teacher and writer (retired)247.                       Hadas Shintel,Lecturer in Psychology, College of Law and Business, Ramat Gan248.                       Yossi Dahan,Associate Professor, College of Law and Business, Ramat Gan 249.                       Miriam VictorySpiegel, Family Therapist, Zürich250.                       Yoav Beirach,Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology251.                       Jeffrey B Cooper,Professor Emeritus, Harvard Medical School252.                       Hadassah DanitO’Reilly, Independent Scholar of Holocaust and Genocide253.                       Naomi Tauber,Clinical psychologist254.                       Patrick Barnard,Journalist255.                       Chiara Adorisio,Associate Professor of Philosophical Anthropology, La Sapienza University256.                       Shaul Mitelpunkt,Department of History, University of York257.                       Nadav Assor,Associate Professor of Art, Connecticut College258.                       Dorit Peleg,writer259.                       Hagar DrorMaliniek, Clinical Psychologist260.                       Naomi Weiner,Professor, David Yellin Academic College261.                       Amir Locker-Biletzki,Independent Scholar262.                       Paul Osman,Associate Professor, Harvard University 263.                       Kobi Peterzil,Professor, University of Haifa264.                       Geri Müller,President, Association Swiss Palestine, Baden, Switzerland265.                       Lily Koliner, PhDstudent, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem266.                       Sharon Peled,Candidate, The Institute For Psychoanalytic Training And Research, NY267.                       Dr. Lia Eshet,Family physician268.                       Jill Hamberg,Retired Assistant Professor, State University of New York, Empire StateUniversity269.                       Ian Lustick, BessW. Heyman Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania270.                       Tahel Gover,Academic Librarian, University of Haifa271.                       Hadar Ahuvia,Choreographer, Rabbinical Student, Hebrew College272.                       Robert Cohen,Writer273.                       Nira Yuval-Davis,Professor Emeritus, University of East London274.                       Neta Stahl,Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University275.                       Sasha Senderovich,Associate Professor of Slavic and Jewish Studies, University of WashingtonSeattle276.                       Helena DesivilyaSyna, Professor Emerita, Yezreel Valley College277.                       Aram Ziai,Professor in Political Science, University of Kassel278.                       Dan W Wasserman,Graduate student, Bar-Ilan University279.                       Yanay Israeli,Assistant Professor, University of Michigan280.                       MichaelStanislawski, Nathan J. Miller Professor of History, Columbia University281.                       Clement Segal,Middle-Eastern Studies, Science Po Grenoble282.                       Barry Cohen,Associate Dean, Ying Wu College of Computing, New Jersey Institute ofTechnology (retired)283.                       Tova Benjamin, PhDCandidate, New York University284.                       Vanessa Tor,Theater Director285.                       Mikhal Dekel,Distinguished Professor, City College of New York286.                       John P Pittman,Associate Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University ofNew York287.                       Joshua Schreier,Professor of History, Vassar College288.                       Susan Shapiro,Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst289.                       Alana M. Vincent,Associate Professor, History of Religion, Umeå University290.                       Joshua Shanes,Professor, College of Charleston291.                       Michael G Levine,Professor, Rutgers University292.                       Allison Mickel,Associate Professor of Anthropology, Lehigh University293.                       JonathanBuchsbaum, Professor Emeritus, Media Studies, Queens College, City Universityof New York294.                       Dan Simon,Professor of Law and Psychology, University of Southern California295.                       Avner Baz,Professor, Tufts University296.                       Mordehai AmihaiBivas, Ambassador (retired)297.                       David Haig,Professor, Harvard University298.                       Rachel KapeliukAzgad, Psychoanalyst299.                       Avivit BallasBaranes, Artist and Lecturer300.                       Clifford Kulwin,Rabbi Emeritus, Temple B’nai Abraham, Livingston, NJ301.                       Dor Yaccobi, PhDCandidate, Tel Aviv University302.                       Nathaniel Berman,Professor, Religious Studies, Brown University303.                       Sam Fleischacker,LAS Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago304.                       Avner Wishnitzer,Professor of Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University305.                       VarditRispler-Chaim, Associate Professor, University of Haifa (retired)306.                       Anita Bardin,Director, Shiluv Family Therapy Institute (retired)307.                       Philip Prinz,Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University308.                       Dr. Einat Davidi,Senior Lecturer, University of Haifa309.                       Rivka Ribak,Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Haifa310.                       Dr. LianMalki-Schubert311.                       Joy Ladin, Writerand teacher312.                       Margaret Schabas,Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Professor, University of BritishColumbia313.                       Robert Weinberg,Professor of History, Swarthmore College314.                       Gal Gvili,Associate Professor, McGill University315.                       Tamar Shochat,Professor, University of Haifa316.                       Nora North, NYCDepartment of Education (retired)317.                       Anat Prior,Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa318.                       Frances Geteles,Professor Emerita, City College, NY319.                       Anna Gutgarts,Research Member, University of Haifa320.                       David Hall,Illustrator321.                       Edna Gorney,Lecturer, Haifa University (retired)322.                       Alan Tansman,Professor, University of California, Berkeley323.                       Paula Varsano,Professor, University of California, Berkeley324.                       Dr Yohai Hakak,Senior Lecturer, Brunel University London 325.                       Michael Sfard,Human Rights Lawyer326.                       Ayla Matalon,Former Lecturer, Technion MBA Program327.                       Linda Dirtmar,Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts328.                       Pamela Burdman,Executive Director, Just Equations329.                       Dorit Avnir,Doctor of Arts, Art Therapist330.                       Ruth Ben-Artzi,Associate Professor of Political Science, Providence College331.                       Pini Herman, PastResearch Associate Professor, University of Southern California 332.                       Rawia Aburabia,Assistant Professor of Law, Sapir Academic College333.                       Danny Rubinstein,Journalist and author334.                       DoritBarchana-Lorand, Kibbutzim College of Education and the Arts335.                       Naftali Kaminski,Professor of Medicine, Yale University336.                       Natasha Gordinsky,Senior lecturer, University of Haifa337.                       Brigitte Hahn,Technion-Israel Institute of Technology338.                       Shelley Berlowitz,PhD, Alumna University of Konstanz339.                       Zur Shalev,Professor, University of Haifa340.                       Sheer Ganor,Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities341.                       Leon Duveen, ChairLib Dems (UK) for Peace in the Middle East342.                       Elisabeth Goldwyn,Professor, Haifa University343.                       Patrick Macklem,Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Toronto344.                       Shir Alon,Assistant professor, the University of Minnesota345.                       Ori Goldberg,Assistant Professor, Reichman University346.                       Nadje Al-Ali,Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies, Watson Institute forInternational & Public Affairs347.                       Marc Caplan, (APL)Professor, Heinrich-Heine University348.                       Batja P.Guggenheim-Ami, Professor emeritus, FHSG St.Gall Switzerland349.                       Menachem Elimelech,Professor, Yale University350.                       Laura Levitt,Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies, and Gender, Temple University351.                       Moshe Zuckermann,Professor of History and Philosophy, Tel Aviv University352.                       Alessandro Treves,Professor, SISSA, Trieste353.                       David Blanc, Professorof Mathematics, University of Haifa354.                       Jeremiah Riemer,former Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced InternationalStudies355.                       Edy Kaufman,Professor, M.A. Peace and Conflict Management, University of Haifa356.                       Elly Levy,Attorney357.                       Mark Fichman, AssociateProfessor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University358.                       Cara Rock-Singer,Assistant Professor, UW Madison359.                       Iris Kaminski,Environmental Scientist, New Haven360.                       Michael Hiller,Former board member, Grundrechtekomitee (Committee for Basic Rights)361.                       Andras Hamori,Professor Emeritus, Princeton University362.                       Sandro Ventura,Psychiatrist363.                       A. Kedem, PhDstudent, Hifa University364.                       Seth Schwartz,Professor of History and Classics, Columbia University365.                       Ellen Weiss,Children’s book author366.                       Nir Friedman,Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem367.                       Steve Fassberg,Professor of Hebrew Language, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem368.                       Amos Laor, Laborunion lawyer369.                       Dennis Jett,Professor, Penn State University370.                       Benny Miller,Professor of International Relations, Haifa University371.                       Itamar Shachar,Assistant Professor of Sociology, Hasselt University372.                       Or Simovitch, ArtsEducator373.                       Ran Shauli,Faculty member, Bar Ilan University374.                       Marcos Silber,Associate Professor, Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa375.                       Alice Robinson,Psychotherapist376.                       Israel Charny,Professor of Psychology Hebrew University (retired)377.                       Uri Amir Koren,PhD student, Rutgers University378.                       Itamar Kastner,Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh379.                       Gil Gambash,Professor, University of Haifa380.                       Mark Siegel,Professor, Yale University381.                       Richard Strier,Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago382.                       Sigall Horovitz,Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem383.                       Candice Breitz,Professor, HBK Braunschweig, Germany384.                       Mabel StilmanKolesas, Librarian385.                       Ram Reshef, Seniorlecturer, University of Haifa386.                       Dr. BarbaraLandau, Lawyer, Psychologist, Mediator, Co-founder J-Link International Network& Co-Chair Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims387.                       Baruch Eitam,Associate Professor, University of Haifa388.                       MarianneHirschberg, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Kassel, Germany389.                       Claire Bergen,Rabbinic Student, International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism390.                       Sandra Meiri,Senior Lecturer Emerita, The Open University of Israel391.                       Zackary Berger, AssociateProfessor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Core Faculty, JohnsHopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics392.                       Igal Ezraty, JaffaTheatre Director393.                       Michal Kofman,Associate Professor (Term) of sociology, University of Louisville394.                       Avraham Oz, Professor,University of Haifa395.                       Jacob Nissim, Adv.396.                       Sima Godfrey,Associate Professor Emerita, University of British Columbia397.                       David Harel,Professor, The Weizmann Institute, and President, Israel Academy of Sciencesand Humanities398.                       Rabbi ChaimSeidler-Feller, UCLA399.                       Enzo Traverso,Professor of History and Romance Studies, Cornell University400.                       Richard Levy,Labor and Civil Rights Attorney401.                       Andrew F. Jones,Professor of Chinese, University of California, Berkeley402.                       James Young,Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst403.                       Merav Amir, SeniorLecturer of Human Geography, Queen’s University Belfast404.                       Umit Kurt,Professor, University of Newcastle405.                       Michelle Shwartz,Teacher (retired)406.                       Kenneth Kotovsky,Professor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University407.                       Paul Scham,Associate Research Professor, University of Maryland408.                       Y. L. Al-Sheikh,Palestinian-American Member of Democratic Socialists of America409.                       NellHirschmann-Levy, Esq., lawyer410.                       Joel Beinin,Donald J. Mclachlan Profesor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University411.                       Sheryl Nestel,Affiliated Scholar, New College, University of Toronto412.                       Mical Raz,Professor of History and Clinical Medicine, University of Rochester413.                       Max Finkel,Masters of Israel Studies, Brooklyn Law School414.                       Ariel Katz,Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto415.                       Max Lahn, PhDStudent, University of Michigan416.                       Sara Roy, CenterFor Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University417.                       Sadu Nanjundiah,Professor of Physics, Chaudhary Charan Singh University418.                       Martha Schoolman,Associate Professor of English, Florida International University419.                       Lawrence Davidson,Professor Emeritus, West Chester University420.                       Audrey Macklin,Professor of Law, University of Toronto421.                       CedricCohen-Skalli, Senior Lecturer, The University of Haifa422.                       Schneur Newfield,Assistant Professor, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University ofNew York423.                       Miriam Zucker,Researcher, Adjunct Professor, York University424.                       Dr. Andrea Siegel,Jewish Studies Scholar, Chaplain, Psychotherapist425.                       Ruth Fallenbaum,PhD426.                       Yaron Klein,Associate Professor, Carleton College427.                       Ido Bermanis, DMD428.                       Dorothy Burlage,Clinical Psychologist429.                       Melissa F. Weiner,Professor Of Sociology, College of The Holy Cross430.                       Marcia Newfield,Adjunct Lecturer, Professional Staff Congress, City University of New York(retired)431.                       Nancy Burke, CoreFaculty, Past President, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis432.                       Deborah Dwork,Director Of The Center For The Study of The Holocaust, Genocide, And CrimesAgainst Humanity, Graduate Center—City University of New York433.                       Ayalah ShapiroBivas, Psychoanalyst, Contemporary Freudian Society434.                       Dr. Orna Kenan,Lecturer, UCLA (retired)435.                       Deborah Cowen,Professor, University of Toronto436.                       Sherman Teichman,Founding Executive Director Emeritus, Institute for Global Leadership, TuftsUniversity437.                       Mauro Saccol, PhD,University of Genoa438.                       Jeremy Ginges,Professor, London School of Economics And Political Science439.                       Yulia Gilich, PhD440.                       ZacharyBraiterman, Professor, Syracuse University441.                       Marc Gopin, JamesLaue Professor, George Mason University442.                       Yaakov Lipsker,PhD Candidate, Jewish Theological Seminary443.                       Yoav Duman,Professor, Green River College444.                       Sirmichael T.Cianci, Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University SAIS445.                       Nir Arielli,Associate Professor, University of Leeds446.                       Menashe Anzi,Professor, Ben-Gurion University447.                       Karin Loevy,manager JSD Program at New York University School of Law, Researcher at theInstitute for International Law and Justice, New York University School of Law448.                       Alma Ganihar,Writer449.                       Samir L. Iranee,MBA, Sprachen-Unidozent In Frankfurt Am Main450.                       Henry Reichman,Professor Emeritus of History, California State University, East Bay451.                       Revital Madar,Research Fellow, European University Institute452.                       Dana Arieli,Professor, Holon Institute of Technology453.                       Oded Ezer,Professor, Design Faculty, Holon Institute of Technology454.                       Emily Sun,Associate Professor, Barnard College455.                       Anat Katsir,Professor, Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design Jerusalem456.                       Hazem Malhas,Engineer and Activist in Protecting Natural and Human Heritage457.                       Yoav Shemer-Kunz,PhD, Political Scientist, University of Strasbourg458.                       Tal Nahari, PhDStudent, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem459.                       Avinoam J.Stillman, Doctoral Candidate, Freie Universität Berlin, Founding Editor ofBlima Books460.                       Willi Goetschel,Professor, University of Toronto461.                       Dr. Shlomi Ravid,Executive Director, The Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education462.                       Motti Regev,Professor, The Open University of Israel463.                       Ido Nahari,Editor, Arts of The Working Class464.                       Gaby Belz,Founding Member, Jewish Voice for Democracy and Justice In Israel/Palestine465.                       Gwyn Daniel,Psychotherapist and Trainer466.                       JonathanPreminger, Faculty, Cardiff University467.                       Elad Lapidot,Professor, The University of Lille468.                       Ilan Pappe,Professor, University of Exeter, UK469.                       Nora Rubel,Associate Professor, University of Rochester470.                       Stav Zeitouni,Doctoral student, New York University471.                       AmnonBeeri-Sulitzeanu, CO-CEO, The Abraham Initiatives472.                       Avner Giladi,Professor Emeritus, University of Haifa473.                       Brooke Maddux, PhDCandidate, Université de Reims, France474.                       Carola Mathers,Jungian Analyst475.                       David Bollag, MD476.                       Avi Shlaim,Professor Emeritus, The University of Oxford477.                       Clea McNeely,Research Professor, University of Tennessee478.                       JochiWeil-Goldstein, Ina Autra Senda – Swiss Friends of Combatants for Peace479.                       Hadas Reshef, PhDStudent, Freie Universität Berlin480.                       Rabbi JeanetteFriedman Sieradski, Publisher, The Wordsmithy LLC.481.                       Larisa Fialkova,Associate Professor, Dept. of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University ofHaifa482.                       Nerina Cecchin,PhD483.                       Yonatan Sagiv,Research Associate, SOAS University, London484.                       Steven Knoblauch,Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor, New York University Postdoctoral Programin Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis485.                       Yaudat Mustafa,Professional Engineer486.                       Eleanor Roffman,Professor Emerita, Lesley University487.                       Rivka Jaussi,Poetess488.                       Guy Levi, LearningInnovation Expert489.                       Mardge Cohen MD,Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program 490.                       Marina Calculli,PhD, Columbia University and Leiden University491.                       Gilad Halpern,Journalist, Broadcaster, Media Historian492.                       Dallas R. Scouton,PhD, Brandeis University493.                       Ofer Tur-Sinai,Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Ono Academic College494.                       Derek BrianGripper, Artist, Researcher, Lecturer of Maths Education 495.                       Nadia Zeldes,Senior Researcher, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev496.                       Miryam Segal,Associate Professor, Queens College and the City University of New YorkGraduate Center  497.                       Dror Feiler,Chairperson for European Jews for a Just Peace498.                       Suzanne Kallala,Lecturer, College of North West London499.                       Charles Weed,Professor Emeritus, Keene State College 500.                       Amira Katz,Faculty Emeritus of the Department of Asian Studies, Hebrew University ofJerusalem501.                       Shachar Pinsker,Professor, University of Michigan502.                       Phyllis Ewen,Artist503.                       Jan Gross,Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University504.                       Rebecca Lesses,Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Ithaca College505.                       Dirk Moses,Professor, City College of New York506.                       Elizabeth BergerMD, Associate Clinical Professor, George Washington University507.                       Antony Lerman,Senior Fellow, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue508.                       Liat Naeh,Academic and Writer509.                       Rochelle Tobias,Professor of German, Johns Hopkins University510.                       Ofer ShinarLevanon, PhD511.                       David Rohrlich,Professor, Boston University512.                       Paul Cotton,Physician (retired)513.                       GhislaineBoulanger, Psychologist and Psychoanalyst514.                       Arturo Marzano,Associate Professor, University of Pisa515.                       Dov Waxman,Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Professor of Israel Studies, UCLA516.                       David Laibman,Professor Emeritus of Economics, Brooklyn College and City University of NewYork517.                       Aryeh Cohen,Professor, American Jewish University 518.                       Jerome Bourdon,Professor, Tel Aviv University519.                       Shana Sippy,Associate Professor of Religion, Centre College520.                       Judith Gerson,Professor Emerita, Rutgers University521.                       Michal Aviad,Professor, Tel Aviv University522.                       Rabbi MichalMorris Kamil, Community Rabbi523.                       David Biale,Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UC Davis524.                       Ezequiel Kopel,Journalist and Author525.                       Magali SarfattiLarson, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Temple University526.                       MiriamEliav-Feldon, Professor, Tel Aviv University527.                       Irene Gendzier,Professor, Boston University (retired)528.                       Orli Avi-Yonah,PhD, Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School529.                       Jordan Pollack,Professor, Brandeis University530.                       Nitsan Chorev,Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, BrownUniversity 531.                       Teresa Bailey,Consultant and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist532.                       Karen Klein MD,Physician533.                       Nancy Stern,Professor, City College of New York, City University of New York534.                       Elsa Auerbach,Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston535.                       David Wakstein,Artist 536.                       Galit WeidmanSassoon, PhD537.                       Leah Cohen,Barrett Professor of Creative Writing, College of the Holy Cross 538.                       Osvaldo Golijov,Professor of Music, College of the Holy Cross539.                       Anna Koch,Teaching Fellow, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UniversityCollege London540.                       Dana Grabelsky,Doctoral Candidate in Philosophy, City University of New York Graduate Center541.                       Yitzhak Melamed,Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University542.                       Irwin FordRosenfarb, Professor, Alliant International University543.                       Amy Pett, PhD544.                       Joshua Gritz,Graduate Architecture Student, Parsons School of Design 545.                       HannahPollin-Galay, Senior Lecturer, Tel Aviv University546.                       Kevin Avruch,Professor Emeritus, George Mason University 547.                       Alexander Elinson,Associate Professor, Hunter College, City University of New York548.                       Michelle Golden,Special Educator549.                       Ella Levitt,Independent Art Theorist550.                       Maya Herman,Sociology PhD Student, New School for Social Research551.                       Adele Diamond,Canada Research Chair Tier 1 and Professor, University of BritishColumbia 552.                       Marianne Hirsch,Professor Emerita, Columbia University553.                       Anna Bikont,Writer554.                       Hagar Salamon,Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem555.                       Diane L. Wolf,Professor Emerita of Sociology, UC Davis556.                       John Torpey,Presidential Professor of Sociology and History, Graduate Center, CityUniversity of New York557.                       Ben Ratskoff,Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish History and Culture, Hebrew UnionCollege-Jewish Institute of Religion558.                       Jean-Marc Dreyfus,Professor, The University of Manchester (UK)559.                       ChristinePagnoulle, Honorary Senior Lecturer, the University of Liège 560.                       Michael Meranze,Professor of History, UCLA561.                       Benjamin CarterHett, Professor of History, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CityUniversity of New York562.                       Anna Hájková,Associate Professor, University of Warwick 563.                       Helen Deutsch,Professor of English, UCLA564.                       Galand Pierre,Professor of Universités ULB (retired)565.                       Sander Gilman,Professor Emeritus, Emory University566.                       Dr. Michele Klein,Independent Scholar567.                       Noah Asher Golden,Associate Professor of Teacher Education, California State University, LongBeach568.                       Dean Strachan, PhDCandidate, University of Chicago569.                       Sofya Aptekar,Associate Professor, City University of New York, School of Labor and UrbanStudies570.                       Heather Formaini,Psychoanalyst, Lucca, Italy571.                       Vincent Wertz,Professor, Université catholique de Louvain572.                       Katie Gentile,Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice,City University of New York573.                       Darryl E. Brock,PhD574.                       Dagmar Herzog,Professor of History, Graduate Center, City University of New York575.                       Peter Beinart,Professor, City University of New York576.                       Kathryn Russell,Professor Emerita, State University of New York Cortland577.                       Katharine Baker,PhD, Bowen Center for the Study of the Family578.                       Patrick Italiano,Researcher, University of Liege579.                       Victoria Sanford,Lehman Professor of Excellence, Lehman College and the City University of NewYork Graduate Center580.                       Jillian Rogin,Associate Professor, University of Windsor581.                       Aaron Kreuter,Assistant Professor, Trent University582.                       Daniel BertrandMonk, Professor, Colgate University583.                       Jason Appt,Instructor, Naropa University 584.                       Jess Salomon,Comedian585.          FrancescaZorzetto, Journalist & Blogger586.                       Elissa Bemporad,Professor of East European Jewish History and the Holocaust, City University ofNew York 587.                       Francesca Gorgoni,Post-Doctoral, Inalco University, France588.                       Freddie Rokem,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University589.                       Karsten Struhl,Adjunct Professor, New School for Public Engagement590.                       Steven Beller,Historian, Washington DC591.                       Molly Schiffer,PhD Student, Northwestern University592.                       Tom Weiner,retired 6th grade teacher, Smith College Campus School593.                       A. Joseph Layon,MD, Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Central Florida, Orlando594.                       Helen Raizen,co-chair, Israel Palestine Committee, Boston Workers Circle595.                       H. Patricia Hynes,Professor of Environmental Health and Justice, Boston University School ofPublic Health (retired)596.                       Joel Weisberg,Stark Professor Emeritus, Carleton College597.                       Carolyn TollOppenheim, Journalism Professor, Emerson College (retired)598.                       Kendall Gardner,PhD, University of Oxford599.                       GabrieleHourticolon, Johns Hopkins University Libraries600.                       Lila CorwinBerman, Professor of History and Murray Friedman Chair of American JewishHistory, Temple University601.                       Sid Shniad,founding member, Independent Jewish Voices Canada 602.                       Sam Shonkoff,Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union603.                       Linda Gordon,University Professor of History and the Humanities, New York University604.                       Marjorie Feld,Professor of History, Babson College605.                       Nir Shavit,Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology606.                       Joan W. Scott,Professor Emerita, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey607.                       Lynn Gottlieb,Rabbi608.                       Claudio Treves,Former Trade Union Official609.                       Dana Brooks,Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University610.                       Saeb Rawashdeh,Editor of The Jordan Times611.                       Avishai Ehrlich,Professor, The Academic College Tel Aviv-Yaffo612.                       Carole Turbin,Professor, State University of New York (retired)613.                       Rhea Tregebov,Associate Professor Emerita, University of British Columbia614.                       Lynne Layton,Psychoanalyst, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis615.                       Rowland Selame,PhD616.                       Noa Shaindlinger,Assistant Professor, Worcester State University 617.                       Robert Boikess,Professor of Chemistry, Rutgers University618.                       Rafat Sub Laban,Human Rights Defender from occupied East Jerusalem619.                       Dr. MoncefKallala, Lecturer, Hawaii Pacific University (retired)620.                       Daniel Levy,President, U.S./Middle East Project621.                       Emilio Sacerdoti,IMF senior staff member (retired), World Bank consultant622.                       Jerry Merose,Professor Emeritus, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences623.                       Warren Goldstein,Professor Emeritus History, University of Hartford 624.                       Matthew Teller,journalist and author625.                       Sahar Aziz,Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University626.                       Judy Andler J.D.627.                       Fred Block,Research Professor, UC Davis628.                       Liat Kozma,Associate Professor, Department of Islamic and Middle East Studies, The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem629.                       Carole Joffe,Professor Emerita of Sociology, UC Davis630.                       Rachel Feldman,Assistant Professor of Religion, Dartmouth College631.                       Mateo Alaluf,Professor, Free University of Brussels632.                       Stephen Soldz,Professor, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis633.                       Ronnie Lesser,PhD, Psychologist634.                       Seth Sanders,Professor, Religious Studies Department and Jewish Studies Program, UC Davis635.                       Diane B. Paul,Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston636.                       Sven-Erik Rose,Associate Professor, UC Davis637.                       Maurice Pasternak,Professer, Ecole nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre (retired)638.                       Jane Kenner,Member, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (retired)639.                       Roberta DeMonticelli, Professor, San Raffaele University, Milan and Geneva University640.                       Barbara S. Kane,Psychoanalyst641.                       Andrew Samuels,Professor and Former Chair, UK Council for Psychotherapy642.                       Stephen Portuges,PhD Psychoanalyst, New Center for Psychoanalysis643.                       Ruth Marshall,Associate Professor of Political Science/Study of Religion, University ofToronto644.                       Susan Herman, NYUPostdoctoral Program 645.                       RosalindPetchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Hunter College and the GraduateCenter, City University of New York646.                       Kobi Kabalek,Assistant Professor, Penn State University647.                       Kenneth Miller,Professor of Neuroscience, Columbia University648.                       Barbara Eisold,PhD, New York University649.                       Eyal Rozmarin,Psychologist and Psychoanalyst650.                       Brooke Lober, PhD,University of California, Berkeley651.                       Marla Stone,Professor of History, Occidental College652.                       Lawrence Moss,former Distinguished Lecturer and Rita E. Hauser Director of the Human RightsProgram, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CityUniversity of New York653.                       Virgil Mathiowetz,Board Member, Middle East Peace Now 654.                       Yehuda Aharon,Postgraduate Student, University of Western Sydney 655.                       Marci Shore,Associate Professor of History, Yale University656.                       Frank Emspak,Professor Emeritus, School for Workers, University of Wisconsin, Madison657.                       LawrenceRosenwald, Professor Emeritus of English, Wellesley College658.                       Monica L.Meerbaum, PhD, Clinical Psychologist/Psychoanalyst659.                       Cathy LisaSchneider, Professor, American University660.                       Ofra Bloch,Psychoanalyst661.                       Miriam Rürup,Director of Moses Mendelssohn Center, Professor, University of Potsdam662.                       Peter Klein,PhD 663.                       Judy Somberg,Retired Attorney664.                       Miko Zeldes-Roth,PhD Student, University of Toronto665.                       Donald W. Wood,Lecturer, Oklahoma State University666.                       Marika Sosnowski,Research Fellow, Melbourne Law School667.                       Juan Cole,Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan668.                       Alon Friedman,Professor, Dalhousie University669.                       Riaz Tejani,Associate Professor, University of Redlands670.                       Susan Gutwill,Faculty, Women’s Therapy Centre Institute and Center for the Study ofPsychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey 671.                       Cheryl Pearlman,Psychotherapist672.                       Syvanne Avitzur,Public and International Affairs MA Candidate, University of Ottawa673.                       Lawrence Blum,Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston674.                       Adrienne Harris,Psychoanalyst675.                       Erica Schoenberg,PhD, Psychoanalyst 676.                       Philip Joseph,Associate Professor of English, University of Colorado Denver677.                       Dr. Steven Wagner,Senior Lecturer in International Security, Brunel University London678.                       Stanley Habib,Professor Emeritus, City University of New York679.                       Alexander YonkelPerelson, PhD Student, Binghamton University680.                       Jaap Hamburger,Chairman, A Different Jewish Voice, Amsterdam 681.                       EinavRabinovitch-Fox, Lecturer of History, Case Western Reserve University 682.                       Linda Arkin,Licensed clinical social worker683.                       Jason Stanley,Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, Yale University684.                       Gina Glasman,Lecturer of Judaic Studies, State University of New York Binghamton685.                       Kathryn Levy, Poet686.                       Denni Liebowitz,Psychoanalyst and Clinical Social Worker, Psychoanalytic Institute of NorthernCalifornia687.                       Michael Dahan,Senior Lecturer, Sapir College688.                       Marilynn Gillies,Nursing Teacher (retired)689.                       Steven Reisner,PhD Psychoanalyst690.                       Oded Erez,Assistant Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 691.                       Avraham Milgram,Former Historian, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem692.                       Gershon Baskin,PhD, Founder, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information 693.                       Nancy Hollander,Member and Faculty, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California694.                       Renata Segre,Independent historian695.                       Mor Geller, PhDStudent, Hebrew University of Jerusalem696.                       Larry Stillman,Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University697.                       Adina Stern,Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University Berlin698.                       Benjamin Arbel,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University699.                       Jawed Siddiqi,Emeritus Professor, Sheffield Hallam700.                       Ameen Abu-Hanna,Professor, University of Amsterdam701.                       Claude Veraart,Professor Emeritus, Université Catholique de Louvain702.                       Assaf David, TheVan Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Forum for Regional Thinking703.                       Umayya Abu-Hanna,Author704.                       Talma Bar-Din,Feminist Activist705.                       Thaera Shadid,Project Coordinator, PLO706.                       A. Archie Wolfman,Doctoral Researcher, Queen Mary University of London707.                       Dania Thomas,Lecturer, University of Glasgow708.                       Corey Balsam,National Coordinator, Independent Jewish Voices Canada709.                       Shakhar Rahav,Senior Lecturer, University of Haifa710.                       Nadira Omarjee,Research Fellow, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 711.                       Ides Nicaise,Professor Emeritus, KU Leuven712.                       Frank Roels MD,Professor Emeritus, Ghent University713.                       Frans Daems,Professor Emeritus of Dutch Linguistics, University of Antwerp714.                       Bronwen Morgan,Professor of Law, University of New South Wales Sydney715.                       Susan Bernofsky,Professor, Columbia University716.                       Willie Van Peer,Full Professor, University of Munich717.                       Alain Schmitt,Doctor (retired)718.                       Gal Levy, Seniorteaching faculty, The Open University of Israel 719.                       Karel Arnaut,Associate Professor, KU Leuven720.                       Raphael Van Laere,Royal Academy for Archaeology of Belgium721.                       Gill Knight, UniteCommunity Officer Sussex Coast Branch722.                       Timothy Snyder,Levin Professor of History and Public Affairs, Yale University 723.                       Giorgio Gomel,President, Alliance for Middle East Peace, Europe724.                       Sandra Fox,Visiting Assistant Professor, New York University725.                       Marc David,Professor Emeritus, Universiteit Antwerpen726.                       StefanieSchüler-Springorum, Director, Center for Research on Antisemitism727.                       Ali Hariri,Therapist728.                       Dalal Iriqat,Assistant Professor, Arab American University Palestine 729.                       Dana RonGoldreich, Professor, Tel Aviv University730.                       Esther Cohen,Professor Emerita, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem731.                       Lieve Franssen,Music Pedagogue, High School of Teachers, Brussels (retired)732.                       E. NatalieRothman, Professor, University of Toronto733.                       Oded Goldreich,Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel734.                       Giovanni Picker,PhD, Lecturer, University of Glasgow735.                       Jay Yair Brodbar,PhD, former ED, New Israel Fund of Canada, Mazon Canada736.                       Herman De Ley,Professor Emeritus, Ghent University, Berline737.                       Yali Hashash, PhD738.                       Matthew Girson,Professor, DePaul University739.                       Evan Goldstein,PhD Candidate, Yale University740.                       Ian Mutchnick, MD,MS, Assistant Professor Pediatric Neurosurgery, University of Louisville andNorton Neuroscience Institute741.                       Joshua Fogel,Professor of History, York University742.                       AnnickSuzor-Weiner, Professor Emeritus, Univerrsité Paris-Saclay, France743.                       Anna Zalik,Associate Professor, York University, Canada744.                       Henrique Samet,Adjunct Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro 745.                       Laura Kogel,Psychotherapist, Faculty, Women’s Therapy Centre Institute746.                       Eric Corijn,Professor, Free Universty, Brussels747.                       David Cannon,Chair, Jewish Network for Palestine, United Kingdom748.                       Wayne Lencer,Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School749.                       Zohar Alon, MiddleSchool Teacher, Amos Oz Tel Aviv750.                       Caren Shapiro,LCSW, MFS751.                       Deborah DashMoore, Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History and Judaic Studies,University of Michigan752.                       RussellVandenbroucke, Professor, University of Louisville753.                       Janet Gyatso,Academic Dean, Harvard Divinity School754.                       Bertram Silverman,Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University755.                       Marie-FranceSilver, Professor, York University756.                       Elio Luiz Mauer,Universidade Federal do Paraná (retired)757.                       Fania Fridman,Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro758.                       Zohar Segev,Professor, University of Haifa759.                       Yoel Lubell,Professor, Nuffiled Department of Medicine, Unversity of Oxford760.                       Lynne Smith,Director, New Village Press761.                       Evelyne Reberg,Children’s Book Author762.                       Naama Brenner,Professor, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology763.                       Beverly Voloshin,Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University; Visiting Professor, Al-QudsBard College764.                       Lawrence Brown,Fellow Emeritus, Faculty, William Alanson White Institute765.                       Peter Chidiac,Professor, University of Western Ontario766.                       Brian Kasher,Curator, Images of Global Peace767.                       Kathryn KishSklar, Distinguished Professor of History, Emerita, State University of NewYork Binghamton768.                       Ari Ariel,Associate Professor of Instruction, University of Iowa769.                       Tom Zoellner,Professor of English, Chapman University770.                       Michael Kagan,Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas771.                       Paulina Roitman,Psychologist772.                       Arthur Silver,Associate Professor, History, University of Toronto (retired)773.                       Samuel Wiener, MD774.                       Claudio Rotenberg,Psychoanalyst775.                       Gershon Shafir,Distinguished Professor, University of California, San Diego 776.                       Ruth Rosen,Professor Emerita, University of California Davis777.                       James Berger,Senior Lecturer, Yale University778.                       Annapurna Menon,Teaching Associate, University of Sheffield 779.                       Amir Theilhaber,Post-Doc, Bielefeld University780.                       Steven Delue,Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Miami University781.                       H. Homedan, MD782.                       Gilad Isaacs,Executive Director, Institute for Economic Justice, University of the Witwatersrand783.                       Judith Smith,Professor Emerita of American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston784.                       Aviel Verbruggen,Professor Emeritus, University of Antwerp785.                       Erez Braun,Professor, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology786.                       Claire Kahane,Professor Emerita, University at Buffalo787.                       Daphna Baram, PhDResearcher, Lancaster University788.                       Jonathan Portes,Professor of Economics and Public Policy, King’s College London789.                       Naomi Scheman,Professor Emerita of Philosophy, University of Minnesota790.                       Debra Morrow, PhD,Psychologist 791.                       Shimon Marom,Professor, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology792.                       Reine Meylaerts,Full Professor, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven793.                       Rachel Aisengart,Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro794.                       Daniel Disegni,Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev795.                       Robin Margo,Former President, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies; NIF Australia796.                       Diana B.Greenwald, Assistant Professor, City College of New York797.                       Michael Barnett,University Professor of international Affairs and Political Science, George WashingtonUniversity798.                       Patricia Willson,Université de Liège, Universidad de Buenos Aires799.                       Dan Fischer,Jewish Educator, Sinai Synagogue800.                       Huw Price,Emeritus Bertrand Russell Professor, University of Cambridge 801.                       Brett Kaplan,Professor, University of Illinois802.                       Smadar Ben-Natan,PhD803.                       Thomas Cox,Brooklyn For Peace804.                       Leslie Eastman,Senior Lecturer, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University805.                       Stephen Benson,Member, Psychologists for Social Responsibility806.                       AngelaGodfrey-Goldstein, Co-director, Jahalin Solidarity807.                       Walda Katzfishman,Professor, Howard University (retired)808.                       Nina Allen, SeniorLecturer, Suffolk University (retired)809.                       Karl Klare,Matthews Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University School of Law810.                       Jasmin Habib,Professor, Political Science & Anthropology, University of Waterloo811.                       Rebecca L. Stein,Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University812.                       Larry Goldsmith,Professor of English Letters, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México813.                       Sam Friedman,Research Professor, New York University Grossman School of Medicine 814.                       Barak Mendelsohn,Professor, Haverford College815.                       Rachel Levitsky,Professor, Pratt Institute816.                       Marion Lipshutz,MA, MSLIS817.                       Jennifer Selwyn,Adjunct Associate Professor of History, Portland State University818.                       Judith Plaskow,Professor Emerita, Manhattan College819.                       Jessica Cohen,Independent Translator, Denver820.                       Renée Steinhagen,Public Interest Attorney, New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center821.                       Karen Dias,Psychologist, San Francisco822.                       MargueriteFeitlowitz, Professor Emerita, Bennington College823.                       Michele Landsberg,Columnist (retired)824.                       Alice Shaw,Psychoanalyst/Psychologist, Faculty, Psychoanalytic Institute of NorthernCalifornia825.                       Beatriz Radunsky,Programmer in the Performing Arts Area826.                       David Zyngier,Associate Professor, Southern Cross University, Australia827.                       Bradley Burston,Journalist828.                       Diane ArnsonSvarlien, Translator829.                       José Hamra Sassón,Babelica Program Coordinator, Instituto de Estudios Críticos830.                       Paul Blain Levy,Reader, University of Birmingham831.                       Peter Slezak,Honorary Associate Professor, University of New South Wales832.                       Letty CottinPogrebin, Writer and Activist833.                       Aidan McQuade,PhD, Writer834.                       Ron Meir,Professor, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology835.                       Ahmed Abbes,Director of Research, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques836.                       Daniel Boyarin,Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture Emeritus, UC Berkeley837.                       Martin Kemp,Psychoanalyst838.        FerruccioMartinelli, Operations Manager, Bocconi University839.                       Christine Schmidt,Licensed clinical social worker, CGP840.                       Rev. Lilian Patey841.                       Colin Purkey,Physics Lecturer, College of North West London842.                       Camilla Wasserman,Senior Research Specialist, Karolinska Institutet843.                       Jean-MarcLévy-Leblond, Professor Emeritus, Université de Nice844.                       Jerise Fogel,Adjunct Professor, Montclair State University845.                       Heather L Munro,Lecturer in Social Anthropology, King’s College London846.                       Andrea Balduzzi,Researcher, Genoa University, Italy (retired)847.                       Mohammad Fadel,Professor, University of Toronto848.                       Sara Thabit,Associate Researcher, Tallinn University of Technology849.                       Cheryl Qamar,Licensed clinical social worker850.                       Bruno Contini,Professor Emeritus, University of Torino851.                       MP Fristot,Teacher (retired)852.                       Hassan Jijakli,Professor, Université Libre de Bruxelles853.                       Isabel Casimiro,Associate Professor, Eduardo Mondlane University854.                       Alon Liel, PhD,Ambassador (retired)855.                       Raya Cohen,Lecturer, Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University; Department ofSociology, University of Naples Federico II (retired)856.                       Hila Milo Rasouly,Assistant Professor, Columbia University857.                       Rafael ArayaMasry, President, Confederación Palestina Latinoamericana y del Caribe858.                       David Bartram,Sociologist, University of Leicester859.                       Ifat Levy,Professor, Yale University860.                       JacquelineGoldman, Program Director, Brown University861.                       Ilan Baruch,Ambassador (Retired), Chair, Policy Working Group862.                       Michel Ouaknine,Semiconductor Specialist and Peace Activist863.                       Jethro Eisenstein,Board Chair, JVP Boston Chapter864.                       Amanda Minervini,Assistant Professor, Colorado College865.                       Uri Schreter, PhDCandidate, Harvard University866.                       Rosalind Edwards,Professor, University of Southampton867.                       Lex Takkenberg,Senior Advisor on the Question of Palestine, Arab Renaissance for Democracy andDevelopment 868.                       Roy Bar Sadeh,Postdoctoral Fellow, Free University of Berlin869.                       Gilad Kenan, PhDCandidate, Tel Aviv University870.                       Richard Friend,Associate Professor, University of York871.                       Anna Berg,Educator (Retired)872.                       Thomas Suárez,Independent Researcher, Volinist and Composer873.                       Rania Madi, UN andEU Consultant874.                       John Judis, Author875.                       Liem Berman, MSW,Smith School for Social Work876.                       Doug Rossinow,Professor of History, Metro State University 877.                       Nasri Khoury,Neurosurgeon 878.                       Robert Herbst,Board Co-Chair, Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions – USA879.                       Andrew Bush,Professor of Hispanic Studies and Jewish Studies, Vassar College880.                       Rabbi James Ponet,Howard M. Holtzmann Jewish Chaplain Emeritus, Yale University881.                       Jonathan Lebolt,Faculty, Center for the Study of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey882.                       Haynes Miller,Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology883.                       Roni Mikel-Arieli,Academic Director of the Oral History Division, Hebrew University ofJerusalem 884.                       Natasha Zaretsky,Professor of History, University of Alabama at Birmingham885.                       Ross Brann,Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University886.                       Steven M.Wasserstrom, Moe and Izetta Tonkin Professor of Judaic Studies and theHumanities, Reed College887.                       Stephen Naman,President, American Council for Judaism, Inc. 888.                       Elana Ponet,Former Director at Hillel Children’s School, Yale University889.                       Adam Ganz,Professor, Royal Holloway, University of London 890.                       Pauline M.Coffman, Director, School of Adult Learning, North Park University (Retired)891.                       Jamal Kanj, Writer892.                       Alisse Waterston,Presidential Scholar and Professor, City University of New York, John JayCollege 893.                       Michal Huss,Postdoctoral Fellow, Minerva Center for Human Rights, Hebrew University ofJerusalem894.                       Jacob Bender,Creative Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations – Philadelphia895.                       Limor Yehuda,Lecturer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem896.                       Nitzan Lubianiker,Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University897.                       Jason Hart,Professor of Humanitarianism and Development, University of Bath898.                       Peter Rachleff,Professor Emeritus of History, Macalester College899.                       Zulfiqar Malik,Editor, Muslim News Digest900.                       Stellan Vinthagen,Endowed Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst901.                       Wendy Doniger,Professor Emerita of the History of Religions, University of Chicago902.                       Dr. BasselMakhouly, University of Göttingen903.                       Salam Al-Marayati,President, Muslim Public Affairs Council904.                       Werner Ruf,Professor of Political Science, University of Kassel905.                       Ethan Taubes,Asylum and Human Rights Lawyer906.                       Benjamin Schreier,Mitrani Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of English, PennsylvaniaState University907.                       Doris Bergen,Professor of History, University of Toronto908.                       Dr. Diana Pinto,Independent Scholar909.                       Natalie ZemonDavis, Professor Emerita, Princeton University910.                       Karem A. Sakallah,Professor, University of Michigan911.                       Veerle Provoost,Professor, Ghent University912.                       Helga Baumgarten,Professor of Political Science (retired), Birzeit University, Palestine913.                       Philippe Gasser,Psychiatrist914.                       Eli Valley, Artistand Cartoonist915.                       Dorota Glowacka,Professor, University of King’s College (Canada)916.                       Janie Arnéguy,Teacher 917.                       Jeremy Appel,Independent Journalist918.                       Iris Seri-Hersch,Associate Professor, Aix-Marseille University919.                       Sidney Tarrow,Professor Emeritus of Government, Cornell University920.                       Eric A. Gordon,Author921.                       Rebecca Glasberg,Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University922.                       Jeff Warner,Former Curator of Lunar Samples, NASA Johnson Spacecraft Center  923.                       James Silk, BingerClinical Professor of Human Rights, Yale Law School924.                       Sarah Imhoff,Professor, Indiana University925.                       Jacob Klein,Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science926.                       Marc Bernstein,Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Israeli Cultural Studies, Michigan StateUniversity927.                       Marie Ariel,Retired Librarian928.                       Rafik Beekun,Professor, University of Nevada929.                       Immanuel Wineman,PhD, Teachers College of Columbia University 930.                       Dov Baum, PhD931.                       Daniel Bannoura,PhD Candidate, University of Notre Dame932.                       Mitchell Plitnick,President, Rethinking Foreign Policy933.                       Arnaud Amzallag,Researcher, MGH and Harvard Medical School934.                       David Sorkin,Professor, Yale University935.                       Dennis Nobile,Filmmaker936.                       Khalil Simaan,Professor, University of Amsterdam 937.                       Seham Kafafi, PhDCandidate, University of Notre Dame938.                       Susan S. Lanser,Professor Emerita, Brandeis University939.                       Bonnie Gitlin,LCSW, Psychotherapist940.                       Abe Silberstein,Writer941.                       Jan van derMeulen, PhD and International Dialysis Expert, London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine942.                       Rebecca Alpert,Professor Emerita, Temple University 943.                       Daniel BernsteinVulkan, Former Senior Researcher, Board of Deputies of British Jews944.                       Amira Saunders,Teacher And Instructional Coach945.                       Nirit Sommerfeld,Actress, Singer, Author946.                       Brian Precious,Mathematician and Political Activist 947.                       Jordan Bridges,Department of Philosophy, Rutgers New Brunswick 948.                       Steven Nadler,Vilas Research Professor and Professor of Philosophy, University ofWisconsin-Madison949.                       Judith Bernstein,Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group, Munich950.                       Joanne Devoe, RNand BSN, Cornell University, MLA and MAS, Johns Hopkins University951.                       E. Neiman,Vocational College, Geisenheim University952.                       Eleanor Wynn,Research Scholar, Ronin Institute 953.                       Galila Agam,Professor, Ben-Gurion University954.                       Johanna Lessinger,Associate Professor of Anthropology (retired), John Jay College, CityUniversity of New York955.                       BernhardKlinghammer, Physician956.                       Joshua Magda, MSHuman Development, University of Maryland College Park957.                       Alan Sidelle,Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin Madison958.                       Joseph Levine,Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst959.                       Marie-LouiseMares, Professor, University of Wisconsin Madison960.                       Sarah Farmer,Professor, University of California, Irvine961.                       Susie Becher,Managing Editor, Palestine-Israel Journal962.                       RussShafer-Landau, Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin963.                       Shaker ChuckFarah, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemistry,University of São Paulo964.                       HarrietMalinowitz, Retired Professor of English, Long Island University, Brooklyn965.                       Stephen Friend,Visiting Professor of Connected Medicine, Oxford University966.                       James Rauch,Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, University of California, SanDiego967.                       Carter Findley,Humanities Disinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Ohio State University968.                       John Davidson, MD,Mayo Clinic969.                       Hakem Al Baz,Researcher, Simmons University970.                       RiviHandler-Spitz, Associate Professor, Macalester College971.                       Zachary Lockman,Professor, New York University972.                       Scott Siegel,Associate Professor, San Francisco State University973.                       Joan Ostrove,Professor of Psychology, Macalester College974.                       Laurie Zimmerman,Rabbi, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim975.                       C. Christine Fair,Professor, Georgetown University976.                       David A. Love,Assistant Teaching Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, RutgersUniversity977.                       Genie Silver,Ph.D., former Lecturer, Bryn Mawr College, and activist, Women’s InternationalLeague for Peace and Freedom978.                       Alisa Braun,Academic Director of Community Engagement, JTS979.                       Joan Radner,Professor Emerita, American University980.                       Boaz Atzili,Associate Professor, American University981.                       Nathaniel Shils,Post-doctoral fellow, UCLA & Wellesley College982.                       Raffi Magarik,Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Chicago983.                       Lauren Zinn,Ph.D., Rev., Jewish Educator & Interfaith Minister, ZinnHouse984.                       Zoe Beenstock,Senior Lecturer, University of Haifa985.                       Michal Fox,co-founder of Imateva for cohesion between human beings nature & community986.                       Dafna Hirsch,Senior Lecturer, The Open University of Israel987.                       Sara Feldman,Preceptor in Yiddish, Harvard University988.                       Rabbi MarisaJames, Director of Social Justice Programming at Congregation Beit SimchatTorah989.                       Yfaat Weiss,Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem990.                       Laurence Dreyfus,Professor emeritus, University of Oxford991.                       Rona Sela, curatorand researcher, Tel Aviv University992.                       Sogand Shamsaria,Attorney993.                       Max Paul Friedman,Professor of History and International Relations, American University994.                       Yael Dekel,Lecturer, Open University995.                       Penny Rosenwasser,Ph.D.996.                       Deborah Rosenfelt,Professor Emerita, University of Maryland997.                       Hillel Schenker,Co-Editor, Palestine-Israel Journal998.                       PerrineOlff-Rastegar, Speaker, Judeo-Arab Citizen Collective for Palestine, France999.                       Dr. Noah Benninga,The Vidal Sassoon Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University1000.                   Shalom Ratzabi,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv Unuversity1001.                   Daniel Hirst,Research Director Emeritus, CNRS & Aix-Marseille University1002.                   Michael Schulz,Professor, University of Gothenburg1003.                   Marc Siegel,Professor, Film Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz1004.                   Michael Levin,Adjunct Faculty, Columbia College – Chicago1005.                   Pierre-AlexandreBliman, Senior researcher, Inria and Sorbonne Université, Paris, France1006.                   Cecile Spiesser,Psychiatrist1007.    BarryTrachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Wake ForestUniversity1008.                   Daniel Jacobson,Professor Emeritus, Tel-Aviv University1009.                   Ursula Wokoeck,PhD1010.                   Rabbi Brant Rosen,Tzedek Chicago1011.                   Steve Beresford,Musician1012.                   Leslie Morris,Professor of German and Jewish Studies, University of Minnesota1013.                   Andrew Meyer,Professor of History, Brooklyn College1014.                   Rabbi JeremyKridel, Machar – The Secular Humanistic Jewish Congregation of GreaterWashington1015.                   Narriman Kattineh,Attorney1016.                   Elliott Sober,Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Professor, University ofWisconsin – Madison1017.                   Ben Harrison,Professor Emeritus, University of Louisville1018.                   Ellen C. Schwartz,Professor Emerita, Eastern Michigan University1019.                   Olivier Le CourGrandmaison, Associate Professor, L’université d’Évry – Paris-Saclay 1020.                   Rabbi EllenJaffe-Gill, community rabbi1021.                   Denisa Glacova,PhD student, University of Michigan1022.                   Marsha Weinraub,Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, Temple University1023.                   CarolineVermeersch, clinical psychologist1024.                   Rabbi David N.Goodman, Nafshenu1025.                   Michael Wildt,Professor Emeritus, Humboldt University, Berlin1026.                   Hisham Abad,Visiting Professor, Purdue University Northwest1027.                   Jack Kugelmass,Melton Legislative Professor of Jewish Studies, Florida1028.                   Robert D.Johnston, Professor of History, University of Illinois Chicago1029.                   Ester Gubi, PhD1030.                   Anna Foa,Professor, University La Sapienza (retired)1031.                   Ana Pinheiro, PhD,University of Campinas (Unicamp)1032.                   Daniel Bar-Tal,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University1033.                   Rabbi Lew Weiss,Rabbi and Chaplain1034.                   Dev Noily, SeniorRabbi, Kehilla Community Synagogue1035.                   Rabbi JeremyMilgrom1036.                   AlessandraCangemi, Journalist1037.                   ShlomithRimmon-Kenan, Professor Emerita, Hebrew University of Jerusalem1038.                   Guy Kenan, PhD1039.                   Shay Hazkani,Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, University of Maryland,College Park1040.                   Rabbi Brian Walt,Rabbi Emeritus, Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia1041.                   Sarah Anne Minkin,PhD1042.                   Naomi Eilan,Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick1043.                   Lisa Kallman,Adjunct Professor, Art and Art History, Gateway Community and Technical College1044.                   DominiqueNatanson, Spokesperson, Jewish French Union for Peace (UJFP)1045.                   David Vine,Professor, American University1046.                   Joe.Millis, Deputyfor Bromley Reform Synagogue1047.                   Daniel B.Schwartz, Professor of History and Judaic Studies, George Washington University1048.                   Dr. Paul Pasch,Resident Representative, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Israel Office1049.                   Claude Marks,Co-Director, The Freedom Archives1050.                   Steve Hellman,Professor Emeritus, York University1051.                   Harriet Feinberg,Retired educator1052.                   Judith Suissa,Professor Emerita, University College London1053.                   Said Mouline,Architect1054.                   Amnon Boehm,Professor Emeritus, Haifa University1055.                   Cardon ThérèseMarie, Art Teacher1056.                   Yohanna Kinberg,Rabbi1057.                   Robert Rosen,Professor of Law, University of Miami1058.                   Daniel Roth,Executive Director, Center for Jewish Nonviolence1059.                   Daryl Glaser,Professor, University of the Witwatersrand1060.                   Jodie Moore,Co-Founder & President Emerita, The Neighborhood Academy1061.                   Julia Elyachar,Associate Professor, Princeton University1062.                   Bob Gluck,Professor Emeritus, University at Albany1063.                   Aaron Niederman,Schwarzman Scholar1064.                   John L. Anderson,U.S. Foreign Service Officer, retired1065.                   Mazin Qumsiyeh,Professor, Bethlehem University1066.                   Miriam Radu, MD1067.                   Susan Lowry,retired attorney1068.                   Ilana Sichel, PhD,Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School1069.                   Naomi Lightman,Associate Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University1070.                   Harry Hochheiser,Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh1071.                   Abie Snow, Israeliand New York attorney (ret)1072.                   Irene Butter,Professor Amerita, University of Michigan1073.                   Linda Holtzman,Director of Student Life, Reconstructonist Rabbinical College1074.                   Farouq R Shafie,Ph.D1075.                   David Mivasair,Rabbi Emeritus, Ahavat Olam Synagogue, Vancouver, BC1076.                   Abraham Mansbach,Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel1077.                   Hakam Kanafani,MD, Bethesda1078.                   Roi Boshi,Lecturer, Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design Jerusalem1079.                   ElizabethHeineman, Professor, University of Iowa1080.                   Terry Kleeman,Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder1081.                   Christine Glenn,PhD, psychologist1082.                   Nancy Claxton,Researcher, University of Geneva1083.                   L. L. Wynn,Professor, Macquarie University1084.                   Lawrence Marceau,Senior Lecturer (retired), University of Auckland1085.                   Hillel Damron,writer and blogger1086.                   Mark Rosenbush,Attorney (retired), California1087.                   Joseph Berra,Human Rights in the Americas Project Director, Promise Institute for HumanRights, UCLA Law1088.                   Diana Hay,Associate Researcher, Oeko-Institut1089.                   Carina Ray,Associate Professor, University of Michigan1090.                   Dana Hollander,Associate Professor, McMaster University1091.                   Ross Martin Daly,Artistic director, Musical Workshop Labyrinth1092.                   Robert Morrison,retired teacher, Peterborough Northumberland and Clarington Catholic DistrictSchool Board1093.                   Tova Stabin,writer and activist1094.                   Emna Dhahak,Former Spokesperson, Ontario Ministry Of Transportation1095.                   Stephen C..Stearns, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Emeritus, YaleUniversity1096.                   Frank Schroeder,MD1097.                   Gertrude Crowley,RN1098.                   Dr. BrianVictoria, Buddhist priest1099.                   Carolyn Buff,Consultant, International Law1100.                   Christine Forget,Teacher1101.                   Isabel Frey, PhDcandidate, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna1102.                   Ri J. Turner,Graduate student, Department of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison1103.                   Judith Crews, Phd,Editor and teacher1104.                   Anita Frankel, MAMFT, Former Public Affairs Director, KPFK-FM Los Angeles1105.                   Andy Rogers, PhD1106.                   Dr. Martin Adel,Professor, University of Vienna (Retired)1107.                   François Bohy,Composer1108.                   Avi Goldberg,Professor of Sociology, Vanier College1109.                   Bruno Huberman,Professor, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo1110.                   Nir Gov,Professor, Weizmann Institute1111.                   Roy Wagner,Professor, ETH Zurich1112.                   Christopher Lewis,Researcher in Bio Technologies for Building Sciences, Artist, Philosopher,Rochester Institute of Technology  1113.                   Noor Salous,Designer1114.                   AlejandroRivas-Micoud, Founder, Userlytics1115.                   Ishay Landa,Associate Professor, the Open University of Israel1116.                   Mieka Polanco,Associate Professor, James Madison University1117.                   Gavriel Reisner,Psychoanalyst and Former Lecturer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel AvivUniversity1118.                   Joan Geiger,Ergonomist, Haifa University1119.                   Ido Shahar, SeniorLecturer, University of Haifa1120.                   Dr. Avital Barak,Lecturer, Kibbutzim College1121.                   Jennifer Rogers,the Global Institute for Tomorrow1122.                   Jonathan Littell,Writer and Filmmaker1123.                   Dr. Tamar Parush,Researcher, University of Haifa1124.                   Eyal Weizman, MBEand FBA, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London1125.                   Yifat Gutman,Senior Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University 1126.                   JenniferHochschild, Professor, Harvard University 1127.                   Robert Littell,Novelist1128.                   Bruce Mannheim,Professor, University of Michigan1129.                   Steven Heydemann,Ketcham Chair in Middle East Studies, Smith College1130.                   David Manski,Conservation Biologist (Retired)1131.                   Gal Kober,Professor of Philosophy, Bridgewater State University1132.                   Vance Dietz, MD,Center for Disease Control – USA (Retired)1133.                   Ya’el Nu’emahKremer, DPhil in Oriental Studies, Oxford University1134.                   James C. Wright,Professor Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College1135.                   Mustafa Ibrahim,Writer and Researcher1136.                   Meyrav Weiss, MScCandidate in Modern Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford 1137.                   Avi Kaplan,Professor of Educational Psychology, Temple University1138.                   Arie Neuhauser,PhD Student, University of Chicago 1139.                   MichaelaKobsa-Mark, Documentary Filmmaker1140.                   David Schretlen,Professor, the Johns Hopkins University1141.                   Shelley A. Smith,Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of South Carolina1142.                   Dr. Gali DruckerBar-Am, Postdoctoral Fellow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem1143.                   Hashem Ganem,Civil and Structural Engineer1144.                   Steven Ajluni, MD1145.                   Dana Ward,Professor Emeritus, Pitzer College1146.                   Frans Hesse, FundManager1147.                   Conny Groot,Director, Music Generations1148.                   Ofer Aharony,Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science1149.                   Allan Drazen,Professor, University of Maryland1150.                   Paul R. Rivera,PhD1151.                   Stephen Luntz,Author, University of Melbourne1152.                   Jean Pierre VanTiel, Doctor1153.                   Charles Bernstein,Donald T. Regan Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature,University of Pennsylvania1154.                   Henk Droog,Graphic Designer1155.                   Leonard Korn, MD,Psychiatrist1156.                   Anjo Clement,Secretary, the Municipal Alliance for Peace1157.                   Giora Hon, Professor,University of Haifa1158.                   Patrick M.Nsherenguzi, Paramedic1159.                   Rupa Shah, MD1160.                   Noa Shuval,Teaching Fellow, Tel Aviv University 1161.                   Rabbi AlexWeissman, Director of Mekhinah and Cultural and Spiritual Life,Reconstructionist Rabbinical College1162.                   Liran Morav, PhDCandidate, University of Cambridge1163.                   Adeed Dawisha,Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Miami University1164.                   Patricia Gavigan,Writer1165.                   Brad Yoder,Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, ManchesterUniversity1166.                   Dr. Elif Durmuş,Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp (Belgium)1167.                   IlanaCruger-Zaken, Writer, New York University1168.                   Sagar Wadgaonkar,Technical Policy Analyst, Booz Allen Hamilton1169.                   Don Denton,Retired Teacher1170.                   Kenneth Pomeranz,Professor in History, University of Chicago 1171.                   Laura Troutman,MA, Columbia University 1172.                   Mary Gregg,Retired Teacher1173.                   Richard Ganulin,Civil Rights Lawyer 1174.                   GerasimosKakoliris, Associate Professor of Philosophy, National and KapodistrianUniversity of Athens, Greece1175.                   Sivane Hirsch,Full Professor, Laval University1176.                   Judith Kolata,Information Specialist (Retired)1177.                   DoronShiffer-Sebba, Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University1178.                   Marsha Friedman,Rabbi and Psychologist1179.                   Rhoden Streeter,Sowers of Justice Network1180.                   Dena S. Davis,Presidential Endowed Chair in Health, Lehigh University1181.                   Françoise DeTurckheim, MD1182.                   Charles E. Jones,Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities, Pennsylvania State University1183.                   Claire Moses,Professor Emerita, University of Maryland, College Park1184.                   Ylana Miller.Research Scholar, Duke University1185.                   Bruce Frier,Professor of Classics and Law, University of Michigan1186.                   Johnny Stiban,Professor of Biochemistry, Birzeit University1187.                   George AnthoniusSiemensma, Engineer1188.                   Jean Zorn,Professor of Law and Senior Associate Dean Emerita, City University of New YorkSchool of Law1189.                   Sarah Pinto,Masters Student, Stanford University 1190.                   Silvia Nagy-Zekmi,Professor Emerita, Villanova University1191.                   Daniel Katz,Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick1192.                   Victor Waese,Instructor, British Columbia Institute of Technology1193.                   Thomas Evans,Retired Engineer1194.                   Gjovalin Macaj,Lecturer, Leiden University1195.                   Michael Dick,Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible, Siena College1196.                   Anthony Bogues,Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Africana Studies, Brown University1197.                   Gail Jacobson,Retired Teacher1198.                   Marc Kaufman,Writer1199.                   Jack Goldberg,Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta1200.                   Yuval Katz,Postdoctoral Fellow, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania 1201.                   Cheryl Greenberg,Paul E. Rather Distinguished Professor of History Emerita, Trinity College1202.                   Marc Snir,Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign1203.                   Ruth Tsoffar,Professor of Comparative Literature, Women and Gender Studies and JudaicStudies, University of Michigan1204.                   Meryl Crean, Rabbi1205.                   Mireille Gleizes,Pianist1206.                   Murjan AbuMahmoud, Engineer 1207.                   Imad Hussein,International Civil Servant (Retired)1208.                   David Schmidt,Museum Technician (Retired), Smithsonian Institute1209.                   Hasan Hammami,Nakbah Survivor and Business Executive (Retired)1210.                   Carol ShoshkesReiss, Professor Emerita, NYU1211.                   Rabbi David J.Cooper, Kehilla Community Synagogue1212.                   Steven Gelb,Professor, University of San Diego (retired)1213.                   Francesca Morgan,Professor, Northeastern Illinois University1214.                   Alyson Shotz,Artist1215.                   Yitzak / JerryGreen, Retired California Healthcare Attorney/Mediator1216.                   Rabbi MargaretHolub1217.                   Chiara Nappi,Professor Emerita, Princeton University1218.                   Cliff Staten,Professor Emeritus, Indiana University Southeast1219.                   BlandineLaferrère, Professor of Medicine, Columbia University1220.                   Robert Allan, PhD1221.                   Martin Mould, Phd1222.                   Janice Peck,Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder1223.                   Louis Rothschild,PhD, Clinical Psychologist1224.                   Hugh Curran,Lecturer, Peace & Reconciliation Studies, University of Maine1225.                   Jill Goldberg,Professor of Creative Writing, Langara College1226.                   Henri Picciotto,former Board Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace1227.                   Rebekah Levin,Retired Research Associate Professor, University of Illinois1228.                   Steve Benassi,Computer Engineer1229.                   Marcia G. Yerman,Writer/Artist/Activist1230.                   Judy Roth, PhDclinical psychologist/psychoanalyst1231.                   Amal Sliman,Nutritional consultant1232.                   Sonia Combe,Associate Researcher, Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin1233.                   Zoe Goorman,Artist1234.                   Saul Zaritt,Associate Professor, Harvard University1235.                   Chjarles Fishman,Attorney (retired)1236.                   Sarah Hendlish,PsyD Student, California Institute of Integral Studies1237.                   Stephen Shapiro,Professor, University of Warwick1238.                   Garth T. Katner,PhD1239.                   Rita Cahn,Psychotherapist, Clinical Prof. Psychiatry UCSF (retired)1240.                   David Lelyveld,Professor (retired), William Paterson University1241.                   Alan Rutkowski,Librarian (retried), University of Alberta1242.                   Roger Waldinger,Professor, UCLA1243.                   Hannah MittenbergLicensed clinical social worker, Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis1244.                   Sheldon Pollock,Professor Emeritus, Columbia. University1245.                   Ben Manski,Assistant Professor, George Mason University1246.                   Claudia Leight,counselor, retired1247.                   Nina Valbousquet,Historian, Rome1248.                   Tamar Glezerman,Filmmaker1249.                   Taoufiq Tahani,Associate Professor, Université de Lille1250.                   Carlos R Canas,Systems Engineer1251.                   Alla Dvorkin,Archivist1252.                   Mark LeVine,Professor, Deptartment of History, Chair Global Middle East Studies, UC Irvine1253.                   Nubar Hovsepian,Associate Professor Emeritus, Chapman University1254.                   Samantha Dressel,Assistant Professor, Chapman University1255.                   Haavar Knutsen, MD(retired)1256.                   Thomas Kovach,Professor Emeritus in German and Judaic Studies, University of Arizona1257.                   Nancy FuchsKreimer, Associate Professor Emerita, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College1258.                   Professor JeffreyCohen, Boston College1259.                   Jeffrey Skoller,Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley1260.                   Edmund Weisberg,Senior Science Writer, Johns Hopkins University1261.                   RichardStahler-Sholk, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Michigan University1262.                   Ayala EmmettProfessor Emeritus, University of Rochester1263.                   James Traub,Licensed clinical social worker1264.                   Don Goldstein,Emeritus Professor, Allegheny College1265.                   Lincoln Z.Shlensky, Associate Professor, University of Victoria1266.                   Stephen Teitel,Professor of Physics, University of Rochester1267.                   Hilton Obeninger,Professor, Stanford University1268.                   Itamar Radai,Senior Lecturer of Israel Studies, The Open University of Israel1269.                   Maura Sheehy,Licensed clinical social worker1270.                   Chen-Levy Zehava,Retired Lecturer, University of Washington1271.                   Rabbi BorukhGoldberg1272.                   Rabbi Julie Pfau1273.                   Dr. DerekLeebaert, 2020 Harry S Truman Book Award winner MAP-AG1274.                   Rhonda F Levine,Professor of Sociology, Emerita, Colgate University1275.                   Dan Tadmor, Poet,polyglot, poetry and lyrics translator1276.                   Shlomit Ferguson,Psychotherapist1277.                   Pavel Jungwirth,Researcher1278.                   Rev. Mary Bullis,Cross Roads United Methodist Church1279.                   WłodzimierzRydzkowski, Professor Emeritus, University of Gdańsk1280.                   Joseph Schmitz,PhD, research methodologist, journalist 1281.                   Yonatan Ginzburg,Professor, Université Paris Cité1282.                   Rita Weinstein,Author, Playwright1283.                   David J. Habib,Jr., Adjunct Professor, California Lutheran University1284.                   Judith Kates,Professor of Jewish Women’s Studies (retired), Hebrew College1285.                   Simon I. Selitser,Ph.D.1286.                   Stephen Dyck, PhDin Mathematic Logic, UC Berkeley1287.                   Leela Corman,artist and author1288.                   Rabbi BurtJacobson, Founding Rabbi, Kehilla Community Synagogue1289.                   Margaret Cerullo,Professor of Sociology, Hampshire College1290.                   Aaron Berman,Professor Emeritus, Hampshire College1291.                   Carolyn Eisenberg,Professor of US History and American Foreign Policy, Hofstra University1292.                   Anne Squier,Retired Attorney1293.                   Su Libby, PublicHealth Administrator (retired)1294.                   Assaf Oron, PhD,Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington1295.                   J. Paula Roderick,Attorney1296.                   Lynne Joyrich,Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University1297.                   Yigal Bronner,Professor, The Hebrew University1298.                   Ian Margo,Translator/Author1299.                   Rabbi JanieHodgetts, Spiritual Director, Hebrew College1300.                   Kara Lynch,Emeritx Professor, Hampshire College1301.                   Mark Gasiorowski,Professor Emeritus, Tulane University1302.                   John Dunne, MDretired child and adolescent psychiatrist1303.                   Sarah Fine,Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego1304.                   Omar Lakkis,Reader in Mathematics, University of Sussex1305.                   MykaTucker-Abramson, Associate Professor, University of Warwick1306.                   Craig Thorburn,Senior Lecturer, Monash University (retired)1307.                   Manuela Consonni,Professor of Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1308.                   Oded Y. Steinberg,Assistant Professor , Hebrew University of Jerusalem1309.                   Yoav Rinon,Associate Professor, Hebrew University1310.                   Michele Battini,Professor, University of Pisa, and former research fellow, Scuola NormaleSuperiore1311.                   Victor Elias,Associate Professor, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (MeritoriousAutonomous University of Puebla)1312.                   Matan Cohen, PhD1313.                   Joel Sipress,Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Superior1314.                   Harry Feldman, PhD1315.                   Joseph Dichy,honorary professor, University of Lyon (France)1316.                   Annette Feld,Psychoanalyst, New Lacanian School1317.                   Shmuel Groag, Architect,Senior lecturer, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem1318.                   Saad Bouhsina,Associate Professor, ULCO University France1319.                   ChristianHenderson, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Leiden University1320.                   Samir Miari,Professor and Associate Vice President (retired), Chicago State University1321.                   Said Ell, Teacher,Badr school, Morocco.1322.                   Dr. Nadia AbuZaher, Assistant Professor, Al Istiqlal University1323.                   Ahmad Akel,Engineer1324.                   Eugene Epstein,PhD, Psychologist1325.                   David Ranan,Fellow, Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, University of London1326.                   Shaul Bassi, Ca’Foscari University of Venice1327.                   Ziad Abuzayyad,Lawyer, co-editor of Palestine-Israel Journal1328.                   Helen Langa,Associate Professor Emerita, American University1329.                   Dr. MeenalMamdani, Assistant Chief, Neurology, VA Hospital (retired)1330.                   A. Haluk Ünal,writer and film director1331.                   Ron Neimark,Outreach coordinator, University of Illinois at Chicago1332.                   Jon Anson,Professor (retired), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev1333.                   Charles Whitehead,PhD, FRAI, former visiting lecturer, University of Westminster1334.                   Huguette Bourron,primary school teacher (retired)1335.                   Rhonda J Factor,Adjunct Faculty, New York University1336.                   Doron Cohen,Professor, Ben-Gurion University1337.                   Bernard Lamizet,Retired Professor, Institut d’Études Politiques, Lyon1338.                   Henry Greenspan,Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan1339.                   Ruth Hacohen,Professor Emerita, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1340.                   Henry Sussman,Professor, Yale University (retired)1341.                   Riccardo Bocco,Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The GenevaGraduate Institute1342.                   Dalia Sachs,Professor Emeritus, University of Haifa1343.                   Galila Spharim,Librarian, Hebrew University1344.                   Marie-ClaudeSaliceti, Psychologist (retired)1345.                   Dorit Naaman,Professor, Film and Media, Queen’s University1346.                   Virginia Casper,Professor Emerita, Bank Street College of Education1347.                   Dr GraziaBorrini-Feyerabend, Elder ICCA Consortium1348.                   Yair Apter,Professor of Gender Studies, Bar Ilan University1349.                   Tal Siloni,Professor of Linguistics, Tel Aviv University1350.                   Elaine Waxman,Lecturer, The University of Chicago1351.                   Moataz Dajani,Artist & Art Educator1352.                   ChristopherBrowning, Professor of History Emeritus, UNC-Chapel Hill1353.                   Silvana Patriarca,Professor, Fordham University1354.                   Beth Dougherty,Professor of Political Science, Beloit College1355.                   Moshe Zimmermann,Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University1356.                   Margaret Power,Professor Emerita, Illinois Tech1357.                   Wendy Lower,Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College1358.                   John-Paul Himka,Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta1359.                   Ayelet Zohar, Seniorlecturer, Tel Aviv University & Columbia University1360.                   Justine McCabe,PhD, Anthropologist and Clinical Psychologist1361.                   Martina L. Weisz,Research Fellow, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1362.                   JonathanPetropoulos, Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College1363.                   Maya Steinberg,Filmmaker1364.                   David Calef,Humanitarian Aid Worker, Rome, Italy1365.                   David L. Mandel,Human rights attorney; member, Central Committee, California Democratic Party1366.                   Tamar Samir, PTAssistant Professor, The New School1367.                   Vivian Zelaya,retired teacher1368.                   Baki Tezcan,Professor of History, University of California, Davis1369.                   Hozan AlanSenauke, Abbot, Berkeley Zen Center1370.                   Paulo Ivo Garrido,PhD1371.                   Larry Gross,Professor, University of Southern California1372.                   Edvardas Simonis,Geologist (retired)1373.                   Mark Pollock,Associate Professor (retired), Loyola University Chicago1374.                   Senan Shaq, PhD1375.                   Colin Dayan,Professor, Vanderbilt University1376.                   Ana CeliaZentella, Professor Emerita, UC San Diego1377.                   Anne Norton,Professor, University of Pennsylvania1378.                   Sherrill Futrell,Researcher, UC Davis1379.                   Saul Friedländer,Professor, UCLA1380.                   Mark BravermanPhD, Director Kairos USA, Research Fellow, Public Theology StellenboschUniversity, writer, activist1381.                   Ivo Garrido, MD1382.                   Shulamit Volkov,Professor (Emerita) of Eurooean History, Tel Aviv University1383.                   John Dabeet,Professor, Eastern Iowa College1384.                   Laurie White,Documentary film maker1385.                   Nadir Zekmi,Geologist (retired)1386.                   Jennifer Evans,Professor, Carleton University (Canada)1387.                   Aurelia Kalisky,Independant scholar1388.                   Rabbi Jason Gitlin1389.                   Thomas Kühne,Strassler Colin Flug Professor of Holocaust History, Clark University1390.                   Hilary Kilpatrick,Independent scholar1391.                   Gregory Giannis,Academic, Latrobe University1392.                   Becker Annette,Professor of History, Paris-Nanterre1393.                   Mohideen AbdulKader, Advocate and Solicitor, Malaysian Bar1394.                   Robin Kristufek,Public Health Nurse1395.                   Rabbi ChaplainMichael Tevya Cohen, ACPE Certified Educator, Dallas, TX1396.                   Max Likin,Lecturer, FEPPS1397.                   Abraham Flaxman,Associate Professor, University of Washington1398.                   Henry Wyatt, PhD,University of Maine at Augusta (ret.)1399.                   Lea Pipman, O.T(retired), N.Y.C Education Department1400.                   Gail F. Nestel,M.Ed. Field Researcher on Israel/Palestine1401.                   Helene Braun,Rabbinical student, Keshet Germany1402.                   Adam Hochschild,Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley1403.                   Rabbi BinyaminBiber, Post President, Association of Humanistic Rabbis1404.                   Carolyn Marvin,Emeritus Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania1405.                   Yves-Michel DeMartin De Viviés, secondary school teacher1406.                   Dawlat Yassin,Instructor, University of Houston-Clear Lake1407.                   Margit Cohn, Professor,Hebrew University of Jerusalem1408.                   Didier Samain,Professor Emeritus, Sorbonne University (Paris)1409.                   Frank Stappaerts,Faculty for Comparative Study of Religions and Humanism (FVG), Antwerp1410.                   Noa Levin,Postdoctoral Researcher, Università della Svizzera Italiana1411.                   Claire Tellier,Graphic design1412.                   Carlo Ginzburg,Professor Emeritus, UCLA1413.                   Claire Mestre,Psychiatrist and Anthropologist, Université de Bordeaux1414.                   Faouzi Berrada,Professor, Doctor of Engineering, Faculté des Sciences Ain Chock – Casablanca,Morocco1415.                   Victor IsaacTaranto, PhD student, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem1416.                   Judith Butler,Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School, UC Berkeley1417.                   Jennifer Lewis,Professor, Wayne State University1418.                   Gene Ramsbottom,board member UUs for Justice in the Middle East1419.                   Denis Lemercier,Lecturer, Université de Caen, France, Emeritus1420.                   Micheyle Marlier,Teacher of fine arts, artist and painter, France1421.                   Aicha Elbasri PhD,Former UN Spokeswoman1422.                   Aristotle Kallis,Professor of Contemporary History, Keele University, UK1423.                   Giselle El Raheb,Assistant Professor, La Rochelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France1424.                   Christopher Winks,Professor, Queens College/CUNY1425.                   Norbert Hornstein,Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland1426.                   Eve Spangler,Associate Professor, Boston College1427.                   Le Breton Jacques,formateur1428.                   Dr. Leah Glickman,independent scholar1429.                   Yonathan Shapir,Professor of Physics, University of Rochester (retired)1430.                   Deborah Condon,Environmental Scientist, State of California (retired))1431.                   Bonnie Urciuoli,Professor Emerita, Anthropology, Hamilton College1432.                   Annie Zirin,artist, arts educator1433.                   Rabbi JonathanZasloff, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law1434.                   Adam Jones,Professor, University of British Columbia Okanagan1435.                   Herbert S. Lewis,Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison1436.                   Robert Kramer,Professor of History, St. Norbert College1437.                   Robert Gelbach,PhD, political science 1438.                   Abdul Jabbar,Emeritus Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, City College of SanFrancisco 1439.                   Howard TzviAdelman, Director, Jewish Studies; Associate Professor, Jewish History; Queen’sUniversity (retired) 1440.                   Eric Schuster,Lecturer, History and Political Science, City Colleges of Chicago1441.                   KatherineSchuster, Distinguished Professor, Oakton College1442.                   Asad Ghanem,Professor, University of Haifa1443.                   Naomi Seidman,University of Toronto1444.                   Jonathan W.Malino, Professor of Philosophy (Emeritus), Guilford College1445.                   SarahCombellick-Bidney, Associate Professor, Augsburg University1446.                   Carolyn L.Karcher, Professor Emerita, Temple University1447.                   Alan Wallach,Ralph H. Wark Professor of Art and Art History and Professor of AmericanStudies Emeritus, The College of William and Mary1448.                   Devanshi Saxena,PhD researcher, University of Antwerp1449.                   Said Zeedani,Associate Professor of Philosophy at Al-Quds University (retired)1450.                   Irene Rosenkötter,Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist1451.                   Avishai Margalit,Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1452.                   Jo Salas,cofounder, Playback Theatre1453.                   Arieh Ullmann,Associate Professor of Management (emeritus), Binghamton University1454.                   Mark S. Mishler,civil rights attorney, Albany, NY1455.                   Susan Smith,International Fellowship of Reconciliation1456.                   Gail Ryall,retired children’s librarian1457.                   Dr. NashmaCarrera, Kennesaw State University1458.                   Dina Stein,Professor, University of Haifa1459.                   Susana Cavallo,Professor of Spanish, Loyola University Chicago1460.                   Michael Martin,Professor, Media School, Indiana University, Bloomington1461.                   Dani Schrire,Senior Lecturer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1462.                   Jane Toby, Ph.d1463.                   Russell Pearce,Professor, Fordham University School of Law1464.                   Doris Sommer,Professor, Harvard University1465.                   Joseph Alper,Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, University of Massachusetts-Boston1466.                   Ronelle Delmont,Adjunct Lecturer, Florida International University1467.                   Richard Bauman,Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Indiana University1468.                   Laura Wexler,Charles H. Farnam Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender &Sexuality Studies, Yale University 1469.                   Beverly J.Stoeltje, Professor Emerita, Indiana University 1470.                   IritEdelman-Novemsky, Ass. Research Biologist, retired, New York University1471.                   Helmut WalserSmith, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University1472.                   Jed Buchwald,Professor, Caltech 1473.                   YaakovGinsberg-Schreck, Rabbinical Student, Hebrew College 1474.                   Lewis Kirshner MD,retired Clinical Professor Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School 1475.                   Robert Raynolds,PhD, Boardmember, The Putney School 1476.                   David Freedman,Ph.D., Criminal Justice Consultant 1477.                   SilvanaRabinovich, Professor and Researcher, Universidad Nacional Autonoma deMexico 1478.                   Anne Koerber,Professor Emerita, University of Illinois at Chicago1479.                   Phyllis Berman,Rabbi/Spiritual Director, ALEPH Ordination Program1480.                   Leon Slonim,Ph.D. 1481.                   Dr. Itay Zutra,University of Manitoba1482.                   David Weinfeld,Assistant Professor of World Religions, Rowan University 1483.                   Ronna MiloHaglili, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist 1484.                   Taner Akçam, AGRPin Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA 1485.                   Waleed Karkabi,Architect1486.                   SybilleSteinbacher, Director of the Fritz Bauer Institute and Professor for theHistory and Impact of the Holocaust, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main,Germany 1487.                   Nancy Margalit,Language Instructor at the George C. Marshall European Center for SecurityStudies (retired) 1488.                   Uri Yiftach,Professor, Tel Aviv University1489.                   Orit SoniaWaisman, Senior lecturer, David Yellin college, Jerusalem1490.                   Dan Diner, ProfessorEmeritus, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1491.                   Dr. Franck Waille,Laboratoire de recherche historique Rhône-Alpes, Université Lyon 3,France  1492.                   James Dickins,Professor of Arabic, University of Leeds1493.                   Rabbi DavidRegenspan (retired)1494.                   Barbara Regenspan,Emerita Professor of Educational Theory, Colgate University1495.                   Billie Goldstein,PhD, Associate Professor (retired) Computer Science, Temple University 1496.                   Alex Grab,Professor Emeritus of History, University of Maine 1497.                   David Mond,Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick1498.                   Amy Horowitz,Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of the Middle East (CSME) and Director,GALACTIC (Global Arts Language Arts, Cultural Traditions in IndigenousCommunities), Indiana University1499.                   Monika Jaeckel,PhD, Freelance artist 1500.                   Sherry Millner,Professor of Media, CUNY Staten Island 1501.                   Muhammad AbuSamra, Senior lecturer, David Yellin College, Jerusalem 1502.                   Tara Zahra,Professor of History, The University of Chicago1503.                   Lili Kim,Professor of History and Global Migrations, Hampshire College 1504.                   Keith P. Feldman,Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley 1505.                   Clare Gemima,Artist and writer 1506.                   Allie Perry,United Church of Christ pastor, and chair of the UCC Palestine IsraelNetwork 1507.                   Dean Christ,Director of Pathology (retired), Mercy Hospital, Chicago1508.                   Izhar Patkin,Artist1509.                   Pierre Pica,Researcher, Centre National de la recherche Scientifique, Paris1510.                   Hugh Miller,Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago 1511.                   Ray Lee ranis,Professor Emeritus, Quinnipiac University 1512.                   Lisa Rofel,Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz1513.                   Amanda Shubert,Teaching Faculty, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1514.                   Renée Petropoulos,Professor Emeritus, Graduate Fine Arts, Otis College of Art and Design1515.                   Tony Kushner,Professor, University of Southampton1516.                   Dr. Noam Zadoff,Universität Innsbruck 1517.                   James Loeffler,Research Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University1518.                   Rabbi CamilleAngel, University of San Francisco, Camille Shira Angel, D.D.1519.                   Richard Ruppel,Professor, English & Peace Studies, Chapman University1520.                   Rabbi Dr. RachelS. Mikva, Herman Schaalman Professor in Jewish Studies, Chicago TheologicalSeminary1521.                   Rabbi Jim Morgan,PhD, Community Rabbi and Chaplain, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center 1522.                   Dr. Glenn E.Robinson, Professor of Defense Analysis (ret), Naval Postgraduate School1523.                   Ayala Ronel,Professor, Tel-Aviv University1524.                   Jonathan Graubart,Professor, Political Science, San Diego State University 1525.                   Ned Lazarus,Ph.D., Teaching Associate Professor of International Relations , Elliott Schoolof International Affairs, The George Washington University 1526.                   Nelson Kasfir,Professor of Government Emeritus at Dartmouth College, USA 1527.                   DeborahAchtenberg, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Reno 1528.                   Patsy Rahn, Poetand prose writer 1529.                   Lisa Bateman,Professor in Fine Arts, Pratt Institute1530.                   Marjorie Cohn,Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law 1531.                   Petra Doan,Professor Emerita, Urban & Regional Planning, Florida StateUniversity 1532.                   Nathan Nossal,PhD, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan 1533.                   Sarah Perrigo,Senior lecturer, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford (retired)1534.                   Julie Diamond,Retired teacher, New York City & Adjunct Professor, City College of NewYork 1535.                   Joshua Bernstein,Associate Professor of English, University of Southern Mississippi1536.                   Stephen Greenberg,Attorney; former Lecturer, University of Maryland – European Division 1537.                   Rachel Ida Buff,Professor and Chair, History Department, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee1538.                   Rabbi MordechaiLiebling, Director, Emeritus, Social Justice Organizing Program,Reconstructionist Rabbinical College 1539.                   Richard L.Epstein, Head, Advanced Reasoning Forum 1540.                   Harel Shouval,Professor, The University of Texas, Mcgovern Medical School, Houston 1541.                   Peter Breiner,Associate Professor of Political Science, State University of New York atAlbany 1542.                   Michael Alpert,Musician/composer, ethnographer, scholar, United States National HeritageFellow 1543.                   Ivan Diamond, MD,PhD, Professor Emeritus of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 1544.                   Philip Rosen,Professor Emeritus of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University 1545.                   Bruce Hartford,President, the Civil Rights Movement Archive 1546.                   Sharon Mann,Professor, Piano Department, San Francisco Conservatory of Music 1547.                   Bruce Turetsky,M.D., Emeritus Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine,University of Pennsylvania  1548.                   StephanieSieburth, Professor Emerita, Department of Romance Studies, DukeUniversity 1549.                   Georg Kreis,Professor Emeritus, University of Basel, Historian, Past President, OfficialSwiss Commission Against Racisime, Founding Director, Institute for EuropeanStudies 1550.                   Cora Diamond,Professor Emerita, University of Virginia  1551.                   Dr. Samuel HayimBrody, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Universityof Kansas 1552.                   Seyla Benhabib,Professor Emerita of Political Science and Philosophy, Senior Research Fellow,Columbia Law School 1553.                   Yves Morneau,Peace Professional, Civilian Peace Service Canada, Former chair, CanadianInstitute for Conflict Resolution1554.                   John King,Musician, Associate adjunct professor, New York University1555.                   A Tom Grunfeld,SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Empire State College/SUNY 1556.                   Seth Kim-Cohen,Professor, Art History, Theory & Criticism, School of the Art Institute ofChicago 1557.                   Jenny Dubnau,Artist1558.                   Eric Orlin,Professor and Chair of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies,University of Puget Sound 1559.                   Ran Greenstein,Associate Professor, Sociology Department, University of theWitwatersrand 1560.                   Cynthia Kaufman,Director, Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action, Faculty inPhilosophy, De Anza College 1561.                   Josh Dubnau,Professor, Stony Brook University School of Medicine 1562.                   Neal M. Rosendorf,Associate Professor of International Relations, New Mexico StateUniversity 1563.                   Andrew Lyons,Professor Emeritus, Anthropology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo 1564.                   Sina Najafi,Editor-in-chief, Cabinet magazine1565.                   Maia Ettinger,Independent Scholar 1566.                   Harriet Lyons,Professor Emerita, University of Waterloo1567.                   Henry Abelove,Professor Emeritus, Wesleyan University 1568.                   RoosbelindaCárdenas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies,Hampshire College 1569.                   Les Perelman,Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (retired) Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology 1570.                   Camron MichaelAmin, Professor of Middle East and Iranian Diaspora Studies, University ofMichigan-Dearborn 1571.                   Tony Platt,Distinguished Affiliated Scholar, Center for the Study of Law & Society,University of California, Berkeley 1572.                   Jordan H. Carver,KPF Visiting Scholar and Critic, Yale University1573.                   Cantor MarshaAttie, Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco 1574.                   Michel Feher,editor/publisher, Zone Books1575.                   Lisa Schlesinger,Professor, University of Iowa 1576.                   Joel Whitebook,Faculty, Columbia Psychoanalytic Center 1577.                   Doug Tarnopol,educator and editor1578.                   David Wittenberg,Professor of English and Cinematic Arts, University of Iowa 1579.                   Tirtza Even,Professor, Department of Film, Video, New Media, Animation, The School of theArt Institute of Chicago 1580.                   David Galbraith,Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto 1581.                   Crystal Murphy,Associate Professor, Political Science, Director, MA International Studies,Chapman University 1582.                   Dr. Marc Aronson,Associate Professor, Rutgers School of Communication and Information 1583.                   Emily Dreyfus,postdoctoral researcher, Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany 1584.                   Karen Wainer,Bezalel School of Architecture 1585.                   Stefan Zlot,MD 1586.                   Zouhair Bouhsina,French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment 1587.                   Alexandra Senfft,M.A. Middle Eastern Studies, Author, Germany 1588.                   MohammedNachtaoui, Professor, Cadi Ayyad University Marrakesh1589.                   John Coates,Engineer1590.                   Felix Schneider,Journalist and author1591.                   Prof. MilletTreinin. Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University – HadassahMedical School 1592.                   Sylvaine Bulle,Professor of Sociology, University de Paris -EHESS 1593.                   Jessica Marglin,Ruth Ziegler Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of Religion, Law andHistory, USC1594.                   S.J. Hannahs,Reader in Linguistics, Newcastle University 1595.                   Elizabeth O’Brien,Assistant Professor, Department of History, UCLA 1596.                   Michael M. Kochen,Emeritus Professor, University of Goettingen/Germany 1597.                   Livia Tagliacozzo,PhD Student, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1598.                   Francesco Cassata,Professor of Contemporary History, University of Genoa 1599.                   Karma Ben Johanan,Senior Lecturer, Department of Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem 1600.                   Lawrence Mosqueda,Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, The Evergreen State College 1601.                   Cilly Kugelmann,Chief Curator, New permanent exhibition of the Jewish Museum Berlin 1602.                   Zimri ShalomYaseen, MD 1603.                   Glenn Dynner,Professor of Judaic Studies, Fairfield University 1604.                   Hannah Wilson,Teaching Fellow in Holocaust History and Postdoctoral Researcher, NottinghamTrent University 1605.                   Yumna Siddiq,Associate Professor of English, Middlebury College1606.                   Marc Aronson,Associate Professor, Rutgers School of Communication andInformation  1607.                   Joseph Auslander,Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Maryland 1608.                   Les W. Field,Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico 1609.                   Andrew Flachs,Associate Professor, Anthropology, Purdue University 1610.                   Daniel Morgan,Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, the University of Chicago 1611.                   Prof. David E.Cane, Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, Brown University 1612.                   Stephen Zunes, Professorof Politics, University of San Francisco 1613.                   Chris Gunness,Executive Director, Myanmar Accountability Project 1614.                   Hope R. Proper,Visual Arts Curator, Retired 1615.                   Joanna Michlic ,Visiting Professor of the Holocaust, Lund University1616.                   Mark Gomelsky.Professor, University of Wyoming 1617.                   Ross Hyman, Ph.D.,Grant Solutions Architect, Research Computing Center, The University ofChicago 1618.                   Debra Stoleroff,Director of Personalized Learning, Twinfield Union School, Plainfield,Vermont 1619.                   Boaz Levin,curator and writer, Berlin 1620.                   Roger B. Blumberg,Visiting Scholar, Department of Computer Science, Brown University 1621.                   Irene Tucker,Professor of English, University of California, Irvine 1622.                   Armand Brumer,Professor Emeritus of Fordham University 1623.                   Marty Levineretired CEO of JCC Chicago, Coordinating Committee Member, JVP Chicago, andwriter1624.                   P.G. Kirkpatrick,Professor & Chair of Old Testament Studies / Hebrew Bible Studies, Schoolof Religious Studies, McGill University 1625.                   Andrea White,Professor Emerita of English, California State University DominguezHills, 1626.                   Alex Lubin,Professor, Department of African American Studies and History, PennsylvaniaState University1627.                   Eliezer TzviMargolis, Assistant Professor (Clinical), Department of Psychiatry andBehavioral Science (retired), Feinberg School of Medicine, NorthwesternUniversity 1628.                   Zina Steinberg,Columbia University Medical Center 1629.                   JacobMorrow-Spitzer, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Yale University1630.                   Marion Berghan,PhD, Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the RoyalAnthropological Institute, Publisher of Berghahn Books1631.                   Volker Berghahn,Professor Emeritus, Columbia University1632.                   Dennis Fox,Emeritus Associate Professor of Legal Studies & Psychology, University ofIllinois at Springfield 1633.                   L Vinebaum, PhD,Associate Professor, Fiber and Material Studies, School of the Art InstituteChicago1634.                   Ari David Amitai,MD, FRCSC, FAAOS, Orthopaedic trauma surgeon 1635.                   Esther Cohen,Writer, National Writers Union 1636.                   Carmel Dor,Adjunct Assistant Professor, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, TempleUniversity 1637.                   Michael Zank,Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies and Medieval Studies, BostonUniversity 1638.                   Leonard Majzlin,Adjunct Professor, New York University, Steinhardt School1639.                   Aaron DickinsonSachs, Professor of Media Technologies and Culture Saint Mary’s College ofCalifornia 1640.                   Jeffrey Newman,Rabbi Emeritus, Finchley Reform Synagogue, London1641.                   Dror Feitelson,Professor of Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1642.                   Robert Kissous,economist, ENSAE, Paris1643.                   Heidi Grunebaum,Professor, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape,South Africa 1644.                   Daphney NozizweConco, Senior Lecturer, Health and Society Division, Wits School of PublicHealth 1645.                   Aubrey Blecher,Maths researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa1646.                   AstridStarck-Adler, Professor Emerita of Germanic and Yiddish Studies, Université deHaute Alsace, Mulhouse, France, and Professor of Yiddish Studies, University ofBasel1647.                   Sharon Fonn, PhD,Visiting Professor School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Universityof Gothenburg, Sweden 1648.                   Sigal Yona, PhDCandidate, Ghent University1649.                   JesúsIlundáin-Agurruza, Professor of Philosophy, Linfield University 1650.                   Monique Eckmann,Professor Emerita, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland,Geneva 1651.                   Leslie London,Professor of Public Health Medicine, University of Cape Town, SouthAfrica 1652.                   Marc Mormont,Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University  of Liege 1653.                   LaurelBaldwin-Ragaven, Professor of Family Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand,South Africa1654.                   Prof. OrnaKupferman, School of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem1655.                   Yaakov Oshman,Professor Emeritus, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology 1656.                   Pierre Loeb, MD,Past president, New Israel Fund Switzerland 1657.                   Kerwin Kaye,Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, WesleyanUniversity 1658.                   Rabbi John L.Rosove, Emeritus of Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles 1659.                   Diana J. Fox, PhD,University Director, Institute for Gender and Development Studies, TheUniversity of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica1660.                   Susan Levine,Professor of Anthropology, University of Cape Town1661.                   Steven Robins,Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, StellenboschUniversity, South Africa 1662.                   Jay Winter,Charles J.Stille Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University 1663.                   Leslie Swartz,Professor, Psychology Department, Stellenbosch University , South Africa1664.                   MaartenBiesheuvel, Senior Scientist, Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for SustainableWater Technology, The Netherlands1665.                   Sary Rottenberg,Psychotherapist 1666.                   Gertrud Koch,Professor Emeritus, Film Studies, Freie Universität Berlin 1667.                   Susan Bookbinder,ESL lecturer (retired), University of Massachusetts Boston 1668.                   Aviva Futorian,graduate, University of Chicago Law School1669.                   Brian Leiter, KarlN. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, Director, Center for Law, Philosophy& Human Values, University of Chicago 1670.                   Cheryl Elman,Professor Emeritus in Sociology, University of Akron1671.                   Rayna Rusenko,Independent scholar 1672.                   LyneHervey-Passée, PhD candidate, Universités de Limoges et Paris1673.                   Jenann Ismael,William H. Miller III Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University 1674.                   Carl Gelderloos,Associate Professor of German Studies, Binghamton University (SUNY). 1675.                   Margaret Prescod,host of Pacifica Radio’s “Sojourner Truth” 1676.                   Dr. Preston J.Werner, Senior Lecturer, Philosophy & Centre for Moral and PoliticalPhilosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem1677.                   Peter E. Gordon,Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University 1678.                   Raymond Suttner,Emeritus Professor, University of South Africa  1679.                   Sergio Tenenbaum,Professor of Philosophy, Centre for Ethics, Director, University ofToronto 1680.                   Tamler Sommers,Professor of Philosophy, Philosophy Department and Honors College, Universityof Houston 1681.                   Jonathan Cohen,Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean, School of Arts and Humanities,University of California, San Diego1682.                   Susan R. Gzesh,J.D.,  Instructional Professor,  University of Chicago1683.                   Tamar Keasar,Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa – Oranim 1684.                   Chen Keasar,Department of Computer Science, Ben Gurion University of the Negev 1685.                   Robert (Asher)Kirchner, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Alberta. Member ofSteering Committee of Independent Jewish Voices Canada 1686.                   Daniel Malinsky,Assistant Professor, Columbia University 1687.                   Oren Shafir,Associate Faculty, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology1688.                   Jeff Rice, SeniorLecturer in Political Science, Emeritus, Northwestern University1689.                   Mark Sheldon,Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus Philosophy, NorthwesternUniversity 1690.                   Yael Sharvit,Professor, UCLA 1691.                   Jon Solomon,Professor of Chinese Literature, Université de Lyon 1692.                   Simonne Horwitz,Associate Professor, History, University of Saskatchewan, Canada 1693.                   Howie Berman,Senior Librarian, Languages and Literature, Brooklyn Library1694.                   Soumava Basu,Director, Council for Global Cooperation (CGC) 1695.                   Diana Ralph,Associate Professor, Carleton University (retired)1696.                   Prof. DavidDubnau, Public Health Research Institute, New Jersey Medical School, RutgersUniversity 1697.                   Daniel Groll,Professor of Philosophy & Department Chair, Carleton College, AffiliateFaculty Member, Center for Bioethics University of Minnesota 1698.                   David Kishik,Associate Professor of Philosophy, Emerson College 1699.                   Harold Langsam,Professor of Philosophy, University of Virginia 1700.                   Gil Hersch,Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Kellogg Center for Philosophy,Politics, and Economics, Virginia Tech 1701.                   Nina Fonoroff,Associate Professor of Film and Digital Arts, University of New Mexico 1702.                   Richard Cramer,Sociology professor (retired), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill1703.                   Patrick S.O’Donnell, Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy (retired)1704.                   Gideon Polya,Associate Professor,  Biochemistry, La Trobe University (retired)1705.                   J. David Velleman,William H. Miller III Research Professor of Philosophy, Johns HopkinsUniversity; Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, New York University1706.                   Rabbi HowardCooper, Hon Fellow, Leo Baeck College, London1707.                   Thomas G Weiss,Presidential Professor Emeritus, Political Science; Director Emeritus, RalphBunche Insititute for International Studies, The City University of New YorkGraduate Center; Distinguished Fellow, Global Governance, The Chicago Councilon Global Affairs; Global Eminience Scholar, Kyung Hee University1708.                   Shyam Ranganathan,MA, MA, PhD, Department of Philosophy, York Center for Asian Research, YorkUniversity1709.                   Rabbi David A.Teutsch, PhD, The Louis and Myra Wiener Professor Emeritus of ContemporaryJewish Civilization; Senior Consultant to Levin-Lieber Program in Jewish Ethicsand for Congregational Services1710.                   b.h. Yael,Professor, Ontario College of Art & Design University1711.                   Jeremy Pober, PhD,Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University ofAntwerp1712.                   Rabbi Colin Eimer,Lecturer, Leo Baeck College1713.                   Joshua Gutoff,EdD, Jewish Educator1714.                   Omar Salman,Senior Research Advisor at Pfizer (retired)1715.                   David LivingstoneSmith, Professor of Philosophy, University of New England1716.                   Benjamin Schiff,James Monroe Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Law, OberlinCollege1717.                   Josef Stern,William H. Colvin Professor of Philosophy (Emeritus); Founding Director, JoyceZ. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies 2009-2014, The University ofChicago1718.                   Berel Lutsky,Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay1719.                   Anat Biletzki,Professor of Philosophy, Quinnipiac University1720.                   Daniel Weinstock,Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy, Department ofPhilosophy and Faculty of Law, McGill University1721.                   Ted Greenwood, PhD1722.                   Natasha Gill,Former Professor, Barnard College; The New School1723.                   Alessandra DeRossi, Associate Professor, University of Torino1724.                   Sara Rutkowski,Associate Professor, City University of New York: Kingsborough Community ofCollege1725.                   Henry Ascher, MD,PhD, Associate Professor of Paediatrics, University of Gothenburg1726.                   Yael Zerubavel,Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies & History, Rutgers University1727.                   Eviatar Zerubavel,Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Rutgers University; author ofThe Elephant in the Room1728.                   Rabbi Lev Taylor,Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue, Essex1729.                   Dan Fleshler,Co-Editor of The Third Narrative; author of Transforming Israel’s Lobby1730.                   Mario Kessler,Senior Fellow, Center for Contemporary History, Potsdam, Germany 1731.                   Joanna Mingham,Organizer, Leeds Women in Black1732.                   Rabbi GabrielKanter-Webber, Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue1733.                   Dr. Jon Cloke,Senior Research Associate, ENR-Demos1734.                   Anne-Marie Codur,PhD, Chair, University of the Middle East Project1735.                   Ariel Handel,Lecturer, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design1736.                   O. Nigel Bolland,Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Caribbean Studies, Colgate University1737.                   Robert Gellately,Earl Ray Beck Professor of History, Florida State University1738.                   Jack Beinashowitz,Assistant Professor, Psychology, Harvard Medical School (part-time)1739.                   Ian Blaustein,Lecturer, Tufts University1740.                   Robert N. Proctor,Professor, History of Science, Stanford University1741.                   Jeffrey Rudolph,Lecturer, Social Science and Commerce Department, Marianopolis College(retired)1742.                   Matthew NoahSmith, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Northeastern University1743.                   Moti Gorin,Associate Professor, Philosophy, Colorado State University1744.                   Robert Lyons, PhD,Associate Professor Emeritus, Gothenburg University1745.                   Lawrence Douglas,Professor of Law, Jurisprudence & Social Thought, Amherst College1746.                   Maria HerminiaTavares de Almeida, Professor, Political Science, University of São Paulo1747.                   Špela Lemež,Doctoral Student, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven1748.                   Rabbi Amy Eilberg,Spiritual Director, Mussar Counselor, Peace and Justice Educator1749.                   Steven Levine,Professor, Chair of the Philosophy Department, University of Massachusetts,Boston1750.                   Rabbi GeraldSerotta1751.                   Rabbi SuzanneSinger, Rabbi Emerita, Temple Beth El1752.                   Rabbi LaurenceEdwards, PhD, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Or Chadash; Instructor, Universityof Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University1753.                   Jared McBride,Assistant Professor of History, UCLA1754.                   Louis E. Newman,Former Dean of Academic Advising and Associate Vice Provost for UngergraduateEducation, Stanford University; John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor ofReligious Studies, Emeritus, Carleton College1755.                   Dr. Charles Z.Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems;Director, Sustainable Food Systems Lab1756.                   Rachel da SilveiraGorman, Associate Profesor, York University1757.                   Rabbi Philip J.Bentley, Honorary President, Jewish Peace Fellowship1758.                   Rabbi Marc Gruber,Bethesda, Maryland. Rabbi Emeritus, Central Synagogue-Beth Emeth in RockvilleCentre, NY1759.                   Assaf Kfoury,Professor of Computer Science, Boston University1760.                    LindaClarke, Professor Emeritus, University of Westminster 1761.                   Ester Reiter,Professor Emeritus, York University1762.                   Gail Super,Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto1763.                    LuinGoldring, Professor of Sociology, York University 1764.                   Rebecca Comay,Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto 1765.                   Ariel Salzmann,Associate Professor of Islamic and World History, Queens University, Canada1766.                   Rabbi JeffreyRoth, Director, Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism 1767.                   Rabbi SheldonLewis, Rabbi Emeritus, Palo Alto, California 1768.                   James Deutsch MDPhD FRCPC, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University ofToronto 1769.                   Michael Dine, DistinguishedProfessor Emeritus, University of California Santa Cruz 1770.                   Rabbi MarjorieBerman1771.                   Evelyn TortonBeck, Professor Emerita, Harriet Tubman Department of Women’s, Gender andSexuality Studies, University of Maryland 1772.                   Charles Maier,Research Professor of History, Harvard University 1773.                   Rabbi NateDeGroot, Associate Director, The Shalom Center 1774.                   Geoffrey Claussen,Professor of Religious Studies, Elon University 1775.                   Rabbi David DunnBauer, Reconstructing Judaism 1776.                   Rabbi BaratEllman, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fordham University 1777.                   Rabbi ElyseWechterman, CEO, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Abington, PA 1778.                   Rabbi Nancy FuchsKreimer, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Emerita, ReconstructionistRabbinical College 1779.                   Fred Rogers, VP& Treasurer Emeritus (ret), Carleton College1780.                   Rabbi SharonKleinbaum 1781.                   Melissa Levin,Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto 1782.                   Ido Geiger,Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 1783.                   Rabbi Elli TikvahSarah, Rabbi Emeritus, Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, Scholar andwriter 1784.                   John Connelly,Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History, UC Berkeley 1785.                   Martin Munz,Artist, Organizer for Jews Against the Occupation in Australia1786.                    RabbiRebecca Birk 1787.                   Brendan McGeever,Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Antisemitism and Racialization, BirkbeckInstitute For The Study of Antisemitism, University of London 1788.                   René Levy, RetiredProfessor of Sociology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland 1789.                   Rabbi Sheila PeltzWeinberg1790.                   Dr Maynard Seider1791.                   Professor IlanaPardes, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1792.                   Norman Paech,Professor Emeritus of International Public Law, University of Hamburg1793.                   Itamar WeinshtockSaadon, Graduate student, Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University 1794.                   David Cooper,Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town1795.                   Rabbi Dr. MargaretJacobi, Birmingham UK 1796.                   Brian Klug, Hon.Fellow in Social Philosophy, Campion Hall, University of Oxford, Hon. Fellow,Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University ofSouthampton 1797.                   Efrat Ben-Ze’ev,Associate Professor, The Ruppin Academic Centre  1798.                   Natan Sznaider,Professor Emeritus, Academic College of Tel Aviv 1799.                   Rabbi Adam LewisFrankenberg 1800.                   Rabbi Dr BarbaraBorts 1801.                   Rabbi MalkaPacker-Monroe 1802.                   Nadia Urbinati,Professor of Political Science, Columbia University1803.                   Rabbi SylviaRothschild, Community Rabbi and Hospice Spiritual Care Leader, London 1804.                   Rabbi RobertTabak,  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (retired) 1805.                   Jonathan Sterne,Professor, McGill University 1806.                   Eva Illouz,Professor, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Paris1807.                   Tanya Basok,Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Windsor 1808.                   Rabbi Dr. ChavaBahle  1809.                   David Nasaw,Professor Emeritus, History Department, CUNY Graduate Center1810.                   Diane Cooper,Professor Emeritus, School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape,Cape Town 1811.                   Rabbi NaomiGoldman1812.                   David Rechter,Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Oxford1813.                   Rabbi YitzhakHusbands-Hankin, Rabbi Emeritus Temple Beh Israel, Eugene, Oregon 1814.                   David Mednicoff,Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst 1815.                   Daniel KupfertHeller, Senior Lecturer, Monash University 1816.                   Rabbi Douglas E.Krantz, Founding Rabbi, Congregation B’nai Yisrael, Armonk, NY  1817.                   Rabbi ArthurWaskow, Ph. D., Executive Director, The Shalom Center; ReconstructionistRabbinical College, Faculty, retired1818.                   Diane J. Klein,JD, LLM, Southern University Law Center 1819.                   Eva Menasse,Novelist and essayist, Berlin 1820.                   Rabbi DebraKolodny, Teacher and ritualist, Amherst, MA 1821.                   Rabbi AndreaLondon, Beth Emet, The Free Synagogue, Evanston, IL 1822.                   Rabbi BonnieCohen 1823.                   Rabbi DianeElliot, Wholly Present, San Francisco Bay Area 1824.                   Rabbi EllenLippmann, Brooklyn, NY 1825.                   Rabbi DavidSeidenberg, Independent scholar1826.                   Rabbi Dr. AndrewVogel Ettin, Professor, Department for the Study of Religions and ProfessorEmeritus of English, Wake Forest University, Spiritual Leader, Temple Israel,Salisbury, NC 1827.                   Rabbi MichaelLerner, Editor, Tikkun Magazine, Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives,Rabbi,  Beyt Tikkun Synagogue-Without-Walls, San Francisco and Berkeley,Author1828.                   Rabbi Cat J Zavis,Beyt Tikkun: A Synagogue without Walls, Network of Spiritual Progressives 1829.                   Rabbi Stan Levy,Congregation B’nai Horin-Children of Freedom, Los Angeles1830.                   Rabbi Jeff Foust,Bentley University 1831.                   Rabbi Alan ScottBachman, House of Prayer for All Peoples 1832.                   Rabbi Jamie Hyams,Community Rabbi 1833.                   Rabbi Simkha Y.Weintraub, Social Worker, Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Skills,JewishTheological Seminary (retired) 1834.                   Rabbi Yaacov J.Kravitz, Ed.D., Center for Spiritual Intelligence, Elkins Park, PA 1835.                   Anita Altman, MA,Health Administration1836.                   Guy Bollag, MD,Sociocultural Animation, Zurich, Switzerland; Head of the Committee of theJewish Voice for Democracy and Justice in Israel/Palestine, Switzerland1837.                   Noam Hoffer,Assistant Professor, Bar-Ilan University, Israel1838.                   Eran Tzelgov,Poet, Translator, Ilustrator1839.                   Daniel J Isaak,Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Neveh Shalom, Portland, Oregon1840.                   Rabbi David Lazar,Or Hamidbar, Palm Springs, California1841.                   Rabbi Reba Carmel,Philadelphia, PA1842.                   Howard AvruhmAddison, Associate Professor Emeritus, Intellectual Heritage Program, TempleUniversity1843.                   Shalom H Schwartz,Snajderman Emeritus Professor of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem1844.                   Kyle Scott, PhDStudent, UCLA1845.                   Leonard Sklar,Professor Emeritus, Environmental Geoscience, Concordia University1846.                   Bob Lieberman,Teacher, Elkins Park, PA (retired)1847.                   Dr Ariela BairyBen Ishay, Lecturer at Beit Berl College, Hamidrasha and Buber Center forDialogue Education1848.                   Merle Lefkoff,PhD, Founding Director, Center for Emergent Diplomacy1849.                   Matthias Weiter,Professor, International Development, Humbolt-Universitaetzu Berlin1850.                   Jean E. Jackson,Professor Emerita, Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology1851.                   Debra Levine,Lecturer, Theater, Dance & Media, Harvard University1852.                   Emily Blank, Bendthe Arc, Jewish Action, Maryland; Professor Emerita, Economics, Howard University1853.                   Roger Griffin,Professor Emeritus, Oxford Brookes University1854.                   Joan D Mandle,Associate Professor of Sociology, Emerita, Colgate University1855.                   Mor Pipman, Artist1856.                   Melanie Judge,Adjunct Associate Professor, Public Law, University of Cape Town1857.                   Naita Hishoono,Executive Director, Namibia Institute for Democracy1858.                   Davide Carbonai,Associate Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul1859.                   Yakov Pipman, DSc,Co-Founder and Former President, Medical Physics for World Benefit1860.                   Elijah Wald,Adjunct Faculty, Temple University; Writer, Researcher1861.                   Orly Yadin,Program Director, Vermont International Film Festival1862.                   Bethamie Horowitz,PhD1863.                   Reverend F PeterFord, Jr, PhD, Assistant Professor, Islamic Studies, Near East School ofTheology (retired)1864.                   Rabbi Sue LeviElwell, PhD, Hebrew Union College1865.                   Jacqueline Rose,Professor, Co-Director, Institue for the Humanities, Birkbeck University ofLondon1866.                   Jo Ann Cavallo,Professor, Italian, Columbia University1867.                   Mikael Levin,Artist, Photographer1868.                   Charles Perkins,PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of California, SantaBarbara1869.                   Henry Rousso,Emeritus Senior Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique1870.                   Tali Nates,Founder & Director, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre1871.                   Dr Oded Na’aman,Senior Lecturer, Philosophy & Centre for Moral and Political Philosophy,Hebrew University of Jerusalem1872.                   E R Hurvich,Rabbinic Student, Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal1873.                   Rabbi JonathanBrumberg-Kraus, PhD, Professor, Religion; Coordinator, Jewish Studies, WheatonCollege1874.                   Janet Theophano,Adjunct Faculty, Folklore, Anthropology; Dean of Academic Affairs, College ofGeneral Studies, University of Pennsylvania1875.                   Rabbi Ruhi SophiaMotzkin Rubenstein, Temple Beth Israel- Center for Jewish Life, Eugene, OR1876.                   Abigail B Bakan,Professor, University of Toronto1877.                   Wolf Gruner,Founding Director, USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research;Shapell-Guerin Chair, Jewish Studies; Profesor, History, University of SouthernCalifornia1878.                   Rabbi KenRosenstein, Boston, MA1879.                   Rabbinic PastorHeena Reiter, MSN, P’nai Yisrael Chavurah, Charlottesville, VA1880.                   Tami Gold,Professor, Hunter College1881.                   Cantor MichaelZoosman, Co-founder, “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” 1882.                   Avrum Rosner,retired National President of the Canadian Council of Railway Shopcraft Unionsand CAW National Representative 1883.                   Evelyn Mehl,Retired Lutheran pastor, synodical leadership positions, published writer inchurch publications 1884.                   Riva Hocherman,publisher, New York 1885.                   Cari Gardner, NewYork Progressive Action Network (NYPAN), Vice Chair 1886.                   Jean-ChristopheAttias, Professor, Medieval Jewish Thought, Ècole Pratique des Hautes Ètudes,Paris Sciences et Lettres University1887.                   Esther Benbassa,Professor Emerita, Modern Jewish History, Ècole Pratique des Hautes Ètudes,Paris Sciences et Lettres University1888.                   Shani Tzoref,Independent Hebrew Bible Scholar1889.                   Robert Dubrow,Professor, Epidemiology, Yale University1890.                   Rabbi IritShillor, Community Rabbi1891.                   Rabbi RachelDavidson1892.                   Rabbi Moshe Heyn,Half Moon Bay, CA1893.                   Rabbi MiriamGrossman, Brooklyn, NY1894.                   Debra Satz, MartaSutton Weeks Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University1895.                   Heinz Hurwitz,Proffessor Emeritus, Free University Brussels1896.                   Nina Felshin,Wesleyan University, Curator, Zilkha Gallery (retired); Co-Founder, Jews SayNo!1897.                   Ronny Gunnarsson,Professor, General Practice/Family Medicine, University of Gothenburg1898.                   Rabbi Doug Alpert,Congregation Kol-Ami-KC, Kansas City, MO1899.                   Rabbi DevorahJacobson, Healthcare Chaplain, Longmeadow, MA1900.                   Laurie F Schwartz,New York Center for Somatic Psychotherapy and Trauma Resolution1901.                   Stuart R Friedman,New York Center for Somatic Psychotherapy and Trauma Resolution1902.                   Eileen Weiss,Managing Director, Same Difference Interfaith Alliance1903.                   Ken Giles, MusicTeacher1904.                   Rabbi Shawn Zevit,Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia, PA1905.                   Richard Wagner,Attorney at Law, Irvine, CA1906.                   Rabbi Laura Owens,Congregation B’nai Horin, Children of Freedom; Chair Emerita, The Academy forJewish Religion California1907.                   Rabbi Sid Schwarz,Founding Rabbi, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation1908.                   Matthew Roth-Katz,Historian, Northampton, MA1909.                   Brian Tokar,Author, Activist; Faculty, Board Member, Institute for Social Ecology1910.                   Rabbi SarahNoyovitz, Boston, MA1911.                   Susan Marks,Professor, Judaic Studies/Klingstein Chair, New College of Florida (retired)1912.                   Ami Goodman, MD,Assistant Clinical Professor, Pediatrics, University of California, SanFrancisco1913.                   Ervin Staub,Professor Emeritus, Psychology, Founding Director of the Psychology of Peaceand Violence Program, University of Massashusetts, Amherst1914.                   Mitchell Marcus,Professor Emeritus, Artificial Intelligence, University of Pennsylvania1915.                   Shepha SchneirsohnVainstein, LMFT, President, reGeneration Education1916.                   Anthony Stern, MD1917.                   Sandy Polishuk,Instructor, Portland State University (retired)1918.                   Madelyn R Hoffman,Adjunct Professor, Public Speaking and Political Science, Hudson CountyCommunity College1919.                   Julie Bloom,Psychotherapist (retired)1920.                   Steven Falk,Education Specialist, Oakland, CA1921.                   Martha Kransdorf,Lecturer, University of Michigan1922.                   Jodi Kushins, PhD1923.                   Jane Ariel, PhD1924.                   Rabbi JonathanSeidel, PhD, University of Portland1925.                   Alan Dowty,Professor Emeritus, University of Notre Dame1926.                   Dr Sally Zierler,Professor Emerita, Brown University School of Medicine1927.                   Rabbi ShalomSchachter, LlB, Founding Vice President, Association of Rabbis and Cantors forJewish Renewal (OHALAH)1928.                   Jules Mermelstein,Board Member, Friends of the Upper Dublin Public Library1929.                   Rabbi DavidGreenstein1930.                   Betsy Smith,Adjunct Professor, English as a Second Language, Cape Cod Community College1931.                   Michael Shandler,EdD1932.                   Laurie AnnePearlman, PhD, Clinical Psychologist1933.                   Juliet Lee, PhD,Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Institute for Reserach and Evaluation,Berkeley1934.                   Pamela Blau,Jungian Analyst, CG Jung Institute of New England1935.                   Saphinaz-AmalNaguib, Professor Emerita, Cultural History, University of Oslo1936.                   Susie Davidson,Journalist1937.                   Thomas Rose, PhD,Professor Emeritus, Montgomery College1938.                   Ori Z Soltes,Adjunct Lecturer, Georgetown Univeristy1939.                   Sandra Leiberman,Attorney, Elkins Park, PA1940.                   Eleanor Levie,Organizer, National Council of Jewish Women, Pennsylvania1941.                   Joshua Cole,Professor, History, University of Michigan1942.                   Rabbi IrwinKeller, Cotati, CA1943.                   James A Paul,Executive Director, Global Policy Forum (retired)1944.                   Elan Shapiro,Artist, Jewish Educator1945.                   Dr DebbieWeissman, Jewish Educator (retired)1946.                   Rabbi NancyKasten, Faith Commons1947.                   Arthur J Magida,Author, Former Senior Editor, Baltimor Jewish Times1948.                   Hazzan JackKessler, Director, Aleph Cantorial Program1949.                   Annette Gottleib,MD1950.                   Deena Metzger, PhD1951.                   Rabbi Eliot JBaskin, DMin1952.                   Donna KrupkinWhitney, MD, MDiv1953.                   Cynthia HermanErvin, PhD, Psychologist (retired)1954.                   Simone Zelitch,Associate Professor, Community College of Philadelphia1955.                   Gordon Corzine,Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Boston, College of Management (retired)1956.                   Kohenet Mei MeiSanford, Lecturer, William & Mary1957.                   Nance Goldstein,PhD, Resident Scholar, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University1958.                   Rabbi Howie ChaimSchneider1959.                   Patricia Johnson,Professor Emerita, Classical Studies, Boston University1960.                   Veronika Cohen,Professor Emerita, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance1961.                   Sari H Dworkin,PhD, Professor, California State University Fresno (retired)1962.                   Jaqueline ASchwarz, PhD, Clinical Psychology1963.                   Marjorie Searl,Research Curator, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester (retired)1964.                   Pamela Allara,Associate Professor Emerita, Contemporary Art, Brandeis University1965.                   Robert W Vaagan,PhD, Professor Emeritus, Media, Journalism and Intercultural CommunicationStudies, Oslo Metropolitan University1966.                   Leslie Zebrowitz,Professor Emerita, Psychology, Brandeis University1967.                   Areta Crowell,PhD, Pasadena, CA1968.                   Anne C Bernstein,PhD, Professor Emerita, The Wright Institute1969.                   Francesca Klug,Professor, Human Rights, London School of Economics1970.                   Rabbi Susan Talve,Founder, Central Reform Congregation; CEO, Ashrei Foundation, St Louis, MO1971.                   Phyllis B Taylor,RN1972.                   Stefan H Krieger,Richard J Cardali Distinguished Professor, Trial Advocacy, Maurice A DeaneSchool of Law, Hofstra University1973.                   Paul Monsky,Professor Emeritus, Mathematics, Brandeis University1974.                   Elizabeth Jameson,Professor Emerita, History, University of Calgary1975.                   RonnieJanoff-Bulman, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts-Amherst1976.                   Renee Robbins,Pianist1977.                   Marina Budhos,Professor Emerita, English, William Patterson University1978.                   Judith B Kerman,PhD, Professor Emerita, English, Saginaw Valley State University; Publisher,Mayapple Press1979.                   Rabbi Jim Lebeau,Jerusalem1980.                   Cherie Brown,Executive Director, National Coalition Building Institute1981.                   Marc Howard Ross,Professor, Bryn Mawr College1982.                   Charles WGreenbaum, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, The Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem1983.                   Franke Wilmer,PhD, Professor Emerita, Department of Political Science, Montana StateUniversity1984.                   Ben Carniol, LLB,MSW, Professor Emeritus, Toronto Metropolitan University1985.                   Ray Jackendoff,Professor Emeritus, Linguistics, Brandeis University1986.                   David Lancy,Professor Emeritus, Utah State University1987.                   Sarah Stein,Professor, Department of History, UCLA1988.                   Rabbinic Pastor DeFischler Herman, Mashpi’ah Ruchanit, Sage-ing Mentor, Yerusha Faculty;Writer/Editor, Journal of Health and Human Experience1989.                   Lynn Feinermann,Radio Producer, Creator of Women Rising Radio, Filmmaker, Writer1990.                   Louis Kreisberg,Maxwell Professor Emeritus, Social Conflict Studies Syracuse University1991.                   Rabbi MauriceHarris, Associate Director, Thriving Communities; Israel Affairs Specialist,Reconstructing Judaism1992.                   Margalit Toledano,Associate Professor, University of Waikato1993.                   Rabbi RenaBlumenthal1994.                   Elliot Zashin,Former Director, Levine Hillel Center, University of Illinois at Chicago;Former President, Chicago Friends of Peace Now1995.                   Zelda Gamson,Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston1996.                   Reverend CanonPatricial O’Reilly, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles1997.                   Jon Scheinman, MD,Professor, Pediatrics, University of Kansas (retired)1998.                   Rolla Lewis,Professor Emeritus, California State University, East Bay1999.                   Benjamin MordecaiBen-Baruch, Former Principal, United Hebrew Schools of Metro Detroit AdatShalom Branch; Former Religous School Director, Ann Arbor ReconstructionistCongregation; Former Board Member, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation2000.                   Rabbi Benjamin Barnett,Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR2001.                   Chava Weissler,Professor Emerita, Jewish Stuides, Lehigh University2002.                   Dr HerbertBernstein, IIS Institute for Sciences, Amherst, MA2003.                   Rabbi AllanBerkowitz, Nonprofit Executive, Kensington, CA2004.                   Rabbi Katy Z.Allen2005.                   Rabbi RobinPodolsky, Professor, Academy for Jewish Religion, CA2006.                   Dr Barbara Turner,Professor Emeritus, East Tennessee College of Medicine2007.                   David E Matz,Professor Emeritus, Conflict Resolution, University of Massachusetts, Boston2008.                   Jack Miles,Distinguished Professor, English & Religious Studies, University ofCalifornia, Irvine2009.                   Dr Edna Loehman,Professor Emerita, Department of Agricultural Econonomics, Purdue University2010.                   Martha Ackelsberg,William R Kenan, Jr Professor Emerita of Government and of the Study of Womenand Gender, Smith College2011.                   Sukey Blanc, PhD,Founder, Principal Researcher, Creative Research and Evaluation2012.                   Jeffrey G Shapiro,PhD2013.                   Gail Ferraioli,Relationship Specialist, Clarity Mediatons2014.                   Kevin Gould,Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment,Concordia University2015.                   Susan Nakley, PhD,Professor, Associate Chair, Department of English, Saint Joseph’s UniversityNew York2016.                   Rabbi LauraGeller, Rabbi Emerita, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills2017.                   Rabbi DonnaSisselman Cephas, New York, NY2018.                   Jeffrey JWilkinson, PhD, Researcher, Facilitator2019.                   GiladHirschberger, Professor, Social Psychology, Reichman University2020.                   Dan Brook, PhD,Senior Lecturer Emeritus, San Jose State University2021.                   Iris Keltz, MA,Author, Educator, Founding Member of Jewish Voices for Peace, Alberquerque, NM2022.                   Joseph ACamilleri, Professor Emeritus, La Trobe University; Fellow, The Academy of theSocial Sciences in Australia; Co-Convener, Saving Humanity and Planet Earth(SHAPE); Convener, Conversation at the Crossroads2023.                   Karen Kerschen,Editor, Taos Jewish Center2024.                   Shifrah Sagy,Professor, Ben Gurion University of the Negev2025.                   Simone Gigliotti,Reader in Holocaust Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London2026.                   Clifford Levenson,Attorney at Law, Phoenix, AZ2027.                   Alan EliyahuHaLevi Haber, Megiddo Peace Project, Ann Arbor, MI2028.                   Yona Shahar, JD,Montpelier, VT2029.                   Krystyna Adamska,Chair, Research Ethics Committee, University of Gdańsk2030.                   Sophie Bessis,Historian, France, Tunisia2031.                   Helen Haste,Professor Emerita, Psychology, University of Bath2032.                   Dr S P Brock,Professor Emeritus, Wolfson College2033.                   Rabbi VictorReinstein, Founding Rabbi, Nehard Shalom Community Synagogue, Jamaica Plain, MA2034.                   Rabbi SandraKviat, Community Rabbi, Crouch End Chavurah, London, UK2035.                   Ruth Beckermann,Filmmaker, Author, Vienna, Austria2036.                   Dr Wilhelm Kempf,Professor, Psychological Methodology and Peace Research, University of Konstanz2037.                   Anthony D Kauders,Professor, Keele University2038.                   Sandra L Ruch,Kohenet, Teacher, Officiant2039.                   Barbara WeinbergBurkart, LMHC, Clinical Psychotherapist, Consulting Supervisor, Amherst, MA2040.                   Rae Abileah,Kohenet2041.                   Ilai Alon,Professor, Tel Aviv University (retired)2042.                   Aaron Glass,Professor, Anthropology, Bard Graduate Center2043.                   Arie Nadler,Professor Emeritus, Psychology, Tel Aviv University2044.                   Guy Beiner,Professor, Boston College2045.                   Dr James L Bailey,Wagner Professor Emeritus, Biblical Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary,Dubuque, IA2046.                   Chaya M Abrams,PhD, LPC, LAC, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Denver2047.                   Sarah Graff,Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art2048.                   Eyal Naveh,Professor Emeritus, History, Tel Aviv University; Kibbutzim College ofEducation2049.                   Robert L Fies, MD,Practitioner, Internal Medicine, Taos, NM2050.                   Eihei PeterLevitt, Poet, Founding Teacher, Salt Spring Zen Circle, British Columbia,Canada2051.                   ClaudiaGluschankof, PhD, Associate Professor, Levinsky-Wingate Academic College(retired)2052.                   Dr Anne Karpf,Professor, Life, Writing and Culture, School of Art, Architecture and Design,London Metropolitan University2053.                   Robert F Arnove,Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus, Education, Indiana University, Bloomington2054.                   Rachel Silver,PhD, Faculty of Education, York University2055.                   Kohenet AnnieMatan, Founder and Spiritual Leader, Matanot Lev, Toronto, ON, Canada2056.                   Rabbi DeboraWaxman, PhD, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College/Reconstructing Judaism2057.                   Ellen Cole, PhD,Professor Emerita, Psychology, Russell Sage College2058.                   Tom Angotti, PhD,Professor Emeritus, Hunter College, City University of New York2059.                   Rebekah Erev,Kohenet, Teacher, Artist, WA2060.                   Dr Michael Spath,Executive Director, Indiana Center for Middle East Peace; Co-Chair, IsraelCommittee Against House Demolitions-USA Board of Directors2061.                   Alice Senturia,JD, Union Lawyer (retired)2062.                   Bonnie SherrKlein, Filmmaker, Disability Arts Advocate, Roberts Creek, BC, Canada2063.                   Neil HowardShadle, Professor, Practical Theology and Social Change, Meadville/LombardTheological School (retired)2064.                   Moshe Shokeid,Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, Tel Aviv University2065.                   Judith Pasternak,Author2066.                   Aaron Rosen, PhD,Visiting Professor, King’s College London; Executive Director, The ClementCourse in the Humanities2067.                   Nina M Stein,Assistant Profesor, Chemistry, University of Connecticut (retired)2068.                   Lois Tucker,Domestic Violence Counselor, Rochester, NY2069.                   Dr M B Stern, PhD,Clinical Psychologist; Adjunct Faculty, Case Western Reserve University(retired)2070.                   Daniel Klubock,Judge (retired)2071.                   Pazit Ben-NunBloom. Professor, Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem2072.                   Simone Susskind,Former Belgian Federal Senator; Former Member, Brussels Parliament2073.                   Anne Maass,Professor Emerita, Padua University2074.                   Karen Margolis,Writer, Berlin, Germany2075.                   Barbara Nesin,MFA, Past President, College Art Association2076.                   Rabbi Mark Hurvitz2077.                   Rabbi EugeneFleischman Sotirescu2078.                   Kohenet JudithBreier2079.                   Rabbi AnnaBoswell-Levy2080.                   Reverend Traci DBlackmon, Associate General Minister, Justice & Local Church Ministries,United Church of Christ2081.                   Lowell Johnston,Civil Rights Lawyer (retired)2082.                   John Guillory, ProfessorEmeritus, English, New York University2083.                   Dr SusanKavaler-Adler, Psychologist, Author2084.                   Susan Kimmel,Attorney, Architect2085.                   Maria Hadjipavlou,Department Chair, Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus2086.                   Jad Isaac,Director General, Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem2087.                   Camille LévySarfati, Curator, Filmmaker, Tunisia, France2088.                   Tresa Grauer, PhD,Vice President, Thriving Communities, Reconstructing Judaism2089.                   Carol Scott, LLWL,Teacher (retired)2090.                   Teya Sepinuck,Artistic Director, Theater of Witness2091.                   Robert Aronowitz,Professor, University of Pennsylvania2092.                   Jacob Staub,Professor Emeritus, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College2093.                   RubenFrankenstein, Professor, University of Freiburg2094.                   Rabbi ElizabethBolton, Hospital Chaplain, Congregational Rabbi2095.                   Stanley Krippner,Affiliated Distinguished Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies2096.                   Glenn R Diamond,MS, CSW, Highland Park, NJ2097.                   Allen Johnson,Coordinator, Christians For The Mountains2098.                   Yasar Abu Ghosh,Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Charles University2099.                   Yuval Warshai,Independent Researcher, Early Modern European, Economic, and Jewish History,Ann Arbor, MI2100.                   Vincent Engel,Professor, University of Louvain2101.                   Andrew J Shapiro,PhD Candidate, City University of New York2102.                   Joshua Cooper,Professor, Mathematics, University of South Carolina2103.                   Jesse SalahOvadia, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University ofWindsor2104.                   Ari Almog,Director, Modern Hebrew Language Studies, University of Chicago2105.                   Rabbi Joseph Wolf,Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR2106.                   Celeste L Robins,Social Worker (retired)2107.                   John K Roth,Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College2108.                   Dr IacovosPsaltis, Professional Studies, Educational Management2109.                   Dan Mandel,Certified Public Accountant (Israel), Mangament Consultant, Haifa2110.                   Angelika Levi,Professor, Film, Offenbach University of Art and Design2111.                   Morten Thing,Danish Cultural Historian, Roskilde University Library (former)2112.                   Dr Tony Klug,Former Senior Advisor, Middle East Programme, Oxford Research Group2113.                   Professor Dr BiranMertan, Developmental Psychologist2114.                   AstridDeuber-Mankowsky, Professor Emerita, Ruhr-Universität Bochum2115.                   Gro Ladegård,Professor, School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of LifeSciences2116.                   ShimshonAyzenberg, Assistant Professor, Woodmont College2117.                   Gunvor Mejdell,Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo2118.                   BeritThorbjørnsrud, Professor Emerita, Middle East Studies, University of Oslo2119.                   Andrew PaulGutierrez, Professor Emeritus, Division of Ecosystem Science, College ofNatural Resources, University of California, Berkeley2120.                   Neil Caplan,Affiliate Faculty, Concordia University2121.                   Rabbi Toba Spitzer2122.                   Paulo SergioPinheiro, Professor, Political Science, University of Sao Paulo; FormerMinister for Human Rights, Brazil2123.                   Rabbi AlannaSklover, Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation; Fort Washington, PA2124.                   Rabbi Susan Leider2125.                   Adina Newberg,PhD, Independent Scholar (retired)2126.                   Ross Gasworth,Musician, Orange County, CA2127.                   Bruce Bierman,Co-Director, Yiddish Theatre Ensemble2128.                   ChristianSterzing, Author, Germany2129.                   Renee Hoffinger,MHSE, Registered Dietician (retired)2130.                   Robin D G Kelley,Professor, History, UCLA2131.                   Pavel Kolář,Professor, East European History, University of Konstanz2132.                   Miryam-MargoWolfson Rabbinic and Cantorial Student; Assistant Professor, Biology (retired)2133.                   Ruhama Weiss, PhD,Associate Professor, Talmud and Spiritual Care, Hebrew Union College Jerusalem2134.                   Laurie ZittrainEisenberg, Teaching Professor Emerita, History, Carnegie Mellon University2135.                   Sherrill Cohen,PhD, Author, Editor2136.                   Herbert Ginsburg,PhD, Jacob H Schiff Foundation Professor Emeritus, Psychology and Education,Teachers College Columbia University2137.                   Naomi Azriel,LMFT, Psychoanalyst, C G Jung Institute of San Francisco2138.                   Marcy Boroff, JD,MPH, Organizer, Reconstructionists Expanding the Conversation onIsrael-Palestine2139.                   Devorah Ross,Chaplain2140.                   Jonathan D Zimet,Rabbi2141.                   Dee Homans,Artist, Santa Fe, NM2142.                   Gregg Manoff, MD,Adjunct Assistant Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico School ofMedicine2143.                   Tommy Dreyfus,Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University2144.                   Fenya Fischler,Organizer, Een Andere Joodse Stem (Another Jewish Voice), Belgium2145.                   Ulrich Herbert,Professor Emeritus, Modern History,  Universität Freiburg2146.                   Steven Maynard,Associate Professor, History, Queen’s University2147.                   Paola Canarutto,Physician2148.                   Davide Sparti,Associate Professor, Università Degli Studi di Siena2149.                   Oliver Sears,Founder, Holocaust Awareness Ireland2150.                   Rabbi Dr FrankDabba Smith, Lecturer, Leo Baeck College, London2151.                   Irene Fellmann,Former Member, Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,Remembrance and Research (ITF)2152.                   Jennifer LO’Brien, Former High School Teacher, Religious Studies2153.                   Oded Balaban,Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Haifa2154.                   Marcelle Grant,LCSW, Clinical Social Worker, Santa Fe, NM2155.                   David Abram,Director, Alliance for Wild Ethics2156.                   Laurent Goetschel,Professor, Political Science, University of Basel; Director, Swisspeace2157.                   Estee Chandler,Host & Producer, Middle East in Focus2158.                   Johan Rosman, MD,PhD, Foundation Professor of Medicine, Director of Clinical Education, CurtinUniversity Medical School2159.                   Dr MohammadJohari, Imam & Lecturer, Frankfurt, DE2160.                   Rabbi Jonathan D.Zimet2161.                   Stephen Fox,Retired Academic, University of Hertfordshire2162.                   Adi Argov,Clinical Psychologist2163.                   Rev. Don Wagner,Human rights activist, Chicago,2164.                   Rabbi JonathanSlater, Institute for Jewish Spirituality (retired) 2165.                   Dr. David S. Karr,Professor of History, Columbia College, Missouri2166.                   Sara Goodman,Rabbi, Santa Monica2167.                   Loren R. Spielman,Associate Professor, Portland State University 2168.                   Sarah J. Braun,M.D., Jungian Psychoanalyst, Psychiatrist 2169.                   Matan Rubinstein,Associate Professor of Music and Sound Studies, Emerson College 2170.                   Rabbi Laurie HahnTapper2171.                   Deborah Cohen,Professor, History, Northwestern University 2172.                   BenjaminLieberman, Professor of History, Fitchburg State University 2173.                   Summer Forester,PhD. Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Relations,Carleton College 2174.                   Claire Hertz,LCSW 2175.                   Judy Goldberg,Community, Arts and Public Schools Consultant, New Mexico, USA 2176.                   Richard Kohler,Ambassador, (Retired)2177.                   Anna Sfard,Professor Emerita, University of Haifa2178.                   Jared Sacks, PhDCandidate, Columbia University2179.                   Rabbi SuzanneGriffel, Chaplain, Activist, Chicago, IL2180.                   Patrick WThompson, Professor Emeritus, Mathematics Education, Arizona State University2181.                   Markus Noll,Professor Emeritus, Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich2182.                   Dr Jonathan Braun,Professor Emeritus, UCLA2183.                   Edward Langerak,Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, St Olaf College2184.                   Professor AlanGreenberg, Chairman, Ethics Committee, Israel Pharmaceutical Society; Director,Pharmacy Department, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre (retired)2185.                   Sibylle Elam,Board Member, Jewish Voice for Democracy and Justice in Israel/Palestine,Switzerland2186.                   Tom Pessah, PhD2187.                   SandrineWattenberg, Co Producer of film Alam2188.                   Andrew Cohen,Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota2189.                   Lance Laver,M.Arch.2190.                   Vered Rom-Kedar,Professor, The Weizmann Institute2191.                   Dr Liyana Kayali,Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Sydney2192.                   Gerald Hoekstra,Professor Emeritus, St Olaf College2193.                   W Bruce Benson,College Pastor, St Olaf College (retired)2194.                   Tom Sperlinger,Professor, University of Bristol2195.                   E David Emery,Professor Emeritus, Economics, St Olaf College2196.                   Marsha Rozenblit,Professor, Jewish History, University of Maryland2197.                   Robert W Snyder,Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University2198.                   Elizabeth Breiner,Programme Manger, Goldsmiths, University of London2199.                   Bruce Rosen, cityplanner (retired), environmental & human rights activist 2200.                   Noam Tirosh,Senior Lecturer, Communication Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev2201.                   Gene Feder,Professor, Primary Health Care, University of Bristol2202.                   Alexander R Bay,Associate Professor, Chapman University2203.                   Bernard Avishai,Professor, Dartmouth College2204.                   Wieland Hoban,Composer; Translator; Chairman, Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the MiddleEast, Germany2205.                   Peter SebastianHatlebakk, PhD Candidate, University of Bergen2206.                   Don Kalb,Professor, Social Anthropology, University of Bergen; Academic Director, GlobalResearch Programme on Inequality2207.                   Richard Gopen,Senior College Ambassador, Bridgewater State University2208.                   Judith Berlowitz,Associate Professor, Spanish, Mills College (retired)2209.                   Reverend J Mark Davidson,Executive Director, Voices for Justice in Palestine2210.                   Reverend JohnKleinheksel, Founder, Kairos West Michigan2211.                   Reverend JohnWagner, Founding Member, United Methodists for Kairos Response2212.                   Shai Ginsburg,Associate Professor, Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, Asian and MiddleEastern Studies, Duke University2213.                   Elliot Ratzman,Department Chair, Jewish Studies/Religion, Earlham College2214.                   David G Troyansky,Professor, History, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York2215.                   Kathryn Anderson,PhD, Professor Emerita, Fairhaven College, Western Washington University2216.                   Steve France,Esquire, Episcopal Palestine-Israel Network; Contributer, Mondoweiss2217.                   Rebecca Subar,Former Lecturer, Harvard Law School; Adjunct Instructor, West ChesterUniversity2218.                   Peter Loewy, Photographer2219.                   Ruth Ginsburg,Professor Emerita, Comparitive Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem2220.                   Bianca MariaMancuso, High School Teacher, Naples, Italy (retired)2221.                   Revered KatherineCunningham, Psycholanalytic Faculty Member (retired)2222.                   Reverend MichaelYoshii, Co-Chair, Friends of Wadi Foquin2223.                   Ezra Getzler,Professor, Mathematics, Northwestern University2224.                   Elyse Crystall,Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill2225.                   Adriana Stern,Children’s Author2226.                   Sherryl Kleinman,Professor Emerita, Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill2227.                   William L Bigelow,Presbyterian Minister (retired); Member, Middle East Task Force of the ChicagoPresbytery2228.                   Dr Tamar Hess,Senior Lecturer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem2229.                   Irit Narkiss, Conservator,The Manchester Museum2230.                   Michael Lawton,Former Chair, Union of Progressive Jews in Germany2231.                   Rebecka S Hess,Professor, Internal Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University ofPennsylvania2232.                   Dr Barbara FWeissberger, Associate Professor Emerita, University of Minnesota2233.                   Umut Bozkurt,Associate Professor, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus2234.                   Narve Fulsås,Professor, History, The Arctic University of Norway2235.                   Lawrence Jacobson,Faculty, W A White Institute of Psychoanalysis, New York2236.                   Jim Campen,Professor Emeritus, Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston2237.                   Sheila Delany,Professor Emerita, Simon Fraser University2238.                   Rabbi Dr MiriyamGlazer2239.                   David Arnow,Professor, Computer and Information Science, Brooklyn College, The CityUniversity of New York2240.                   R Ruth Linden,PhD, President, Tree of Life Health Advocates, San Francisco, CA2241.                   Vivienne Porzsolt,Spokesperson, Jews Against the Occupation Australia2242.                   Reverend Dr Erik TJohnson, Ordained Minister, Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC2243.                   Jay M Smith,Professor, History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill2244.                   Michael Schwalbe,Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University2245.                   Soli Alpert, ViceChair, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board2246.                   Kipp Dawson,Public School Teacher (retired)2247.                   Altha J Cravey,Assistant Professor, Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill(retired)2248.                   Paul AlanMcAllister, President, Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement; BonhoefferSenior Fellow, Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership, HebrewCollege2249.                   Michal Osterweil,Teaching Professor, Curriculum in Global Studies, University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill2250.                   Dr IlanaHammerman, Writer, Editor, Translator2251.                   Charles H Manekin,Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, The University of Maryland2252.                   Susan Nicholson,PhD, Esq (retired)2253.                   Tove Bull,Professor Emerita, The Arctic University of Norway2254.                   Dr Joel Adelson2255.                   Sarah Shena,Public Interest Attorney2256.                   Hannah Ashley,Professor, Rustin Urban Community Change Axis, West Chester University2257.                   J. Mark Haugland,M.D. F.A.C.C., Retired cardiologist, Park Nicollet Clinic, Minneapolis2258.                   Peter Ellison,Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, Deparment of Human Evolutionary Biology2259.                   Ilise Cohen, PhD,Independent Scholar, Activist, Writer2260.                   Martha Copp, Professor,East Tennessee State University2261.                   HallvardTjelmeland, Professor Emeritus, Contemporary History, The Arctic University ofNorway2262.                   Ronald L Shive,Presbyterian Minister2263.                   Anita ClairFellman, Professor Emerita, Old Dominion University2264.                   ChristofferHentzer Dausgaard, PhD Student, Political Science, University of Copenhagen2265.                   Bob Brecher,Professor Emeritus, Moral Philosophy, University of Brighton2266.                   Patricio ABrodsky, Adjunct Professor, Universidad de Buenos Aires2267.                   Hugo C Galindo,PhD, Former Psychologist, District of Columbia Public Schools2268.                   Dr José MarcozThalenberg, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil2269.                   Theodore A Rosen,US Commerical Counselor, US Embassy, Cairo, Egypt (1981-1986)2270.                   Anna Yeatman,Professor Emeritus, School of Humanitites, Communication, and Art2271.                   Katherine Margo,MD, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine and CommunityHealth, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania2272.                   Professor LouiseBethlehem, Head, The Program in Cultural Studies, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem2273.                   Lautaro Brodsky,Author2274.                   Deborah Golden,Professor Emerita, University of Haifa2275.                   Deborah Koren,PhD, Independent Researcher2276.                   Kees Schepers,Professor, University of Antwerp2277.                   Micha Reisel, MA,Publisher (retired)2278.                   Robert Boyce,Emeritus Reader, Department of International History, London School ofEconomics & Political Science2279.                   Clive Jones,Professor, Regional Security in the Middle East, Durham University; FormerChair, European Association for Israel Studies2280.                   Candida Paltiel,Filmmaker, Toronto, Canada2281.                   Jutta VanessaTørkeel, Teacher, Headmistress (retired)2282.                   Miriam Shakow,Professor, Anthropology, The College of New Jersey2283.                   David Weinstein,Professor Emeritus, Wake Forest University; Honorar Professor, Universitaet Oldenburg2284.                   Mary JanellMetzger, Professor Emeritus, Department of English, Deparment of GenderStudies, Western Washington University2285.                   Professor DanielleCelermajer, Deputy Director, Academic Sydney Environment Institute; Professor,Discipline of Sociology and Criminology, University of Sydney2286.                   Norman Solomon,National Director, RootsAction.org2287.                   Gordon Doctorow, MMath, M Ed, EdD2288.                   Aron LeeRosenberg, Faculty Lecturer in the Department of Integrated Studies inEducation, McGill University2289.                   Rabbi MichaelFeinberg, New York2290.                   Stanley N Katz,Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University2291.                   Daniel Levine,Aaron Aronov Associate Professor, University of Alabama2292.                   Bilu Blich, Artist2293.                   Michael Richter,Photographer2294.                   Chuck Fishman,Photographer2295.                   Hans ChananGuggenheim, Social Worker2296.                   Jane Hirschmann,Author and community organizer2297.                   Paul Lauter, SmithProfessor Emeritus, Trinity College2298.                   Tom Pessah, PhD2299.                   JocelyneRajnchapel-Messaï, PhD2300.                   Lawrence Moss,Professor, Indiana University2301.                   Robert Allan, PhD2302.                   Zailig Pollock,Professor Emeritus, Trent University 2303.                   Andrew Samuels,Former Chair, UK Council for Psychotherapy2304.                   Madeleine Malayan,Retired Professor, California State University2305.                   Leon Wieseltier,Editor, Liberties2306.                   Megan Rosenberg,Attorney2307.                   Bruno Kampel,Writer and Political Analyst2308.                   Roni Tzoreff,Postdoctoral Fellow, Michigan University and Ben-Gurion University2309.                   Karen Jacques,PhD, Clinical Psychologist (retired)2310.                   Hank Keeton,Independent Scholar2311.                   Tali Levin,Practicing Nurse2312.                   MadeleineAveamoussis, Producer2313.                   Erica Hahn, Judge2314.                   Alan Blitz, IsraelPalestine Committee, Boston Workers Circle2315.                   Glenn Marcus,Documentary Filmmaker2316.                   Rabbi Pamela Wax,North Adams, MA2317.                   BenjaminLieberman, Professor, Fitchburg State University2318.                   Gabor Rona,Professor of Practice, Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University2319.                   Rabbi NeilComess-Daniels, Los Angeles, CA2320.                   Ruth LaurieWeinstock, Writer, Artist2321.                   Soli Ozel,Lecturer, Kadir Has University2322.                   Dr. Ofer Waldman,Author and Journalist2323.                   StéphaneBruchfeld, Doctoral Candidate, Uppsala University2324.                   Ruth Appleton,Director, Sante Refugee Mental Health Access Project2325.                   Beth Baron,Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York2326.                   J Mark Haugland,MD, FACC2327.                   Stefan Mol,Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior and Research Methods, Universityof Amsterdam2328.                   Nicole Morse,Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University2329.                   Ronald J Fisher,PhD, Professor Emeritus, International Peace and Conflict Resolution, School ofInternational Service, American University2330.                   Djamel Tahi,Documentay Producer, Filmmaker, Writer2331.                   Hannah DavisTaieb, Fellow, Center for Critical Democracy Studies, American University ofParis2332.                   Ifigenia Pottakis,Political Analyst, Freelance Copywriter, Athens, Greece2333.                   Natan M. Meir,Professor, Judaic Studies, Portland State University2334.                   Said Abuzahra,Professor of Math, Salem State University (Retired)2335.                   Jeffrey Klein,Retired Union President and Solidarity Activist2336.                   Bob Mason, RetiredClinical Social Worker and Jewish Activist2337.                   Margaret RiceMoir, MS/Retired Teacher2338.                   M. Sunny Robinson,RN, MEd Mary Wallace, Social Justice Worker, Universal Unitarian Member2339.                   Thomas Lamarre,Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago2340.                   Mita Choudhury,Evalyn Clark Professor of History, Vassar College 2341.                   Milly Osman, MD2342.                   Howard Lenow,Union and Civil Rights Lawyer and Founding Member of Jewish Voice for Peace2343.                   Sorin Siegler,PhD., Professor, College of Engineering, Drexel University2344.                   Annette Aronowicz,Retired Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College2345.                   Stephen Stern,Chair, Jewish Studies, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies &Interdisciplinary Studies, Gettysburg College2346.                   Zied Ben Amor,Sales Manager2347.                   JudithBrüll-Assan, Senior Academic Librarian, Tel Aviv University2348.                   Victor Friedman,Retired Associate Professor, Max Stern Yezreel Valley College2349.                   Susan T.Nicholson, PhD., Member of Mass Peace Action2350.                   Sonia Combe,Historian, Marc Bloch Centre2351.                   Makis Solomos,Musicologist, University of Paris 82352.                   Merry White,Professor, Department of Anthropology, Boston University2353.                   Marina Ville,Mathematician at CNRS2354.                   Eva S. Moseley,Retired Curator at Schlesinger Library, Harvard Radcliffe Institute2355.                   Sylvie AnneGoldberg, Professor at CRH, EHESS2356.                   Inge Kley,Psychoanalyst2357.                   Rima Kouteili,Professor at Lycée Français Margueritte Duras, Ho Chi Minh City2358.                   Kirsten Leefhelm,Psychoanalyst2359.                   Rabbi RachelKahn-Troster, Executive Vice President at Interfaith Center on CorporateResponsibility2360.                   Darlene M.Coffman, Retired Teacher2361.                   Rabbi Deborah RuthBronstein, Rabbi Emerita, Congregation Har HaShem, Boulder Colorado 2362.                   Benjy Fox-Rosen,Musician, Researcher, Lecturer at the University of Vienna2363.                   Gaby Belz,Founding Member of JVJP2364.                   Dr. Samuel Rom,Clinical Psychologist, University of Zurich2365.                   Simon Chabrillat-  Scientist, member of Union des Progresisstes Juifs de Belgique (UPJB) 2366.                   MichaelFeigenbaun, Board Member at Combatants for Peace, Artist2367.                   Tony Litwinko,Former Lecturer at Bryn Mawr College and Queens College, CUNY 2368.                   PatWestwater-Jong, Former Assistant Professor at Boston University2369.                   Noa Fort,Musician, Music Therapist2370.                   BertaRasumowsky-Grossfeld, Fashion Designer and Artist2371.                   Steven Kaplan,Professor of African Studies and Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem2372.                   Barbara Krieger,Emeritus Associate Professor of English at the State University of New York,Potsdam2373.                   Anthony Gad Bigio,Urban Advisor2374.                   Archie GeorgeWolfman, PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London 2375.                   Anders Klemetsen,UiT, The Arctic University of Norway2376.                   AreejSabbagh-Khoury, Senior Lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem2377.                   Yael Shomroni,Artist2378.                   Ellen Yaroshefsky,Professor of Legal Ethics, Hofstra University2379.                   ElisabethBäschlin, Geographer/Lecturer Emerita, University of Bern 2380.                   Rabbi BridgetWynne, Executive Director of Jewish Gateways2381.                   Rabbi DavidBasior, Kadima Reconstructionist Community 2382.                   Shirley Crenshaw,Social Worker2383.                   Jonathan Roiser,Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University College London2384.                   Oren Kroll-Zeldin,Assistant Professor, Jewish Studies and Social Justice, University of SanFrancisco2385.                   Ithamar S. Esphar,Sound Engineer2386.                   Steven Miller,Attorney, Independent International Business Consultant2387.                   Chloé Bigio,Business Development Consultant2388.                   Jim Feldman,Retired Attorney2389.                   Jonathan Davidson,Artist2390.                   Benjamin Levy,Psychologist and Psychoanalyst2391.                   Orit Gwirceman,Retired Teacher2392.                   Rudolf Schär,Alumni ETH Zürich2393.                   Robert Rosenthal,Author, “The Progressive Jew”2394.                   Stephen Morris,Retired College Lecturer2395.                   René-Simon Meyer,Sociologist, Trade Unionist2396.                   Anne Litwin,Executive Coach and Consultant2397.                   Jean-GuyGreilsamer, Jewish anti-Zionist activist in Paris with UJFP2398.                   Hedab Tarifi,Palestinian Advocate2399.                   Zohar ChamberlainRegev, Activist with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition2400.                   Jeffery Cooper,Professor of History (emeritus), Santa Monica College2401.                   Hannah Rosenthal,Progressive Jews of St. Louis2402.                   Sharon Sigal,Singer, Voice Instructor2403.                   Debbie Nathan,Writer, New York2404.                   Oren Kroll-Zeldin,Assistant Director, Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice;Assistant Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Universityof San Francisco2405.                   Josefine Verdoner,Psychotherapist (retired), child survivor of the Holocaust2406.                   Yuval Yonay, PhD,Department of Sociology, University of Haifa2407.                   Frances Malino,Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and History Emerita, WellesleyCollege2408.                   Laurence J.Silberstein, Berman Professor of Jewish Studies Emeritus, Lehigh University2409.                   David Corwin,Senior Lecturer, Deparment of Mathematics, Ben Gurion University of the Negev2410.                   Rita SchneidingerKeller, Former President of the Jewish Community of St. Gallen, Switzerland;Retired Lawyer2411.                   Dr. Ernst Piper,Professor, Department of Modern History, University of Potsdam 2412.                   Dr. BenjaminZachariah, Leibniz Institute for Educational Media2413.                   RiviHandler-Spitz, Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures Department,Macalaster College2414.                   ColumbaGonzález-Duarte, Assistant Professor at the New School for Social Research2415.                   Ronald MaxVollmer, Retired Geochemist and Artist2416.                   Nancy Ruttenberg,Professor of English, Stanford University2417.                   Dr. Daniel R.Green, Kenya Field Program Director, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, HarvardUniversity 2418.                   Maram Epstein,Professor, University of Oregon2419.                   Claude Calame,Director of Studies, AnHiMA, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales2420.                   Christine Zembol,lawyer2421.                   Dr. Noëmie Duhaut,Research Associate in Jewish History, Leibniz Institute of European History(IEG), Mainz, Germany.2422.                   Dana Landau, PhD,Lecturer, University of Basel and Senior Researcher, swisspeace2423.                   Jin-kyung Lee,Associate Professor of Literature UC, San Diego2424.                   David Schwartz,Ph.D., psychologist/psychoanalyst, Ossining, NY2425.                   Lily Hoàng,Professor, Department of Literature, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA2426.                   aclyn Zeccola,PhD- psychologist2427.                   Diana MaríaAcevedo Zapata, associate professor, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional deColombia.2428.                   KatherineSteelman, PhD, adjunct Professor in Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego.2429.                   Nina Zhiri,Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego2430.                   Ian Zuckerman,Associate Professor of Politics at Regis University2431.                   Joel Gordon,Professor of History, University of Arkansas2432.                   Thérèse IsabelleCauchon, M.S.W., Retired Teacher – California2433.                   Jeffrey Grossman,Associate Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures and Program in JewishStudies2434.                   Agnes Lugo-Ortiz,The University of Chicago2435.                   Erella Grassiani.Co-founder of gate48, Associate Professor anthropology, University ofAmsterdam 2436.                   Thierry C.Gillebert, MD, FESC, Cardiology, Prof. em. Ghent University2437.                   Joseph Zeccola,NBCT, Teacher and union activist2438.                   Yosefa Loshitzky,Professorial Research Associate, SOAS, University of London, UK2439.                   Radu J. Bogdan,Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Tulane University, NewOrleans2440.                   Dr. Grace Flisser,retired Associate Professor of English at Community College of Philadelphia2441.                   David Mednicoff,Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, University ofMassachusetts-Amherst2442.                   Jim Andersen,Adjunct Professor, Health Education, Los Rios Community College District2443.                   Keith Lewinstein,Professor of History, Bridgewater State University2444.                   JudithLichtenberg, Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Georgetown University2445.                   Madeline Kochen,JD, PhD, University of Michigan Law School (ret)2446.                   Roy Ulrich – aretired lecturer at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley2447.                   Keith Lewinstein,Professor of History, Bridgewater State University2448.                   Yumna Siddiqi,Associate Professor of English, Middlebury College 2449.                   Sylvie Perceau,Professor of Classics, Université de Picardie-Jules Verne, France2450.                   David Leaf, Ph.D,Western Washington University (Emeritus)2451.                   Joan greenbaumprofessor emerita CUNY graduate center NY2452.                   Gabrièle WersingerTaylor, Professor (emerita) des Universités, Philosopher, URCA2453.                   JoshuaForman-Ortiz, Student Life and Leadership Assistant @ Cañada College2454.                   Kenneth Surin,Professor Emeritus, Duke University2455.                   Shehrnaz(Ratnagar) Choksi, Retired Lecturer Montreal, Quebec Canada2456.                   Maureen Swinburne,private practice personal&family therapist (ret)2457.                   Stephen Swinburne,architect (ret) King Co gov Seattle2458.                   Thomas Szanto,Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of Copenhagen Community supporters:1.       Matthew Lindenbaum2.       Ravit Melamed3.       Eliana Ben-David4.       Niv Likwornik, Student at Franklin &Marshall College5.       Adam Black6.       Leah Stark7.       Gal Stav8.       Louise Geva9.       Sofia Fani Gutman, researcher and activist inPalestine, architecture student at The Cooper Union10.   Cora Galpern, student at University of Michigan11.   Zamir Shemer12.   Itai Nevo13.   Daria Goren, student at Tel Aviv University14.   Rachael Shapiro15.   Ellanora Lerner, undergraduate student at ClarkUniversity16.   Anat Epstein17.   Jochi Weil-Goldstein18.   Lane Schnell, student at American University19.   Maria Mejia-Botero, student at University ofMiami20.   Isabella Childress, student at University ofMiami21.   Rina Vizer, Vancouver22.   Zach Gershon, student at Oberlin College23.   Daniel Wittenberg, student at the University ofArizona24.   Fern Tishman25.   Vered Navon26.   Keren Or Knippel27.   Janice Gutman, Jewish Dyke Activist28.   Noa Maiman29.   Tal Haran30.   Katty Rojtman, Israeli citizen31.   Gila Avni, BA in English Literature32.   Cilly Kugelmann33.   Naomi Brussel, Activist against Israeliapartheid, New York City34.   Anati Miron35.   Alfred Schläpfer, Retired, Humanist andAltruist36.   Guy Bollag, Student, University of Zurich37.   Keren Hering, Activist, Combatants for Peace38.   Almog Behar39.   Tali Shimoni, Peace and human rights activist40.   Tal Shkedi, Student at Ono Academic College41.   Winfried Hamacher42.   Itay Shalit, Student at Tel Aviv University43.   Galit Altshuler, citizen44.   Tamir Swissa, student at Tel Aviv University45.   Roy Hoshen, student at Tel Aviv University46.   Omer Gros47.   Daphna Tidhar Mano48.   Doron Inbal, Israeli citizen49.   Tom Pnini50.   Amos Gvirtz, Activist51.   Nurit Ofer52.   Ethan Young, Portside.org53.   Gil Medovoy54.   Arye Bursztyn55.   Maoz Inon, Businessman56.   Ron Kachlili57.   Diane Bahr58.   Nitsan Michaeli59.   Uri Sarid60.   Bronya Feldmann61.   Ray Milhem, CEO of MDTL62.   Talya Rozen63.   Peter Filardo64.   Sana Knaneh, LSE Alumni, London65.   Joan Morse Gordon66.   Jonathan Bennett, Moderator at Portside.org67.   Rosabel Kurth, student at Carnegie MellonUniversity68.   Malke and Ivan Frank, long timestudents/educators of Israel / Palestine69.   Sigall Horovitz70.   Ellen Shaler, University of Michigan, alumna71.   Schwab Käthi72.   Avraham Spraragen, student at GeorgetownUniversity73.   Allison Lupatkin, Student at Oberlin College74.   Abeed Chowdhury75.   Chaim Rochester, student at Pacifica GraduateInstitute76.   Liz Leshin, American citizen77.   Ira Cohen, Portside.org78.   Anat Epstein79.   Dana Wynkoop80.   Lawrence Rincon81.   Martin Goldberg82.   Avital Shimshowitz, New York City83.   Nadav Warszawski, student at Rutgers University- New Brunswick84.   Avi Berg, Berlin85.   Nuni Tal86.   William Anderson  87.   Arie Plat, Israeli citizen88.   Tirza Taie  89.   Joshua Harkins, student at Middlebury College90.   Tamara Aharon, student at Penn State91.   Jacob Labendz, New Jersey92.   Peter Rachleff, East Side Freedom Library93.   Beverley Krell94.   Roni Blich95.   Amos Ancell, student at UCLA96.   Elizabeth Zoob97.   Wendy Moscow98.   Sara Willig99.   Batya Williams, Alum of University of Leicester100.                       Norma J FHarrison, Member, Communist Party USA101.                       Jay A. Gold,Student at St. John’s College Graduate Institute102.                       Susi Abeles, HumanRights Activist103.                       Richard Krushnic,Israel/Palestine justice activist104.                       Amir Hasan105.                       Keith Larson106.                       Don Timmerman, BA107.                       Sam Znaimer108.                       Rukhsana Ghouse109.                       Gilberto Klein,Entrepreneur110.                       Ben Yanowitz ,Student at University of York111.                       Nadine Wasserman112.                       Larry Lipton113.                       Ohad Bracha114.                       Lorraine Nagy,Jewish Voice for Peace115.                       Jed Pauker, VeniceResistance Leader116.                       Eli De Heem117.                       Russell Bates118.                       Jase Tanner119.                       Mohammed Aljundi120.                       Todd Klempner121.                       Zayon CordovaFebres, student at Muhlenberg College122.                       Ebrahem Hindi,Adv.123.                       Dan Maitland124.                       Tanya Chaitow125.                       Eitan Schramm126.                       El MaghrebiMohamed127.                       Mona Barghout ,Development and humanitarian aid professional128.                       Sucy Varughese129.                       AltafLodhi  130.                       MathieuLemoine  131.                       Lahsen Zbayar,political and community activist132.                       Seth Morrison,Activist133.                       Maarten Visser,2nd generation survivor, Amsterdam134.                       Edith Breslauer,RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems135.                       AbdelhakimZerrouki  136.                       Tjatte Hedlund,Political activist137.                       Georg Andreasson,Activist138.                       Ken Luckhardt,Retired Trade Unionist139.                       KhalidMalik  140.                       Carrington Malin,Entrepreneur141.                       Claudia Rosenzweig142.                       Pau Cruz143.                       ChantalMorgenbesser144.                       Arlene KrimgoldFleming, Cultural Heritage and Development145.                       Lesley Levy,supporter of Palestinian Human Rights146.                       Yosef Khen, Longtime peace activist Israel/Paletine147.           GhislainPoissonnier148.                       Larry Robins149.                       Ben Young150.                       Sabina Radunsky151.                       Taieb Berrada152.                       Karen Segel153.                       Claudia Mallea,Alumna Macaulay Honors College at CUNY154.                       Anthony Whitney  155.                       Jordan G. Dubin156.                       LamaKhouri  157.                       Derek Gregory158.                       Phyllis Bloom159.                       Joey Musmar160.                       Pedro Cruz, JVPadvocate161.                       NogaHarel  162.                       Ori Weisberg163.                       Miriam Meir,Member of Independent Jewish Voices, Canada164.                       Younès Benkirane,French citizen165.                       Tarek Dajani,Humanist166.                       Marwan Bushnak,Business owner167.                       Larousssi Amry168.                       JulietteSimon  169.                       DenisBismuth  170.                       Zahra Noorul SahrHasan171.                       Charles Scurich,Alumnus, University of California Berkeley172.                       Linda Barratt Saad173.                       Nicole Eisenman174.                       George Khoury,Jerusalem175.                       James Toth176.                       Adam Broomberg177.                       Janet Johnson-Mertz178.                       Lorrie BethSlonsky179.                       Linda Cohen , M.Arch, retired180.                       Deborah Hertz181.                       John Zavesky182.                       Henri Rossi, HumanRights Association Manager183.                       DieterKaltenhäuser184.    ElisabethKaltenhäuser185.                       Leora Matison186.                       Jytte Laursen187.                       Robert Tate,Jewish U.S. citizen188.                       Peter Laursen189.                       Ulla BlattBendtsen190.                       Dafna Kotzer191.                       Eddie Eitches192.                       Jeff Lowe,American Jew193.                       Bobbi Cohen,President, BSC Associates194.                       Valérie Desurmont195.                       MarcScheff  196.                       Alice Bloch197.                       Cliff Bennett, M.Divinity198.                       Blair Kedwell,Student at University of Notre Dame199.                       PerrineOlff-Rastegar, UJFP Alsace et CJACP200.                       Dan TennantRalphs, Peace Advocate, Madrid201.                       Mic Pey, AFPS StEtienne France202.                       Descroix Marie,AFPS203.                       Jeanne Lagarde204.                       Génissieux André,French Activist205.                       Michelle Garcia,Activist206.                       Jason Byrne207.                       Bernard Cornut208.                       Raffaele Spiga,Human Rights Defender209.                       SammyKeinan  210.                       Aisha Ibrahim,Student211.                       Zaid Alkintar, ITDirector, France212.                       LumaFernandez  213.                       Binyamin Roth214.                       Dawn V. Woollen,American Jew215.                       Corinne Foucher216.                       Nahed Pust217.                       Ruthy Symens,Student218.                       Brulebois Jy,Activist219.                       Amro Sallam220.                       Alain Cattenoz221.                       Laurence Zaitschek222.                       RaniaMoudarres  223.                       AdamDehmas  224.                       Shagufta Hakeem,Duke University Alumni ‘16225.                       Nuri Hasanov226.                       Steven Nagourney,Retired International Investment Banker227.                       Elizabeth J Jacks228.                       Bea Momsen229.                       Nadine B Hack,B’nai Jeshurun congregation member230.                       Alan Rutkowski,Victoria, BC, Canada231.                       Stella ScillaSonnino , Italy232.                       François Portefaix233.                       Rob Baker234.                       Eliane Chaponik235.                       Jennifer Powell236.                       Patrick J Limpert237.                       AtalantaRobertson  238.                       Eva Schwarzwald,Public Servant (retired)239.                       Patrice Di-Léta240.                       Peter R. E. Wood241.                       Nik Davey242.                       Jean-Claude Meyer,UJFP243.                       Gregory Kotoy,Activist for Palestine244.                       Ian Joseph245.                       AnnRabin  246.                       Gary Egloff, BrownUniversity alumnus, 1973247.                       Brian Carson248.                       George Schwartz249.                       Mordechai Beck250.                       Debra Kahn,Washington University alumna251.                       Claudia Leight,Baltimore, MD252.                       Sanjeev Jagtiani253.                       Jim Crowther254.                       Frank Janssens  255.                       Sheila Fillmore256.                       Fay Stump257.                       LarryDoversberger  258.                       Carly Hunt, Canada259.                       Joan Sola,Missouri260.                       Patti Shealy261.                       Erica Hahn, Judge262.                       David Wieberg263.                       Anne ter Haar,Activist264.                       Joanne Rubin265.                       Xander de Rijk266.                       Susan Simon267.                       Anouschka Tsarina,LLM268.                       Janice Leonard,UNC Chapel Hill Alumna269.                       Robert Suberi270.                       Syed Nasser271.                       Joe Turiczek272.                       Saad Rosa273.                       Jonathan Hipkiss274.                       David P.Greenberg, Brooklyn, NY275.                       Zafar Ahmed276.                       Sue Alexander277.                       Na’ama TamarZacharia278.                       Nahum Shenberg279.                       El Fehaim Lamia280.                       CharlotteBarber  281.                       Yigal Arens282.                       Nabil Al-Sharif283.                       Zainab LVanHorn-Ali284.                       Robert Peinado285.                       Joshua Beth,Parent, Student, Activist286.                       ChihabeddineBelarbi  287.AssafLeibowitz  288.                       Baz Jacques, CivilServant289.                       Bernard Gensane,Retired Professor290.                       Melissa Loddo291.                       Diana Hurter292.                       Cory Greenlees,Victoria Peace Coalition293.                       Lionel Aymard,Association and Union Activist, France294.                       Rudi Barnet295.                       Priscilla Read296.                       Robert Friedland,Financier297.                       François deReilhan298.                       Mariedo Commins299.                       GenaudeauJacqueline, France300.                       SigalPiotelat  301.                       Marie Bonnin302.                       Antjt Chatain303.                       MarianaZiadeh  304.                       Hildita Muñoz305.                       Ann Kohl, BusinessOwner, Sacramento, CA306.                       Michele Roirand307.                       Gisele Ressayre308.                       Elena Selk309.                       Robin Claude310.                       Marie Bonnaud311.                       Tanya Marquette312.                       Eldad Benary, JVPActivist313.                       Helaine Meisler,Jews Say No!314.                       John Dashman315.                       Ruth Schäfer316.                       KylerShinkle-Stolar, Biology Student, Northeastern University317.                       Bindu Desai318.                       Shai Hoffmann,Social Entrepreneur, Speaker, Berlin319.                       Joseph Ruiz320.                       Lilou Herrero321.                       Cinta Groos,Amsterdam322.                       Véronique Houart323.                       Karl Kaster,Political Advisor324.                       Thalia Hoffman325.                       Michel Regnier326.                       Patrick Visser,Librarian327.                       Jean Korey,Educator328.                       Michael Davis,Rava, Chicago329.                       Naama ShoshanaFogiel Lewin  330.                       Diane Blumson331.                       Amir Gotlib332.                       Berno Wies-Mechela, Psychotherapist333.                       Pamela RHolmes-Hall, Teacher of Mindfulness334.                       Richard Cohen,Mediator335.                       Mitchell Dormont336.                       Richard Hennick,Kibbutz Volunteer 1969-70337.                       David Rosen338.                       AnwerSalim  339.                       Gerard Chevrot340.                       Randall Bollig,Retired University Professor341.                       BrendanMoore  342.                       Bassem Farradj343.                       Sheila Katzman,Applied Theatre Practitioner and media woman344.                       PeterMatla  345.                       David St. Jean,Canada346.                       Michael Rogers,CSP, ARM, CIT347.                       AntoniaWeidenbacher348.                       Alexandra Senfft349.                       Shlomo Orr350.                       Pierre Billaud351.                       Jere Armen,Educator (retired), Translator352.                       Lorraine Foster353.                       Jane Alper354.                       Garry Tate,McMaster University Alumnus355.                       Struan Robertson356.                       Michel Pierre,Chemist (retired)357.                       Luísa RodriguesRocha, LLM student, University of Antwerp358.                       David Fleiss359.                       Nadine Jeanjean360.                       Zenon Stavrinides361.                       Belkacem GAOUI362.                       Justin Haas363.                       Fanny Filosof,Bruxelles, France364.                       Alexéi Moraga,Switzerland365.                       Athéna Pioz,Marseille, France366.                       BarabaraBloomfield, Grassroots Activist367.                       Meira BrachaSumka, Silver Spring, MD368.                       Frances Goldman369.                       Beverly Boyers,Licensed Massage Therapist, Iowa370.                       Sandra Green371.                       Sheila Carrillo372.                       Sarah Lanzman,Virginia373.                       Joyce Lieberman374.                       Judith S Lyons,Tallahassee, FL375.                       Sharon Bailey376.                       Leila Mustachi377.                       Janet Penn,Watertown, MA378.                       Gloria Burd379.                       Tanya Marquette,New Paltz, NY380.                       David Gilbert,Nanuet, NY381.                       Latifa Kropf382.                       Rosalind Folman383.                       Carrie Shepard384.                       Pamela Rogow,Philadelphia, PA385.                       Ann Rosenkranz,Vineyard Haven, MA386.                       Maya Elashi387.                       Cathie Forman,Southampton, PA388.                       Conrath FanfaniMonique389.                       Dr. Nicholas White390.                       Margaret J.Kimball391.                       Barbara Mandelkorn392.                       Robert Rosofsky393.                       Joyce S. Herman394.                       Lysa Leland395.                       Roy Foster396.                       Dianne Sampson397.                       Barry Ingber,Jewish Voice for Peace398.                       Michael Dietrich399.                       Adrien Mora, UPJBMember400.                       BrigitteSchildknecht 401.                       Eva DüblinWyss 402.                       Salvatore Conte403.                       Rev. Darrel Meyers404.                       Naseem Humayun405.                       Sharon Peled406.                       Ra’ananAlexandrowicz407.                       Dianne Lior408.                       Pam Caidin409.                       Audrey Hoffer410.                       Roni Meretz411.                       Rich Van Dellen412.                       Jean Brody413.                       Beryl Goldberg414.                       Leor Shomroni,Student of Journalism415.                       RobyneO’Mara  416.                       Zachary AlexanderKolodny, New Mexico417.                       Rebecca Haberkorn,Seattle, WA418.                       Austin Chapman,Amateur Historian419.                       Ellen Dokton420.                       Rosemary Nash,graduate, University of Glasgow, Scotland 421.                       Louis Phan 422.                       Christopher Bolger423.                       CatherineCaron 424.                       ChloeDaidone 425.                       Mark Nelson426.                       Sheila Fox427.                       Samara Hersch,Independent artist, Melbourne, Australia. 428.                       MatthiasSchack-Arnott.429.                       Miriam Delorme430.                       David E Heath431.                       Irene Franken432.                       Jennifer Fechner433.                       Patricia Snyder434.                       Anizh Kumar435.                       Lucyna Semenowicz,Poland436.                       Helen Sklar437.                       Mohammed Qazilbash438.                       Bubeck Helga 439.                       MargheritaPliska-Berkus   

Jewish Academic Group Deliberately Violates the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

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.

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

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.

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

“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 bandefunding scientific researchrepressing protesters, attacking trans studentsdismantling 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.

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

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.

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

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.  

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

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.

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

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.
10:26
10 minutes, 26 seconds

[snorts]

10:27
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

The University of Washington Confronts Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Climate

13.05.26

Editorial Note 

Recently, the University of Washington (UW) has been at the center of several anti-Israel and antisemitic events. First, the group Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return posted on social media the event to raise money for the “Lebanese resistance” movement. The group, known as SUPER UW, organized the occupation of a University of Washington engineering building in 2025, which led to property damage and the arrests of about three dozen people. Police reportedly arrested multiple pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating at a Town Hall Seattle event, where Noa Cochva, a former member of the Israel Defense Forces, was speaking. SUPER UW also planned to protest Cochva at Red Square on the university’s campus. The Trump administration is currently investigating the UW over concerns about its handling of antisemitism. It will be conducted by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. 

The University of Washington publicly responded to the U.S. Department of Justice’s compliance review, stating that this was “an off-campus event referenced publicly that appears to have been organized by a group falsely claiming affiliation with the University of Washington. That group’s registration was suspended in June 2024 and permanently revoked in May 2025. The University of Washington strongly and unequivocally opposes antisemitism in all forms. We also notified Meta last year of this group’s unauthorized use of the University’s name on social media.”

In another case, Aria Fani, an associate professor in UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, was terminated as the director of the Middle East Center after he sent messages on the center’s listserv on March 18, where he claimed that the American campaign against the Islamic Republic was a war against its people, cultural heritage, ecology and civilian infrastructure, and said Israel was committing acts of terrorism. He saw Zionism as “cancerous, a potentially fatal outgrowth in our planetary body.” Soon after, Daniel Hoffman, President of the Jackson School, told him he was unfit for leadership because his emails had made some members of the Middle East Center community feel attacked for their views. He remains a professor, though he’s on medical leave this quarter and not teaching. Fani signed a three-year contract in 2025 to serve as the Middle East Center’s director, responsible for programming, community outreach, and fundraising. Fani was born and raised in Iran and moved to the U.S. at 18. He teaches courses on Persian and Iranian studies, and his research focuses on modern Persian literature and translation studies. 

Also, a January symposium called “The World as Palestine: On Advocacy, Activism, and Justice” was hosted by the Middle East Center. When UW President Robert Jones was asked about the symposium during a town hall meeting on combating antisemitism, he stated that his office learned about the symposium just one day before. He added that it would be preferable to have more conversation about its occurrence: “All we can do is try to remind people of their responsibilities as members of the university community… Not trying to tell them that they can’t have a discussion about Palestine or about Israel, but let’s be clear that those discussions need to be had in a way that doesn’t perpetuate an environment where people feel unsafe.” 

A number of faculty at the University of Washington commented that the environment on campus has grown too “anti-Israel” after October 7, saying that “Jewish students, faculty, and staff found themselves isolated, facing hostility, and witnessing the normalization of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.” 

Realizing that the issue poses a serious instructional challenge, a faculty-led initiative named “Bridges for Change” was created. According to its website, “Rather than expending energy in entrenched ideological battles, we are starting fresh—developing a center dedicated to academic excellence, independent funding, and honest inquiry.” 

Accordingly, “We’re not Reforming the Old, We’re Building the New,” which is “A Smarter Way to Fight Antisemitism.” They explain that “This is the first step toward a permanent center for open discourse at the University of Washington. We will host lectures, bring visiting scholars, support research, and empower students, all without ideological litmus tests. This is not oppositional work. It is constructive. We are laying the foundation for a lasting academic home that values ideas over identity, and truth over tribalism.” 

Bridges for Change is interdisciplinary, with faculty from six UW schools, including Medicine, Public Health, Law, and Business, having come together to build a new kind of academic space. Led by Prof. Janet Baseman, a highly respected epidemiologist and co-chair of the UW Antisemitism Task Force, the new initiative is guided by “academic integrity and institutional clarity.” It is going to promote “research, inquiry, and discussion free from the constraints of ideological conformity. Host bold, thoughtful voices that challenge groupthink and deepen campus understanding. Provide space at UW for academic voices committed to shaping a positive future for America, the American Jewish community and the US relationship with Israel. Create a serious intellectual home where questions about Israel, the Middle East, and their relationship to U.S. culture, foreign policy, and innovation are explored openly.” 

However, recently, the left-leaning British newspaper The Guardian criticized this and other initiatives aiming at combating antisemitism, in an article titled “US universities are seeing an influx of ‘antisemitism centers’. Some Jewish scholars are worried.” The article was authored by Alice Speri, who spoke with “several faculty with expertise in Jewish history see the Middle East Center and the university’s apparent support for it, as an anti-intellectual effort to sideline their scholarly expertise.” 

A spokesperson for UW said the initiative is “one of many self-organized faculty-led groups” and that the university “does not endorse opinions these groups may express.” 

One interviewee, Susan Glenn, a professor of history and faculty member in UW’s Jewish studies program, said, “They’re undermining expertise and substituting it with ideology even though they claim to be doing exactly the opposite.” 

Speri’s interviews were conducted with mostly left-leaning Jewish Studies critical faculty, as she explained, on the prevalence of antisemitism on US campuses. They “expressed fears that the surge of new initiatives could marginalize the expertise of those who have long studied antisemitism, and some expressed discomfort with the outsize investment in this work at a time of deep austerity in the education sector and as other programs are being targeted for cuts.”  And that this was part of a broad ecosystem of initiatives devoted to antisemitism that “lawmakers and the Trump administration have seized on allegations of antisemitism to bend universities to their ideological agenda.”  

According to Speri, “contentious” debates have focused on the “distinction between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel,” when several universities have adopted a “contentious definition of antisemitism, known as the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, which many academics have denounced as antithetical to scholarly pursuits and has already been deployed to censor scholarship and discipline faculty.”

For Speri, “the idea that the study of antisemitism requires new institutions that circumvent existing academic departments raises red flags for some.” She spoke with Lila Corwin Berman, director of the Center for American Jewish History at New York University, who said, “What’s new are these institutional structures, this field-building around the idea of foregrounding antisemitism as a specific thing to be studied outside of a history department or a literature department or a religious studies department.” She told Speri that university administrators are largely responding to pressure, not to the needs of students or academic imperatives: “They’re making a public-facing performance about dealing with antisemitism – and the calculation is not being made through rigorous evaluation of scholarly expertise.”

Speri claims, “Alongside academic efforts, several universities have launched ‘antisemitism taskforces’ to look at Jewish life on campus – many led by faculty or administrators who are Jewish but do not have expertise in Jewish history or antisemitism as a scholarly subject.” 

Another interviewee was an anti-Zionist Israeli academic, Hadas Binyamini, who recently completed her PhD in history and Hebrew and Judaic studies and is a “member of Liberatory Jewish Studies, a network of self-described anti-Zionist academics in the field.” She noted that the new centers, “where many jobs are non-tenure and short-term, are exacerbating deepening precariousness in academia.” She told Speri that “scholars seizing on the funding opportunities associated with new antisemitism initiatives at a time of austerity that’s decimating their broader fields as facing a ‘devil’s bargain’.”

Speri also discussed the UW Bridges for Change, claiming, “the center is led by a co-chair of a university antisemitism task force – but she is a public health professor, not a scholar of Jewish studies. Other members come from the university’s law and business schools. The center is not formally affiliated with the University of Washington – but seems to rely on university resources, including to process donations. So far, the center doesn’t seem to have done much more than host two public events, both featuring ardent pro-Israel voices, and launch a newsletter.”

Speri needs to note that critics argue that many Western Middle East Studies programs apply far more sustained moral scrutiny to Israel than to Palestinian political culture, Islamist movements, or broader regional authoritarianism.

Critics of Middle East Studies programs have also pointed to the influence of Gulf-state funding on some Western academic institutions, arguing that such funding may have contributed to ideological imbalances in hiring and programming. Evidently, pro-Palestinian scholars have been recruiting anti-Israel scholar-activists, sometimes even Jewish or Israelis, to espouse anti-Israel themes. This helps to deflect accusations of antisemitism. The Guardian and others looked the other way.

It is also important to note that the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism is not “contentious.” Although debated in some academic and civil-liberties circles, the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism has been adopted by 46 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The IHRA Definition can be applied to any antisemite, regardless of nationality, religion, or race.

Bridges for Change is a very welcome initiative, and more initiatives like this are needed to confront the use of Middle East Centers and other social science departments as platforms for highly one-sided anti-Israel activism and, at times, rhetoric widely viewed by Jewish students and faculty as antisemitic.

REFERENCES:

A Smarter Way to Fight Antisemitism

We’re not Reforming the Old, We’re Building the New

Bridges for Change is a faculty-led initiative created in response to the growing recognition that the rise in antisemitism after October 7 reflects a deeper institutional challenge.

Rather than expending energy in entrenched ideological battles, we are starting fresh—developing a center dedicated to academic excellence, independent funding, and honest inquiry.

This is the first step toward a permanent center for open discourse at the University of Washington. We will host lectures, bring visiting scholars, support research, and empower students, all without ideological litmus tests. This is not oppositional work. It is constructive. We are laying the foundation for a lasting academic home that values ideas over identity, and truth over tribalism.

Leadership

Bridges for Change is a truly interdisciplinary effort, where faculty from six UW schools—including Medicine, Public Health, Law, Business, and more—have come together to build a new kind of academic space.

Led by Professor Janet Baseman, a highly respected epidemiologist and Co-Chair of the UW Antisemitism Task Force, the initiative is guided by academic integrity and institutional clarity.

a Positive Vision

Promote research, inquiry, and discussion free from the constraints of ideological conformity.

Host bold, thoughtful voices that challenge groupthink and deepen campus understanding.

Provide space at UW for academic voices committed to shaping a positive future for America, the American Jewish community and the US relationship with Israel.

Create a serious intellectual home where questions about Israel, the Middle East, and their relationship to U.S. culture, foreign policy, and innovation are explored openly.  

University of Washington, Seattle Campus
Contact: uwbridgesforchange@uw.edu

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DOJ investigating University of Washington over antisemitism concerns

By:Jake Goldstein-Street-April 21, 202612:39 pmUpdated 1:14 pm

The Trump administration is investigating the University of Washington over concerns about its handling of antisemitism in light of an off-campus event planned by a protest group. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the investigation on social media Monday. It will be conducted by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. This follows numerous federal probes into antisemitism on college campuses across the country in the aftermath of protests of Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere. 

Dhillon’s social media post cites the Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return’s event scheduled for Tuesday to raise money for the “Lebanese resistance” movement, as Israel has ramped up attacks there.

University spokesperson Victor Balta noted the event hosted by the group known as SUPER UW, and scheduled for Tuesday night, is located off-campus. In a statement, he said the organization is “falsely claiming affiliation with the University of Washington” after its university registration was permanently revoked last May. 

“The University of Washington strongly and unequivocally opposes antisemitism in all forms,” Balta wrote.

He said the Justice Department had notified the university that it is conducting a “compliance review.”

“The University will cooperate with the review and provide information and responses,” Balta said. 

SUPER UW organized the occupation of a University of Washington engineering building last year that led to property damage and the arrests of nearly three dozen people. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the federal investigation.

The Trump administration had announced a probe of the university after the protest. It’s unclear if anything came of that investigation.

Balta said the university has told Meta, which runs Facebook, that the group was using the university’s name on social media without authorization. Meta, according to the university, has declined to address the concern. The university is appealing the company’s decision. 

Police reportedly arrested multiple pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating at a Town Hall Seattle event over the weekend, where Noa Cochva, a former member of the Israel Defense Forces, was speaking. 

SUPER UW also planned to protest Cochva on Tuesday at Red Square on the university’s campus, according to a Facebook posting from the group.

Since retaking office last year, Trump has targeted elite universities over allegations of harboring antisemitism. Several, including Brown, Columbia and Cornell, have struck deals with the federal government that require them to pay millions of dollars to restore withheld federal research funding. 

Critics say the approach is using antisemitism as a pretense to punish universities for promoting a liberal worldview and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that the Trump administration opposes.

In March 2025, the UW and dozens of other colleges across the country received letters from the Trump administration warning of “potential enforcement actions” based on alleged antisemitic harassment on campus. This followed a national wave of university protests last year over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, including an encampment on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a First Amendment watchdog, said in a statement Tuesday that, “Holding UW responsible for the actions of an off-campus group would stretch federal civil rights law far past its lawful bounds.”

“The federal government is not empowered to demand universities serve as roving monitors of private off-campus expression,” the group added, pointing to regulations and Supreme Court precedent. “Unless there are other allegations, this investigation should end.”

Dhillon’s short social media post says nothing about potential sanctions for the University of Washington. Nor did it give any specific examples of antisemitism the Department of Justice is investigating. 

The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information.

This article was updated with reaction from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

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

UW NEWS

Administrative affairs | UW News blog

April 20, 2026

Statement on Department of Justice compliance review

Victor Balta

UW News

The following is a statement from the University of Washington in response to a U.S. Department of Justice compliance review that was announced by a U.S. assistant attorney general on social media:

The University of Washington has been notified by the U.S. Department of Justice that it is conducting a compliance review. The University will cooperate with the review and provide information and responses.

The off-campus event referenced publicly appears to have been organized by a group falsely claiming affiliation with the University of Washington. That group’s registration was suspended in June 2024 and permanently revoked in May 2025. The University of Washington strongly and unequivocally opposes antisemitism in all forms.

We also notified Meta last year of this group’s unauthorized use of the University’s name on social media, and appealed Meta’s refusal to address this issue on March 10. That appeal is pending.

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https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/uw-professor-removed-as-director-of-middle-east-center/

UW professor removed as director of Middle East Center

April 3, 2026 at 6:00 am Updated April 3, 2026 at 6:00 am
By Paige Cornwell
Seattle Times staff reporter

A University of Washington professor said he was terminated as director of the university’s Middle East Center after he sent messages on the center’s listserv that criticized the U.S. and Israel’s military action against Iran and called Zionism “cancerous.”

Aria Fani, an associate professor in UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, said director Daniel Hoffman told him last week he was fired from his leadership role. He remains a professor, though he’s on medical leave this quarter and not teaching.

Hoffman will cover the center’s administrative responsibilities for spring and summer, UW spokesperson Victor Balta said Wednesday afternoon. The university didn’t respond to questions about the reasons for Fani’s firing, citing employee privacy and confidentiality. Fani’s termination was first reported by UW’s The Daily student newspaper.

Fani signed a three-year contract in 2025 to serve as the Middle East Center’s director, responsible for handling programming, outreach to the community and fundraising.

Fani was born and raised in Iran and moved to the U.S. at 18. He teaches courses on Persian and Iranian studies, and his research focuses on modern Persian literature and translation studies. After the Iran war began, Fani wrote a 2,000-plus-word email to the Middle East Center listserv offering his analysis, “which is why I was hired — for my research on Iran,” Fani said. He noted the message contained his views and was not reflective of the diversity of opinions in the center and Jackson School.

On March 18, he sent a second email, with the subject line “More Notes on Iran War.” In that message, he wrote the war isn’t against the Islamic Republic but against the state of Iran and its people, cultural heritage, ecology and civilian infrastructure, and said Israel was committing acts of terrorism. He wrote that he saw Zionism as “cancerous, a potentially fatal outgrowth in our planetary body.”

Soon after, the listserv was placed under moderation, and Fani was no longer able to send emails. He assumed he had violated guidelines, though he said there were no written rules on how the listserv could be used, and thought everything had settled down until he got the phone call last week.

According to Fani, Hoffman told him he was unfit for leadership because his emails had made some members of the Middle East Center community feel attacked for their views. Hoffman directed a request for comment to the UW media relations office.

Fani questioned the timing of the decision because one week prior, UW President Robert Jones made comments about a January symposium called “The World as Palestine: On Advocacy, Activism, and Justice” that had been hosted by the Middle East Center. When asked about the symposium during a town hall on combating antisemitism, Jones said he didn’t know about the one-day Middle East Center event until a day or so in advance and would have preferred there had been more conversation about it beforehand.

“All we can do is try to remind people of their responsibilities as members of the university community,” Jones said at the town hall. “Not trying to tell them that they can’t have a discussion about Palestine or about Israel, but let’s be clear that those discussions need to be had in a way that doesn’t perpetuate an environment where people feel unsafe.”

Fani said Hoffman told him the decision was his alone and not made in response to external complaints or media inquiries, though, according to Fani, Hoffman warned him the second email had been leaked and circulated on social media. Balta said Jones was not involved in the decision to remove Fani and had no knowledge of it.

“I feel profoundly hurt and betrayed,” Fani said. “There’s a chilling effect on, not just my academic freedom, but that of my colleagues, anyone who dares to speak out against the war and against aggression.”

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US universities

US universities are seeing an influx of ‘antisemitism centers’. Some Jewish scholars are worried 

Political pressures are resulting in a range of initiatives that experts say substitute expertise with ideology

Alice Speri

Fri 24 Apr 2026 14.00 BST

At the University of Washington, a group of faculty who felt the campus had grown too “anti-Israel” set out to build a new academic center to tackle what they view as antisemitism.

“Jewish students, faculty, and staff found themselves isolated, facing hostility, and witnessing the normalization of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric,” the faculty wrote about the environment for Jews on campus after 7 October 2023. They pledged to offer a place for “open inquiry, intellectual rigor, and fearless debate”.

The center is led by a co-chair of a university antisemitism task force – but she is a public health professor, not a scholar of Jewish studies. Other members come from the university’s law and business schools. The center is not formally affiliated with the University of Washington – but seems to rely on university resources, including to process donations.

So far, the center doesn’t seem to have done much more than host two public events, both featuring ardent pro-Israel voices, and launch a newsletter. But several faculty with expertise in Jewish history see the center, and the university’s apparent support for it, as an anti-intellectual effort to sideline their scholarly expertise.

“They’re undermining expertise and substituting it with ideology even though they claim to be doing exactly the opposite,” said Susan Glenn, a professor of history and faculty member in UW’s Jewish studies program.

A spokesperson for UW said that the initiative is “one of many self-organized faculty-led groups” and that the university “does not endorse opinions these groups may express”. The spokesperson did not answer questions about the group using official university branding and fundraising infrastructure.

The UW center is part of a broad ecosystem of initiatives devoted to antisemitism that have sprung up at US universities against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and as lawmakers and the Trump administration have seized on allegations of antisemitism to bend universities to their ideological agenda.

The initiatives range in scope: some are efforts driven by faculty with varying levels of scholarly expertise on the subject; others are backed by wealthy donors or were announced as universities sought to mitigate the risk of lawsuits and federal investigations. Some of the new programs aim to produce scholarship and degrees; others offer campus events, fellowships and study abroad opportunities. Some centers promise to host robust academic debates; others appear more ideologically oriented. But many of the initiatives are of a piece with a broader rightwing effort to bring more pro-Israel voices on campuses under the guise of “viewpoint diversity”.

Jewish studies experts – including from disciplines like history, religion and literature – who oppose the rightward drift of American universities have watched the proliferation of these efforts with mounting concern. Amid a repressive climate in academia, few of the more than 20 scholars who spoke with the Guardian agreed to do so on the record. But the faculty – who hold a range of views of Israel and the prevalence of antisemitism on US campuses, though most lean left – expressed fears that the surge of new initiatives could marginalize the expertise of those who have long studied antisemitism, and some expressed discomfort with the outsize investment in this work at a time of deep austerity in the education sector and as other programs are being targeted for cuts.

Questions about the appropriate approach for considering bias against Jewish people are not new, said Lila Corwin Berman, director of the center for American Jewish history at New York University. The field has long been riven with debates, for example, over whether antisemitism should be considered alongside other forms of discrimination, or set apart as a unique form of prejudice. More recently, contentious debates have focused on the distinction between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel. UW, for example, has been embroiled in controversies over faculty and student speech on Israel: last month, it removed as head of the school’s Middle East center a professor who had described Zionism as “cancerous”. Earlier this week, the justice department announced an investigation into UW’s handling of antisemitism after a student group held an off-campus bake sale for the “Lebanese resistance”.

But the idea that the study of antisemitism requires new institutions that circumvent existing academic departments raises red flags for some. “What’s new are these institutional structures, this field-building around the idea of foregrounding antisemitism as a specific thing to be studied outside of a history department or a literature department or a religious studies department,” said Corwin Berman.

She said university administrators are largely responding to pressure, not to the needs of students or academic imperatives: “They’re making a public-facing performance about dealing with antisemitism – and the calculation is not being made through rigorous evaluation of scholarly expertise.”

A growing constellation

In November 2023, weeks after the October 7 attacks, NYU announced the creation of an academic center for the study of antisemitism, an initiative backed by a seven-figure donation, which the university described as a new, cross-disciplinary approach to combat “age-old hatred”. The next month, the University of Michigan launched a new institute to combat “global antisemitism and divisiveness”.

More recently, Baruch College announced a new laboratory to “bolster research, advance pedagogy, and promote community engagement aimed at countering antisemitism”. At Emory University, Deborah Lipstadt, Joe Biden’s former envoy to combat antisemitism, is planning to launch a new policy institute dedicated to countering antisemitism.

Those institutions are only a few examples in a growing constellation. The University of PennsylvaniaYale and Brandeis have boosted existing initiatives with new antisemitism-focused programs and hires. Gratz College, in Pennsylvania, has launched what it describes as the world’s only PhD program in antisemitism studies. The University of Texas at Austin – where a new program will focus on the “influence of Jewish ideas and Jewish history on the Western world and the American republic” – will also offer coursework on “modern anti-semitism”.

Across the country, tenure-track jobs, postdoctoral positions and fellowshipsdesigned to further the academic study of antisemitism are popping up. Alongside academic efforts, several universities have launched “antisemitism taskforces” to look at Jewish life on campus – many led by facultyor administrators who are Jewish but do not have expertise in Jewish history or antisemitism as a scholarly subject.

Several universities have also adopted a contentious definition of antisemitism, known as the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, which many academics have denounced as antithetical to scholarly pursuits and has already been deployed to censor scholarshipand discipline faculty.

Lipstadt, a historian, returned to Emory after serving in the Biden administration, and she has publicly promoted the establishment of a new Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism. But university faculty with scholarly expertise in related fields said they know little about it – and that the university administration did little to assuage concerns they raised in meetings. Some expect that her hardline approach to the issue will define the nature of the center. Lipstadt is a staunch proponent of the IHRA definition and has spoken in favor of elements of the Trump administration’s crackdown against pro-Palestinian students.

Lipstadt did not respond to an interview request. A spokesperson for Emory did not address concerns or offer details about the new institute beyond saying that it will be “donor-supported” and “serve as a hub for rigorous research, education and academic discourse”.

The new antisemitism initiatives are not the only source of tension gripping Jewish scholars: political battles are also being waged for control over what is taught in existing Jewish studies departments.

At Indiana University, home to one of the country’s most prestigious Jewish studies programs, the university removed the head of the program reportedly following pressure from donors. The chair – a historian widely described as a moderate – was replaced with a vocally pro-Israel scholar who quickly became embroiled in a series of controversies.

Professors at two other universities, who asked that neither they nor their employers be named, described administrations attempting to bypass established hiring processes in order to appoint more pro-Israel faculty.

The pressures aren’t always coming from the right – at the University of California, Irvine, a campus rabbi who had been teaching a class on major Jewish texts recently did not get his contract renewed. He attributed the decisionto Jewish studies moving “much more towards an anti-Israel activist lens, as opposed to a nuanced academic perspective”.

A ‘political weapon’

The faculty who spoke with the Guardian do not oppose the study of antisemitism. Most have devoted their careers to it.

“We’ve been studying this for a very long time,” said Sander Gilman, a retired professor at Emory University who authored several books on antisemitism, including a forthcoming one exploring the history of its exploitation as a “cudgel for many other purposes”. Gilman argues that antisemitism is not a static fact of history but tied to historical and political circumstances.

“What we’re seeing now is the resurgence of antisemitism as a political weapon,” he added. “Real academics’ job is to question, not to advocate.”

Still, some scholars welcome the growing focus on antisemitism studies. Maurice Samuels founded Yale’s Program for the Study of Antisemitism in 2011 at a time when only one other antisemitism program existed at a US university. “Antisemitism has not been recognized really as its own distinct field until recently,” he said. “I think that the change is a good one.”

He also acknowledged the ways antisemitism has been politicized.

“Yes, antisemitism is being used to attack universities,” he said. “And yes, it’s a valid object of study and we should keep studying it. In this climate, it’s all the more important to have good scholarship on these issues so that we can distinguish what really does constitute antisemitism and what is mere political smokescreen.”

“Studying antisemitism is legitimate. We do want to understand people who are violent towards Jews and their history,” said Hadas Binyamini, who recently completed her PhD in history and Hebrew and Judaic studies. “That should be supported – but that’s not necessarily what we see with this trend of antisemitism centers.”

Binyamini, who is a member of Liberatory Jewish Studies, a network of self-described anti-Zionist academics in the field, also noted that the new centers, where many jobs are non-tenure and short-term, are exacerbating deepening precariousness in academia.

She described scholars seizing on the funding opportunities associated with new antisemitism initiatives at a time of austerity that’s decimating their broader fields as facing a “devil’s bargain”.

Several scholars drew a parallel between the current moment and the late 1990s establishment of Israel studies, a field driven in part by donors who feared that academia was growing overly critical of Israel. But Israel studies has contributed significant scholarship – including some that is deeply critical of Israel.

That’s what several faculty hope will happen in response to the current drive. Even as it emerges in a charged political context, they hope the new initiatives will find a way to advance meaningful debate of an important subject.

In order for that to happen, “university leaders need to ensure that the scholarship and the academics remain at the forefront”, said Jeff Veidlinger, director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Michigan.

The institute, named after a Swedish humanitarian and university alumnus who is credited with saving some 20,000 Jews during the Holocaust, launched in the aftermath of October 7, although it had been in the works.

The center studies hatred against all religious and ethnic communities. “Antisemitism is part of a broader phenomenon, and it flourishes alongside other forms of hatred, and Islamophobia, and so we’re looking to study all of them together”, Veidlinger said.

That approach initially angered some donors and alumni who wanted the center to take a more pro-Israel stance, he acknowledged, while pro-Palestinian students and faculty were suspicious of what they believed was an effort to push pro-Israel advocacy on campus. Still, the center is tackling difficult questionsat a heated time, including by hosting a panel on genocide, with three scholars debating how the concept applied to the destruction of Gaza.

“Both sides would have preferred less nuance,” Veidlinger said. “There were some who wanted the people we brought in to call it genocide and there were others who say that any attempt to call it genocide is antisemitic. And the truth is, there’s a discussion that you can have.”

Political Activism of the American Association of University Professors

07.05.26

Editorial Note

Last week, the New York Times (NYT) published an article about the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), an organization that has advocated for faculty members’ rights since 1915.

The article discusses how the AAUP has become one of Trump’s administration’s “main antagonists,” when, during his time in office, the AAUP has filed a dozen lawsuits, and seems to be “the first to jump into legal fights against the Trump administration’s attacks on university funding, speech rights and diversity initiatives.”   

The AAUP plans to step up its fight by hiring a political director and shall endorse candidates it “deems supportive of its vision for higher education.” 

However, the article notes that as the organization becomes more aggressive, it has also faced sharp criticism of its political stance, “proving the Trump administration’s point about the left-leaning tilt on campuses.”

In response to criticism, the AAUP’s leaders say it is filling a void. “The speed and the seeming arbitrariness of the new administration’s threats against universities left many schools shellshocked.”

The article claims that “Trump officials described professors as ‘the enemy’.” 

The article argues that the Trump administration “tried to strip funding from research universities and pushed schools to sign a compact that would allow the government to exert more control over private institutions. Meanwhile, red state legislatures gutted faculty power and eroded tenure. In response, school leaders often concluded that their best bet was to stay quiet and avoid drawing attention to themselves.”

Todd Wolfson, the president of the AAUP, a Rutgers professor and former union leader there, told the NYT that the chaos in higher education has turned the AAUP into a “fighting organization.” He argued, “When people are feeling insecure, they need a home and a place that they think can defend them.”

The article noted, “professors were especially upset when the Trump administration began arresting international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.”

In one of the AAUP successes, a federal judge has limited the government’s ability to arrest and deport noncitizens for their pro-Palestinian speech. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling. In another recent lawsuit to block the government from threatening to take billions away from Harvard University, a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration, saying its actions violated the First Amendment. The Trump administration said it would appeal against it.

The NYT noted that since 2006, the AAUP had discouraged academic boycotts, but then, in 2024, it adopted a new policy stating that individual faculty members and students are free to debate and embrace boycotts.

The NYT also noted that this “policy was released as Israel bombed Gaza and as pro-Palestinian activists urged cutting off ties with Israeli institutions.” 

Not surprisingly, the NYT compares the current battle of the AAUP to “the 1950s, when Joseph McCarthy was calling the university ‘a mess’ and demanding the firing of professors suspected of being Communists… the fight was over whether ‘free institutions of learning’ or government agencies should determine who got to teach. These days… a new generation of professors has become energized by a similar fight.” The NYT stated. 

The NYT reporter also added a comment at the bottom, saying that the AAUP “had receded into the background in recent decades. But with the Trump administration unleashing an aggressive attack on higher education, the group is seeing a resurgence. It’s largely shrugging off some of the critiques of the sector from the right,” and doubling down on being a “fighting organization.”

No doubt the second Trump administration prompted the AAUP to take a political stance. A September 2025 Chronicle of Higher Education article questions whether the AAUP is deemed “too partisan” by critics of its methods. It quoted Wolfson: “We’re taking it to the courts and the streets — and we need you,” and explained that this quote encapsulates the AAUP’s approach to the second Trump presidency. The quote comes from an email Wolfson sent to members about the AAUP’s strategy to confront the challenges posed by the second Trump administration. The strategy emphasizes a combination of legal action and organized activism/protest. 

Some academics openly criticize the AAUP for its politics. For example, just days after the interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative-leaning think tank, responded in an article by Samuel J. Abrams, AEI Senior Fellow and a Professor at Sarah Lawrence College, titled “When the American Association of University Professors President Pretends There’s No Evidence, Academia Loses Credibility.” Abrams discussed a question raised by the Chronicle, “Why are there so few conservatives in the professoriate?” to Wolfson, to which Wolfson responded, “I would love to see the data on that. If there is actually data, I’d really love to see it.”

For Abrams, “the evidence Wolfson pretended not to know about has been gathered for decades, replicated across methodologies, and published in countless outlets. To act as though it may not exist is either willful ignorance or deliberate denial… The imbalance is not in dispute. Studies going back to the 1980s have shown that liberal faculty massively outnumber conservatives.”

Abrams stated that “The costs of this lopsidedness are profound. Students are deprived of exposure to diverse viewpoints, stunting their intellectual growth. Conservative graduate students often fear that their beliefs will sink their chances of being hired or tenured… And when the public sees academia as hostile to half the country, trust collapses. Gallup and Pew have both recorded a historic drop in confidence in higher education: a decline fueled in part by the perception of ideological bias.” 

In 2024, an article in the NYT titled “How Universities Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism” detailed how the Trump administration successfully halted campus disturbances by anti-Israel activists. Wolfson was cited as saying that the restrictions have made people afraid: “They feel like they’re being watched and surveilled… I think there’s a strong degree of self-censorship that’s taking place.”

In a similar vein, in an article by Inside Higher Education from October 30, 2024, titled “The AAUP’s New President Is Not Staying Neutral,” Wolfson was described as Jewish who has family in Israel. Wolfson said he supports the Faculty for Justice in Palestine–Rutgers chapter and has signed a protest statement from “Jewish members of Rutgers Faculty for Justice in Palestine.” He explained he was unhappy with “the way Palestinians have been treated.”

Wolfson said he voted for the AAUP’s statement dropping its total opposition to academic boycotts, but it was in the works before he became president. 

Back in 2021, Wolfson was among other Rutgers faculty who signed a petition in support of the Palestinian battle against Israel, as Israel Academia Monitor reported in “Rutgers University Battleground on BDS.”

Generally, professors are free to pursue truth in research and teaching without interference, but are expected to exercise restraint and professionalism, especially when dealing with political matters.

Israel Academia Monitor has periodically written about the process of radicalization in social sciences and humanities. The civil rights movement and the Vietnam War brought a new generation of activist professors who failed to make a clear distinction between the political and the academic. Most consequentially, they adopted the critical, neo-Marxist paradigm, which abandoned the empirical inquiry that the AAUP called for. Over time, as researchers argue, departments created an instructional dynamic known as “selection and reinforcement,” with hiring, peer review, and promotion processes, pushing for a leftist perspective. Money from oil-rich countries that supported the Middle East departments solidified the paradigm that Israel is a colonial entity created by Western imperialism that had no right to its ancestral homeland.  

It is because of this trend that Wolfson has succeeded in turning the AAUP into a fully-fledged political organization fighting President Trump and promoting anti-Israel initiatives. 

The evolution of AAUP from a guardian of academic freedom into a de facto advocacy body on issues such as Israel is dangerous. It contributes to public distrust of academic institutions and the polarization of Western society. Most consequentially, it inflames the current wave of antisemitism, which is already at a record high. Jews are victims of the majority of all hate crimes in the last year, with the number of violent assaults climaxing steadily. 

Wolfson and the AAUP should take notice. 

REFERENCES:

A Professor Union Grows Fast as It Ramps Up Its Fight Against Trump

The American Association of University Professors is drawing new members. The group’s critics say its political stances hurt its cause.

Vimal Patel

By 

Vimal Patel

April 24, 2026

Two years ago, as universities were cracking down on campus activism, a handful of Harvard professors decided to push back.

Seven members joined a Zoom call. A few more trickled into meetings after that. Then Donald J. Trump became president again.

Membership in the group, Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, surged to more than 300, reviving a branch that had been dormant since the McCarthy era, when professors had organized to advocate the rights of faculty members. Across the country, other professors built up their own chapters of the association, too, as Republicans in the federal government and in state houses tried to push a more conservative agenda on higher education.

The national organization grew to more than 57,000 members from about 43,000 in the summer of 2024.

Now, as dues pour in, the group has turned into one of the Trump administration’s main antagonists.

The association has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits, often becoming the first to jump into legal fights against the Trump administration’s attacks on university funding, speech rights and diversity initiatives.

Soon, the A.A.U.P., which was established in 1915, plans to step up its fight. It is hiring a political director for the first time and even plans to endorse candidates it deems supportive of its vision for higher education. The group just unveiled a platform including a call for free public college.

As the organization has grown, and become more aggressive, it has also faced sharp criticism. Some professors say the A.A.U.P.’s political stances — including its support of diversity efforts and its skepticism of the Republican push for “viewpoint diversity” — are proving the Trump administration’s point about the left-leaning tilt on campuses.

The organization’s leaders say it is filling a void.

The speed and the seeming arbitrariness of the new administration’s threats against universities left many schools shellshocked. Trump officials described professors as “the enemy,” tried to strip funding from research universities and pushed schools to sign a compact that would allow the government to exert more control over private institutions. Meanwhile, red state legislatures gutted faculty power and eroded tenure.

In response, school leaders often concluded that their best bet was to stay quiet and avoid drawing attention to themselves.

The chaos in higher education has turned the A.A.U.P. into a “fighting organization,” said Todd Wolfson, the president of the group.

“When people are feeling insecure they need a home and a place that they think can defend them,” said Dr. Wolfson, a Rutgers professor and former union leader there. “The A.A.U.P. has stepped into that breach.”

Kirsten Weld, the Harvard chapter’s president, said professors were especially upset when the Trump administration began arresting international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.

“We were looking around, and our universities were not saying a word,” she said.

The group, whose first president was the philosopher John Dewey, has filed 11 lawsuits against the Trump administration, including A.A.U.P. vs. Rubio, in which a federal judge limited the government’s ability to arrest and deport noncitizens for their pro-Palestinian speech. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.

The group also filed a lawsuit last April to block the government from threatening to take billions away from the university. Days later, Harvard also sued, and the cases were consolidated. A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration, saying its actions

violated the First Amendment. The Trump administration said it would appeal.

The surge in membership to the A.A.U.P., which has both advocacy and collective-bargaining chapters affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, reflects a larger wave of activism in higher education, said William A. Herbert, a collective-bargaining scholar at Hunter College.

“This is the greatest attack on higher education in American history,” Dr. Herbert said, adding, “You’re just seeing a massive growth in collective action on campuses by faculty and others.”

Critics, including those on the right and in the political center, have argued that the group has veered toward identity politics that helped animate the backlash against higher education, including by supporting diversity measures.

Since 2006, the organization had discouraged academic boycotts, which are the suspension of normal academic relations with a college or country in the service of a political goal. Then, in 2024, it adopted a new policy saying that individual faculty members and students should be free to debate and embrace such boycotts. The policy was released as Israel bombed Gaza and as pro-Palestinian activists urged cutting off ties with Israeli institutions.

The A.A.U.P. and its critics disagree on which policy is best for academic freedom.

Matthew W. Finkin, whose first job out of law school was as an A.A.U.P. attorney in 1967, said the group had grown more political and less deliberative in recent decades as it embraced union organizing at the expense of traditional concerns like academic freedom and tenure.

“You can no longer take its policy pronouncements as being above the fray, as being pure matters of principle,” Mr. Finkin said.

The political postures of the A.A.U.P. have led to many ruminations about the group’s “fall” and “unraveling.”

Dr. Wolfson has shrugged off, even reveled in, the criticisms, saying that now is the time to pick sides.

The proof his strategy is working, he said, is the recent membership boom. (The group’s peak was 90,000 in 1969, and its low point was 37,000 in 2012.) Tax records show the group had revenues, mostly from dues, of about $12 million in 2024. In an interview, Dr. Wolfson said 2025 revenues neared $17 million.

“Demand letters to universities, a compact which is nothing more than a loyalty oath, ideologically driven state houses that are ending tenure and collective-bargaining rights, ending academic freedom — and you’re going to tell me I should be neutral?” Dr. Wolfson said. “There’s no neutrality on a runaway train.”

Supporters like Dr. Weld say Dr. Wolfson’s fighting posture is right for this moment and one reason chapters are drawing new members.

In North Carolina, the group has gone to 800 members from about 200 in a year, said Belle Boggs, the state’s chapter president.

Last year, the group organized against a delay in awarding 33 professors tenure at the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus at Chapel Hill. It has opposed an effort to post the syllabuses of faculty members in a public-facing database. And it has created a legal hotline for professors, staffed by First Amendment lawyers.

Harvard’s chapter had been mostly dormant since the 1950s, when Joseph McCarthy was calling the university “a mess” and demanding the firing of professors suspected of being Communists. Professors and the A.A.U.P. praised Harvard’s president at the time, Nathan Pusey, for refusing to take action against the faculty members.

In 1954, at an A.A.U.P. event, Archibald MacLeish, a Harvard professor, said the fight was over whether “free institutions of learning” or government agencies should determine who got to teach.

These days, said Dr. Weld, a historian, a new generation of professors has become energized by a similar fight.

COMMENTS

  1. Vimal PatelReporterThe A.A.U.P., a storied faculty advocacy group and union, had receded into the background in recent decades. But with the Trump administration unleashing an aggressive attack on higher education, the group is seeing a resurgence. It’s largely shrugging off some of the critiques of the sector from the right and doubling down on becoming a “fighting organization,” as the group’s president told me.

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When the American Association of University Professors President Pretends There’s No Evidence, Academia Loses Credibility

Authorby Samuel J. Abrams

Author TitleNonresident Senior Fellow

DateSeptember 24, 2025

The president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Todd Wolfson, was recently asked a straightforward question by the Chronicle of Higher Education: Why are there so few conservatives in the professoriate? His response should trouble anyone who cares about the future of higher education. “It depends on the field,” Wolfson said, before adding, “I would love to see the data on that. If there is actually data, I’d really love to see it.”

This wasn’t curiosity. It was evasion. The evidence Wolfson pretended not to know about has been gathered for decades, replicated across methodologies, and published in countless outlets. To act as though it may not exist is either willful ignorance or deliberate denial. In either case, it’s unacceptable for the leader of an organization whose very historic mission has been to safeguard academic freedom and integrity.

Even without hard data, any serious observer of campus academic and social life can see that something is deeply off. Wolfson is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers and is an “anthropologist by training.” As a proclaimed ethnographer, he describes himself as a close observer of peoples and cultures with their customs and habits making it shocking for him to assert that he does not see the pronounced ideological monoculture on many campuses as evident in course offerings, faculty activism, hiring patterns, and the increasingly one-sided political climate that students and parents experience firsthand. You don’t need a survey to notice when virtually every professor at a given college leans one way politically; you only need to look around.

The imbalance is not in dispute. Studies going back to the 1980s have shown that liberal faculty massively outnumber conservatives. AEI’s overview of the research, “Are Colleges and Universities Too Liberal?” lays out how liberals dominate not only among faculty, but also among students and administrators. A landmark study by Mitchell Langbert, Daniel Klein, and Anthony Quain, “Homogenous: The Political Affiliations of Elite Liberal Arts College Faculty” found a staggering Democratic-to-Republican registration ratio of nearly 132 to one at top liberal arts schools. In many departments, there were literally no registered Republicans.

More recent work has confirmed this picture using new methods. A University of California report, “The Politics of the Professoriate” analyzed faculty social media activity and found that nearly 70 percent lean strongly liberal, while just over 13 percent lean conservative. The remaining faculty are moderates, a shrinking group in today’s polarized environment. While there is some variation across disciplines, the broad pattern holds everywhere: Higher education is overwhelmingly left-leaning.

Wolfson’s fallback—that the issue is “much more complicated than people being browbeaten”—is another dodge. Of course, there are complex factors shaping career paths and disciplinary cultures. But complexity does not negate the fact of the imbalance or the harm it causes. Saying the problem is complicated is not a solution; it is an excuse to do nothing.

The costs of this lopsidedness are profound. Students are deprived of exposure to diverse viewpoints, stunting their intellectual growth. Conservative graduate students often fear that their beliefs will sink their chances of being hired or tenured. Faculty self-censor, avoiding certain research questions or conclusions for fear of backlash. And when the public sees academia as hostile to half the country, trust collapses. Gallup and Pew have both recorded a historic drop in confidence in higher education: a decline fueled in part by the perception of ideological bias.

Imagine if the numbers were switched. If Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 132 to one and progressive students felt unwelcome. Would Wolfson really be asking whether there’s any data? Would he be musing about complexity? Of course not. The AAUP would treat it as an existential threat to academic freedom. That the reverse scenario provokes hand-waving instead of action exposes a glaring double standard.

As AAUP president, Wolfson has both the authority and obligation to lead on this issue. He could champion new, transparent data collection. He could push universities to reform hiring and promotion practices to ensure ideological diversity. He could speak openly about the problem and work to fix it. Instead, he chose denial and deflection. That choice sends a chilling message to conservative scholars and students: you don’t count here, and we don’t care if you feel excluded.

At this point, AAUP members and faculty across the country must ask whether Wolfson deserves their trust. A vote of no confidence would signal that protecting academic freedom means protecting everyone, not just those whose politics fit the dominant campus ideology. Wolfson’s performance shows he is unwilling to face reality. That is unacceptable in a moment when higher education is losing public support and credibility.

The data are real. The imbalance is real. The consequences are real. What’s missing is leadership with the courage to confront them.

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How Universities Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism

Stricter rules and punishments over campus protests seem to be working. Universities have seen just under 950 protest events this semester, compared with 3,000 in the spring.

Isabelle Taft

By Isabelle Taft

Nov. 25, 2024

Colleges and universities have tightened rules around protests, locked campus gates and handed down stricter punishments after the disruptions of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments last spring.

The efforts seem to be working.

Universities have seen just under 950 protest events this semester so far, compared to 3,000 last semester, according to a log at the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard University’s Ash Center. About 50 people have been arrested so far this school year at protests on higher education campuses, according to numbers gathered by The New York Times, compared to over 3,000 last semester.

When students have protested this fall, administrators have often enforced — to the letter — new rules created in response to last spring’s unrest. The moves have created scenes that would have been hard to imagine previously, particularly at universities that once celebrated their history of student activism.

Harvard temporarily banned dozens of students and faculty members from libraries after they participated in silent “study-ins” — where protesters sit at library tables with signs opposing the war in Gaza — though a similar protest did not lead to discipline in December 2023. At Indiana University Bloomington, some students and faculty members who attended candlelight vigils were referred for discipline under a new prohibition on expressive activity after 11 p.m. University of Pennsylvania administrators and campus police officers holding zip ties told vigil attendees to move because they had not reserved the space in compliance with new rules.

And at Montclair State University in New Jersey, police officers often outnumber participants in a weekly demonstration where protesters hold placards with photos of children killed in Gaza and the words “We mourn.”

“They say it’s to keep us safe, but I think it’s more to keep us under control,” said Tasneem Abdulazeez, a student in the teaching program.

The changes follow federal civil rights complaints, lawsuits and withering congressional scrutiny accusing universities of tolerating antisemitism, after some protesters praised Hamas and called for violence against Israelis.

Some students and faculty have welcomed calmer campuses. Others see the relative quiet as the bitter fruit of a crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech. They worry President-elect Donald J. Trump, who as a candidate called for universities to “vanquish the radicals,” could ratchet up the pressure.

In many cases, universities are enforcing rules they adopted before the school year began. While the specifics vary, they generally impose limits on where and when protests can occur and what form they can take.

Todd Wolfson, the president of the American Association of University Professors and an associate professor of media studies at Rutgers, said the restrictions have made people afraid.

“They feel like they’re being watched and surveilled,” he said. “I think there’s a strong degree of self-censorship that’s taking place.”

But Jewish students who felt targeted by protesters have praised the rules — and the speed at which universities are enforcing them — for helping to restore order and safety. Naomi Lamb, the director of Hillel at the Ohio State University, said the school’s new protest policies seem to be working well.

“I appreciate the response of administrators to ensure that there is as little antisemitic action and rhetoric as possible,” she said.

Some of the tactics protesters used last semester have been met with stringent responses this school year. At the University of Minnesota, 11 people were arrested after they occupied a campus building. Last school year, some universities let protesters occupy buildings overnight and even for days at a time.

At Pomona College, the president invoked “extraordinary authority” to bypass the standard disciplinary process and immediately suspend or ban some pro-Palestinian protesters who took over a building on Oct. 7 of this year. A college spokeswoman said the unusual move was justified because the occupation had destroyed property, threatened safety and disrupted classes, and noted that students were given opportunities to respond to the allegations against them.

At some campuses, protesters have taken up new tactics to challenge the new restrictions.

Study-ins like those at Harvard have also taken place at Ohio StateTulane University and the University of Texas at Austin. Students typically wear kaffiyehs and tape signs to their laptops with messages like “Our tuition funds genocide.”

“It’s kind of designed to put the administration in this bind of either you ignore it, or you enforce rules but you look like kind of a jerk,” said Jay Ulfelder, research project manager at Harvard’s Nonviolent Action Lab.

A Harvard spokesman said that a January 2024 statement from university leadership made clear that demonstrations are not permitted in libraries or other campus areas used for academic activities.

During Sukkot, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the harvest, members of the anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace set up “solidarity sukkahs” at about 20 schools including Northwestern and the University of California, Los Angeles. The sukkahs, or huts, commemorate the structures the Israelites lived in while wandering in the desert for 40 years and are often decorated with gourds, fruit and lights. JVP members added signs saying “Stop Arming Israel.”

The sukkahs were removed at nine universities, according to JVP, with administrators citing new rules prohibiting unauthorized structures.

When facilities workers arrived with power tools to tear down the sukkah at Northwestern, JVP members told them it was wrong to do so before the end of the weeklong holiday, said Paz Baum, a senior.

“They do not care about our ability or right to practice our religion,” Ms. Baum said. “They only care about limiting Palestinian speech.”

The new restrictions may not be the only factor behind diminished protest activity this semester. Some protest groups have embraced more violent rhetoric — praising Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, for example — alienating some students who had sympathized with their cause.

Some things have not changed, however: There is still little consensus about what it means for a campus to be safe and when speech critical of Israel crosses the line into antisemitism.

At Montclair State, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators have criticized the number of police officers and administrators at their events, President Jonathan Koppell said he was trying to strike a balance between “competing priorities.”

In an interview, Dr. Koppell said the officers stationed at protests are necessary to protect everyone on campus, including the protesters. He noted that demonstrations on campus have been peaceful and people have “engaged responsibly.”

He added that some community members want him to prohibit the pro-Palestinian gatherings altogether, something he has resisted.

“You have a desire for some people to be able to say whatever they what, wherever they want, whenever they want,” Dr. Koppell said. “And you have some people who would like to see an environment where there’s an absolute limitation on people’s ability to protest.”

“Anybody who wants an absolute in either direction is going to be unhappy,” he added.

Even as universities crack down, administrators and faculty say the federal government under Mr. Trump could try to force further changes at institutions.

Still, much remains unclear about what could happen. His pick to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, has less education experience than is typical of education secretaries in the past and has publicly said little about campus protests.

Abed A. Ayoub, the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he did not think Mr. Trump could make campuses more hostile to pro-Palestinian protests than they already are.

“Are they going to continue with their crackdown on anti-Israel speech? I think they will,” he said, referring to universities. “That’s not because Trump is in office. They started this. It’s been happening.”

Isabelle Taft is a reporter covering national news and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their career.

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October 30, 2024

The AAUP’s New President Is Not Staying Neutral

Todd Wolfson is pushing the century-old American Association of University Professors to fight higher ed’s detractors and “organize every campus.” But critics say the venerable organization is straying from its roots.

By  Ryan Quinn

On April 10, 2023, Rutgers University faculty went on strike for the first time in the institution’s 257-year history. But they were far from alone. Joining them were the postdocs and counselors in their union, plus academic workers from two other unions—an uncommon alliance of multiple types of higher education workers in a single, huge walkout. Altogether, the labor organizations called thousands of people off the job simultaneously across all three Rutgers campuses. 

Todd Wolfson, a Rutgers associate professor and president of the union representing faculty, grad workers and postdoctoral associates, and counselors, was a leader in uniting the three unions for the strike and preparing the ground for it. Ironically, though, he’d have to leave the Rutgers campuses just as it was beginning. On the eve of the strike, Governor Phil Murphy had called representatives of the workers and university leadership to the statehouse in Trenton to negotiate an end. 

But before Wolfson left the flagship Rutgers–New Brunswick campus that first day of the strike, he took up the mike in front of hundreds of ralliers. Wolfson, a critic of the “bureaucrats” and “business people” who he says have taken over higher education, referenced Rutgers’ central administration building in his speech to the crowd, according to a video of the demonstration. “Let’s make sure that the folks in Winants Hall in their little fancy spot over there can hear us, OK?” he said. The crowd cheered, and he started a call-and-response chant. 

“No contract?” he yelled. “No peace!” the picketers cried back, jutting their signs into the air with each word. 

The governor’s office asked the unions to bring five people to the statehouse, Wolfson told Inside Higher Ed. “We couldn’t do that—we were three unions, and we brought a team of 20,” he said. Six days of nearly 24-7 negotiations in the statehouse ensued—“a pressure cooker,” he said. “We felt very, very far away from the people who we were negotiating for,” he said. 

That week of striking and negotiating led to a framework deal. In the end, the university—with the aid of an extra $25 million that Murphy and the State Legislature threw its way—provided many grad workers with nearly $10,000 raises. Rutgers also hiked the minimum pay for postdoctoral associates and fellows by nearly 28 percent, significantly increased per-course pay for lecturers, and more. Wolfson has tenure, but he told Inside Higher Ed that, in the strike, “we really wanted to center the needs of the more vulnerable parts of our unit”—the adjunct faculty and grad workers.

It was a significant victory. And Wolfson was simultaneously bringing that “No contract? No peace!” energy to a national level. While serving as president of Rutgers’ combined American Association of University Professors–American Federation of Teachers union chapter, he led the development of Higher Education Labor United (HELU), a national effort to unite all higher education workers, faculty or not. 

Then, earlier this year, he ran for national president of the AAUP and beat the incumbent in a landslide, putting him in charge of the more than a century old faculty association that long ago wrote the rules—adopted by colleges and universities across the country—defining what academic freedom, tenure and shared governance mean.

The elevation of this union leader to the top of the AAUP comes amid a surge in higher education union formations and strikes. And it comes in the midst of an escalation in the already existing conservative criticism of postsecondary education. In this environment, Wolfson isn’t responding by running the AAUP as a staid scholarly organization, if it ever was just that. 

He’s called the Republican vice presidential candidate a “fascist.” During just the first four months of his presidency, the association has released statements defending the use of diversity, equity and inclusion criteria in hiring and evaluating faculty and abandoning the group’s categorical opposition to academic boycotts—such as those often called for against Israel. These statements have drawn criticism that the AAUP is abandoning its historic commitment to defending academic freedom in favor of being too political, too leftist and too anti-Zionist. 

Wolfson calls that bunk. “This is not new for AAUP—AAUP has always stood for fighting over the best aspects of the sector,” he said.

Fighting Words?

In an early sign that Wolfson might punch harder than past presidents, on Aug. 8, he called JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, a “fascist.” The remark wasn’t an answer in an interview—it was included in a statement posted to the AAUP’s website. Vance, whom Trump had recently chosen, had previously called professors “the enemy” and just praised how Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian Hungarian prime minister, handled universities in his country. 

“With Vance, American far-right authoritarians have succeeded in elevating a fascist who vows to ‘aggressively attack universities in this country’ to within striking distance of their goal: the annihilation of American higher education as we know it,” Wolfson wrote. “All those who care about higher education, academic freedom and the future of democracy should prepare for the fight ahead by organizing their campus communities.”

Wolfson’s pugilistic statement came as the conservative critique that faculty are overwhelmingly leftist has only grown since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas attack was followed by ongoing Israeli retaliation and continuing pro-Palestine protests on U.S. campuses. But Wolfson hasn’t moderated his language in response to that. 

Wolfson, who is Jewish and has family in Israel, said, “I’ve never been an activist, I’ve never organized” on the Israel-Palestine conflict. But he supports the Faculty for Justice in Palestine–Rutgers chapter and has signed a protest statement from “Jewish members of Rutgers Faculty for Justice in Palestine.” Before becoming national AAUP president, Wolfson said, he joined a human ring to protect a student protest encampment at Rutgers from police. 

“I’ve felt like the beautiful history that I know of Judaism isn’t reflected in the way Palestinians have been treated,” he said. But, he said, “I did not run to be president of AAUP because of my feelings about Israel and Palestine.”

Wolfson said the AAUP’s Aug. 12 statement dropping its total opposition to academic boycotts was in the works before he became president, but he voted for it when it came before the group’s national council. The reversal launched a flurry of criticism from other academic freedom organizations, free speech groups and Israel supporters. “We must no longer use AAUP policy as the gold standard for academic freedom,” wrote Cary Nelson, an Israel supporter and former AAUP president, in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Nelson said having a Faculty for Justice in Palestine member lead the AAUP is “like having a KKK member run the AAUP.” He said they’re both extreme and politically offensive identifications that should disqualify someone from being president of an organization that should be neutral.

Joshua T. Katz, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a member of the Academic Freedom Alliance, wrote an op-ed in the conservative City Journal subtitled “The American Association of University Professors, long relied on to champion academic freedom, can no longer be trusted to do so.” But Katz wrote that the reversal on boycotts “by the once-august and respected organization is not surprising,” citing Wolfson’s statement calling Vance a fascist. 

Other free speech and academic freedom advocacy groups criticized the AAUP this month over a statement on diversity, equity and inclusion that Wolfson didn’t write himself, but that was instead approved by the organization’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. “This committee rejects the notion that the use of DEI criteria for faculty evaluation is categorically incompatible with academic freedom,” that statement says. Amid universities and state legislatures eliminating DEI policies, the statement said DEI criteria can be valuable “when implemented appropriately in accordance with sound standards of faculty governance.” 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression responded with a column on its own website titled “The AAUP continues to back away from academic freedom.” The columnist said, “The AAUP’s transformation into just another political organization is highly discouraging.” 

Wolfson said Committee A’s work has been “walled off from the political leadership of the organization.” But he defends both the statement on DEI and the one dropping the complete opposition to boycotts. 

There was never a statement from the AAUP opposing academic boycotts “before Cary Nelson was president and wanted AAUP to serve his interests,” Wolfson said. “We are being attacked by Cary Nelson and a well-organized set of forces on those positions and, from my vantage, it’s them, and particularly Cary Nelson, who has politicized academic freedom for his own personal ends and then led a campaign.” (Clarification: The AAUP released an initial, two-paragraph statement opposing academic boycotts in 2005, before Nelson became president in 2006. In 2006, the AAUP released a longer statement opposing boycotts.)

He said “The political side of the organization, which in many ways I’m leading … I do not think needs to be neutral.” The political side is focused on “standing up to the bullies that want to undermine our sector,” according to Wolfson. “There are massive political intrusions coming on, coming at us around academic freedom. There’s no way to be a neutral arbiter. We must stand for things in this environment.” 

Wolfson says he’s fighting two crises: divestment from public higher education that began in the 1970s, plus the “attempt from the right wing to take control of our institutions and control what we think and say and research and what our students learn and say.” 

“I decided to run for president of AAUP because I felt like we need to be able to respond to this,” Wolfson said. “We need to be able to fight back. There may have been a time when it was OK for us to pretend like we were in the ivory tower and the outside world didn’t matter. This is not that time; 2024 is not that time.” 

The Making of a Scholar-Activist

In his position leading the AAUP, Wolfson, 52, is continuing to advocate for faculty beyond just those who are tenured or on the tenure track or who hold the title “professor.” Even further, he said, “I believe we should be making common cause with all workers in higher education.” 

“I’ve always been concerned with injustice and inequality in multiple different sites—sometimes in my own work site, sometimes in the communities where I work and live.” He said, “Democracy in the workplace is, I think, critical to building a democratic society.” 

Wolfson earned his undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology from Duke University in 1994, then spent three formative years in Africa. He started off teaching in Namibia through a Harvard University program and then researched social projects such as fighting HIV and AIDS before getting a grant for an oral history project in which he interviewed people who were children during the over-20-year-long Namibian war for independence from apartheid South Africa.

He returned to the U.S. and pursued a Ph.D. in anthropology and education at the University of Pennsylvania. He ended up researching social movements, and at Penn he got his first taste of labor organizing—he and other grad workers at Penn started a unionizing campaign around 2001. 

Penn grad workers voted on a union, but the George W. Bush–era National Labor Relations Board decided grad workers didn’t have the right to unionize and impounded the ballots before counting, Wolfson said. Despite this, he said the university made concessions. 

“Even though we ended up not unionizing, we won a fair bit of important things for the lives of the grad workers, and doctoral students in particular,” Wolfson said. (Twenty years later, the group he helped found, Graduate Employees Together at the University of Pennsylvania, or GET-UP, won unionization under the current NLRB.) 

Wolfson also began community organizing off campus. Though he hasn’t worked as a reporter himself, he was part of a group that started the Media Mobilizing Project around 2006. “The goal was to bring together all sorts of organizations fighting for social change in Philadelphia and use media to lift up their struggles and to connect them,” he said.

He wrote his dissertation and first book, Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left, on the social movements of the 1990s and early 2000s. That included the Indymedia wave of citizen journalism that sprouted up amid protests of the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.

After getting his doctorate, he was hired at Rutgers–New Brunswick in the fall of 2009. He’s now an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. 

He co-directs the Media, Inequality and Change Center, a collaboration between Rutgers and his old campus, Penn. The National Communication Association’s Critical and Cultural Studies Division gave him its inaugural Scholar Activist Award.

At Rutgers, Wolfson said he joined the Rutgers AAUP-AFT union leadership in 2016. Shortly after helping lead the 2018 contract campaign, he was elected the chapter’s president in July 2019. 

Then came the pandemic. The Rutgers administration signaled it was going to do mass layoffs, Wolfson said, but his union and others joined together and persuaded the university to agree to what was basically a voluntary furlough program to save jobs. Wolfson said that showed him the power of building a broad coalition of faculty, staff and students.

“That experience really resonated with me and in many ways shapes how I’ve been thinking about and approaching the future of this sector,” he said. Amid the pandemic, Ian Gavigan—a grad worker who said he met Wolfson while he was pushing against underfunding and privatization of public education in Philadelphia—came to Wolfson with the idea for what would eventually become Higher Ed Labor United

HELU seeks to unite all faculty and higher ed staff across the country, no matter what union they’re in or whether they even have collective bargaining rights. Joe Berry, a labor historian involved in HELU, said Wolfson’s leadership of HELU “was of a style of a good parent: He runs a good meeting, he was serious, honest, did not say he would do things and not do things. When he failed to do something that he said he was going to do, he was, as they say, a mensch about it. He owned up to it right away.” (Wolfson would become interim chair of the organization; he later handed off the reins at the founding convention, at Rutgers, to focus on leading the AAUP.) 

Back at Rutgers, Wolfson united all the unions representing academic workers for the next union contract campaign—which would ultimately include the 2023 strike. 

Earlier this year, Wolfson threw his hat in the ring for the AAUP presidency himself as part of a slate called United Faculty for the Common Good. “Higher education is in crisis—business as usual won’t save it,” the slate’s website says. Alongside stressing the need for unity across different types of workers, it calls for “expanding political power through coalitions with allied student, climate and social justice organizations at the local and national levels.” 

The platform was not politically neutral. Higher education, the slate’s website says, must challenge “forms of systemic oppression based on race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, age, (dis)ability, immigration status or colonialism.” It calls for strengthening and expanding shared governance “beyond the ranks of faculty.” And it appears to take a swipe at the efficacy of AAUP’s practice of writing policies and issuing reports on violations of academic freedom and other matters: “Issuing declarations and reports will not save higher education,” the website says. 

Wolfson easily won his race against Irene Mulvey, who had led AAUP for the previous four years and ran its nonunionized Fairfield University chapter, garnering 20,811 votes to her 7,682. Mulvey said, “There was so much that the two campaigns agreed on, I think the real difference was the focus on wall-to-wall organizing,” a phrase she said Wolfson’s slate used. Wall-to-wall organizing usually means trying to organize across all types of jobs, rather than just focusing on faculty. While she was “disappointed in the results of the election,” she believes the AAUP’s core principles will guide the organization into the future no matter who’s in leadership.

American Association of Unionized Professors? 

For at least the last decade, said Berry, the labor historian, most AAUP members have been union members. He said Wolfson now represents the larger unification between the AAUP and the AFT. “I would say that there’s a good chance that this is a pivotal point and that he will be seen as one of the pivotal figures,” Berry said. But Berry also said it seems Wolfson is “not a personal power seeker, he’s a movement guy.” 

Wolfson’s union background and emphasis aren’t completely without precedent for AAUP. In fact, in 2012, Rudy Fichtenbaum, chief negotiator for the AAUP union chapter at Wright State University, also beat Mulvey during an earlier attempt of hers for the presidency. He served from 2012 to 2020. 

Upon his election, Fichtenbaum asked, “What is the best way to achieve academic freedom, shared governance and protect economic interests of faculty members? I think the answer is being an organization of activists, where the core values of the AAUP remain a centerpiece.” Back then, there was criticism in the AAUP of Fichtenbaum’s emphasis on unionizing. 

In an interview last week with Inside Higher Ed, Fichtenbaum, now a professor emeritus, echoed many of the statements Wolfson has made. “The emphasis on organizing is necessary because of the way the profession has changed,” Fichtenbaum said. He noted the majority of faculty are no longer on the tenure track. “Without collective action there really just is no faculty voice,” he said. He said, “As times change, if you want to survive, you have to change with ’em.” 

During Fichtenbaum’s presidency, a publication sponsored by the conservative National Association of Scholars ran a column criticizing his rhetoric. The column was titled, “The AAUP Takes a Sharp Left Turn.” 

Joan Scott, who recently rejoined the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure after serving on it from 1993 to 2006, pushed back on the leftist characterization. But she also said, “AAUP has always been a quote-unquote progressive organization.” For instance, she noted that the AAUP’s first president was philosopher John Dewey, who led what was called the “progressive education” movement. 

“That kind of organization is always going to be fighting against the powers that be or those that would seek to undermine and destroy the institutions,” Scott said. Now, “when the mission of higher education is at stake, then the people who are trying to destroy it are the ones you have to stand up against.”

Cary Nelson served as AAUP president before Fichtenbaum and also butted heads with him. Of Wolfson and the current AAUP leaders, he said, “I think they’re going to kill off the AAUP.” Nelson accused Wolfson of wanting to focus the organization on anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian activism. 

“His actions and statements as AAUP president confirm that really that’s at the core of what he means by the AAUP being an activist organization,” Nelson said. “That’s not the only thing he means by it, but anti-Zionism is part of it and that’s a huge difference from 100 years of neutrality.” 

Nelson argued that “you can’t defend neutral principles and academic freedom at the same time that you take contested political positions.”

But Wolfson “is not the kind of leader that imposes his vision,” said Rebecca Givan, general vice president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT. She said Wolfson “believes in making sure that union spaces are inclusive spaces where there’s opportunity for dissent and to hear from all perspectives.” And she asserted that the AAUP’s century-long fight for academic freedom and tenure is itself “an advocacy position.” 

For many years, Givan said, the AAUP’s primary tool was putting universities on a censure list if they violated the group’s academic freedom principles. But she said universities “no longer care, so if the old tools are not working, it’s time to think seriously about where the power lies and how we can protect higher education.” 

Mia McIver, the chair of HELU and a continuing lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, said faculty have “been losing, and both academic freedom and shared governance have been so deeply eroded in the last few decades that I think we need to learn from that past.” 

“The decisions and the statements of AAUP have always been political,” McIver said, “and what’s different now, I think, is that there is a conscious awareness that we need politically engaged leaders and politically engaged organizations to fight for higher ed.” 

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May 29, 2021We stand in Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Rutgers University faculty condemn Israel’s military assault against the Palestinian people across all Palestinian geographies. We join and welcome the endorsement of all colleagues committed to combatting racism, colonialism, and settler colonialism.

A ceasefire does not end the colonial conditions of structural violence and inequality that Palestinians live under. The fifteen year siege of and systemic war on Gaza are part of a long-standing effort to isolate, dehumanize, and punish Palestinians for resisting decades of occupation and what UN ESCWA, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, have called an Israeli Apartheid regime.

The forced displacement of Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah, takes legal, bureaucratic, and military forms. Zionist settler colonial expansion marks Palestinian homes and neighborhoods for removal, destruction, and replacement while military and settler infrastructure limits Palestinian mobility and segregates them into Bantustans. Critical resources such as water and land are expropriated by the Israeli state. These tactics are part of a broader effort to deny the possibility of Palestinian self-determination in Palestine.

While we mourn the loss of civilian life in Israel, we also refuse to engage narratives that demand an ‘equal sides’ approach to a fundamentally unequal reality.

The Palestinian rights to freedom, security in their homes, to return, self-determination, and to be free of violent occupation are well established under international law. The language of both-sidedness, of timeless or religious ‘conflict’ with moments of ‘escalation’ erases the military, economic, media, and diplomatic power that Israel, as an occupying force has over Palestine. While we mourn the loss of civilian life in Israel, we also refuse to engage narratives that demand an ‘equal sides’ approach to a fundamentally unequal reality.

The demand to center Israel’s right to ‘self-defense’ erases the colonial context and delegitimizes the Palestinian right to resistance and to self-defense, both principles enshrined in international law. It also neglects non-violent tactics and campaigns, such as BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), and civil disobedience that Palestinians have used for decades to dismantle the system around them. We stand in solidarity with a growing chorus of voices in the US media, in universities, activists and social movements, and with progressive political leaders in the US government. With them, we demand an end to US’ long-standing military, economic, and diplomatic support for unchecked Israeli anti-Palestinian violence.

We are in awe of the Palestinian struggle to resist violent occupation, removal, erasure, and the expansion of Israeli settler colonialism. As faculty at an institution committed to the principles of social justice and academic excellence, particularly those of us who study and teach about the Middle East or Racism, we endorse the Palestine and Praxis call to action. We affirm our own commitments to speaking out in defense of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people as well as foundational principles of scholarly integrity and academic freedom. We recognize our role and responsibility as scholars to theorize, read, teach and write about the very issues unfolding in Palestine. Not doing so means we fail to provide our undergraduate and graduate students, including Palestinian and Israeli students, with the critical tools and information they need to understand and engage the subjects of Palestine and Israel, colonialism, US empire, and anti-racism. Those who do not study these issues can be involved in study groups, teach-ins, and other such educational activities as faculty and students were during other moments of international protest and solidarity, like protests against the Vietnam War and Apartheid South Africa.

Therefore, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians and their Jewish as well as non-Jewish allies around the world, understanding that their struggle is inseparable from other movements for equality, justice and liberation both within the United States and globally. We join together in rededicating ourselves to working against all forms of racism, imperialism, colonialism, settler colonialism and injustice at Rutgers, in the classroom, on campus, and beyond.

Signatories

Asher Ghertner, Geography Laura Schneider, Geography Mary Rizzo, History Asli Zengin, Women’s and Gender Studies Popy Begum, School of Criminal Justice Jawid Mojaddedi, Religion Yesenia Barragan, History Mark Bray, History Marisa J. Fuentes, History and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Judith Surkis, History Elaine LaFay, History James Livingston, History Jackson Lears, History Belinda Davis, History Xun Liu, History Sean T. Mitchell, Sociology and Anthropology Arthur B. Powell, Urban Education Camilla Townsend, History Barbara Foley, English Donna Murch, History Tamara Sears, Art History Salam Al Kuntar, Classics Aldo Lauria Santiago, History, Latino and Caribbean Studies Kenneth Sebastián León, Latino and Caribbean Studies Kevon Rhiney, Geography Hanan Kashou, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures Samah Selim, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures Atiya Aftab, Middle Eastern Studies Karishma Desai, Education Carlos Ulises Decena, Latino and Caribbean Studies Jon Cowans, History Jamie Pietruska, History Charles Payne, African and African American Studies Radhika Balakrishnan, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Latino and Caribbean Studies, and Program in Comparative Literature Zakia Salime, WGSS & Sociology Ousseina D. Alidou, African, Middle Eastern, South Asian Languages and Literatures Akissi Britton, Africana Studies Zeynep Gürsel, Anthropology Amir Moosavi, English Becky Schulthies, Anthropology Ethel Brooks, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Alamin Mazrui, African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures Kyla Schuller, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Tim Raphael, Arts, Culture and Media Nate Gabriel, Geography Jasbir Puar, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Michael Adas, History Carter Mathes, English John Keene, English/AAAS Evie Shockley, English Sarada Balagopalan, Childhood Studies Kate Cairns, Childhood Studies Erica R. Edwards, English Stéphane Robolin, Literatures in English Anjali Nerlekar, African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL) Lauren Silver, Childhood Studies Andrea Marston, Geography Preetha Mani, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures Charles I. Auffant, Law Jamal Ali, AMESALL Shaheen Parveen, AMESALL Belinda Edmondson, English/AAAS Beth Rubin, Education Edwin Bryant, Religion David D. Troutt, Law Todd Wolfson, Journalism and Media Studies Zaire Dinzey-Flores, Latino & Caribbean Studies David Lopez, Law Trinidad Rico, Art History Krista White, Rutgers Libraries Diane Fruchtman, Religion Dennis C. Prieto, Law Mark Krasovic, History Debra Scoggins Ballentine, Religion Itzel Corona Aguilar, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Kayo Denda, Rutgers U. Libraries – NB Meredeth Turshen, Bloustein School Sara Perryman, Writing Program, English Chrystin Ondersma, Law Mich Ling, WGSS Adnan Zulfiqar, Law Jillian Salazar, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Brittney Cooper, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies/Africana Studies Chenjerai Kumanyika, Rutgers Department of Journalism and Media Studies Hamid Abdeljaber, CMES Carolyn A. Brown, History Karen Caplan, History Shantee Rosado, Africana Studies and Latino and Caribbean Studies Thayane Brêtas, Global Urban Studies Andrew Goldstone, English Melissa De Fino, Rutgers University Libraries Troy Shinbrot, Biomedical Engineering James Brown, English and Communications Lilia Fernandez, Latino and Caribbean Studies Julien Corbo, Neurosciences Rebecca Kunkel, Law Library Jeffrey Dowd, Sociology Ana Pairet, French O. Batuhan Erkat, Neuroscience Hussein Khdour, Neuroscience Paul Boxer, Psychology Rob Scott, Anthropology Fernanda Perrone, Rutgers University Libraries Audrey Truschke, History Toby C. Jones, History Maya Mikdashi, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Noura Erakat, Africana Studies and Criminal Justice Deepa Kumar, Journalism and Media Studies Zahra Ali, Sociology and Anthropology Yasmine Khayyat, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures Omar Dewachi, Anthropology Melissa M. Valle, Sociology and Anthropology & African American and African Studies Sahar Aziz, Law Johan Mathew, History Christien Tompkins, Anthropology Mayte Green-Mercado, History Nukhet Varlik, History Nermin Allam, Political Science Sylvia Chan Malik, American Studies Domingo Morel, Political Science Leyla Amzi-Erdogdular, History Sadia Abbas, English Laura Lomas, American Studies Manu Samriti Chander, English Wendell Hassan Marsh, African American Studies and African Studies Charles G. Häberl, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures, and Religion Kathleen C. Riley, Anthropology Asli Zengin, Women’s and Gender Studies Paul O’Keefe, Geography Lyra Monteiro, History David Fogelsong, History Ousseina Alidou, African, Middle Eastern, South Asian Languages and Literatures Bridget Purcell, Anthropology Alison Howell, Political Science Antonio Y. Vázquez-Arroyo, Political Science Gabriela Kuetting, Political Science Carlos Ulises Decana, Latino Studies, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Atif Akin, Art & Design Meril Antony , Public Administration Genese Sodikoff, Sociology and Anthropology Karen Caplan, History Shantee Rosado, Africana Studies and Latino and Caribbean Studies Thayane Brêtas, Global Urban Studies David Hughes, Anthropology Meril Antony, Public Administration Icnelia Huerta Ocampo, CMBN Dana Luciano, English, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Elizabeth Surles, Rutgers Libraries, Institute of Jazz Studies David Winters, Journalism and Media Studies Mukti Mangharam, English Terry Matilsky, Physics and Astronomy Sara Elnakib, Family and Community Health Services Meheli Sen, African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures David Kurnick, English Jawad Irshad, OIT Beyza Guven, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Andrew T. Urban, American Studies and History JB Brager, Douglass College

The Fallacies of Omer Bartov – PART TWO

29.04.26

Editorial Note

Israel Academia Monitor (IAM) reported last week on an interview with Prof. Omer Bartov about his newly published book titled Israel: What Went Wrong? Meanwhile, Haaretz also published an interview, and The Guardian did so as well.

Bartov’s key points: 

– Zionism Must Go: Bartov contends that Zionism has become “militaristic, expansionist, and racist” and must be replaced to prevent Israel from becoming a full apartheid state, a “pariah state” detached from the West. 

– Genocide in Gaza: Bartov argues that by May 2024, Israel’s actions shifted from ethnic cleansing to the systematic destruction of Gaza’s habitability, which constitutes genocide. 

– Holocaust-Hamas Comparisons: Bartov warns against comparing Hamas to Nazis, as this dehumanizes Palestinians and facilitates genocide by making destruction seem like self-defense. He notes that using the Holocaust to justify current actions is tragic and invalidates the original, humanitarian intent of Zionism. 

– Rabin and the IDF: Reflecting on the 1987 first intifada, Bartov recalls writing a letter to Yitzhak Rabin warning that the IDF was “breaking limbs,” a move he believed mirrored actions of the Nazi-era Wehrmacht. Rabin, according to Bartov, was angry at the comparison. 

– Israel’s Internal Shift: Bartov notes a profound religious and messianic radicalization from below in Israeli society and the IDF—a “change of spirit”—that encourages harsh actions against Palestinians.

Israel Academia Monitor would like to stress that Bartov is wrong on many counts. Even worse, his scholarship is questionable because he is a political activist disguised as an academic. The real question is what went wrong with Bartov’s scholarship?

Bartov’s political path became evident when he studied for a PhD in England, at Oxford University’s St Anthony’s College, together with the so-called New Historians. Bartov maintained close ties with Ilan Pappe, who, as Israel Academia Monitor noted, had a history of promoting his political agenda. Bartov says the “two-state solution is dead” and adds, “it was said at the time, in the 1990s, in the early 1990s, Eretz Kol Ezracheha, a country of all its citizens. That was the big hope for Palestinians, too. That was when Hamas was less powerful, that was when the [Israeli] messianic national religious were less powerful. They took over.” 

In his efforts to besmirch Israel, Bartov claims that he would not be safe if he ever returns to Israel, meaning that he may suffer some unspecified “harm”.  He needs to be reminded that his friend Ilan Pappe returned to live in Haifa after he retired from teaching in Great Britain.  Pappe is still busy spreading derogatory material about Israel.  

Bartov’s musings on Israel and the United States are equally convoluted: “I think Israel needs to be liberated from that dependence on American power. I think for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of real, not alleged, antisemitism of the left, which is mostly an invention of supporters of Israel, but actual antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.”   

Bartov is apparently trying to say that the only antisemitism in the United States comes from right-wing circles, as presented by Tucker Carlson. Quite conveniently, he ignores the antisemitism of the left, which he described as “mostly an inversion of the supporters of Israel.” Framing left-wing antisemitism as a construct of pro-Israel advocates allows him to sidestep the uncomfortable reality that it can surface within his own academic milieu as well as among some pro-Palestinian activists.

Bartov’s intellectual background is in the Critical Theory movement introduced by the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School in the 1930s, which, over time, evolved into a harsh denunciation of all things American, Western, or Israeli. Blaming Israel is always de rigueur; omitting any criticism of Israel’s enemies.  

In 1988, Bartov was teaching at Tel Aviv University when he accused Yitzhak Rabin of “leading the IDF in the same direction that I had researched and saw the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, had gone down that slippery slope of brutalizing an army.” Worth noting, it is Bartov who warned against Holocaust-Hamas comparisons, but he compares the IDF to the Wehrmacht.

Bartov accuses Israel of not letting the Gaza refugees in, calling it ethnic cleansing, but doesn’t see anything wrong with the fact that Egypt did not let the Gaza refugees in.

Bartov negates Zionism. “Zionism became a state ideology; it became something else. It kept transforming itself into what it is today, which is an insupportable ideology of extremism, of militarism, of racism, and eventually of genocide.” Bartov should take note: Zionism is the right of Jews to live in their ancestral homeland.  

Not surprising that Bartov uses the opportunity to promote his political agenda: “It is important to be rid of Netanyahu.” 

His biggest contradiction comes in his article, “He Meant What He Said,” published in the New Republic in 2004. At the time, he was less favorable to Hamas. Bartov stated that “most explicit and frightening link between Hitler’s anti-Semitism and the contemporary wave of violence, hatred, paranoia, and conspiracy theories can be found, first, in the testimony given by the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and, second, in the official charter of the Palestinian Hamas movement.” Bartov argued, “The charter of the Hamas movement, issued in 1988 as the fundamental document of this Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, must be read to be believed. It contains, among its fundamentalist Islamic preachings, the most blatant anti-Semitic statements made in a publicly available document since Hitler’s own pronouncements.” Hamas promises that “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.” The Islamic Resistance Movement has “raised the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors in order to extricate the country and the people from the [oppressors’] desecration, filth and evil.” 

Bartov added that in Islamic teachings, the Prophet said, “the time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” According to Bartov, the Hamas charter states that “the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion… The initiatives, proposals, and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.” Bartov referred to the Hamas charter, stating that “Hitler could not have put it better. So Hitler is dead, but there is a Hitlerite quality to the new anti-Semitism,” Bartov ended his piece by stating, “If a self-proclaimed liberation organization calls for the extermination of the Jewish state, do not pretend that it is calling for anything else.”

But then, in a striking contrast, in an article titled “The Hamas attack and Israel’s War on Gaza: ‘a place where no human being can exist’,” published by the Britain Palestine Project on November 24, 2023, he wrote, “There were those who called the events of 7 Oct a pogrom. This is a false, misleading, and ideologically overdetermined use of the term. The term pogrom was initially applied to attacks on Jewish communities, especially in southern Russia and Ukraine, by incited mobs, sometimes with the support of the authorities… Hence using this term for the terrorist attack by Hamas is entirely anachronistic. But the reason it is being employed now has to do with the intentional or subconscious evocation of anti-Jewish violence and specifically of the Holocaust, the very event which led most directly to the establishment of the state of Israel. By saying ‘pogrom,’ one attributes to Hamas, and by extension to all other Palestinian organizations, or even Palestinians in general, an unrelenting antisemitism characterized by a vicious, irrational and murderous predilection to violence, whose only goal is to kill Jews.” In other words, Bartov whitewashes Hamas’s atrocities.

Bartov’s failure as a serious researcher made him unaware that the Palestinians have been trying to accuse Israel of genocide for years. An article published in 2012, titled “Genocide and settler colonialism: can a Lemkin-inspired genocide perspective aid our understanding of the Palestinian situation?” Co-authored by Haifa Rashed and Damien Short from the University of London, published in The International Journal of Human Rights, aimed at “utilizing Lemkin’s sociology of genocide as an analytical lens.”  To recall, Raphael Lemkin was the lawyer who, in 1944, coined the definition of genocide after the extermination of 6 million Jews. 

The article views policies that “have had highly destructive social and physical impacts on the lives of Palestinian peoples under the State of Israel’s settler colonial rule. We have seen how the ‘transfer’ policy prevalent during the creation of the Israeli state has arguably underlined Israel/Palestine relations ever since, by Israel’s continual policies of expansion and land acquisition at the expense of the Palestinian population. This understanding then underpins the argument for genocide in the Palestinian case. In a settler colonial fashion, the creation of the state of Israel and the continued occupation and restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip have, it appears, intentionally inflicted, in Lemkin’s terms, ‘crippling’ conditions of life upon the Palestinians unfavorable to their survival. The deliberate destruction and restriction of water resources as a means of expelling Palestinians from land allocated to Israeli settlements also arguably paints a picture of an ongoing genocidal relationship.”

The authors argue, “While many of Lemkin’s techniques may be in evidence, the analysis presented herein is merely a pointer in a certain direction. The subject deserves much more attention from the field of genocide studies. Indeed, the occupation policies alone would make an interesting case study utilizing Lemkin’s Axis Rule framework and each of his techniques are deserving of research papers in their own right. The purpose of this article then is not just to analyze the destructive impacts on the Palestinian social group of settler colonial rule but also to make the case for more detailed research into the broad range of colonizer/occupier/indigene relations in Palestine via a Lemkin-inspired sociology of genocide.”

Bartov’s political activism was evident when, in 2014, he participated in a Brown University event titled “Why Gaza Matters: The War and its Consequences.”  He appeared on a panel moderated by the Palestinian Beshara Doumani, director of Middle East studies at Brown University and a supporter of BDS. The panelists “addressed the historical, political and international dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Bartov argued that the conflict is a “deadlock” that “stems from the fundamental idea that it is better to gain territory than to gain peace.” On both sides, “no leader has been produced who has had the courage and sense to make the sacrifices that are called for… It’s tragic how extremes on both sides are feeding and legitimizing each other to produce no solution other than more and more violence.”

Worth noting, Doumani is a leading anti-Israel activist who turned the Middle East Center at Brown University into a collective of anti-Israel scholars. Doumani recruited Bartov to hide the true face of Hamas. 

As Israel Academia Monitor has emphasized before, critical scholars decontextualize their ideas or disregard the reality that may undermine their arguments. 

The following is a case in point. A new analysis by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicates a sharp rise in child marriage and early pregnancy. The UNFPA survey in 2024 points to growing pressure to marry girls under 18. Emergency court records further underscore this trend: at least 400 girls aged 14 to 16 were granted marriage permissions over just four months in 2025. “These figures likely represent only a fraction of the reality.” Many of the marriages are conducted informally and go unrecorded. At the same time, service providers report increasing cases of forced and early marriage across communities. As child marriage rises, so too does adolescent pregnancy. Adolescent birth rates have more than doubled compared to pre-war levels. Adolescent girls face significantly higher risks of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, particularly as access to health care is severely constrained. Early marriage also exposes girls to increased risks of physical, emotional and sexual violence. Child marriage is one part of a broader protection crisis for an entire generation of young Palestinians. According to this report, the psychological toll on young people in Gaza is profound. Four in ten youth report symptoms of depression or moderate to severe anxiety, while 61 percent show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. 

By accusing Israel, Bartov ignores the murderous track record of Hamas, which not only launched a savage attack on innocent Israelis living along the Gaza border but also brutalized its own citizens, not to mention the embedding in public spaces.  

Not surprising that the media that promotes Bartov also ignores this reality. The real question is, what went wrong with Bartov?

REFERENCES:

News from Brown

Media advisory

Brown to hold teach-in on Gaza

September 3, 2014 Media contact Courtney Coelho   401-863-7287

Brown University faculty will take part in a teach-in titled “Why Gaza Matters” on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, at 5 p.m. in MacMillan Hall, Room 117. The event is free and open to the public.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University will host a teach-in with faculty to discuss issues related to the ongoing events in Gaza. Free and open to the public, “Why Gaza Matters” will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, at 5 p.m. in MacMillan Hall, Room 117, and can be viewed live at brown.edu/web/livestream.

Sponsored by the Middle East Studies program and the Watson Institute for International Studies, the event will include brief remarks by a panel of five Brown faculty, followed by questions from the audience. More information on the event is available online.

Who

  • Beshara Doumani, the Joukowsky Family Professor of Modern Middle East History and director of Middle East studies;
  • Omer Bartov, professor of history;
  • Nina Tannenwald, senior lecturer in political science and director of the International Relations Program;
  • Melani Cammett, professor of political science; and
  • Sa’ed Atshan, postdoctoral fellow in international studies.

What
“Why Gaza Matters” is a teach-in that will include remarks by five Brown faculty to address questions raised by the ongoing situation in Gaza. A question and answer session for the audience will follow.

Where
MacMillan Hall, Room 117
167 Thayer St.

When
Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, at 5 p.m.

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

Teach-in highlights sharp divides over Gaza

Panel addresses political context behind violence in Gaza, draws some criticism from audience

By Carolynn Cong

September 11, 2014 | 12:10am EDT

Beshara Doumani

Media by Zein Khleif | The Brown Daily Herald


A teach-in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict grew tense Wednesday evening as opinions clashed in a MacMillan 117 filled to capacity.

The event, entitled “Why Gaza Matters: The War and its Consequences,” featured a panel of five speakers followed by a question-and-answer session that continued nearly an hour over the planned time frame.

The panel was moderated by Beshara Doumani P’17, director of Middle East studies and professor of history, who encouraged students to ask tough questions and voiced his hope to “bridge the gap between public discourse and academic knowledge on the issue.”

Panel speakers addressed the historical, political and international dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Professor of History Omer Bartov said the conflict is a “deadlock” that stems from the fundamental idea that it is better to gain territory than to gain peace. On both sides, “no leader has been produced who has had the courage and sense to make the sacrifices that are called for,” he said.

“This conflict is very personal to me,” said Sa’ed Atshan, postdoctoral fellow in international studies, who is from Palestine. “My family and friends are there,” he said, adding that a few of his friends’ family members had died in the conflict. Atshan showed a presentation to the audience, including slides with photos of relatives of friends who had lost their lives.

Many describe Gaza as an “open-air prison” where people are “trapped in a brutal siege with nowhere to go for safety,” Atshan said, adding that those living in Gaza are being “denied the basic rights.”

Atshan also addressed how the American media treats the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said the mainstream media in this country assumes that Israel and Palestine are “symmetrical in terms of the power they yield” despite an actual imbalance. He described Israel as an occupying force with nuclear weaponry, while he characterized Palestine as “a colonized, occupied, stateless population.”

Melani Cammett, professor of political science, highlighted the political dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Conflict and violence empower extremists,” she said, adding that support for Hamas was bolstered during periods of heightened tension, such as when the Israeli blockade began to take effect in 2008.

Cammett said data has shown a “lower level of self-reported economic security” for Palestinians who are unaffiliated with or opponents of Hamas, which she said was likely due to “discretionary access” for Hamas supporters in the Gaza. “The blockade disproportionally hurts people who were less supportive of Hamas,” she added.

“It’s tragic how extremes on both sides are feeding and legitimizing each other to produce no solution other than more and more violence,” Bartov said.

Cammett highlighted the recent decrease in global public approval of Israel, with the United States emerging as an exception. There has been “strong and consistent support” for Israel in the United States, she said, including higher public support for Israel among Republicans than among Democrats, a characterization that raised a question during the question-and-answer session about Cammett’s motivation behind associating support with Israel with conservative opinions at Brown. Cammett responded to the question by saying she had no objectives behind the characterization other than the available data.

Nina Tannenwald, director of the international relations program and senior lecturer in political science, said the concept of human rights is central to the conflict, and there is no prospect of a stable solution without addressing the “grievances” on both sides.

Violation of international law on one side does not justify the violation by the other, Tannenwald said. Though Israel has the right to self-defense and Palestinians have the right to resist occupation, there are limits to both parties’ actions, she added.

In the question-and-answer session that followed, Adam Bennett ’16 said the panel lacked representation of and support for Israel, garnering claps and shouts from the audience, some of whom yelled that the panel was biased. Bennett also questioned whether the role of the panel was to foster “an objective conversation” about the conflict or to serve as a forum for the Middle East Studies program.

When the panel members moved on to address the next question, some audience members  said the panel was “a stacked deck.” Doumani reiterated that the panel would only address four questions at a time, prompting two audience members to exit the room.

Nancy Khalek, assistant professor of religious studies, expressed her disappointment over some community members’ “angry departure” of the teach-in before it had concluded.

“The value of a teach-in comes from actually listening to each other,” Khalek said, calling for people to discuss the situation in Gaza with “a slightly more open mind and a little more empathy for each other.”

In response to Bennett’s question, Atshan asked audience members to consider“why don’t we have anyone who supports Hamas” in the auditorium. Atshan urged the audience “not to impose our own labels” and to “listen empathetically to what others have to say,” which led to snaps of approval among some audience members.

Matt Dang ’16 said he was “surprised, to say the least” at the abrupt change in tone during the question-and-answer session. It was interesting to see the clear divide in strong opinions in the auditorium, as the open discussion became more of an argument, he said.

Jonathan Tollefson ’15.5 said he was surprised at the lengths to which audience members went to try to defend Israel.

Carly West ’16 said she saw the panel as an “interesting mix of constructive, insightful people with civil questions and sharp, emotive reactions.”

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

The International Journal of Human Rights Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjhr20

Genocide and settler colonialism: can a Lemkin-inspired genocide perspective aid our understanding of the Palestinian situation? 

Haifa Rashed a & Damien Short a a University of London , London , UK Published online: 22 Nov 2012. 

Genocide and settler colonialism: can a Lemkin-inspired genocide perspective aid our understanding of the Palestinian situation? 

Haifa Rashed and Damien Short∗ 

University of London, London, UK 

∗Corresponding author. Email: Damien.Short@sas.ac.uk

This article examines the situation of the Palestinians through the sociological lens of the concept of genocide. Following a recent trend in genocide studies, the article engages with the original theorising of Raphael Lemkin – who coined the term ‘genocide’. These studies have highlighted the association Lemkin made between genocide and colonialism and have applied the genocide concept to settler colonial societies such as Australia. It argues that if Israel is conceivably a settler colonial project then by implication its relationship with the Palestinian people can be analysed through the genocide lens. Whilst some academics and journalists are now tentatively applying terms such as ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ to describe the events surrounding the creation of the Israeli state, the historical and continuing, cultural and physical, destructive social and political relations involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict is a somewhat neglected potential case study in the field of genocide studies. The objective of this article is to highlight the potential for a Lemkin inspired sociology of genocide in analysing aspects of the Israel/Palestine conflict, through a consideration of the link he made between genocide and colonialism and some of his key ‘techniques of genocide’ as specified in the seminal text Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. 

Keywords: Palestine; Israel; settler colonialism; ethnic cleansing; genocide 

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

The New Republic

Magazine
Omer Bartov/
February 2, 2004He Meant What He Said

Did Hitlerism die with Hitler?

Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
Adolf Hitler raises a defiant, clenched fist during a speech.

I.
Adolf Hitler’s so-called second book was not published in his lifetime. Written, as Gerhard Weinberg convincingly speculates, in late June and early July 1928, the book’s publication was postponed because Mein Kampf, Hitler’s first massive text, was selling very badly and could hardly stand competition with another publication by the same author. Later, after Hitler was appointed chancellor and Mein Kampf became one of the greatest (and allegedly most unread) best-sellers of all times, the second book was apparently seen as disclosing his foreign policy plans too explicitly to allow publication. It was locked away, only to be discovered by Weinberg in 1958. Published in German three years later, the second book came out in a pirated and unreliable English edition in 1962. It is only now that the public can read this text in an authoritative translation, accompanied by extensive and updated notes by Weinberg.

Must we read another ranting book by Hitler? This book is certainly as close to the heart of darkness as a book can be. But it should have been read in its time, and it should be read now. It was an explicit warning to the world of what could be expected from the Fuhrer of what was to become for twelve terrible years the Third Reich. When Hitler wrote it, no one could tell whether his plans and fantasies would ever be transformed into reality.Much of what Hitler put together in this book could already be found in Mein Kampf, if anyone had bothered to read it, and other ideas were expressed unambiguously in his speeches. Yet it was difficult to believe that anyone in his right mind would try to translate such rhetoric into policy. It was generally thought that in power Hitler would be constrained by the realities of diplomacy, the limits of Germany’s power, the national interests of the Reich, and the military, economic, and political partners with whom he had to make policy.

Today we know that this was a fatal misunderstanding, rooted more in wishful thinking than in the kind of realism on which contemporary observers prided themselves and expected would eventually keep Hitler, too, in his place. Today we know that Hitler said precisely what he meant to say. We can also note, with the benefit of hindsight, that Hitler was neither insane, nor irrational, nor a fool. Several decades ago A.J.P. Taylor wrote that Hitler may have been mad or criminal as far as his plans and policies for world conquest and genocide were concerned, but in the conduct of his diplomacy in the 1930s he acted very much like everyone else, seizing opportunities and moving gradually toward the goals he had set himself. Reading this second book, I tend to agree. Hitler’s rhetoric here is not more empty-headed than that of many of his contemporaries; his use of cliches hardly exceeds what one encountered in the newspapers; his knowledge of history, his psychological observations, his criticism of his rivals, are in many respects typical of his place and time.

But of course Hitler was about much more than this. He was also a pathological mass murderer who caused the death of millions and the destruction of Europe, and so it is important to know that he did precisely what he promised to do. For we still do not seem to have learned a simple crucial lesson that Hitler taught us more definitively than anyone else in history: some people, some regimes, some ideologies, some political programs, and, yes, some religious groups, must be taken at their word. Some people mean what they say, and say what they will do, and do what they said.

Most liberal-minded, optimistic, well-meaning people are loath to believe this. They would rather think that fanaticism is merely an “epiphenomenal” facade for politics, that opinions can be changed, that everyone can be corrected and improved. In many cases, this is true—but not in all cases, and not in the most dangerous ones. There are those who practice what they preach and are proud of it. They view those who act otherwise, who compromise and pull back from ultimate conclusions, as opportunists, as weaklings, as targets to be easily conquered and subdued by their own greater determination, hardness, and ruthlessness. When they say they will kill you, they will kill you–if you do not kill them first.

Reading Hitler’s second book is useful, of course, for students of Nazism. But they will have already read it in part or in whole, and nothing that Hitler says here will come to them as much of a surprise. This is a book that should be read, rather, by contemporary journalists, political observers, and all concerned people who have the stomach to recognize evil when they confront it. For one of the most frightening aspects of Hitler’s book is not that he said what he said at the time, but that much of what he said can be found today in innumerable places: on Internet sites, propaganda brochures, political speeches, protest placards, academic publications, religious sermons, you name it. As long as it does not have Hitler’s name attached to it, this deranged discourse will be ignored or allowed to pass. The voices that express these opinions do not belong to a single political or ideological current, and they are much less easy to distinguish than in the 1930s. They belong to the right and the left, to the religious and the secular, to the West and the East, to the rabble and the leaders, to terrorists and intellectuals, students and peasants, pacifists and militants, expansionists and anti-globalization activists. The diplomacy advocated by Hitler is no longer relevant, but his reason for it, his legitimization of his “worldview,” is alive and kicking, and it may still kick us.

II.
HITLER NEVER HAD a particularly complicated ideology. He painted a clear picture of the world, distinguishing between the bad and the good, the sinful and the righteous, the guilty and the innocent, the dirty and the clean, the inferior and the superior. He articulated clear goals, as follows. The Aryan race needs domestic unity and freedom from polluting racial elements, and so it must expand into an undefined and likely limitless “living space” in the East. Germany’s most important short-term enemy is France, for historical reasons and because it has become “negroized.” Germany’s most likely allies are Italy and Britain, with whom the Reich should have no quarrel since they also seek to expand in different directions. The greatest long-term enemy is the United States, not least because it is made up of healthy Aryan stock that has turned its back on the fatherland. The Slav states and the nations to Germany’s east are to be taken over. The Slavs, and especially the Poles and Russians, are not worthy of ruling themselves, for whatever is great and worthy in the East was created by German colonizers and rulers. The greatest danger to the world are the Jews, who have taken control of the Soviet Union and are behind all the Marxist parties in Europe, and at the same time are the bosses and the manipulators of international capitalism. The Jews rule the world through a global conspiracy, and it is Germany’s duty to destroy them before they subjugate humanity forever.

Hitler made no bones about the direct link between his “analysis” of world history and his plans for Germany’s policies. For him, as he wrote,

politics is not just the struggle of a people for its survival as such; rather, for us humans it is the art of the implementation of this struggle.… Politics is always the leader of the struggle for survival—its organizer—and regardless of how it is formally designated, its effectiveness will determine the life or death of a people.… The two concepts of a peace policy or a war policy thus immediately become meaningless. Because the stake that is struggled for through politics is always life.…

Promoting economic autarky and opposing the ills of a global capitalistic economy, Hitler was similarly swift in identifying the agents of globalization whose goal it was to “kill the others through peaceful industry,” by way of depriving people of the necessary Lebensraum that would ensure their healthy development. The urban centers created by the global industrial economy were “hotbeds of blood-mixing and bastardization, usually ensuring the degeneration of the race and resulting in that purulent herd in which the maggots of the international Jewish community flourish and cause the ultimate decay of the people.” For Hitler, the “Jew” was directly identified with anything international, and internationalism was directly associated with the degeneration of the race, with immorality and corruption. Once a people loses its “genetically conditioned cultural expression of the life of its own soul,” he wrote, it will “descend into the confusion of international perceptions and the cultural chaos that springs from them. Then the Jew can move in, and not rest until he has completely uprooted and thereby corrupted such a people.”

WHILE HE STRENUOUSLY opposed “internationalism” as a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world and to corrupt the nobler races, Hitler saw no limits to his own aspirations for expansion. As he noted, “Wherever our success ends, that will always be the starting point of a new battle.” And as Hitler never tired of emphasizing, he was opposed to a policy of returning to the borders of 1914—that is, of revising the Versailles agreement in which the Reich had been “robbed” of its territories. That restitution would hardly suffice. Hitler argues that

the foreign policy of the bourgeois world is in truth always only focused on borders, whereas the National Socialist movement, in contrast, will pursue a policy focused on space. The German bourgeoisie will, with its boldest plans, perhaps attain unification of the German nation, but in reality it usually ends in bungling border adjustments. The National Socialist movement … knows no Germanization … but only the expansion of our own people.… The national conception will not be determined by previous patriotic notions of state, but rather by ethnic and racial conceptions.… The German borders of 1914 … represented something just as unfinished as peoples’ borders always are. The division of territory on the earth is always the momentary result of a struggle and an evolution that is in no way finished, but that naturally continues to progress.

So much for the idea of appeasement, of letting Hitler have what he had already declared would never suffice. The racial state that Hitler outlined had certain duties. It could “under absolutely no circumstances annex Poles.” It would “have to decide either to isolate these alien racial elements in order to prevent the repeated contamination of one’s own people, or it would have to immediately remove them entirely, transferring the land and territory that thus became free to members of one’s own ethnic community.” Here again we hear Hitler saying quite clearly that he would undertake the kind of demographic re-structuring of Eastern Europe that was indeed managed by Heinrich Himmler after 1939. And whatever might have been the contributions of various German technocrats in the 1930s to molding this policy, as suggested by some historians, Hitler unequivocally and ruthlessly expressed it five years before he became chancellor.

Moreover, Hitler made it clear that in the distant future “the only state that would be able to stand up to North America will be the state that has understood how … to raise the racial value of its people.… It is, again, the duty of the National Socialist movement to strengthen and prepare our own fatherland to the greatest degree possible for this task.” If Hitler did not end up trying to conquer the United States, we now know that he made plans for producing the kinds of aircraft and ships that would have facilitated such aggressive action.

Ultimately, as Hitler saw it, there could have been only one worthwhile goal in World War I, and the same goal would eventually have to guide the conduct of any future war: the conquest of “living space.” The “only area in Europe that could be considered for such a territorial policy was Russia.” This was also the only kind of war aim that would motivate Germans and justify the sacrifices entailed in accomplishing it:

The only war aim that would have been worthy of these enormous casualties [in World War I] would have been to promise the German troops that so many hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land would be allotted to the frontline soldiers as property or made available for colonization by Germans.

This is precisely what Hitler did upon the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

The instrument of such a war would be a new German army, and in his second book Hitler outlines how he would use the Weimar Republic’s one hundred thousand-man Reichswehr as the framework for the creation of a massive new military machine based on universal conscription. By 1935 Hitler was already well on his way to accomplishing this task, having both purged the SA, which hoped to become an alternative military organization, and declared universal conscription in total defiance of the Versailles Treaty.

BUT GERMANY’S MOST pernicious enemies were the Jews and those who had collaborated with them in stabbing the army in the back and bringing about the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918. “No enemy,” declared Hitler, “had reviled the German army like the representatives of the November knavery defiled it.” Hence, he warned,

Anyone who today wants to act in the name of German honor must first announce the most relentless fight against the intolerable defilers of German honor … the representatives of the November crime. That collection [of] Marxist, democratic-pacifist, and Centrist traitors that pushed our people into its current state of powerlessness.… I admit most frankly that I could reconcile myself with every one of those old enemies, but that my hate for the traitors in our own ranks is unforgiving and will remain.

These traitors not only brought the old Reich crashing down, they were now plotting to establish a “global economy” and a pan-European movement whose consequences would be “a Jewishinstigated systematic bastardization with lower-quality human material.” The reason was obvious:

The Jew particularly welcomes such a concept; in its consistent observance it leads to racial chaos and confusion, to a bastardization and niggerization of civilized humanity, and finally to such a deterioration in its racial value that the Hebrew who keeps himself free from it can gradually rise to be masters [sic] of the world.

Most dangerously, the Jews had taken over Russia. Hitler opposed any “German-Russian understanding … as long as a government that is preoccupied with the sole effort to transmit the Bolshevist poison to Germany rules in Russia.” For “it goes without saying that if such an alliance were to materialize today, its results would be the complete dominance of Judaism in Germany, just as in Russia.” Interestingly, while the Jews dominated Russia, they were in Hitler’s view not true communists but greedy capitalists. Hence “it is precisely the Jewish press organs of the most noted stock market interests that advocate a German-Russian alliance in Germany. Do people really believe that” these Jewish papers “speak more or less openly for Bolshevist Russia because it is an anticapitalist state?” No, Hitler insisted, this was in fact nothing but a “Jewish-capitalist Bolshevik Russia”—Jewish-controlled capitalism posing as Russian communism.

HITLER DID NOT share the hope that he attributed to nationalist German circles that, if Russia were to be liberated from the Jews and reverted to “nationalist, anticapitalist communism,” it might be a good coalition partner for Germany. For Hitler, Germans and Russians constituted “two ethnic souls that have very little in common.” The Russian people could never rule themselves, but were rather first under the control of superior “Nordic-German elements” and, following the Revolution, under the Jews who successfully “exterminated the previous foreign upper class … with the help of the Slavic racial instinct.” But as Hitler saw it, this Jewish takeover would eventually serve Germany’s objectives, since “the overall tendency of Judaism, which is ultimately only destructive,” would in time lead to “the destruction of Jewry.” This in turn would facilitate the realization of “the goal of German foreign policy in the one and only place possible: space in the East.”

After explaining why the question of the German minority in South Tyrol, which came under Italian rule after World War I, was a minor issue compared with the need to “gain further space and feeding of our people” in the East, Hitler ended his second book with the same pronouncements that concluded the political testament that he dictated before his suicide seventeen years later. For Hitler’s entire political career was guided by a single central obsession with “the Jew.” Blaming those who criticized his policies toward Italy for ignoring the domestic “syphilitization by Jews and Negroes” of the Fatherland, and for persecuting those Germans who “resist the de-Germanization, niggerization, and Judaization of our people,” Hitler finally explained what had always been at the root of all evil and misfortune in the world.

Repeating much of the anti-Semitic verbiage of the previous decades, but giving it a much more threatening tone thanks to his position as a political leader on the verge of becoming a major figure on the world scene, Hitler summarized his views on the Jews in the following manner. First, this was “a people with certain essential particularities that distinguish it from all other peoples living on earth.” Second, while Judaism was not a religion but “a real state … the essence of the Jewish people lacks the productive forces to build and sustain a territorial state.” Third, because of this inability, “the existence of the Jew himself … becomes a parasitic existence within the life of other peoples.” Fourth, the “ultimate goal of the Jewish struggle for survival is the enslavement of productively active peoples.”

This goal is sought by fighting “for equality and then for superiority” in domestic policies, whereas in foreign policy the Jews will “hurl [other peoples] into wars with one another, and thus gradually—with the help of the power of money and propaganda—become their masters.” Ultimately, the Jew seeks “the denationalization and chaotic bastardization of the other peoples, the lowering of the racial level of the highest, and domination over this racial mush through the eradication of these peoples’ intelligentsias and their replacement with the members of his own race.” Tragically, “Jewish domination always ends with the decline of all culture and ultimately the insanity of the Jew himself. Because he is a parasite on the peoples, and his victory means his own end just as much as the death of his victim.” The allies of the Jew are “Freemasonry … the press … [and] Marxism.” Having accomplished the “economic conquest of Europe,” the Jew “begins with securing it politically … in the form of revolutions” and by “systematically agitating for world war.” The victims of Jewish “inhuman torture and barbarity” in Russia “totaled twenty-eight million dead,” and meanwhile the Jew “tore away all the ties of orderliness, morality, custom … and proclaimed … universal licentiousness.” But finally, declares Hitler, an end will be put to all this, for “the National Socialist movement … has taken up the fight against this execrable crime against humanity.”

It is truly astonishing to see how every sin that Hitler ascribed to “the Jew” became part of his own policies as he himself outlined them in his second book and later implemented them: the destruction of entire nations by the elimination of their elites, their mass deportation, and in the case of the Jews, their outright genocide. And it is just as mind-boggling to note that the endless depravity attributed by Hitler to the Jews became the reality of German conduct under his rule, which deprived the Reich of every remnant of moral constraint and finally drove it into an insane storm of self-destruction. What Hitler said would be done to Germany, he did unto others; and he and his people became victims of the nemesis that he prophesied for his enemies. When Hitler wrote his second book, he was staring into a mirror.

III.
But those who have followed the current wave of anti-Semitism emanating from the most disparate sources in the last few years may sense that they, too, are staring into a mirror, a distorted mirror of a resurrected past, a mutilated, transplanted, transformed, contorted, monstrous specter whose allegedly exhausted powers seem to be increasing day by day.

Hitler is dead, as Leon Wieseltier rightly proclaimed in these pages. What alarmed Wieseltier was the frequent predilection to view every threat as the ultimate threat, every anti-Semitic harangue as the gateway to another Final Solution. Clearly we are not facing the danger of a second Auschwitz. The hysterics need to remember that Hitler and the Third Reich are history. Germany apologized and paid generous restitution. The Nazis were tried, or they hid, or they metamorphosed into good democrats. The state of Israel was established. The Jews have never been more prosperous and more successful and more safe than they are in the United States. (The same could even be said about the nervous Jews of Western Europe.) The last remnants of communist anti-Semitism vanished with the fall of that “evil empire.” Jews in our day have reasons to feel much more secure than their ancestors.

But all is not well, not by a long shot. Criticism of Israeli policies against the Palestinians has long been attached to anti-Americanism, and the United States was said already by the Nazis in World War II to be dominated by the Jews. And criticism of American imperialism is often associated with its support for Israel, allegedly a colonial outpost populated by Jews in the heart of Arab and Islamic civilization. Of course, one should never confuse the legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with what all reasonable people agree is the despicable ideology of anti-Semitism. The policies of the current Israeli government in the territories are indeed contrary to the strategic and moral interests of the Jewish state. So there is every reason in the world to reject attempts to justify objectionable Israeli policies by reference to the Holocaust.

But this does not mean that we should refuse to see the writing on the wall when anti-Israeli sentiments are transformed into blatant and virulent anti-Semitism. This was precisely the argument made in the report “Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union,” as submitted by the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism in Berlin to the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, which had originally commissioned it. The monitoring center tried to suppress its own report, because it gave a measure of anti-Semitic violence by Muslims in Europe, and because its definition of anti-Semitism included those who call for the destruction of Israel. And these grim truths were politically incorrect. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is stupid and destructive, and it should be ended through the creation of a Palestinian state, but those who preach the destruction of the Jewish state should not be allowed to hide behind Sharon’s unfortunate policies. It is one thing to support the cause of Palestinian nationhood, and quite another to deny the Jews the right to live in their own state.

WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING today is a broad front of opinion, spanning the entire spectrum of the political and religious scene, whose criticism of American and Israeli policies, and whose fears and phobias about present conditions, utopian dreams of a better future, and nostalgic fantasies of a mythical past, all converge in a bizarre and increasingly frightening way on a single figure, a single cause: “the Jew.” I have long believed that it is pointless, and dishonorable, to debate anti-Semites. Such an exchange of “ideas” only confers legitimacy upon them. But there are times when absurdities become political facts and cannot be ignored. They must, instead, be directly challenged—not by explaining their violent ideas and feelings away, but by putting limits to them through all available means, political, judicial, and, if necessary, by the use of legitimate force. For these are people who mean what they say. If you do not destroy them, they will destroy you. There are precedents for this.

Consider again what Hitler wrote in 1928. Yes, it is insane; but take out the word “race” and replace it, say, with “Zionism” or “American imperialism,” and replace the references to the Soviet Union with references to the United States, and suddenly the discourse is not only crazy but also quite common. The “soft core” of this poisonous rhetoric is to be found among some sectors of European and American intellectuals and academics. It tends to identify Israelis as culprits, and Jews as potential Israelis. It is obsessed with the influence of Jews on culture, politics, and economics around the world. The partially successful boycott of Israeli academics in recent years is a case in point, not least because it tends to affect precisely those who number among the most determined and articulate opponents of the current Israeli government’s policies. The divestment campaign, calling on American and European universities to desist from any investments in Israel, is another example; this campaign provides cover, and even immunity, for all the regimes around the world that have never recognized academic freedom. The sympathetic understanding expressed in academic settings, and in liberal and left-wing publications, for suicide bombers who blow up innocent civilians in Israel creates a climate of tolerance for murder that is cleverly couched in the righteous language of liberation and justice.

SOME ALLEGATIONS OF of an apparent takeover by Jews, or by Jewish themes, of this or that cultural sphere seem to have nothing to do with Israel. In October 2001, The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article by Mark Anderson, a professor of Germanic languages at Columbia University. Anderson expressed fears about “the way in which American scholars have distorted the study of German culture” by reducing “the canon of German literature to a tiny handful of teachable authors who often have a Jewish background.” This “excessive focus on German-Jewish authors,” he argued, “relied on the subtext of Jewish suffering.” This “has undermined intellectual freedom in American universities” and is “testimony to an ongoing intellectual paralysis that could and should be relieved.”

It is not clear from Anderson’s argument who is to blame, apart from an ill-defined “pressure from American culture to focus on minority issues, as well as our fascination with Hitler and the Holocaust.” It is also somewhat ironic that Anderson himself edited a volume called Hitler’s Exiles: Personal Stories of the Flight from Nazi Germany to America, which testifies to his own fascination with this topic, if not to his recognition of its importance. But one cannot help but detect here a clear connection between the alleged over-emphasis on Jewish authors and Jewish themes “identified” by Anderson and its distorting effects both on the study of German literature and on American intellectual freedom. Somehow the focus on Jewish victims seems to have that effect.

Sometimes this sort of intellectual-academic-journalistic obsession with Jews becomes intimately linked with antiAmericanism. Several best-selling books published in France and Germany by academics, politicians, and journalists have “confirmed” the already widespread belief (held by 19 percent of the German population according to a recent poll, and apparently by a majority in many Arab and Islamic countries) that the September 11 attacks on the United States were orchestrated by the CIA and the Mossad, and that the latter warned the Jews working in the World Trade Center not to come to work that day. Indeed, the United States, attacked by Europeans for its support of Israel, has been repeatedly depicted as controlled by the Jews, whose lobbies, financial and electoral levers of power, and key figures in the White House and Pentagon, are manipulating both the American public and world politics.

At the same time Israel has been portrayed as the perpetrator of Nazi-like crimes even as these very same portrayals carry echoes of the Nazi representation of Jews. Thus the European media, especially its more highbrow representatives, were as keen to portray the Israeli operation in Jenin last year as a war crime and a massacre as they were reluctant to admit that they had been fooled by Palestinian propaganda and in turn misinformed their publics about the nature of the operation, greatly inflating the number of Palestinian civilians killed in order to justify its description as a massacre. The Israeli prime minister was depicted in a cartoon published in The Independent in London in the shape of a bloody ogre devouring Palestinian children, his features eerily reminiscent of those popularized by Der Sturmer.

Anyone who has access (that is, anyone on the Internet) to racist, antiSemitic, and neo-Nazi publications in the United States and elsewhere will find almost precisely the same opinions and depictions. These hateful representations are normally not much remarked upon. But there are some important exceptions. Most striking was the speech made by Martin Hohmann, a parliamentary representative of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the German Bundestag, to an audience of one hundred thirty people, on October 3, 2003. Hohmann argued that one had no right to speak of the Germans as a “people of perpetrators” (Tatervolk) because the Jews–presumably those making that argument–were themselves a “people of perpetrators,” considering their high representation among the murderous Bolsheviks. This was the first time since the end of Nazism that a member of the Bundestag made an anti-Semitic argument based on the very logic of Hitler’s rationalization for war against the Soviet Union. And an elite Bundeswehr general expressed agreement with Hohmann’s speech. Under much public pressure, Hohmann was eventually ejected from the parliamentary fraction of the CDU–but 20 percent of his colleagues opposed his removal. And Hohmann knew, like so many fascists before him who said what he said, what many others were thinking. In a poll recently conducted by the University of Bielefeld, it was found that 70 percent of Germans resent being blamed for the Holocaust, and 25 percent believe that the Jews are trying to make political capital out of their own genocide (and another 30 percent say that there is a measure of truth in this assertion), and three-quarters believe that there are too many foreigners in Germany.

MUCH MORE PUBLICITY has been given to anti-Israeli protests on American campuses, and these have demonstrated a troubling trend. A group calling itself “New Jersey Solidarity: Activists for the Destruction of Israel” called for an “anti-Israel hate-fest” to be held on the campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, in October 2003. The group’s website declares itself “opposed to the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel, as it is based on the racist ideology of Zionism and is an expression of colonialism and imperialism.”

Richard McCormick, the president of Rutgers University and a former member of its history department, where I also taught during the 1990s, issued an open letter on the planned meeting. He stated that he found “abhorrent some elements of NJ Solidarity’s mission.” But he went on to say that “intrinsic to Rutgers’ own mission is the free exchange of ideas and discourse on a variety of issues, including those that are controversial. This university must remain a model of debate, dialogue and education … we encourage our students to express their beliefs and analyze the difficult issues of the day.” So some may think that destroying Israel is legitimate and some may think otherwise. Some may think that Israel is an apartheid colonial settler state based on a racist ideology, and some may have a different opinion. There are two sides to the question. Through such a “free exchange of ideas” we will all prosper intellectually. This brings to mind Hannah Arendt’s observation, when she visited Germany in 1950, for the first time since she fled the Nazis, that the Germans viewed the extermination of the Jews as a matter of opinion: some said it happened, some said it had not happened. Who could tell? The average German, she wrote, considered this “nihilistic relativism” about the facts as an essential expression of democracy.

Throughout campuses in the United States, students associated with Arab and Islamic organizations, Christian groups, and the left carried flags, banners, and posters that were mostly focused on one theme: the equation between Zionism, or Israel, and Nazism. Banners portrayed a swastika joined by an equal sign to a Star of David and an Israeli flag featuring a swastika instead of a Star of David. Placards issued the call to “End the Holocaust,” and proclaimed that “Zionism = racism = ethnic cleansing,” and that “Zionism is Ethnic Cleansing,” and that “Sharon = Hitler.” A particularly ingenious sign asserted: “1943: Warsaw 2002: Jenin.” While some summarized their views with the slogan “Zionazis,” others warned, “First Jesus Now Arafat.”

What makes this virulent antiSemitism respectable is that it presents itself as anti-Nazism. To accomplish this sinister exculpatory purpose it needs only to declare that Zionism equals Nazism, just as the old canard of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world is legitimized by its association with American imperialism, capitalism, and globalization. That the vocabulary of this rhetoric is taken directly (whether consciously or not) from Nazi texts is so clear that one wonders why there is such a reluctance to recognize it. In part this is owed to ignorance, which is as rampant today in journalism and political commentary as it always was. In part this is owed to the fact that those who would most readily identify the provenance of these words and ideas are largely liberals, some of whom also happen to be Jewish, and thus are likely to be most harmed, both personally and ideologically, by making this identification. By exposing the anti-Semitic underbelly of this phenomenon, they would expose themselves as Jews and friends of Jews, and would open themselves to the argument that precisely their opposition to this phenomenon is the best proof of Jewish domination in the world.

IV.
WHICH, INCIDENTALLY, is precisely what Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia said following the Western protests against his warmly received pronouncement to the Organization of the Islamic Conference in October that the Jews control the world: “The reaction of the world shows that they [the Jews] control the world.” Mahathir’s speech was genuinely astonishing. This was the first time since World War II that a major head of state made a speech—to no fewer than fifty-seven other heads of state and well over two thousand journalists—whose fundamental argument was that the Jews are to blame for all the ills that have beset Islamic civilization. And not a single person left the room in protest.

For Paul Krugman, writing in The New York Times on October 21, Mahathir’s anti-Semitic remarks were both “inexcusable” and “calculated,” made by a “cagey politician, who is neither ignorant nor foolish.” Krugman did not elaborate on why such remarks are “inexcusable.” Instead he preferred to see them as reflecting “how badly things are going for U.S. foreign policy.” Mahathir may be “guilty of serious abuses of power,” but he is also, said Krugman, “as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we’re likely to find.” Hence he should be encouraged, not denounced. His anti-Semitism is merely “part of Mr. Mahathir’s domestic balancing act.”

Progressive modernizer that he is, in other words, Mahathir cannot possibly be stupid enough to believe what he spouts, and because he does not believe it, and uses it merely as a tool for the good cause of modernizing Malaysia and combating the Muslim clerics who oppose the acquisition of knowledge, his anti-Semitism is in some way understandable. This is reminiscent of what many said about Hitler’s anti-Semitism in the 1930s: it was inexcusable but calculated, and thus it was ultimately both excusable and in the service of a good cause, the modernization of Germany and its reintegration into the community of nations.

For Krugman, Mahathir’s “hateful words” serve only to “cover his domestic flank.” They do not tell you anything about his own thinking, but they tell you “more accurately than any poll, just how strong the rising tide of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism among Muslims in Southeast Asia has become.” And what is the cause of this tide? It is America’s “war in Iraq and its unconditional support for Ariel Sharon.” Just as Mahathir is not anti-Semitic, but merely a good reader of his people’s collective mind, so, too, his people are not antiSemitic, but merely outraged by the same things that outrage Krugman: Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush.

The Malaysian prime minister’s speech was both more offensive and more interesting than most commentators (including Krugman) have observed. In many ways it was a restatement of the urge to modernize, and the will to power, and the fantasies of destruction, that characterized fascism. Mahathir proposes to “disprove the perception of Islam as a religion of backwardness and terror.” He wants to “restore the honor of Islam and of the Muslims” and “to free their brothers and sisters from the oppression and humiliation from which they suffer today.” What sort of action does Mahathir propose? In part, as Krugman pointed out, he was indeed critical of the intellectual and political decline of Islam. He thus insisted that, although according to Islam “we are enjoined … to acquire knowledge,” it was due to “intellectual regression” that “the great Muslim civilization began to falter and wither,” causing it to miss entirely the Industrial Revolution. Yet other influences from the West actually subverted Islam, among which he counts “the Western democratic system” that “divided us.” Moreover, it was thanks to this democratically induced division that the Europeans “could excise Muslim land to create the state of Israel to solve their Jewish problem.” Thus the West both denied the Muslims the means to defend themselves through modern technology and industry and divided them by the introduction of democracy, all with the goal of solving a European “Jewish problem” at the expense of Islamic lands.

This “Jewish problem” is not at all peripheral to Mahathir’s argument, a sort of tithe to the masses and the clerics so as to push his program of modernization. It is central to his thinking. Modernization is justified, in his account, by the necessity of destroying the entity that has penetrated the Muslim world and polluted its soul. For, as he says, “we are all oppressed. We are all being humiliated.” And thus the numerical and economic strength of Muslims must be complemented by military prowess: “We are now 1.3 billion strong. We have the biggest oil reserve in the world. We have great wealth.… We control 57 out of 180 countries in world. Our votes can make or break international organizations.… [But] we need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defense.” Hitler used to mock those who were obsessed with obscure Germanic traditions, who were filled with rage at the defeat of 1918 and dreamed up all sorts of harebrained conspiracies in marginal militant fraternities. He wanted to build a powerful modern military. He was, in this way, a modernizer.

Mahathir, for his part, notes that

today we, the whole Muslim ummah are treated with contempt and dishonor.… Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot think properly. And so we find people reacting irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about anybody … to vent their anger and frustration.… But the attacks solve nothing. The Muslims simply get more oppressed.… The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews.… Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people?

This is the voice of the rational politician. This is not an Arab preaching an endless cycle of revenge, but an Asian Muslim calling for patience and calculation. Suicide bombers will never win the war. There must be another way. After all, “1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews.” Hence we need “to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counter attack.… [To] devise a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory.… It is winning the struggle that is important, not angry retaliation, not revenge.” Is this merely a subtle way of calling on Muslims to focus on their own societies rather than waste their energies on the struggle with Israel? Perhaps. But it is just as possible that Mahathir, like so many before him, means what he says. And Mahathir paints the Jewish enemy in colors taken directly from Hitler’s diabolical palette:

The enemy will probably welcome these proposals and we will conclude that the promoters are working for the enemy. But think. We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also.

THE ISLAMISTS NEED none of the fancy extenuations offered by certain European and American intellectuals. For they have a direct link with anti-Semitism going all the way back to the Nazis. Mahathir’s anti-Semitic pronouncement was not simply triggered by frustration with the lack of development in Islamic countries, or by rage at American and Israeli policies, or by some deep-seated traditional Muslim anti-Semitism. The analysis that he presented reflects, rather, the continuing impact of a relatively new and pernicious phenomenon, whose roots can be traced back to the foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928 and its success in launching Islamism as a mass movement. As the German political scientist Matthias Kuntzel has recently shown in his book on “jihad and Jewhatred”, Islamism quickly became a primarily anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic movement that was greatly influenced by European anti-Semitism and directly influenced by Nazism. Indeed, as anti-Semitism lost its impetus as a revolutionary political movement in Europe in the wake of World War II, it was transplanted to the Middle East and from there to other parts of the Muslim world.

This development was responsible for the slaughter of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, which was explicitly anti-Semitic in its motivation. The reluctance of the Western media to concede that Pearl was not murdered as an American, a journalist, a “spy,” or as someone who might have uncovered connections between the Pakistani secret service and Al Qaeda, but first and foremost as a Jew—in what was after all a highly ritualized act of killing recorded on videotape—merely manifests the embarrassment that European and American observers feel upon discovering that one of the dirtiest “secrets” of Christian civilization has been so seamlessly transplanted into the Islamic world. After all, it is more difficult to empathize with the plight of those who are still largely victims of Western economic exploitation if they turn out to be led by murderous bigots flaunting slogans that recall Europe’s own genocidal past.

BUT THE MOST EXPLICIT and frightening link between Hitler’s anti-Semitism and the contemporary wave of violence, hatred, paranoia, and conspiracy theories can be found, first, in the testimony given by the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and, second, in the official charter of the Palestinian Hamas movement.

As Küntzel writes, citing the Reuters reporter Christian Eggers, during the trial of Mounir el Motassadeq, a core member of the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg that planned the attacks of September 11, the motivation of the perpetrators was amply documented, but the media have not reported much of what was said at the trial, which took place in Hamburg, Germany, between October 2002 and February 2003. The witness Shahid Nickels, a member of Mohammed Atta’s core group, insisted that “Atta’s worldview was based on a National Socialist way of thinking. He was convinced that ‘the Jews’ are determined to achieve world domination. He considered New York City to be the center of world Jewry, which was, in his opinion, Enemy Number One.” Nickels said that Atta’s group was “convinced that Jews control the American government as well as the media and the economy of the United States… that a world-wide conspiracy of Jews exists… [that] America wants to dominate the world so that Jews can pile up capital.”

Similarly, the witness Ahmed Maglad, who participated in the group’s meetings, testified that “for us, Israel didn’t have any right to exist as a state. We believed … the USA … to be the mother of Israel.” And Ralf Gotsche, who shared the student dormitory with Motassadeq, testified that the accused had said: “What Hitler did to the Jews was not at all bad,” and commented that “Motassadeq’s attitude was blatantly anti-Semitic.”

THERE IS A HISTORY to such statements, which connects the anti-Semitism of Al Qaeda members planning mass murder in Hamburg in the 1990s to the anti-Semitism of Hitler fantasizing about mass murder in Munich in the 1920s. It is not difficult to find. The charter of the Hamas movement, issued in 1988 as the fundamental document of this Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, must be read to be believed. It contains, among its fundamentalist Islamic preachings, the most blatant anti-Semitic statements made in a publicly available document since Hitler’s own pronouncements. Citing an array of Islamic sources, Hamas promises that “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.” The Islamic Resistance Movement has “raised the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors in order to extricate the country and the people from the [oppressors’] desecration, filth and evil.” The Prophet, remember, said that “the time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” Here there is no talk of compromise or reconciliation. The document states plainly that “the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion.… The initiatives, proposals, and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”

The opposition expressed by Hamas to any compromise over Palestine is also intimately linked with its view of the Jewish-Zionist enemy. These enemies, according to the charter,

have been scheming for a long time.… They accumulated a huge and influential material wealth … [which] permitted them to take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like. [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe, in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there. They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B’nai B’rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations. They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein … they stood behind World War I … and took control of many sources of wealth. They obtained the Balfour Declaration and established the League of Nations in order to rule the world.… They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state. They inspired the United Nations and the Security Council … in order to rule the world.… There was no war that broke out anywhere without their fingerprints on it.… The forces of Imperialism in both the Capitalist West and the Communist East support the enemy with all their might, in material and human terms…

This international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world has also a moral goal.Zionism “stands behind the diffusion of drugs and toxics of all kinds in order to facilitate its control and expansion.” To be sure, Hamas has its own expansionist goals, for it plans to control the entire region of the Middle East, promising in turn “safety and security … for the members of the three religions” as long as they agree to live “under the shadow of Islam.” But Hamas “is only hostile to those who are hostile towards it, or stand in its way in order to disturb its moves or to frustrate its efforts” to dominate the region. Meanwhile “Zionist scheming has no end, and after Palestine they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates.… Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present [conduct] is the best proof of what is said there.” Hitler could not have put it better.

SO HITLER IS DEAD, but there is a Hitlerite quality to the new anti-Semitism, which now legitimizes not only opposition to Zionism but also the resurrection of the myth of Jewish world domination. And those who foolishly think that doing away with Israel, not least in a “one-state solution,” would remove anti-Semitism had better look more closely at the language of these enemies. For they—I mean the enemies—insist that the Jews are everywhere, and so they must be uprooted everywhere. Their outpost may be Israel, but their “power center” is in America, and their synagogues and intellectuals are in Germany and France, and their academics are in Russia and Britain. Since they are the cause of all evil and misfortune, the world will be a happier place without them, whether it is dominated by the Aryan Master Race or by the ideological soldiers of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hitler taught humanity an important lesson. It is that when you see a Nazi, a fascist, a bigot, or an anti-Semite, say what you see. If you want to justify it or excuse it away, describe accurately what it is that you are trying to excuse away. If a British newspaper publishes an anti-Semitic cartoon, call it anti-Semitic. If the attacks on the Twin Towers were animated by anti-Semitic arguments, say so. If a Malaysian prime minister expresses anti-Semitic views, do not try to excuse the inexcusable. If a self-proclaimed liberation organization calls for the extermination of the Jewish state, do not pretend that it is calling for anything else. The absence of clarity is the beginning of complicity.  

The Fallacies of Omer Bartov

23.04.26

Editorial Note 

PART ONE

Israel Academia Monitor has occasionally highlighted Israeli academics who have lent support to claims equating Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians—including Hamas in Gaza—with Nazi Germany’s genocide of the Jews.  Among the most prominent is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University.  

Last week, David Remnick, the longtime editor of the left-leaning The New Yorker, a highly influential magazine, who was accused of a strong anti-Israeli stand, interviewed Omar Bartov on his podcast The New Yorker Radio Show. Bartov is an Israeli-born historian of the Second World War and the Holocaust, and a professor at Brown University.

Specifically, they discussed Bartov’s recent bookIsrael: What Went Wrong?, which deals with the events of October 7th as a war crime. Also mentioned was Bartov’s essay in the New York Times that “described the war as a genocide, which, for an Israeli and a scholar of genocide, was a startling thing and had an enormous impact on its audience.” 

Bartov described how his perceptions of the issue were formed. In 1988, he served as a reserve duty officer during the first Intifada, when Yitzhak Rabin, then Minister of Defense, wanted a harsh response to the Palestinians and instructed to “break their bones.” For Bartov, “That was not something I wanted to do. I was quite outraged at that point. I could see where this was heading. That was when I had the cheek to write Rabin a little note saying that he was leading the IDF in the same direction that I had researched and saw the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, had gone down that slippery slope of brutalizing an army… Two weeks later, a formal letter from the Ministry of Defense arrived. It had one line on it which said, ‘How dare you compare the Wehrmacht to the IDF?’ He explained, “The first Intifada broke out in December 1987. I was very frustrated with that event. I did not want to go and serve. I also didn’t want to go to jail for not serving. I was also quite unhappy with the way the university where I was teaching then, Tel Aviv University, was operating. I had an opportunity. I was offered a fellowship at Harvard for three years… Politically, I felt increasingly alienated from how Israel was evolving.” 

Bartov then proceeded to discussed the reason for his NYT essay, “I was hoping that someone in the Biden administration would pay attention, because I was clearly aware then and now that Israel can only operate at this volume of operation, this intensity, with constant help from the United States in providing arms, in providing economic help, and in providing a diplomatic Iron Dome, in protecting Israel… The Biden administration did not act. By May 2024, it became clear that this pattern of operations, a genocidal pattern of operation which conformed to the statements that were made immediately after October 7th, was actually being implemented.”

According to Bartov, it was ethnic cleansing and genocide. “In 2023, 2024, Israel, of course, did not open its borders. Egypt did not open its borders, and they had no place to flee. Ethnic cleansing, which was what the Israeli government wanted to carry out, became genocide.” 

He argues, “What happened in Gaza is not the Holocaust. What happened in Gaza is a particular genocide that happened in Gaza. Very different from the Holocaust, but conforming to the definition of genocide by the UN, which, as I said, is the only one that matters.”

For the Palestinians, according to Bartov, it will not make any difference who is the Prime Minister in Israel. “Even those who are supposed to be left-center in that opposition, which may hopefully become a coalition, have no plan whatsoever that I have seen as to what to do with the issue of Palestine and Palestinians… I mean, none of them. Gantz or Lapid or none of them. What difference would it make? 

When asked about Israel, Bartov said, “I would not go back to Israel now. In fact, the last time I went to Israel was December 2024, and I’ve not been there since. I don’t intend to go there at least until the elections. Depending on the outcome of the elections, I’m not sure I would be safe there, for one thing, because I’ve been quite outspoken. If anybody looks at what I wrote.” 

Bartov also talked about teaching: “I teach right now on the Holocaust and the Nakba, and I have a large number of students… As they’re exposed to more readings and to more knowledge, they open up, and they just want to understand. I think that’s the great thing about a university, and that’s what this current atmosphere that exists, that tries to control teaching, that tries to tell you what you can teach or what you can’t teach, is destructive of education, quite a part of understanding this particular event. I don’t have great faith in universities right now, and university administrations right now. They are cowering, and faculty have never been known to be the most courageous people in the world. I worry about it. More students want to come to this class because they feel a need to understand, and there’s very little on offer because so many faculty are afraid of teaching about Israel/Palestine. They’re afraid of being condemned as anti-Semitic. I frankly don’t give a damn what people think.”  He added that “my administration tells me that they get hundreds of emails telling them to fire me, that I’m in the pay of Hamas and Qatar, and that I’m an anti-Semite and self-hating Jew at the same time.”

He then talked about the role of Israeli denial of the treatment of the Palestinians, “my generation was raised in two denials, two fundamental denials, fundamental to Zionism. One was the Shlilat ha-Galut, as it’s called in Hebrew, the negation of the Diaspora. The other was the negation of the Nakba… but that we never asked what was there just before we were born, what happened to all those people? Why were they gone? Why were there now Jews from Morocco living in homes that had belonged to Arabs?” 

Bartov completed his PhD in England, at Oxford’s St Anthony’s College, where he met the so-called New Historians, a group of radical critics of Zionism and Israel: “I knew many of those new historians, Ilan Pappe, who is an old friend with whom we shared a room in Oxford,” and “Benny Morris went to the dark side. Yes. It was, in many ways, the last moment of realism as opposed to messianism, which is what has taken over Israel now. It was not naive, it was the best way to go. It culminated with the assassination of Rabin… and I didn’t even like Rabin. It wasn’t that he– He was the last hope, and he could have accomplished something because of his own record, because of his standing in Israeli society. I thought this is over for a generation. I was wrong because it’s more than a generation now, and things are only going the wrong way.” 

Bartov proceeded to explain the name of the book: “What Went Wrong is – I try to answer that in the book. You can go back to 1948. One of the things that went deeply wrong is that Israel never had a constitution, and that Zionism became a state ideology; it became something else. It kept transforming itself into what it is today, which is an insupportable ideology of extremism, of militarism, of racism, and eventually of genocide. Anyone who supports it becomes complicit in the acts of that particular political ideology.”

Bartov then stated that  “Zionism is not reformable. The state of Israel is. The state of Israel has to be reinvented, and it cannot be reinvented according to this ethno-nationalist principle that has taken hold of it. It was always there, of course. Zionism is an ethnonational ideology, but ethnonational states have reformed themselves over time, and Israel has gone the other way… Israel, as a society, has to be a society of all its citizens. As it was said at the time, in the 1990s, in the early 1990s, Eretz Kol Ezracheha, a country of all its citizens. That was the big hope for Palestinians, too. That was when Hamas was less powerful, that was when the messianic national religious were less powerful. They took over.”

Bartov discussed his politics, “It is important to be rid of Netanyahu. As I write in the book, I don’t think that Israel and the Palestinians right now have the dynamic, the internal dynamic to move forward beyond that. There are forces in Israel, there are forces among Palestinians. There are wonderful people, creative people, hopeful people, but they cannot rise to the top without pressure from the outside. What Israel needs right now is shock therapy. Despite all the horrors that it has inflicted on others and has also experienced itself since October 7th, it has not still come to identify the limits of its own power, because those limits are in Washington, D.C., and it’s there that those limits have to be set. It’s only then that some forces in Israel will start generating a new way of thinking about Israeli society.” Bartov added, “I think there is growing criticism of American support for these Israeli policies, both on the American left and on the American right.” 

Bartov concluded, “I would say, however, that some of the forces that are coming now to the fore within the American right, within the MAGA movement, are also anti-Semitic. What they’re speaking about is the control that Israel has or the Jews have on American policies, and that’s why they want to pull away from Israel. I think for Israel, that would be good because I think Israel needs to be liberated from that dependence on American power. I think for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of real, not alleged, antisemitism of the left, which is mostly an invention of supporters of Israel, but actual antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.”

Many listeners of the podcasts who lack a detailed knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would accept Bartov’s legitimization of the equation of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the fate of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. This is a misleading and dangerous equation.  

Part Two of the Israel Academia Monitor report, next week, would show the fallacies of Bartov’s claims. 

REFERENCES

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/a-genocide-scholar-asks-what-went-wrong-in-israel

A Genocide Scholar Asks “What Went Wrong” in Israel The Israeli historian Omer Bartov argues in his new book that a “state ideology” of Zionism has led to what he calls genocide in Gaza.

By David Remnick April 20, 2026


The New Yorker Interview

Omer Bartov is an Israeli professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. He grew up in a Zionist home and served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, but he has long been concerned about Israel’s use of military power. In a new book called “Israel: What Went Wrong?,” Bartov argues that Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism that led to genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7th. “There is growing criticism of American support for these kinds of Israeli policies, both on the American left and on the American right,” Bartov tells David Remnick. Bartov believes that Israel requires “shock therapy” because “it has not still come to identify the limits of its own power, because those limits are in Washington, D.C., and it’s there that those limits have to be set.” “For Israel, that would be good, because I think Israel needs to be liberated from that kind of dependence on American power. I think, for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of . . . antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.”

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A Genocide Scholar Asks “What Went Wrong” in Israel

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April 17, 2026

By Max Balton

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SUMMARYTRANSCRIPT

David Remnick: In recent years, and especially since October 7th and the war on Gaza that followed, I’ve tried to hear out a range of voices on the question of Israel and Palestine on this show. We’ve heard from Palestinians like the poet Mosab Abu Toha, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his essays in The New Yorker. I’ve spoken with the writers Raja Shehadeh and Yossi Klein Halevi, the broadcaster Yonit Levi, the philosopher Avishai Margalit, the historian Rashid Khalidi. I asked peace negotiators Hussein Agha and Robert Malley about how this conflict could possibly end.

Now today, I’m in conversation with Omer Bartov, an Israeli-born historian of the Second World War and the Holocaust, and a professor at Brown University. Bartov describes the terrible events of October 7th as a war crime. As Israel’s war ground on, with a death toll that by now exceeds 70,000 Palestinians, he wrote an essay in the New York Times that described the war as a genocide, which, for an Israeli and a scholar of genocide, was a startling thing and had an enormous impact on its audience.

Omer Bartov has now published a book reappraising his homeland, called Israel: What Went Wrong? Bartov was born in 1954, and as a kid, he was unquestioning of mainstream Zionism. In adulthood, as Israel began building settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, his thinking began to evolve. By 1973, Bartov was a young soldier doing his required military service, when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel, the so-called Yom Kippur War.

Omer Bartov: I was in uniform then. Everybody was entirely shocked. I should tell you, the first thing that came to my mind on October 7th, 2023, was October 6th, 1973. Because the sense of shock, the lack of preparedness, the arrogance that had been there before both events was very similar.

David Remnick: I don’t think you were alone. I think most Israelis who were old enough to remember ’73 made the parallel. Maybe Hamas was not acting by accident in its dates.

Omer Bartov: Yes, it missed by one day. Yes–

David Remnick: You were serving in the IDF, which, of course, is legally required for citizens over 18, and you wrote about that time. You said this, “Most vividly, I remember patrolling the shadeless, silent streets of the Egyptian town of Arish, which was then occupied by Israel. Pierced by the gazes of the fearful, resentful population observing us from their shuttered windows, for the first time, I understood what it meant to occupy another people.” It seems to me that your military service really did, as you said earlier, begin to shape you as a human being, and as a scholar.

Omer Bartov: It did. I was very young, and I was very well socialized.

David Remnick: What does that mean?

Omer Bartov: I did what young men in Israel did. I did it without thinking twice. I wanted to be a combat soldier. I wanted to be an officer. I became one. I did my best. I thought that I was– generally, I thought I was doing the right thing. Then there were moments when I had that feeling, that uncanny feeling. They were at that moment in El-Arish, in northern Sinai. I served for about a year in Gaza. I served on the West Bank. The sense, this question that you suddenly ask yourself, “What am I doing here? Why am I here? This is not my home.” It would come up. I can’t say that it was a fully developed political understanding. It was a feeling that something was not right.

I’d say that my maybe moment of real awakening was only really 1988, ’87, ’88, with the outbreak of the first intifada. That was a moment– I was still young. I was an officer in reserve. I had every likelihood that I would be called up to go and break their bones, as we were told to do by the Minister of Defense at the time, Yitzhak Rabin. That was not something I wanted to do. I was quite outraged at that point. I could see where this was heading. That was when I had the cheek to write Rabin a little note saying that he was leading the IDF in the same direction that I had researched and saw the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, had gone down that slippery slope of brutalizing an army.

David Remnick: You wrote a note to Yitzhak Rabin, who was then Defense Minister, comparing the Israeli reaction to the first intifada to the Wehrmacht, to the German army. Did you get a response?

Omer Bartov: I did. I was shocked because I didn’t actually write him a private letter. There was a postcard going around describing a particular atrocity of killing a Palestinian child. I was so outraged that I took my pen and wrote, in tiny letters, that statement, and sent it to him. I had no expectation of ever hearing from him. Two weeks later, a formal letter from the Ministry of Defense arrived. It had one line on it which said, “How dare you compare the Wehrmachts to the IDF?” I thought I must have hit a nerve.

My reading of this later on was that Rabin must have been thinking about this. It wasn’t me who caused him to think about it, but that something was happening that he realized himself, despite his brutal orders at the time that this was not a supportable condition, that this would indeed corrupt Israeli society.

David Remnick: You studied abroad. I believe you got your PhD in England.

Omer Bartov: Yes, I was at Oxford, at St Anthony’s College.

David Remnick: I’m talking to you now. You’re at Brown University. Why did you make your home abroad?

Omer Bartov: The first intifada broke out in December 1987. I was very frustrated with that event. I did not want to go and serve. I also didn’t want to go to jail for not serving. I was also quite unhappy with the way the university where I was teaching then, Tel Aviv University, was operating. I had an opportunity. I was offered a fellowship at Harvard for three years. I never- certainly not in the early years, I didn’t really think that I’d just left the country for good. As time went by, both professionally, I found the United States to be a very good place for me. Politically, I felt increasingly alienated from how Israel was evolving.

David Remnick: How are you feeling about that now? You’re sitting in the United States, where political tumult is extraordinary. Is it so much more congenial to you than life would have been in, say, Tel Aviv University?

Omer Bartov: Yes, that’s a good question. I think about that, because–

David Remnick: Americans constantly, when something horrible happens politically, especially in an extended way, whether it was during the Vietnam period, they say, “Well, we’re going to leave. We’re going to go to Canada,” or wherever they’re going to go, but they very rarely do, or they do it in very small numbers. In Israel, one of the great fears about what’s going on politically is that so many of the best and the brightest will, in fact, leave and have been leaving.

Omer Bartov: Yes, about 200,000 have left since October 7th.

David Remnick: Which is a huge number for a small country.

Omer Bartov: Yes. They’re also among the best trained, the best educated elements of society. They’re often not leaving for political reasons, mind you, they’re leaving because the economy is in the dumps. They’re leaving because the schools have become religious, and they don’t see a future for their children. I would not go back to Israel now. In fact, the last time I went to Israel was December 2024, and I’ve not been there since. I don’t intend to go there at least until the elections. Depending on the outcome of the elections, I’m not sure I would be safe there, for one thing, because I’ve been quite outspoken. If anybody looks at what I wrote, and they may not–

David Remnick: Let’s get into that. Just weeks after October 7th, very short period of time after you wrote an op-ed in the New York Times saying there was no proof of a genocide in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which had just really begun, and it was horrific, but it had just begun. You wrote this. “We know from history that it is crucial to warn of the potential for genocide before it occurs, rather than belatedly condemn it after it has taken place. I think we still have that time.”

Take me back to that moment. What were you seeing then that suggested that there was, in fact, in your view, an imminent genocide that was preventable? You have called October 7th itself a war crime. It’s not as if you’re in the business of excusing what happened that day by any stretch of the imagination.

Omer Bartov: Look, what Hamas did, killing about 800 civilians, taking 251 hostages, was obviously a war crime and potentially a crime against humanity. There’s no question about it. What troubled me by the time that article came out, I think on November 10th, so just a month after these events, about 10,000 people in Gaza had already been killed by then, and the majority of them were assumed to be, and it’s now we know were civilians. There was massive destruction of homes and other facilities in Gaza. As I wrote there, there was already pretty good evidence that war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity, meaning killing of large numbers of civilians, were already occurring.

I also refer there to the fact that there was a rhetoric in Israel which had a genocidal content. There were people in executive positions in the Israeli government, in the Israeli military, in the security establishment, who were making genocidal statements, statements that could be also construed as incitement to troops. Israel had conscripted over 300,000 reservists who were exposed to– They’re civilians, and they’re exposed to this kind of rhetoric. “They shall have no water. They shall have no food. They will have no power. They are human animals, and they will be treated as such.” That kind of rhetoric, “Remember what Amalek did unto you.” That scared me.

David Remnick: That’s what Netanyahu said about Amalek figure in the Bible. Let me ask you, this is a crucial question. How do you define genocide?

Omer Bartov: The only definition that I find relevant in these cases exists. It’s a definition that is in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which is a UN convention from 1948. It defines genocide as acts carried out with the intent of destroying a particular group. Could be a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part, as such. You have to show that there is an intent to destroy a group, as a group, and you have to show that this intent is being implemented.

I was very worried in November that this was the way things were going. The reason I really wrote this article was I was hoping that someone in the Biden administration would pay attention, because I was clearly aware then and now that Israel can only operate at this volume of operation, this intensity, with constant help from the United States in providing arms, in providing economic help, and in providing a diplomatic Iron Dome, in protecting Israel, mostly in the Security Council through its veto power.

The truth of the matter is that had President Biden acted in November or December of 2023 to stop Israel, had he told Netanyahu, “You have two weeks to wrap this up, and if you don’t, then you’ll be on your own,” then we might have said that there were war crimes, there was terrible destruction, and it might have become a genocide, but it didn’t. The Biden administration did not act. By May 2024, it became clear that this pattern of operations, a genocidal pattern of operation which conformed to the statements that were made immediately after October 7th, was actually being implemented.

David Remnick: You write in your book that the May 2024 attack on Rafah. Rafah is a city in the southern end of the Gaza Strip. That, to you, was the turning point. What happened in that attack, and why did that change how you were viewing the question of genocide?

Omer Bartov: In the city of Rafah, that before the war had a population of about a quarter of a million people, at that point in May, there were a million people. Half of the population of Gaza was concentrated in Rafah. The reason was that they were displaced by the IDF. The IDF told them to leave their homes for their own safety, because their neighborhoods, towns, villages would become areas of operations and move out, move south. Obviously, after that, the IDF actually demolished their homes, but they now were concentrated in large numbers in Rafah.

If the army were to move into the city, and that’s what the Biden administration was saying, they would have killed vast numbers of people. The administration said, “Don’t do that.” The IDF said, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of it.” They moved those people to Al-Mawasi, which is the coastal area in southwestern Gaza, where there was no humanitarian infrastructure whatsoever. Then they moved into the city and flattened it.

By August, Rafah is gone. It doesn’t exist. What was the pattern of this entire operation? What was the IDF trying to accomplish? Because there was an official war goal, which was, “Our goal is to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.” There was, of course, a contradiction between the two, because, as we know, hostages died because of IDF operations. Trying to destroy Hamas, actually, also–

David Remnick: Forgive me. What Netanyahu would say to you, I know, if you were facing him, he would say, “Come on, they could have ended the whole thing by releasing the hostages.” They didn’t release the hostages. Hamas built a vast infrastructure underground to protect not the people of Gaza, but Hamas itself, leaving– That they wanted this. They wanted this to encourage international outrage against the state of Israel. You know the arguments, and you can fill them out yourself.

Omer Bartov: The first argument is that had they released the hostages, we would have stopped. Of course, Hamas was perfectly happy to release the hostages. That’s what Hamas was offering. Release our prisoners, and we will release the hostages-

David Remnick: And disarm.

Omer Bartov: -in an agreement. No, disarm was another question, but that’s a different condition. You have to decide what the condition is. Almost all the hostages who came back came back through agreement with Hamas. The idea that you would get them released through military operations failed miserably. The idea that you would destroy Hamas by destroying Gaza similarly failed miserably because Gaza has been destroyed, but Hamas is still there. It did not destroy Hamas. In the process, the IDF carried out genocide of the population.

The opportunity is to empty Gaza of its population. What they wanted to do was to ethnically cleanse Gaza. They didn’t want genocide. They didn’t want to kill them all. They wanted them to leave.

David Remnick: And go where?

Omer Bartov: Exactly, there was no place for them to go. The big difference between the Nakba of 1948 and what happened in ’23, ’24, ’25 in Gaza is that at the time the borders were open, in ’48, they could flee. They did flee, to Lebanon, to Jordan, to Syria. In 2023, 2024, Israel, of course, did not open its borders. Egypt did not open its borders, and they had no place to flee. Ethnic cleansing, which was what the Israeli government wanted to carry out, became genocide. Not for the first time. This is historically quite common. Many genocides started like that.

David Remnick: Part of the reaction that you’ve got, I imagine, to your use of the word genocide. I wonder what pain that caused you, and what reaction you got, particularly from Israelis.

Omer Bartov: Look, I want to start by saying that we can say that our heart is broken by saying that, but first of all, our heart must be broken because of–

David Remnick: The suffering of the people who suffered in Gaza, above all.

Omer Bartov: Of that suffering and of the fact that that was caused by Jewish men and women, Israeli Jews, by people who are the children and grandchildren of my friends. That does break my heart. Yes. The state is still, to this moment, in complete and total denial of what it had done. That does break my heart. Now, how do people respond to it? Some have felt uncomfortable themselves because they know that what I’m saying is correct. They may not want to call it genocide because in Israel, people associate the word with the Holocaust, and they say, “Well, it doesn’t look like the Holocaust,” which it doesn’t.

What happened in Gaza is not the Holocaust. What happened in Gaza is a particular genocide that happened in Gaza. Very different from the Holocaust, but conforming to the definition of genocide by the UN, which, as I said, is the only one that matters.

David Remnick: Another form of pushback that you get also is that, wait a minute, the United States in the Second World War, in the firebombing of Dresden, of Tokyo, more recently in its war against ISIS, that it was unbelievably brutal, and in the rear view mirror might not have been “necessary” in the military sense and certainly in the humanitarian sense. Why all this uproar around Israel?

Omer Bartov: Yes, there are many such questions. You can also say, why do we talk about Israel and not about what Russia is doing, or China is doing, or Somalia, and so forth. To this particular case, the US killed about 600,000 German civilians in open cities intentionally, knowing that they were killing civilians with the idea that maybe that will make the civilians stand up against their own regime. They just tried it again in Iran, having not learned that lesson that it doesn’t work that way. It never did. It never will.

David Remnick: Or Vietnam.

Omer Bartov: Or Vietnam. Why is that not genocide? The question is, what was the intent? As I said, in genocide, intent matters. How do you discern intent? When the US occupied Germany, what did it do to the Germans? It did the Marshall Plan in Germany. It invested money in Germany to rebuild Germany. It set to work to reconstruct Germany.

Israel’s goal in Gaza, you can see what its goal in Gaza is right now. Gaza now, the population of Gaza lives in less than half of the territory. It’s unhoused, it’s living in tents. It has no infrastructure. They’re living there like dogs, and nobody is doing anything about it. The plan, the future of the genocide in Gaza seems to be to create a resort town for the rich and to have the Palestinians be the water carriers for that. Those who will clean the toilets, wash the dishes, and the rest of the time live in so-called humanitarian towns, which would be akin to concentration camps.

David Remnick: At the same time, in the West Bank, you’re seeing more and more settler violence that’s countenanced by the right-wing government. Do you think a change in government in Israel would make any difference at all?

Omer Bartov: Even those who are supposed to be left-center in that opposition, which may hopefully become a coalition, have no plan whatsoever that I have seen as to what to do with the issue of Palestine and Palestinians.

David Remnick: You’re referring to Yair Golan and–

Omer Bartov: Yes, Golan– I mean, none of them. Gantz or Lapid or none of them. What difference would it make? For the Palestinians, in the short run, I don’t think it’ll make any difference.

David Remnick: I’m speaking with the historian Omer Bartov. We’ll continue in just a moment. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour.

[music]

David Remnick: This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I’m David Remnick, and we’ve been speaking today with Omer Bartov. He’s a professor of Holocaust and Genocide studies at Brown University, and he’s written many books about the Second World War. His new book asks profound and troubling questions about his homeland. It’s called Israel: What Went Wrong? I’ll continue my conversation now with Omer Bartov.

You teach at Brown, and specifically, I want to talk about another word that evokes a lot of emotions. We just discussed genocide. Here’s the other one, Zionist. Zionist, when I was growing up, I’m just a few years younger than you, meant something quite different. It had a very different electrical charge to it depending on what community you were sitting in. What does it mean to the students that you teach? What does it mean to you?

Omer Bartov: I teach right now on the Holocaust and the Nakba, and I have a large number of students. I have Muslim students, I have Jewish students, I have Palestinian students, Pakistani, regular American students. I think that they have different opinions. They’re open-minded, they want to know. They’re not worried. When they come to class initially, they’re uncomfortable with each other, and they don’t know what’s going to happen.

As they’re exposed to more readings and to more knowledge, they open up, and they just want to understand. I think that’s the great thing about a university, and that’s what this current atmosphere that exists, that tries to control teaching, that tries to tell you what you can teach or what you can’t teach, is destructive of education, quite a part of understanding this particular event.

I don’t have great faith in universities right now, and university administrations right now. They are cowering, and faculty have never been known to be the most courageous people in the world. I worry about it. More students want to come to this class because they feel a need to understand, and there’s very little on offer because so many faculty are afraid of teaching about Israel/Palestine. They’re afraid of being condemned as anti-Semitic. I frankly don’t give a damn what people think.

David Remnick: I think you’ve got that pretty covered, though, on the anti-Semitic end by being an Israeli Jew. Is that a shield against that kind of attack?

Omer Bartov: I don’t know because my administration tells me that they get hundreds of emails telling them to fire me, that I’m in the pay of Hamas and Qatar, and that I’m an anti-Semite and self-hating Jew at the same time.

David Remnick: I’m afraid I get the same. I’m afraid I get the same when I write from there. Let’s get to the word Zionism.

Omer Bartov: I grew up in a Zionist home, and I did everything that a good Zionist Israeli, which is very different from Zionist American does.

David Remnick: Tell the listeners what that meant to you.

Omer Bartov: My existence in Israel was self-evident. I had no questions about it. I was born into it. I ran barefoot on the sand. I spoke Hebrew as my first language. It was my home, it was my place. I did the things that you were supposed to do. I went to the army. I did everything as a good Israeli. I didn’t even think of myself truly, neither as a Jew nor as a Zionist. I was an Israeli young man.

David Remnick: Did you have some conception somewhere in the back of your mind? We discussed this earlier that the discussion about this was very scant, that had your mother, for example, stayed in Poland a bit longer, she would have ended up in Auschwitz. That Zionism, at a certain point, and we’ll talk about it in terms of the Palestinians in a second, was that this was the last refuge available because it’s not as if the rest of the world was welcoming Jewish refugees, including this country, by the way.

Omer Bartov: Look, when I was growing up, this was all very abstract. I knew all these arguments. Having received the education that I had, I could not understand why Jews were living anywhere else. It’s not only about those who got out at the last time or didn’t from Europe. I could not understand why Jews were living in America. I went to Germany, and I was asking German Jews, “Why are you living here? You should live in Israel.” To me, it was completely self-evident.

The more the deeper understanding. When I was writing about my mother’s hometown, I truly realized that had my grandfather not made a decision in 1935 to take his three children and his wife, and move to Palestine, and he was dishonest, I would not have been born because I know exactly what happened to those who stayed behind. Yes, of course, it was an argument that we, my generation, internalized.

As I write in the book, we all belong to mutilated families, and we knew it vaguely, but we also took our– One has to understand that we took our existence as self-evident, like all children do. The question of why are we here and what did it take to make this our place? How much violence was involved in making us be born as a self-evident consequence of that act, that came later.

We were basically– my generation was raised in two denials, two fundamental denials, fundamental to Zionism. One was the Shlilat ha-Galut, as it’s called in Hebrew, the negation of the Diaspora. The other was the negation of the Nakba. The word, of course, didn’t even exist at the time, or not for us, but that we never asked what was there just before we were born, what happened to all those people? Why were they gone? Why were there now Jews from Morocco living in homes that had belonged to Arabs? What was this house, the sheikh’s house called?

David Remnick: There was also a period– and I know you were in transition in your own life. There was also a period in the ’80s and into the ’90s when there were a lot of people that would consider themselves liberal Zionists who were becoming or were already quite aware of the Nakba of Palestinian nationalism alongside of Zionism of Israelism. We’re very hopeful about call it a deal, call it an accommodation, call it a two-state solution, all of which seems incredibly naive or quaint or misbegotten in the rearview mirror.

There was this period, the title of your book is Israel: What Went Wrong? We are a long way from the psychology and some of the political realities of 20-odd years ago, before the second intifada. Do you think it’s possible for Israel to change its course profoundly enough so that you would think of it in a different way?

Omer Bartov: Look, first of all, I don’t think it was naive. I think it was realistic at the time. Yes, I knew many of those new historians, Ilan Pappe, who is an old friend with whom we shared a room in Oxford–

David Remnick: Benny Morris, who’s gone to the other political side.

Omer Bartov: Benny Morris went to the dark side. Yes. It was, in many ways, the last moment of realism as opposed to messianism, which is what has taken over Israel now. It was not naive, it was the best way to go. It culminated with the assassination of Rabin. I remember it well because I was sitting there, and holding my six-month-old daughter and crying, and I didn’t even like Rabin. It wasn’t that he– He was the last hope, and he could have accomplished something because of his own record, because of his standing in Israeli society. I thought this is over for a generation. I was wrong because it’s more than a generation now, and things are only going the wrong way.

What went wrong is– I try to answer that in the book. You can go back to 1948. One of the things that went deeply wrong is that Israel never had a constitution, and that Zionism became a state ideology, it became something else. It kept transforming itself into what it is today, which is an insupportable ideology of extremism, of militarism, of racism, and eventually of genocide. Anyone who supports it becomes complicit in the acts of that particular political ideology.

David Remnick: You think Zionism is not reformable?

Omer Bartov: Zionism is not reformable. The state of Israel is. The state of Israel has to be reinvented, and it cannot be reinvented according to this ethno nationalist principle that has taken hold of it. It was always there, of course. Zionism is an ethnonational ideology, but ethnonational states have reformed themselves over time, and Israel has gone-

David Remnick: For example?

Omer Bartov: -the other way. Well, you look at the states of the interwar period. Poland, for instance, was an anti-Semitic, racist country, went through a lot of drama. Poland today, despite the fact that it does have also strong ethno nationalists, is a very different country from what it was at the time. Israel, as a society, there has to be a society of all its citizens. As it was said at the time, in the 1990s, in the early 1990s,Eretz Kol Ezracheha, a country of all its citizens. That was the big hope for Palestinians, too. That was when Hamas was less powerful, that was when the messianic national religious were less powerful. They took over.

David Remnick: I think for what you’re describing to happen, a lot more has to happen than just that Bibi Netanyahu is not on the political scene.

Omer Bartov: Absolutely.

David Remnick: What has to happen?

Omer Bartov: It is important to be rid of Netanyahu. As I write in the book, I don’t think that Israel and the Palestinians right now have the dynamic, the internal dynamic to move forward beyond that. There are forces in Israel, there are forces among Palestinians. There are wonderful people, creative people, hopeful people, but they cannot rise to the top without pressure from the outside.

What Israel needs right now is shock therapy. Despite all the horrors that it has inflicted on others and has also experienced itself since October 7th, it has not still come to identify the limits of its own power, because those limits are in Washington, D.C., and it’s there that those limits have to be set. It’s only then that some forces in Israel will start generating a new way of thinking about Israeli society.

David Remnick: 60% of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, according to Pew. How will that affect the situation that you’re describing?

Omer Bartov: For one thing, it says something quite good about American society that Americans have actually responded to the reality on the ground. I think there is growing criticism of American support for these Israeli policies, both on the American left and on the American right. I would say, however, that some of the forces that are coming now to the fore within the American right, within the MAGA movement, are also anti-Semitic. What they’re speaking about is the control that Israel has or the Jews have on American policies, and that’s why they want to pull away from Israel.

I think for Israel, that would be good because I think Israel needs to be liberated from that dependence on American power. I think for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of real, not alleged, antisemitism of the left, which is mostly an invention of supporters of Israel, but actual antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.

David Remnick: Professor Bartov, thank you so much.

Omer Bartov: Thank you.

David Remnick: Omer Bartov is a professor at Brown University. Israel: What Went Wrong? has just been published.

[music]

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Israel: What Went Wrong? Hardcover – April 21, 2026

by Omer Bartov (Author)

A leading Israeli American scholar of the Holocaust explores and explains his native country’s intensifying turn toward violence and exclusion.

The distinguished historian Omer Bartov was born on a kibbutz, grew up in Tel Aviv, and served in the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War. He went on to become a leading scholar of the German army and the Holocaust, before turning his attention to his native country.

In Israel: What Went Wrong?, Bartov sketches the tragic transformation of Zionism, a movement that sought to emancipate European Jewry from oppression, into a state ideology of ethno-nationalism. How is it possible, he asks, that a state founded in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, an event that gave legitimacy to a national home for the Jews, stands credibly accused of perpetrating large-scale war crimes? How do we come to terms with the fact that Israel’s war of destruction is being conducted with the support, laced with denial and indifference, of so many of its Jewish citizens?

Tracing the roots of the violent events currently unfolding in Israel and the occupied territories, Bartov tracks his country’s moral tribulations and considers the origins of Zionism, the intertwining of Israel’s independence with Palestinian displacement, the politics of the Holocaust, controversies over the term “genocide,” and the uncertain future. The result is a searing and urgent critique that addresses today’s debates over Zionism and the future of Israel with rigor and depth.

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Opinion Page NYT, Nov. 10

By Omer Bartov

Mr. Bartov is a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.

Israeli military operations have created an untenable humanitarian crisis, which will only worsen over time. But are Israel’s actions — as the nation’s opponents argue — verging on ethnic cleansing or, most explosively, genocide?

As a historian of genocide, I believe that there is no proof that genocide is currently taking place in Gaza, although it is very likely that war crimes, and even crimes against humanity, are happening. That means two important things: First, we need to define what it is that we are seeing, and second, we have the chance to stop the situation before it gets worse. We know from history that it is crucial to warn of the potential for genocide before it occurs, rather than belatedly condemn it after it has taken place. I think we still have that time.

It is clear that the daily violence being unleashed on Gaza is both unbearable and untenable. Since the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas — itself a war crime and a crime against humanity — Israel’s military air and ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 10,500 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, a number that includes thousands of children. That’s well over five times as many people as the more than 1,400 people in Israel murdered by Hamas. In justifying the assault, Israeli leaders and generals have made terrifying pronouncements that indicate a genocidal intent.

Still, the collective horror of what we are watching does not mean that a genocide, according to the international legal definition of the term, is already underway. Because genocide, sometimes called “the crime of all crimes,” is perceived by many to be the most extreme of all crimes, there is often an impulse to describe any instance of mass murder and massacre as genocide. But this urge to label all atrocious events as genocide tends to obfuscate reality rather than explain it.

International humanitarian law identifies several grave crimes in armed conflict. War crimes are defined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and subsequent protocols as serious violations of the laws and customs of war in international armed conflict against both combatants and civilians. The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, defines crimes against humanity as extermination of, or other mass crimes against, any civilian population. The crime of genocide was defined in 1948 by the United Nations as “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”

So in order to prove that genocide is taking place, we need to show both that there is the intent to destroy and that destructive action is taking place against a particular group. Genocide as a legal concept differs from ethnic cleansing in that the latter, which has not been recognized as its own crime under international law, aims to remove a population from a territory, often violently, whereas genocide aims at destroying that population wherever it is. In reality, any of these situations — and especially ethnic cleansing — may escalate into genocide, as happened in the Holocaust, which began with an intention to remove the Jews from German-controlled territories and transformed into the intention of their physical extermination.

My greatest concern watching the Israel-Gaza war unfold is that there is genocidal intent, which can easily tip into genocidal action. On Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Gazans would pay a “huge price” for the actions of Hamas and that the Israel Defense Forces, or I.D.F., would turn parts of Gaza’s densely populated urban centers “into rubble.” On Oct. 28, he added, citing Deuteronomy, “You must remember what Amalek did to you.” As many Israelis know, in revenge for the attack by Amalek, the Bible calls to “kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings.”

The deeply alarming language does not end there. On Oct. 9, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said, “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” a statement indicating dehumanization, which has genocidal echoes. The next day, the head of the Israeli Army’s coordinator of government activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, addressed the population of Gaza in Arabic: “Human animals must be treated as such,” he said, adding: “There will be no electricity and no water. There will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”

The same day, retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland wrote in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, “The State of Israel has no choice but to turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in.” He added, “Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieving the goal.” In another article, he wrote that “Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.” Apparently, no army representative or politician denounced this statement.

I could quote many more.

Taken together, these statements could easily be construed as indicating a genocidal intent. But is genocide actually occurring? Israeli military commanders insist that they are trying to limit civilian casualties, and they attribute the large numbers of dead and wounded Palestinians to Hamas tactics of using civilians as human shields and placing their command centers under humanitarian structures like hospitals.

But on Oct. 13, the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence reportedly issued a proposal to move the entire population of the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian-ruled Sinai Peninsula (Mr. Netanyahu’s office said it was a “concept paper”). Extreme right-wing elements in the government — also represented in the I.D.F. — celebrate the war as an opportunity to be rid of Palestinians altogether. This month, a videotape emerged on social media of Capt. Amichai Friedman, a rabbi in the Nahal Brigade, saying to a group of soldiers that it was now clear that “this land is ours, the whole land, including Gaza, including Lebanon.” The troops cheered enthusiastically; the military said that his conduct “does not align” with its values and directives.

And so, while we cannot say that the military is explicitly targeting Palestinian civilians, functionally and rhetorically we may be watching an ethnic cleansing operation that could quickly devolve into genocide, as has happened more than once in the past.

None of this happened in a vacuum. Over the past several months I have agonized greatly over the unfolding of events in Israel. On Aug. 4, several colleagues and I circulated a petition warning that the attempted judicial coup by the Netanyahu government was intended to perpetuate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. It was signed by close to 2,500 scholars, clergy members and public figures who were disgusted with the racist rhetoric of members of the government, its anti-democratic efforts and the growing violence by settlers, seemingly supported by the I.D.F., against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

What we had warned about — that it would be impossible to ignore the occupation and oppression of millions for 56 years, and the siege of Gaza for 16 years, without consequences — exploded in our faces on Oct. 7. Following Hamas’s massacre of innocent Jewish civilians, our same group issued a second petition denouncing the crimes committed by Hamas and calling upon the Israeli government to desist from perpetrating mass violence and killings upon innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza in response to the crisis. We wrote that the only way to put an end to these cycles of violence is to seek a political compromise with the Palestinians and end the occupation.

It is time for leaders and senior scholars of institutions dedicated to researching and commemorating the Holocaust to publicly warn against the rage- and vengeance-filled rhetoric that dehumanizes the population of Gaza and calls for its extinction. It is time to speak out against the escalating violence on the West Bank, perpetrated by Israeli settlers and I.D.F. troops, which now appears to also be sliding toward ethnic cleansing under the cover of war in Gaza; several Palestinian villages have reportedly self-evacuated under threats from settlers.

I urge such venerable institutions as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to step in now and stand at the forefront of those warning against war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and the crime of all crimes, genocide.

If we truly believe that the Holocaust taught us a lesson about the need — or really, the duty — to preserve our own humanity and dignity by protecting those of others, this is the time to stand up and raise our voices, before Israel’s leadership plunges it and its neighbors into the abyss.

There is still time to stop Israel from letting its actions become a genocide. We cannot wait a moment longer.

Anti-Israel Activism by Israeli Academics: the Case of Micah Leshem

15.04.26

Editorial Note

At the beginning of April, Israel Academia Monitor (IAM) reported on the University of Edinburgh (UoE) being targeted by anti-Israel activists.  The post described how these activists have occupied buildings on this campus because Lord Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) served as the university’s chancellor from 1891 to 1930. At the same time, he served as the British Foreign Minister (1916- 1919) and issued a Declaration expressing British support in Palestine for a “national home for the Jewish people.” The 1917 document has become known as the Balfour Declaration. Also, in 1925, Balfour visited Palestine to inaugurate the Hebrew University, wearing his University of Edinburgh academic robes.  

One comment that IAM received was from Micah Leshem, Professor Emeritus at the University of Haifa, Department of Psychology.  He wrote, “Thanks, encouraging news, let’s hope the UoE reforms its legacy. Israel Academia Monitor response is full of disinformation and falsifications and totally decontextualized from real-life events. Best, Micah.”

Leshem is a long-time anti-Israel activist. Already in 2002, as IAM noted, Leshem was among the 360 signatories of an “Open Letter from Faculty Members,” urging student army-reservists to refuse, stating, “We, faculty members from a number of Israeli universities, wish to express our appreciation and support for those of our students and lecturers who refuse to serve as soldiers in the occupied territories. Such service too often involves carrying out orders that have no place in a democratic society founded on the sanctity of human life. For thirty-five years an entire people, some three and a half million in number, have been held without basic human rights. The occupation and oppression of another people have brought the State of Israel to where it is today. Without an Israeli declaration of an end to the occupation, accompanied by appropriate action–unilateral, if necessary–the present war is not being fought for our home but for the settlements beyond the green line and for the continued oppression of another people. We hereby express our readiness to do our best to help students who encounter academic, administrative or economic difficulties as a result of their refusal to serve in the territories. We call on the University community at large to support them.”

About a decade later, in 2013, IAM reported on a cartoon drawn by Leshem containing anti-Semitic imagery. The cartoon appeared on an Italian pro-Palestinian website. The image showed two Jews smiling while cutting with a handsaw the limbs of an Arab. As IAM noted, “as a rank and file citizen, Leshem has the right to produce a most egregious anti-Semitic piece that would have found a place of pride in Nazi-era propaganda. The question is whether Leshem, a professor at a public university supported by taxpayers should engage in this type of behavior. Academics are expected to serve as role models in and out of a classroom. By any measure, Leshem does not live up to such expectations.”

In 2014, Leshem was among the signatories to a statement, which says that they are “all academics at Israeli universities, wish it to be known that they utterly deplore the aggressive military strategy being deployed by the Israeli government. The slaughter of large numbers of wholly innocent people, is placing yet more barriers of blood in the way of the negotiated agreement which is the only alternative to the occupation and endless oppression of the Palestinian people. Israel must agree to an immediate cease-fire, and start negotiating in good faith for the end of the occupation and settlements, through a just peace agreement.”

In 2019, the BDS movement reported that some 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars wrote a letter to the German government, stating that “boycotts are a legitimate and non-violent tool of resistance.” Explaining, “We reject this motion, which is based on the false allegation that BDS as such equals anti-Semitism. We call on the German government not to endorse this motion and to fight anti-Semitism, while respecting and protecting freedom of speech and of association, which are undeniably under attack.” Leshem was one of the signatories.

Also in 2019, Academia for Equality, an anti-Israel Israeli academic group, reported that “129 Jewish and Israeli scholars, including some of the most important researchers of Antisemitism today, sent a letter to members of the French National Assembly urging them not to support the resolution equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and endorsing IHRA definition.” The letter was also published by Le Monde Diplomatique. Leshem was one of the signatories.

On October 19, 2023, Israel Academia Monitor reported that the “University of Haifa Students Suspended for Supporting Hamas.” The Rector, Prof. Gur Elroey, suspended six students due to expressions of support for Hamas just days after the terror organization brutally massacred residents of communities along the border of Gaza. Shortly afterward, twenty-five senior lecturers at the University of Haifa appealed against the rector’s decision in a letter, claiming that the suspension was “illegal.” Leshem was one of the signatories. Elroey responded harshly to the lecturers: “Women and men, young and old, IDF soldiers and minor girls were raped, kidnapped and murdered… Hundreds of families are anxious about the fate of their missing, and you are busy with the issue of whether I exceeded my duty and acted contrary to the regulations after suspending six students until it is clarified. We are working to comply with the regulations along with the officer in charge of disciplinary actions.” 

In December 2023, Leshem was among the signatories of a letter titled “Biden, stop the assault on Gaza,” addressing President Biden, and stating, among other things, “We call on the US to stop its unconditional support of Israel’s assault on Gaza and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.”

As these examples show, Leshem and his radical academic peers have unilaterally blamed Israel without mentioning that the Palestinians are culpable in creating the situation by refusing numerous generous offers to settle the conflict with Israel. The October 7 attack and the Gaza War are the most egregious examples of willfully ignoring this reality. Yahia Sinwar, the architect of the assault, made no effort to hide his goal of destroying the State of Israel as part of his divine mission. Documents recovered from the tunnel network and published by the IDF have indicated that Iran has supported Hamas to create obstacles to the Abraham Accords. Indeed, the theocratic regime in Tehran viewed the Accords as an existential threat to its existence and its vision to dominate the Middle East. 

Leshem is a prime example of a radical anti-Zionist activist profiled by the IAM since its founding in 2004. The question is always the same – why should a public university in Israel, supported by taxpayers, employ Leshem and his ideological peers? Over the years, IAM have published studies indicating that, in the West, public universities limit their faculty’s political activism. Radical activists who promote army refusal should not be able to teach students, many of whom are army reservists. IAM never received an answer as to why this is allowed to happen. 

REFERENCES:

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Micah Leshem
Date: Thu, Apr 2, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Subject: RE: The University of Edinburgh Targeted by Anti-Israel Activists
To: Dana Barnett <email.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>

Thanks, encouraging news, let’s hope the UoE reforms its legacy.

Israel Academia Monitor response is full of disinformation and falsifications and totally decontextualized from real-life events.  

Best

Micah

From: Dana Barnett <email.israel.academia.monitor@gmail.com>
Sent: 1 April, 2026 20:28
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: The University of Edinburgh Targeted by Anti-Israel Activists

BY ISRAEL ACADEMIA MONITOR (IAM)

The University of Edinburgh Targeted by Anti-Israel Activists

01.04.26

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

Biden, stop the assault on Gaza

Published December 7, 2023

To sign the petition, use our formFor press inquiries, contact Dr. Lior Sternfeld. For other inquiries, contact Dr. Shira Klein.

President Biden,

We, the undersigned academics and supporters, call on the US to lead the way in negotiating an immediate and lasting ceasefire, implementing a hostage-prisoner exchange, and supplying urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The human toll is unbearable, with both sides committing grave violations of the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, close to 7,000 wounded, and 240 taken hostage. Hamas committed atrocious crimes that day, including rape

Since then, a staggering 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombing, the majority of them women and children. Tens of thousands are wounded, 7,000 are still missing under the rubble, and – in what amounts to a humanitarian disaster – most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are starving, displaced, and deprived of water, electricity, and medicine. 

We denounce the October 7 attacks. At the same time, 75 years of displacement, 56 years of occupation, and 16 years of blockade have generated an ever-worsening spiral of violence that can only be stopped with a political solution. Israel’s continued apartheid in the West Bank, administrative detention (jail without trial) of 2000 civilians, and daily terrorizing of Palestinians by armed settlers, are causing an escalation of violence. This historic injustice continues unchecked because the US allows Israel to flout binding UN Security Council Resolutions.  

We call on the US to stop its unconditional support of Israel’s assault on Gaza and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. Ideas for a political resolution abound; they require political will. The US must set the tone for a paradigm shift, from managing the conflict to solving it within a short and reasonable timeframe.

Two peoples live and will continue living between the Jordan river and the sea. The only way forward is recognizing the right of both to self-determination and full equality.

We welcome signatures from the broader community, regardless of affiliation or profession.

To sign the petition, use our formFor press inquiries, contact Dr. Lior Sternfeld . For other inquiries, contact Dr. Shira Klein.

List of signatories

  1. Shira Klein, Associate Professor of History, Chapman University
  2. Joel Beinin, Donald J. Mclachlan Profesor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University
  3. Tamir Sorek, Professor of History, Penn State University
  4. Dr. Warda Sada, Educator 
  5. Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University
  6. Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Penn State University
  7. Meir Amor, Associate Professor Concordia University (ret.)
  8. Nubar Hovsepian, , Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Chapman University
  9. Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbi Emeritus, Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia
  10. Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim
  11. Karin Loevy, Researcher at the Institute for International Law and Justice, New York University School of Law
  12. Marion Kaplan, Professor Emeritus of History, New York University
  13. Mordehai Amihai Bivas, Ambassador (retired)
  14. Hasia Diner, Professor Emeritus of History, New York University
  15. Rabbi Joey Wolf, Rabbi Emeritus, Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR
  16. Rabbi Benjamin Barnett, Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR
  17. Zachary Lockman, Professor of Middle East History, New York University
  18. Lital Levy, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University 
  19. Max Weiss, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University 
  20. Paul Silverstein, Professor of Anthropology, Reed College
  21. Irene Gendzier, Professor Emeritus, Boston University
  22. Howard Winant, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara
  23. Shay Hazkani, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, University of Maryland, College Park
  24. Paul Adler, Harold Quinton Chair of Business Policy and Prof. of Management and Organization, University of Southern California
  25. Matan Kaminer, Postdoctoral Fellow, Martin Buber Society, Hebrew University
  26. Arie Arnon, Professor Emeritus, Ben Gurion University
  27. Lev Grinberg, Professor Emeritus, Ben Gurion University of the Negev; ex-president of the Israeli Sociological Society (2020-2023)
  28. Ruth Butler, Professor Emerita, Hebrew University
  29.  Janet Klein, Professor of Middle East History, Akron University
  30. Liora Halperin, Professor of History, University of Washington
  31.  Hannah Safran, Haifa Feminist Institute
  32. Oren Yiftachel, Professor of Geography, Ben- Gurion University of the Negev
  33. Susan LaDue, Member of Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement
  34. Sandy Polishuk, Retired oral historian and Adjunct Instructor, Portland State University
  35. Diane Koosed, Retired educator
  36. Robin Banerji, Talmud teacher
  37. Carole Romm, Visual artist
  38. Andrea Belasco, Retired physician (psychiatry)
  39. G Brock Roben, Retired physician (psychiatry)
  40. Robin Roth, Retired professor, City College of San Francisco
  41. Aya Rosen, Illustrator and photographer
  42. Mika Nachtailer, PhD candidate, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  43. Noa Shaindlinger, Assistant professor of History, Worcester State University
  44. Alex Lubin, Professor of African American Studies and History, Penn State University
  45. Ron J Smith, Associated professor of International Relations, Bucknell University
  46. Doug Rossinow, Professor of History, Metro State University, St. Paul, MN
  47. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Associate professor of English, University of Haifa
  48. Carolyn Toll Oppenheim, (retired) Assistant Professor, Emerson Colleege
  49. Yaron Klein, Associate Professor of Arabic, Carleton College
  50. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
  51. Rabbi David Mivasair, State College, PA
  52. Rebecca Alpert, Professor Emerita, Temple University
  53. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer, Amsterdam University College, co-founder of Academia for Equality
  54. David Zonsheine, Former chairperson of B’Tselem and Courage to Refuse 
  55. Johanna Sellman, Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University
  56. Vanesa Ribas, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California San Diego
  57. Ron Naiweld, CNRS, Paris, France
  58. Crystal Murphy, Associate professor of Political Science, Chapman University
  59. Kamel Toubache, Retired IT Manager, Canada
  60. Noel Saleh, Attorney, Saleh & Cordovilla Immigration Law
  61. Edna Gruvman, MS, LCAT, BCDTR
  62. Smadar Lavie, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, UC Davis
  63. Yael Shomroni, Artist
  64. Wendy Busch, Artist
  65. Colin Dayan, Professor of English, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University
  66. Jessica Mecellem, Independent scholar
  67. Uri Horesh, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Linguistics, University of Essex
  68. Dorit Naaman, Professor, Queen’s University
  69. Shir Alon, Assistant professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota
  70. Reut Ben Yaakov, Postdoctoral Associate in Hebrew Culture, Duke University
  71. Alexander Jabbari, Assistant Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota
  72. Oana Firica, Journalist, TV producer
  73. Susan S. Lanser, Professor Emerita, Brandeis University
  74. Eleanor Shapiro, Independent scholar
  75. Beverly Shalom, Licensed Clinical Social Worker
  76. Tal Jarus, Professor, University of British Columbia
  77. Rabbi Leah Shakdiel, Rabbis for Human Rights, Israel
  78. Eva Mroczek, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, UC Davis
  79. Mira Sucharov, Professor of Political Science, Carleton University
  80. Abe Silberstein, Writer
  81. Amalia Saar, Professor of Anthropology, University of Haifa
  82. Ilana Hairston, Tel Hai College
  83. Andy Ratto, journalist
  84. Zachary Kolodny, New Mexico Jew
  85. Sheera Talpaz, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies, Oberlin College
  86. Noah Asher Golden, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, California State University, Long Beach
  87. Lydia Kiesling, writer
  88. Michelle Decker, Associate Professor of English, Scripps College
  89. Soumava Basu, President and Founder, Council for Global Cooperation
  90. Marcelo Svirsky, Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong
  91. Rafi Greenberg, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University
  92. Sasha Senderovich, Associate Professor of Slavic and Jewish Studies, University of Washington, Seattle
  93. Michael Griffiths, Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Wollongong, Australia
  94. Emmanuel Szurek, Associate Professor of History, EHESS, Paris
  95. Ika Willis, Associate Professor of English Literatures, University of Wollongong
  96. Noor-Aiman Khan, Asc Prof of History and Director, Middle East Studies
  97. William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago
  98. Tamar Novick, Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
  99. Debbie Eylon, translator and editor
  100. Michal Sapir, writer and musician
  101. Kobi Peterzil, Professor of Mathematics, U. of Haifa
  102. Omri Boehm, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research
  103. Lynna Dhanani, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UC Davis
  104. Efraim Davidi, Lecturer, Tel-Aviv University
  105. Roni Tzoreff, Michigan University
  106. Anath Ariel de Vidas, anthropologist, CNRS, France
  107. Dalia Sachs, Assistant Professor Emerita, Haifa University
  108. Rasmus Elling, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
  109. Renata Schneider, INAH
  110. Aziz Abuzayed, Activist
  111. Eli Osheroff, Historion, Postdoc, Hebrew University
  112. Snait Gissis, Tel Aviv University
  113. Suzi Weissman, Professor of Politics, Saint Mary’s College of CA
  114. Angela Flynn, Lecturer, University College Cork
  115. Robert Brenner, History, UCLA, Director, Center for Social Theory & Comparative History
  116. Dr. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer, Amsterdam University College
  117. Erella Shadmi, Beit Berl Academic College retired, independent scholer
  118. Edna Gorney, Writer
  119. Sara Helman, Associate Professor (retired)
  120. Harry Hochheiser, Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh
  121. Joakim Parslow, Assistant professor of Middle East Studies, University of Copenhagen
  122. Ari Zighelboim, Independent scholar
  123. Jessica Marglin, Professor of Religion, Law and History, University of Southern California
  124. Jeffrey Konen, Electrician
  125. David Blanc, University of Haifa
  126. Robert Kraftowitz, Retired physician
  127. Tayfun Guttstadt, Musician and Scholar
  128. Noa Levin, Postdoctoral Researcher, Università della Svizzera italiana
  129. Elly Levy, Attorney
  130. Gopal Balachandran, Associate Professor of Clinical Law, Penn State Law
  131. Ruthie Wyshogrod, clinical social work student
  132. Amira Saunders, educator
  133. Silvana Rabinovich, UNAM
  134. Ross Hyman Ph.D., Computational Scientist, University of Chicago
  135. Persis Karim, San Francisco State University
  136. Eleanor Stein, lecturer, State University of New York
  137. Irus Braverman, Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  138. Joshua Eisenthal, Research Assistant Professor of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology
  139. Andrea-Luz Gutierrez-Choquevilca, Anthropologist, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale, Collège de France
  140. Nufar Shimony, Philosophy Lecturer (retired)
  141. Tavi Gevinson, Actor and writer
  142. Wolff Catherine, Teacher
  143. Alina Aksiyote, musician and teacher
  144. George P. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
  145. Amy L. Beck Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco
  146. Mairaj Syed, Associate Professor of Religious Studies & Middle East/South Asia Studies, University of California Davis
  147. Martinez Rocio, Profesora
  148. Sarah Carmeli, Speech Therapist
  149. Kimberly Katz, Professor of Middle East History, Towson University
  150. Uri Talil, R. E investor, Los Angeles
  151. Szymon Piechnik, Electronic Musician
  152. Isabel C Gómez, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
  153. Ryan Brizendine, PhD candidate, Yale University
  154. Ursula Wokoeck, PhD, Historian
  155. Pier-Luc Turcotte, Professor, University of Ottawa
  156. Megan Callahan, Arts educator
  157. Hadas Weiss, Humboldt University, Berlin
  158. Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
  159. Joshua Schreier, Professor of History, Vassar College
  160. Susan S. Lanser, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, English, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University
  161. Benjamin Wexler, Student
  162. Yosef Khan, LA Jews for Peace
  163. Miriam Beinin, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Stanford, Retired
  164. Steve Jordan, Associate Professor, McGill University
  165. Nathan Dickman, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of the Ozarks
  166. Yael Zeira, Associate Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University 
  167. Carolina Perez, Paralegal
  168. Karen Ross, Univeristy of Massachusetts Boston
  169. Diane L. Wolf, Professor Emerita of Sociology, UC Davis
  170. Eleanor Russell, Lecturer, Texas State University
  171. Dan Berger, Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies, University of Washington Bothell
  172. James Martell, Associate French Professor, Lyon College
  173. Vera Khovanskaya, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego
  174. Hiba Zafran, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
  175. David A. Larsen, Professor of Public Health, Syracuse University
  176. Mikael Wolfe, Associate Professor of History, Stanford University
  177. Claudio García Ehrenfeld, Classicist, UNAM
  178. Shoshana Hershkowitz, Lecturer, Stony Brook University
  179. Anna Bigelow, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Stanford University
  180. Lisel Hintz, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins SAIS
  181. Josh Dubnau, Professor, Stony Brook University
  182. Philip Metres Professor of English, John Carroll University
  183. Sharika Thiranagama Associate Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University
  184. Blake Temple, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, UC-Davis
  185. Paul Smaldino, Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced
  186. Jacob Serruya is Historian
  187. Odalis Hernández, Administrator, Stony Brook University
  188. Zack Furness, Associate Professor of Communications, Penn State University
  189. David Palumbo-Liu, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford
  190. Heather Randell, Assistant Professor of Global Policy, University of Minnesota
  191. Arlette mintzer poet & clinical psychologist
  192. Aaron Berman, Professor Emeritus of History, Hampshire College
  193. Pernille Blom Hermansen, Philosopher
  194. Aaron Katz, Principal Lecturer Emeritus, University of Washington
  195. Simone Balachandran, Associate Professor Educator, University of Cincinnati
  196. Adam Hochschild, Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley
  197. Alan Balsam PhD, MPH Adjunct Associate Professor, BU School of Public Health and Tufts Medical School.
  198. Sarah Kittilsen, Undergraduate Student in History
  199. Brianna Salinas, M.A. in Literary Translation, M.A. in Hispanic Studies
  200. Caglayan Baser, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University
  201. Philip Joseph, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Denver
  202. Peyman Mostafaei, PhD stduent, University of Sheffield
  203. Esra Akgün, Student of Turcology, Hamburg University, Germany
  204. Çağla Canıdar, social pedagogical Assistent
  205. Elliott Green, Professor of Development Studies, London School of Economics
  206. Christiane Burkhard, Filmmaker
  207. Jyoti Balachandran , Associate Professor of History, Penn State University
  208. Kate Levin, Associate Professor, University of Southern California
  209. Thomas Bierschenk, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany
  210. Steven DeLue, Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, Miami University
  211. Tamar Samir, PT Assistant Professor, The New School
  212. Victor Silverman, Professor of History Emeritus, Pomona College
  213. Thomas G. Weiss, Emeritus Presidential Professor, CUNY Graduate Center
  214. Erica Lehrer, Professor of History and Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal
  215. Steven Heydemann, Ketcham Chair in Middle East Studies, Smith College
  216. Steven Gelb, Retired Professor of Education, University of San Diego
  217. Danna Agmon, Associate Professor of History, Virginia Tech
  218. Mackenzie Israel-Trummel, Assistant Professor of Government, William & Mary
  219. Koray Özbagci, Humboldt University Berlin
  220. Tony Papanikolas, Lecturer, San Jose State University
  221. Dr Yohai Hakak, Brunel University London
  222. Cantor Michael Zoosman, Co-Founder: L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty
  223. Yuval Yonay, Sociologist, University of Haifa
  224. Ellen Siegel, WILPF
  225. Yonatan Ginzburg, Professor of Linguistics, Université Paris Cité
  226. Michal Brody Bareket, Professor of Mathematics
  227. Beverly R. Voloshin, Professor Emerita of English, San Francisco State University
  228. Betty Sams Board CCAS Georgetown U
  229. Jennifer L. Derr, Associate Professor of History, UC Santa Cruz
  230. Sára Gutvill, lecturer, Amsterdam University College
  231. Alan Wallach, Professor of Art History Emeritus, The College of William and Mary
  232. Ariela Freedman, Professor, Liberal Arts College, Concordia
  233. Steven Ostrow, Research Affiliate, Mass. Institute of Technology
  234. Pini Herman, Research Assistant Professor Geography, Instructor School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Retired
  235. Mohammad Almasri, Associate Professor of Arabic, Oklahoma University
  236. Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor of Sociology, UC Berkeley, Emerita
  237. Robert Neuwirth, writer
  238. Joan Cole, Retired Social -Clinial Psychologist and Professor of Social Work
  239. David Joseph, Visual Artist
  240. Ala Soofian, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford School of Medicine
  241. Priya Satia, Professor of History, Stanford University
  242. James Sams, International Tax Attorney
  243. Joan N. Radner, Professor Emerita of Literature, American University, and Professorial Lecturer, Lesley University
  244. Sandra Hyde, Associate Professor, McGill University
  245. Michael Alpert, musician, US National Heritage Fellow
  246. Alon Marcus, The Open University of Israel
  247. Nancy Stern, Professor, The City College of New York, CUNY
  248. Chris Muniz, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Writing
  249. Avraham Ozm Professor Emeritus of Drama, University of Haifa
  250. Michael Gallope, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota
  251. Adina Lange, Masterstudent in Education, Sustainability and Transformation, HNE Eberswalde Germany
  252. Anna Torvaldsen, Course Lecturer & PhD Candidate, McGill University
  253. Aron Lee Rosenberg, Faculty Lecturer, McGill University
  254. Lior Levy, senior lecturer in philosophy, University of Haifa
  255. Leslie Dunlap, Continuing Professor of History, Willamette University
  256. Michael Sfard, Adv.
  257. Yael Sela, Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Goethe University Frankfurt
  258. Seth Cotlar, Professor of History, Willamette University
  259. Jaimien Delp, Instructor of English, University of Michigan
  260. Liron Mor, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
  261. Anat Matar, Senior lecturer in philosophy, Tel Aviv University
  262. Taiyaba Husain, Associate Professor, University of Southern California
  263. Miriam Eliav-Feldon, History Professor (Emerita), Tel Aviv Universitya
  264. Michael Rothberg, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, UCLA
  265. Ron Barkai, Professor of History (emeritus), Tel Aviv University
  266. Benjamin Arbel, Professor Emeritus of History, Tel Aviv University
  267. Claire Phillips, Lecturer, CalArts
  268. Suhad Shalhoub, Bachelor of arts
  269. Megan Shaw, Attorney
  270. Tamar Katriel, Professor (Emerita), University of Haifa
  271. Cedric Parizot, anthropoogist, researcher, CNRS, Aix en Provence, France
  272. Deborah Hearst, Artist
  273. Alison Lingo, University of California, Berkeley
  274. Avner Giladi, Professor Emeritus, ME and Islamic Studies, U. of Haifa
  275. Mads Berg, Forsker
  276. Yael Berda, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor)r
  277. Nir Shafir, Assistant Professor of History, University of California San Diego
  278. Thomas McAffee, Professor of Law Emeritus
  279. Amos Goldberg, Assistant Professor of Holocsust history, The Hebrew Univeristy of Jerusalem
  280. Orna Ben-Naftali, Full Professor of International Law, college of ManagementvAcademic Studies, Israel
  281. micah leshem, Micah University of Haifa
  282. Nitza Berkovitch, Ben Gurion University, retiref
  283. Regev Nathansohn, Lecturer, Sapir College
  284. Steven Robins, Professor of Sociology & Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
  285. Tali Bitan, Associate Professor, University of Haifa, Israel
  286. Zohar Eviatar, Professor Emerita, University of Haifa
  287. Fannie Agerschou-Madsen, PhD-student, Roskilde University
  288. Nomi Erteschik-Shir, Emerita, Ben-Gurion University
  289. Dani Rodrik, Professor, Harvard University
  290. Victoria de Grazia, Professor of History Emerita, Columbia University
  291. Menachem Klein, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bar Ila University, Israel
  292. Tommaso Valletti, Professor of Economics, Imperial College London
  293. Rita Maran, Retired, faculty U.C.Berkeley:International Human Rights Law & Policy
  294. Sam Asher, Associate Professor of Economics, Imperial College London
  295. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Honorary Professor, Sapienza, University of Rome
  296. Miguel Angel Santos, Dean, School of Government, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey
  297. Haggai Ram, Prof. Ben Gurion University of the Negev
  298. Mette Jensen, former senior researcher, Aarhus University
  299. Saul Zaritt, Associate Professor, Harvard University
  300. Marianne Hirschberg, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Kassel
  301. Gianni Vaggi Professor of Economics and Mangement of Cooperation and Development University of Pavia Italynt
  302. Mike Murphy, Senior Research Analyst, International Food Policy Research Institute
  303. Celeste Marcus, managing editor, Liberties Journal
  304. Lee Mordechai, Senior Lecturer, History Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  305. Uri Mor, Associate Professor of Hebrew Language, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  306. Rebecca Hill, Professor of American Studies, Kennesaw State University
  307. Joseph Zeira, Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  308. Hillel Schenker, Israeli Co-Editor, Palestine-Israel Journal
  309. Bruce Robbins, Columbia University
  310. Olivier Blanchard, Professor Emeritus, MIT
  311. Jose V. Rodriguez Mora, Professor of Economics, University of Edinburgh and CUNEF
  312. Oded Na’aman, Assistant professor of philosophy, Hebrew University
  313. Thanasis Stengos, Professor of Economics, University of Guelph
  314. Danny Rosin, Professor of Surgery, Tel Aviv University
  315. Francesc Trillas, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  316. Hanna Herzog, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Tel Aviv Univrsity
  317. Yinon Cohen, Professor, Columbia University
  318. Eric Bottorff, Adjunct Faculty of Economics and Philosophy, Oakton Community College
  319. Isaac (Yanni) Nevo, Associate Proessor of Philosophy, Ben-Gurion University (retired)
  320. Yoav Di-Capua, Professor of History, UT Austin
  321. Lynn Wardley, former SFSU faculty
  322. Itamar Mann, The University of Haifa, Faculty of Law
  323. Annalisa Rosselli, senior professor, Università RomaTor Vergata
  324. Ruth Rosen, Professor Emereita
  325. Andrew Spiegel, Emeritus Associate Professor, University of Cape Town
  326. Liam O’Rourke, Teacher, Pierrepont School
  327. Michael Reich, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
  328. Glenna Matthews, Starr King School for me Ministry
  329. Avner Ben-Amos, Professor of History, Tel-Aviv University
  330. Ohad Gur, Aerospace Engineer
  331. Peter Orris, Professor University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
  332. William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History, The University of Michigan
  333. Judith Harel, Org. Psycholigist, retired.
  334. Elazar Elhanan, Associate Professor, The City College of New York
  335. Hella Cohen, former Associate Professor of English, St. Catherine University
  336. nancy kreimer, Associate Professor, Emerita, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
  337. Joan Meisel – Stanford PhD and MBA
  338. Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College
  339. Jaklyn Brookman, Psychotherapist, Jewish Voice for Peace
  340. Rabbi Drorah Setel, Temple Emanu-El, Rochester NY
  341. Yoav Peled, Prof. Emeritus, Tel Aviv University
  342. Cantor Jessi Roemer, Philadelphia, PA
  343. Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Retired Hospital Chaplain
  344. Mary Soliday, Professor of English San Francisco State University
  345. Rabbi Barat Ellman, Brooklyn, NY
  346. Daniel Bar-Tal, Professor Emeritus of Political Psychology Tel Aviv University
  347. Ellen Lippmann, Rabbi Emerita, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, Brooklyn
  348. Assaf Meshulam, School of Education, Ben-Gurion University
  349. Ram Ben Moshe , MArch UCLA
  350. Outi Bat-El Foux, Professor (emerita) of Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
  351. Hossein Kamaly, Professor of Interfaith Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
  352. Naftali Raz, Educator & Tour guide, One of the founders & activists of Peace Now. Israel, Mevasseret Zion.
  353. Tirzah Firestone, Rabbi Emerita, Congregation Nevei Kodesh
  354. Vardit Goldner, Artist
  355. Rabbi Doug Alpert, Congregation Kol Ami, Kansas City, MO
  356. Lecturer, American Studies, Assoc. Director, Emeritus, Chinese RR Workers in North America Project, Stanford University
  357. Yael Mizrahi-Arnaud, PhD Student, NYU
  358. Lawrence F. Hanley, Professor, San Francisco State University
  359. Ellen Jaffe-Gill, community rabbi
  360. David Benarroch, Artist
  361. Deborah Garber, Artist
  362. Najib Joe Hakim, Chairman, Network of Photographers for Palestine
  363. Nurit Ofer teacher at The school for eastern music Jerusalem Indian singing
  364. Naomi Benzer , Psycoanalist
  365. Susan Bernofsky, Professor of Writing, Columbia University
  366. Prof. Pnina Motzafi-Haller, Anthropology Dept, Ben Gurion University, Israel
  367. Nancy Ruttenburg, William Robertson Coe Professor of American Literature, Stanford University
  368. Gayle Reid, retired elementary school teacher
  369. Sara Feldman, Preceptor in Yiddish, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University


Supporters with no stated affiliation:

  1. Daniela Lichtman
  2. Robyn Bem, Peace seeker
  3. Karen Alqasem, Peace seeker
  4. Alizah Wolfe
  5. Brooke Daly
  6. Maya Haber
  7. Bo Skibelund
  8. Jane Zighelboim Awni
  9. Carter Vance
  10. Catelyn Booher
  11. Gail Steiner, activist
  12. Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

We welcome signatures from the broader community, regardless of affiliation or profession.

To sign the petition, use our formFor press inquiries, contact Dr. Lior Sternfeld. For other inquiries, contact Dr. Shira Klein.

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

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Micah Leshem
Date: Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 5:14 PM
Subject: [Academia-IL] Scholars, Please consider signing: Stop false accusations of Antisemitism in Germany!
To: Academia Network <academia-il@listserver.cc.huji.ac.il>

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Benger Alaluf, Yaara 
Date: Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 12:46 AM
Subject: Please consider signing: Stop false accusations of Antisemitism in Germany!
To:

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please consider signing the attached open letter!

As you probably know a battle over the definition of antisemitism and its relations to harsh critique of Israel, opposition to Zionism and support of the BDS, is being waged in Europe and America. Let us say right at the beginning that as signers of the letter and as stated explicitly in it, we don’t necessarily share a common view of the BDS, but we do contend that this in itself is not antisemitic and should not be abused for silencing harsh critique over Israel and/or its policies. 

This is not a theoretical issue but rather a very acute one. Four recent cases in Germany accumulate to a very dangerous trend that if continues will make any substantial critique of Israel and its policies practically impossible: 

1.    The Berlin House of Representatives passed the resolution “Against Any Antisemitism – Protect Jewish life in Berlin”, which adopts IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism and consequently describes any criticism of Israel, and even the rejection of the religious-ethnic discrimination within Israel, as a threat to Jewish life.

2.    Three activists who disrupted a “Hasbara” talk given by MK Aliza Lavie at the Humboldt University in Berlin are charged in a criminal court

3.    The bank account of “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East”, a small activists group based in Germany and comprised mainly of former Israelis is since 2016 under a threat to be shut due to its support of the BDS. Recently the bank decided to conduct a ‘scientific review’ to determine whether the group  is antisemitic.

4.    The very group was nominated for the 2019 Göttingen Peace Prize (and received it today!), but the local municipality, the sponsor of the event and the university of Göttingen withdrew their traditional support and participation in the ceremony following false accusations of antisemitism.

We, a group of scholars from Israel and all over the world, view it as our responsibility to protest against these trends and try to change them. We believe none of these actions advances the pressing fight against contemporary forms of antisemitism, but rather plays into the hands of the right-wing forces who wish to reduce the space of free speech when it comes to a discussion over Israel. 

In case you decide to sign please send an email to Amos Goldberg (amos.goldberg@mail.huji.ac.il) or Yaara Benger Alaluf (benger@mpib-berlin.mpg.de) and include your full name, your institutional affiliation and your field of study.

March 2019

A CALL TO INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS IN GERMANY TO PUT AN END TO THE MANIPULATIVE AND DANGEROUS CONFLATION BETWEEN CRITICISM OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND ANTI-SEMITISM

We are scholars, Jewish and non-Jewish, Israeli and non-Israeli, many of whom focus professionally on Jewish studies and the Holocaust. We have been observing with great concern the rise in antisemitism around the world and, in particular, the increase in the number of violent crimes against Jews and Muslims in Germany in the last years. We unconditionally support the fight against hate crimes in Germany and Europe. We are also worried about a parallel trend – the growing tendency, especially in Germany, of conflating Judaism with Zionism and labeling supporters of Palestinian human rights as anti-Semitic.

Last May, the Berlin House of Representatives passed a resolution embracing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) controversial “working definition of antisemitism,” thus describing any criticism of Israel, and even opposition to religious-ethnic discrimination within Israel, as a threat to Jewish life. At the same time, it labels supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic. Not all of us who have signed this letter support BDS, yet we all reject the deceitful allegation that it is anti-Semitic, and we strongly defend the right of any individual or organization to support it. False accusations of anti-Semitism are a shameful mockery of the Holocaust and serve only to bolster racist and anti-democratic forces. Likewise, the identification of anti-Zionism or harsh critique of Israeli policies with anti-Semitism undermines the long history of Jewish opposition to Zionism and/or to Israeli policies, in addition to erasing legitimate critiques by non-Jews which have no basis in anti-Semitism.

Above all, the resolution reflects a persistent effort to delegitimize any discourse about Palestinian rights. Only days after the passing of the resolution, the Freie Universität Berlin was pressured to cancel a talk by the distinguished anthropologist Susan Slyomovics, a Jewish-Canadian scholar and herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Slyomovics, whose talk examined the possible application of reparations models to the conflict in Israel-Palestine, was said to be an illegitimate speaker due to her public support of the BDS movement.

A further worrisome example is the ongoing harassment that the organization “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East” (Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost e.V.) has faced from the Bank for Social Economy (Bank für Sozialwirtschaft) that closed and reopened the organization’s bank account in 2016-2017 because of the group’s support for BDS. The bank’s recent call to “scientifically” determine whether the group is “anti-Semitic” according to the IHRA’s definition illustrates the absurd consequences of the flawed association between critique of Israel and hatred of Jews. Unfortunately, academics are also taking part in political harassment disguised as “a fight against anti-Semitism” and the attendant severe violation of free speech. Today, “Jewish Voice” faces a smear campaign following its nomination for the 2019 Göttingen Peace Prize. Opponents called for the award not to be given to BDS supporters, inciting outrageous accusations that echo Nazi conspiracies. Once again, German politicians evaluate authentic “Jewishness.” Once again, internal Jewish politics are being controlled and monitored.

Last but not least, three BDS activists are being charged in a criminal court in Berlin for disrupting a talk given at the Humboldt University by former Member of the Knesset Aliza Lavie in June 2017. The German press immediately accepted Lavie’s propaganda and framed the incident as an anti-Semitic attack. The charges against the activists – trespassing and assault – are unreasonable and unprecedentedly disproportionate considering that the event was open to the public, that the only participant physically assaulted was one of the activists, and that interrupting a political (not academic) speaker should be considered a reasonable act of protest in any democratic public sphere. This persecution can only be understood in the context of the growing restrictions on freedom of speech when it comes to criticizing Israel and the unbearable ease with which boycott supporters are labelled as anti-Semites.

None of these actions advance the pressing fight against anti-Semitism.Moreover, all of these incidents support and are supported by the most rightwing Israeli government in history. This is a government which denies basic individual and collective rights to Palestinians and other minorities and whose prime minister recently embraced supremacist, misogynistic and homophobic extremists, said to be the Israeli equivalent of the KKK. We fail to see how supporting these political forces helps in the fight anti-Semitism or accords with the post-World War II German commitment to the values of human rights and fighting any form of racism.

The conflation of hostility against Jews with legitimate critique of Israeli policies and non-violent opposition to the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people ignores the serious problems that face us today. In practice, this conflation leads to the targeting of civil society organizations and smears against Jews for their political beliefs, instead of allocating resources for anti-racism education and applying effective measures against anti-Semitic offenders. Further, this conflation obscures valid critique of Israel’s war crimes and violation of human rights, undermining the Palestinian struggle for freedom and equality and discriminating against the Palestinian community in Germany by preventing Palestinian people to freely express their opinions, their grief and sorrow.

In light of both the increase in anti-Semitism and racist crimes in Germany and the escalation in Israeli violence against Palestinians, we urge the German authorities, media, educational and academic professionals and institutions to act responsibly and put an end to this manipulative and dangerous conflation between criticism of the state of Israel and anti-Semitism. We must fight real anti-Semitism and all forms of racism without playing into supremacist interests, and we must safeguard free expression and protect democratic spaces, rather than threaten and silence those who nonviolently express their political beliefs.

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

אקדמיה לשוויון Academia for Equality أكاديميون من أجل ألمساواة ·

3 December 2019

English follows

129 חוקרות וחוקרים יהודים וישראלים, בהם כמה מהחוקרים החשובים של אנטשמיות בימנו, פנו אל חברי האספה הלאומית של צרפת בבקשה שיפעלו נגד האנטישמיות הגואה, אך מבלי שהמאבק הזה יבוא על חשבון העם הפלסטיני ומאבקו לחופש ולשוויון. המכתב המלא בהמשך (באנגלית).

129 من الباحثات والباحثين اليهود والإسرائيليين، منهمّ أهمّ العلماء وباحثيّ معاداة السامية في أيامنا هذه ، توجّهوا وناشدوا بطلب من أعضاء الجمعية الوطنية الفرنسية للتحرّك ضد معاداة السامية المتصاعدة والمتزايدة، ولكن دون ان يأتي هذا النضال على حسبان الشعب الفلسطينيّ وكفاحه من أجل الحرية والمساواة. سيتم نشر الرسالة كاملة لاحقا (باللغة الإنجليزية).

129 Jewish and Israeli scholars, including some of the most important researchers of Antisemitism today, sent a letter to members of the French National Assembly urging them not to support the resolution equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and endorsing IHRA definition. The letter was published yesterday by Le Monde:

Dear Member of the French Parliament,

We, Jewish scholars from Israel and elsewhere, many of whom specialize in anti-Semitism and in Jewish and Holocaust history, are writing to you in anticipation of a resolution on combatting anti-Semitism, which the French parliament will debate and put to the vote on December 3rd and 4th.

We wish to express our deep concern about the rise in anti-Semitism around the world, including in France. We view anti-Semitism and all other forms of racism and bigotry as a real threat that must be fought most forcefully, and urge the French government and parliament to do so.

While we strongly emphasize this concern, we oppose the tabled resolution on anti-Semitism for two main reasons and call on you to withhold your signature and support from it.

First, the explanatory statement of the resolution associates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It even equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism where it says that “criticizing the very existence of Israel as a collective composed of Jewish citizens is tantamount to hatred towards the Jewish community as a whole.”

Before we elaborate, we wish to deplore that the explanatory statement designates Israel “as a collective composed of Jewish citizens”. Some 20 percent of Israel’s population is composed of Palestinian citizens, most of whom are Muslims and Christians. The chosen designation obscures and denies their existence. We consider this highly problematic, also in view of your country’s commitment to a non-ethnic definition of French citizenship.

Our opinions on Zionism may differ, but all of us, including those who consider themselves Zionists, think the association of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is fundamentally wrong. To the many Jews who consider themselves anti-Zionist, it is also deeply offensive.

Anti-Zionism is a legitimate viewpoint in Jewish history, which has a long tradition, including in Israel. Some Jews oppose Zionism for religious reasons, others for political or cultural reasons. Many Holocaust victims were anti-Zionists. The tabled motion dishonours them and disgraces their memory by retroactively calling them anti-Semites.

For Palestinians, Zionism means dispossession, displacement, occupation and structural inequality. It is cynical and insensitive to stigmatize them as anti-Semites for opposing Zionism. They oppose Zionism not because they hate Jews, but because they experience Zionism as an oppressive political movement. It is particularly insensitive to do so, and attesting to a double standard, considering that Israel is denying Palestine’s right to exist – and undermining its very existence.

No doubt, anti-Semites exist among those opposing Zionism. But there are also plenty of anti- Semites who support Zionism. It is thus nonsensical and inappropriate to generally identify anti- Zionism with anti-Semitism. By conflating these two different phenomena, the National

Assembly would undermine the vital efforts to fight the real anti-Semitism, which is multi- dimensional and coming from different sectors in French society.

Our second objection: the tabled resolution endorses the “working definition” of anti-Semitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

This definition is highly problematic. The resolution asserts that the definition “makes it possible to designate as precisely as possible what contemporary anti-Semitism is”. In reality, however, the definition is unclear and indefinite and therefore not an effective instrument to fight anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, legislation to effectively fight and prosecute anti-Semitism already exists in France.

The explanatory statement to the tabled resolution says the IHRA definition “does not recognize criticism of the policies of the State of Israel as antisemitic”. In reality, however, several “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism” have been attached to the definition, which intentionally conflate criticism of and opposition to policies of the State of Israel with anti- Semitism. These examples are presented and treated as an integral part of the definition.

According to the examples and how they are being applied, if you criticize Israel in a way perceived as double standard, you are an anti-Semite. If you favour a binational or a democratic one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you are an anti-Semite. So are you, when you blame Israel for institutionalized racism. One can certainly disagree with these utterances. But such opinions are considered legitimate and protected by freedom of speech in any other political context. As a result, the definition creates an unjustified double standard in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians.

The IHRA definition is already being used to stigmatize and silence critics of the State of Israel, including human rights organizations and respected experts. This has been condemned by leading scholars of anti-Semitism. Kenneth Stern, one of the original drafters of the IHRA definition, has also warned against the definition’s use to undermine free speech.

The key question is: why is all of this happening? We cannot see it detached from the main agenda of the Israeli government to entrench its occupation and annexation of Palestine, and to silence any criticism of this agenda.

For years, the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been denouncing any opposition to its policies as anti-Semitic. Netanyahu himself has been forcefully pushing the equation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, as well as the IHRA definition. This illustrates how the fight against anti-Semitism has been instrumentalized to shield the Israeli government.

With concern, we note that these endeavours of the Israeli government are getting a political tailwind, also in France. On 28 May 2019, MP Sylvain Maillard participated in an event alongside Yossi Dagan, a militant settler leader, who chairs an Israeli state authority in charge of settlements in the occupied West Bank. As you know, MP Maillard initiated the present resolution on anti-Semitism – notably a few days before the event with Dagan.

We thus urge you: fight anti-Semitism and all forms of racism – but do so without aiding the Israeli government’s agenda of occupation and annexation.

The tabled resolution is not a credible and effective way to do so. Anti-Semitism needs to be fought on universal grounds, along other forms of racism and bigotry, to counter hate. Abandoning this universal approach will lead to further polarization in France, which would also harm the fight against anti-Semitism.

In this context, we note the tabled resolution is also at odds with the position of CNCDH, the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights. In its 2018 Report on the Fight Against Racism, CNCDH warned the IHRA definition risks weakening the French universal approach to fighting racism and insisted “on vigilance not to confuse between racism and legitimate criticism of a State and its policy”.

We urge you: don’t sign and support a resolution that falsely equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. Don’t sign and support a resolution that endorses IHRA’s politicized definition of anti-Semitism, particularly if it does so without any distance to the definition’s problematic examples relating to Israel.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Howard Tzvi Adelman, Associate Professor of History and of Jewish History, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario

Dr.. Karin Adelman, physician

Prof. Ofer Aharony, Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science

Prof. (emeritus) Mateo Alaluf, Institute of Sociology, Université Libre de Bruxelles Prof. Gadi Algazi, Professor of Medieval History, Department of History, Tel Aviv

University; associate fellow at Re:Work: International Research Center Work and Human Lifecycle in Global History at Humboldt University, Berlin

Dr. Hila Amit, writer, researcher

Prof. Gil Anidjar, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department, Columbia University

Dr. Seth Anziska, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London Prof. Yonathan Anson, Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Prof. Jean-Christophe Attias, Professor and Chair of Medieval Jewish Thought, École pratique des hautes études, Université PSL, Paris

Prof. (emerita) Elsa Auerbach, English Department, University of Massachusetts Boston (daughter of German Holocaust refugees)

Prof. (emeritus) Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University

Prof. Avner Ben-Amos, Department of History, Tel Aviv University

Yaara Benger Alaluf, independent scholar

Dr. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Department of English Language, University of Haifa

Prof. Andrew Stuart Bergerson, History Department, University of Missouri-Kansas City Prof. Michael Berkowitz, Professor of Modern Jewish History, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London

Prof. Louise Bethlehem, English and Cultural Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. David Blanc, Department of Mathematics, University of Haifa

Prof. Daniel D. Blatman, Head of Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Max and Rita Haber Chair in Contemporary Jewry and Holocaust Studies, The Hebrew University Jerusalem

Prof. Hagit Borer, Fellow of the British Academy; Fellow of the Linguistics Society of America; Chair in Linguistics, SLLF, Queen Mary University of London

Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California at Berkeley, Fellow American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Von Humboldt Senior Laureate Dr. Rony Brauman, physician, Professor at University of Manchester

Prof. (emeritus) Jose Brunner, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas and Buchmann Faculty of Law, Director, Eva & Marc Besen Institute for the Study of Historical Consciousness, co-founder of Israel’s first legal clinic for the rights of Holocaust survivors, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature and Critical Theory, University of California, Berkeley

Prof. (emerita) Jane Caplan, Professor of Modern European History, University of Oxford; Emeritus Fellow, St Antony’s College, Oxford; Marjorie Walter Goodhart Professor Emeritus of European History, Bryn Mawr College; Visiting Professor, Birkbeck, University of London

Dr. Nina Caputo, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Florida

Prof. Michael Chanan, Professor of Film and Video, University of Roehampton, London Prof. Stephen Clingman, Distinguished University Professor, Department of English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dr. Eyal Clyne, unaffiliated

Prof. James Cohen, Institut du monde anglophone, University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 Prof. Alon Confino, Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Director of The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies, Department of History, University of Massachusetts

Mike Cushman, research fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr. Hilla Dayan, Department of Sociology, Amsterdam University College

Prof. (emerita) Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Faculty of Social Sciences, University Paris Diderot Paris 7

Prof. Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Professor of Comparative Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Dr. Tal Dor, adjunct researcher, Experice, Université Paris 8

Prof. (emeritus) Tommy Dreyfus, Mathematics Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Awardee of the Felix Klein Medal

Prof. David Enoch, Faculty of Law and Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. (emerita) Judith Ferster, English Department, North Carolina State University

Dr. Cynthia Franklin, Department of English, University of Hawaii

Prof. (emeritus) Gideon Freudenthal, The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University

Prof. (emeritus) Chaim Gans, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Tamar Garb, Durning Lawrence Professor in the History of Art, Director of Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, University College London Katharina Galor, Hirschfeld Visiting Associate Professor, Program in Judaic Studies, Brown University

Prof. Shai Ginsburg, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University Prof. Rachel Giora, Department of Linguistics, Tel Aviv University

Dr. Snait Gissis, Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Amos Goldberg, Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. (emeritus) Steve Golin, History Department, Bloomfield College

Prof. Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law and Marie Curie Fellow, Queen Mary

University of London

Prof. Joel Gordon, The Department of History, University of Arkansas Fayetteville

Prof. Nir Gov, Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science

Dr. Yann Guillaud, lecturer at Sciences Po and the Catholic University of Paris

Dr. Gérard Haddad, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, writer

Dr. Ilana Hammerman, writer, winner of the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize (2015)

Prof. David Harel, Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, The Weizmann Institute of Science; winner of the Israel Prize (2004) and of the EMET prize Prof. Elizabeth Heineman, Department of History, University of Iowa

Dr. Shir Hever, Political Science, Free University of Berlin

Prof. Eva Jablonka, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University

Michal Kaiser-Livne, psychoanalyst, Berlin Institute for Group Analysis

Dr. Brian Klug, senior research fellow and tutor in Philosophy, University of Oxford, honorary fellow of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton

Prof. (emeritus) Yehoshua Kolodny, Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, winner of the Israel Prize (2009)

Dr. Hubert Krivine, physicist

Pascal Lederer, physicist, honorary research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Prof. (emeritus) Micah Leshem, Department of Psychology, University of Haifa

Dr. Les Levidow, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University, United Kingdom

Dr. Mark Levene, emeritus fellow, Department of History, University of Southampton UK; Parkes Centre for Jewish/non-Jewish Relations; winner of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, New York; Lemkin prize (2015)

Prof. Joseph Levine, Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dr. R. Ruth Linden, President Tree of Life Health Advocates, San Francisco; co-founder of the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project

Adi Liraz, interdisciplinary artist, instructor relating to the history of Jews in Greece and in Germany

Dr. Rachel Livne-Freudenthal, Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem

Prof. (emeritus) Moshé Machover, Professor of Philosophy, University of London

Joëlle Marelli, independent scholar, former program director at the College International de Philosophie, Paris

Dr. Anat Matar, Philosophy Department, Tel Aviv University

Dr. Yehoshua Mathias, senior lecturer, School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. David Mednicoff, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dr. Oded Na’aman, The Martin Buber Society of Fellows, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Dr. Sheryl Nestel, independent scholar

Prof. Isaac Nevo, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Prof. (emerita) Benita Parry, English and Comparative Literary Studies, Warwick University

Hadas Pe’ery, lecturer at the The Buchmann Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University; laureate of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Award for Composers

Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; The David Yellin Academic College of Education; co-winner of the Sakharov Prize (2001)

Prof. Yael Politi, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden

Dr. David Ranan, Birkbeck University, London

Prof. (emerita) Ada Rapoport-Albert, Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University

College London

Ben Ratskoff, University of California, Los Angeles

Prof. Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Jewish History

Prof. (emerita) Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Departments of English Literature and Comparative Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Dr. Noa Roei, Literary and Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam

Prof. (emerita) Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz

Prof. Dana Ron, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University

Prof. (emeritus) Steven Rose, Professor of Biology and Neurobiology, The Open University, United Kingdom

Prof. (emeritus) Jonathan Rosenhead, Professor of Operational Research, Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science

Prof. David M. Rosenthal, Cognitive Science Concentration Graduate Center, City University of New York

Prof. Michael Rothberg, 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California; specializes in Holocaust studies

Dr. E. Natalie Rothman, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough

Prof. Catherine Rottenberg, Department of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham

Dr. Sara Roy, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

Dr. Hannah Safran, Haifa Feminist Research Center

Dr. Ariel Salzmann, Department of History, Queen’s University, Ontario

Catherine Samary, economist (ret.), Paris Dauphine University

Prof. (emeritus) Donald Sassoon, Professor of Comparative European History, Queen Mary, University of London

Prof. (emerita) Naomi Scheman, Philosophy and Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies, University of Minnesota

Prof. (emerita) Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Sir Stephen Sedley, former Lord Justice of Appeal, England and Wales; former UK Judge ad hoc at European Court of Human Rights; former visiting professor of law, Oxford University

Prof. (emeritus) Graeme Segal, Mathematics, All Souls College

Prof. Gershon Shafir, Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego

Prof. (emerita) Alice Shalvi, English Departments, Hebrew University Jerusalem and Ben- Gurion University of the Negev; former Rector Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies; winner of the Israel Prize (2007), co-winner of the Leibowitz Prize (2009), winner of the Bonei Zion Prize (2017)

Dr. Dimitry Shevchenko, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Prof. (emeritus) Avi Shlaim, Department of Politics and International Relations, St. Antony’s College and University of Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy

Prof. David Shulman, Department of Asian Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, member Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, winner of the EMET Prize (2010) and of the Israel Prize (2016)

Dr. Dmitry Shumsky, Department of Jewish history and Head of the Cherrick Center for the Study of Zionism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman, Simon Fraser University

Dr. Lisa Stampnitzky, lecturer in Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield

Prof. Marc Steinling, physician, biophysicist, honorary Professor of Universities (son of French resistants FTP-MOI)

Prof. Sacha Stern, Head of Department, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London

Prof. (emeritus) Zeev Sternhell, Léon Blum Professor emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Israel Prize Laureate in Political Science; Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Letters; International Honorary member American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Howard Rechavia Taylor, Columbia University

Prof. Barry Trachtenberg, Michael R. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Department of History, Wake Forest University

Prof. (emeritus) Rolf Verleger, psychologist, member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany 2005-2009

Dominique Vidal, historian and journalist

Prof. Roy Wagner, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH Zürich 

Dr. Yair Wallach, Head of the Centre for Jewish Studies, Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East, SOAS, University of London

Daphna Westerman, MA Fine Arts Bauhaus-University, Weimar

Prof. Diane L. Wolf, Department of Sociology, University of California, Davis

Prof. (emeritus) Niza Yanay, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Prof. (emeritus) Moshe Zimmermann, former director of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. (emeritus) Moshe Zuckermann, The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University

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https://bdsmovement.net/news/240-jewish-and-israeli-scholars-german-government-boycotts-are-legitimate-and-non-violent-tool
240 Jewish and Israeli scholars to German government: boycotts are a legitimate and non-violent tool of resistance

June 12, 2019 / By 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars / Germany, Palestine

“We reject this motion, which is based on the false allegation that BDS as such equals anti-Semitism. We call on the German government not to endorse this motion and to fight anti-Semitism, while respecting and protecting freedom of speech and of association, which are undeniably under attack.”

June 3, 2019 – Mid-May, Jewish and Israeli scholars, many of whom specialized in anti-Semitism, Jewish history and history of the Holocaust, sounded alarm about the growing tendency to label supporters of Palestinian human rights as anti-Semitic. They did so in a call addressed to the German Bundestag in relation to several motions that were being tabled against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). Many of us signed this call.

On May 17, one of these motions, sponsored by CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, was adopted. We reject this motion, which is based on the false allegation that BDS as such equals anti-Semitism. We call on the German government not to endorse this motion and to fight anti-Semitism, while respecting and protecting freedom of speech and of association, which are undeniably under attack.

As expressed in the earlier statement, we view anti-Semitism and all forms of racism and bigotry as a threat that must be fought, and we encourage the German government and parliament to do so. However, the adopted motion does not assist this fight. On the contrary, it undermines it.

The opinions about BDS among the signatories of this call differ significantly: some may support BDS, while others reject it for different reasons. Yet, we all reject the deceitful allegation that BDS as such is anti-Semitic and maintain that boycotts are a legitimate and non-violent tool of resistance. We, leading researchers of anti-Semitism included, assert that one should be considered an anti-Semite according to the content and the context of one’s words and deeds – whether they come from BDS supporters or not.

Regrettably, the adopted motion ignores the explicit opposition of the BDS movement to “all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism”. The BDS movement seeks to influence the policies of the government of a state that is responsible for the ongoing occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. Such policies cannot be immune to criticism. In this context, it should also be noted that many Jewish and Israeli individuals and groups either support BDS explicitly, or defend the right to support it. We consider it inappropriate and offensive when German governmental and parliamentary institutions label them anti-Semitic.

Moreover, the three main goals of BDS – ending the occupation, full equality to the Arab citizens of Israel and the right of return of Palestinian refugees – adhere to international law, even if the third goal is undoubtedly debatable. We are shocked that demands for equality and compliance with international law are considered anti-Semitic.

We conclude that the rise in anti-Semitism is clearly not the concern which inspired the motion adopted by the Bundestag. On the contrary, this motion is driven by political interests and policies of Israel’s most right-wing government in history.

For years, the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been labelling any opposition to its illegal and peace-undermining policies as anti-Semitic. No one can be surprised that Netanyahu warmly welcomed the motion by the Bundestag. This embrace illustrates how the fight against anti-Semitism is being instrumentalized to shield policies of the Israeli government that cause severe violations of human rights and that destroy the chances for peace. We find it unacceptable and utterly counterproductive when supporting “the right of the Jewish and democratic state of Israel to exist” and fighting anti-Semitism in fact encourages these policies.

To make things worse, the adopted motion does not distinguish between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It categorically condemns all boycotts of Israeli businesses and goods – including of businesses in and goods from Israel’s illegal settlements. As a result, it would label a campaign to boycott of products of a settlement company complicit in human rights violations, as anti-Semitic. This constitutes a deplorable withdrawal from the unequivocal and consistent opposition of the German government and the EU to Israel’s settlement policy.

Furthermore, the motion ignores that statements in the context of BDS are protected by freedom of expression, as also confirmed by the EU, which “stands firm in protecting freedom of expression and freedom of association in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which is applicable on EU Member States’ territory, including with regard to BDS actions carried out on this territory”. Precisely because of its history, Germany should be very cautious about any retreat from these basic democratic norms.

Finally, the conflation of BDS with anti-Semitism does not advance the urgent fight against anti-Semitism. The threat of anti-Semitism does not originate from Palestinian rights activists, but mainly from the extreme right and from Jihadist groups. Denying that could alienate Muslims and Arabs from the vital struggle against anti-Semitism and hamper the possibility of building true solidarity between Jews, Israelis, Muslims and Arabs in fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of racism. It also sends a wrong message to those who choose to oppose the oppression of the Palestinian people by non-violent means.

For all those reasons, we, Jewish and Israeli scholars, reject the motion by CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. Now that it has been adopted, we call on the German government not to endorse this motion and to refrain from equating BDS with anti-Semitism. Instead, the German government must act upon its positive responsibility to promote and protect the freedom of expression and of association.

In addition, we call on the German government to maintain its direct and indirect funding of Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organisations that peacefully challenge the Israeli occupation, expose severe violations of international law and strengthen civil society. These organizations defend the principles and values at the heart of liberal democracy and rule of law in Germany and elsewhere. More than ever, they need financial support and political backing.

Signed by 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars (institutional affiliations mentioned for identification purposes only):

Prof. Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, Mae and Benjamin Swig Professor of Jewish Studies, Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, Department of Theology & Religious Studies University of San Francisco
Adam Hochschild, Author and journalist, Lecturer at the Graduate School of Journalism. University of California at Berkeley, winner of the Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award (2008)
Dr. Adam Kossoff, Reader at the School of Art, University of Wolverhampton, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Adam Sutcliffe, Department of History, King’s College London, specializes in Jewish History
Prof. (emerita) Alice Shalvi, English Departments, Hebrew University Jerusalem and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, former Rector Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, winner of the Israel Prize (2007), co-winner of the Leibowitz Prize (2009), winner of the Bonei Zion Prize (2017)
Prof. Alon Confino, Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Director of The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Department of History, University of Massachusetts
Dr. Alon Liel, International MA in Security and Diplomacy, Tel Aviv University, former Ambassador to South Africa, Consul General in the south-east of the USA and Head of Diplomatic Mission in Turkey, former Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Planning and of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Dr. Amir Minsky, Assistant Teaching Professor of History, New York University, Abu Dhabi
Prof. (emeritus) Amiram Goldblum, School of Pharmacy- Institute for Drug Research, the Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of the founders of the Israeli NGP “Peace Now” and its former spokesperson
Prof. Amos Goldberg, Former Chair of the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in Holocaust History
Dr. Anat Matar, Philosophy Department, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Andre Levy, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, specializes in the concepts of diaspora and ethnicity
Prof. Andrew Stuart Bergerson, History Department, University of Missouri-Kansas City, specializes in history of modern Germany
Prof. Aner Preminger, Filmmaker and professor at the Department of Communication, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem and Sapir Academic College
Dr. Annie Pfingst, Independent Scholar, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Anya Topolski, Associate Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy, Radboud University Nijmegen, specializes in racism in Europe
Dr. Ariel Salzmann, Associate Professor, Islamic and World History, Department of History, Queen’s University
Assaf Gavron, Writer, winner of the Israeli Prime Minister Award for authors (2011) and the Bernstein Prize (2013)
Prof. Audrey Macklin, Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, Professor of Law and Chair in Human Rights, University of Toronto
Prof. (emeritus) Avi Shlaim, The Department of Politics and International Relations, St Antony’s College and The University of Oxford, Fellow of the British Academy, specializes in Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Prof. Avner Ben-Amos, Department of History, Tel Aviv University, specializes in nationalism and collective memory in Israel
Avraham Burg, Former Member of the Israeli Knesset, Speaker of the Knesset and Chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization
Dr. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Department of English Language, University of Haifa
Prof. b.h. Yael, Filmmaker, Professor and former chair of Integrated Media at the Ontario College of Art and Design, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Barak Kalir, Assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam, specializes in migration in the Jewish-Israeli context
Prof. Barry Trachtenberg, Michael R. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Department of History, Wake Forest University
Dr. Ben Silverstein, School of History, Australian National University, specializes in indigenous histories and settler colonialism
Prof. (emerita) Benita Parry, English and Comparative Literary Studies, Warwick University
Prof. (emeritus) Ben-Tzion Munitz, Department of Theatre Arts, Tel Aviv University
Prof. (emerita) Bilha Mannheim, Professor of Sociology, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, winner of the Israel Prize (2003)
Dr. Brian Klug, Senior Research Fellow & Tutor in Philosophy, University of Oxford, honorary fellow of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
Alex Levac, Photographer, winner of the Israel Prize (2005)
Prof. Bruce Rosenstock, Department of Religion College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Prof. Catherine Rottenberg, Foreign Literature and Linguistics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. (emeritus) Chaim Gans, The Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, specializes in political and legal theory of nationalism and Zionism
Prof. Noy Chaim, School of Communication, Bar-Ilan University, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Chana Kronfeld, Hebrew, Yiddish and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
Prof. (emeritus) Christiane Schomblond, Department of Mathematics, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Prof. Colin Dayan, Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities, English Department and Professor at the Law School, Vanderbilt University
Dr. Cynthia Franklin, Department of English, University of Hawai’I, specializes in race and ethnicity
Prof. (emeritus) Dan Jacobson, the Department of Labor Studies, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Dana Kaplan, Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel
Dr. Dana Mills, Department of History, Philosophy and Religion, Oxford Brookes University
Prof. Dana Ron, Computer Science, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Daniel D. Blatman, Head of the Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Max and Rita Haber Chair in Contemporary Jewry and Holocaust Studies at the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew of University Jerusalem
Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric, University of California at Berkeley
Prof. Daryl Glaser, Department of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, specializes in the South African context
Prof. David Blanc, Department of Mathematics, University of Haifa
Prof. David Enoch, The Faculty of Law and The Department of Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. David Harel, Computer Science, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Vice President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, winner of the Israel Prize (2004) and of EMET prize (2010)
Dr. David Ranan, Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck University of London
Prof. David Comedi, Director of the Physics Institute of Northwestern Argentina, INFINOA, National University of Tucumán and CONICET
Prof. David Shulman, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, winner of the EMET Prize (2010) and of the Israel Prize (2016)
Prof. Debórah Dwork, Inaugural Rose Professor of Holocaust History, Founding Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Distinguished Research Scholar, Clark University
Dr. (emeritus) Dennis Kortheuer, Department of History at California State University, Long Beach
Prof. Diane L. Wolf, Department of Sociology and former Director of Jewish Studies Program, University of California, Davis
Dr. Dimitry Shevchenko, Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Dmitry Shumsky, Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, Director of the Cherrick Center for the study of Zionism, the Yishuv and the State of Israel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. (emeritus) Donald Sassoon, Comparative European History, Queen Mary, University of London
Dr. Dorit Naaman, Alliance Atlantis Professor of Film and Media, Queen’s University, Canada, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. E. Natalie Rothman, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough
Dr. Elizabeth Freund (emerita), Department of English Literature, Hebrew University Jerusalem
Prof. Elizabeth Heineman, Department of History, The University of Iowa, specializes in gender, war, and memory in Germany and in the Holocaust
Dr. Erella Grassiani, Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. (emerita) Elsa Auerbach, English Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, daughter of German Holocaust refugees
Prof. (emeritus) Emmanuel Farjoun, Einstein Institute of Mathematics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Eric Kligerman, Associate Professor of German and Jewish Studies, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures University of Florida
Prof. (emerita) Esther Dischereit, Writer, poet and Professor of Language Arts, University for Applied Arts Vienna, winner of the Erich Fried Prize (2009)
Prof. Eva Illouz, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, The European Centre for Sociology and Political Science , Paris, winner of the EMET Prize (2018)
Prof. Eva Jablonka, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Eyal Clyne, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, The University of Manchester, specializes in Israel-Palestine and in Jewish and Zionist thought
Dr. (emerita) Florence Lederer, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Université Paris-Sud
Prof. (emeritus) Francis Lowenthal, Cognitive Sciences, University of Mons
Prof. Gabriele Bergers, Department of Oncology, University of Leuven
Prof. Gadi Algazi, Professor of Medieval History, The Department of History, Tel Aviv University, and associate fellow at Re:Work: International Research Center Work and Human Lifecycle in Global History at Humboldt University in Berlin
Dr. Gal Levy, Department of Political Science, Sociology & Communication, The Open University of Israel, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. (emerita) Galia Golan, Darwin Professor, The Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Gayle Levy, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Department and director of UMKC Honors College, University of Missouri-Kansas City, specializes in Nazi-Germany and the Holocaust
Prof. (emeritus) Gideon Freudenthal, The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University
Prof. (emeritus) Graeme Segal, Mathematics, All Souls College
Dr. Hadas Leonov, Software Developer, Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Rheinstetten, Germany
Hadas Pe’ery, Composer, sound artist, educator and activist, teaching fellow at The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Hagit Borer, FBA Chair in Linguistics, SLLF Queen Mary, University of London
Prof. Haim Bresheeth, Centre for Media and Film Studies, SOAS University of London and Director of Camera Obscura Films
Dr. Halleli Pinson, The Department Of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. (emerita) Hanan J. Kisch, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Dr. Hannah Safran, Feminist Research Center, Haifa, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Heidi Grunebaum, Associate Professor at the Centre for Humanities Research University of the Western Cape, specializes in memory and reconciliation in Germany, South Africa and Israel-Palestine
Dr. Hila Amit, Independent scholar of Queer Theory and Migration and Diaspora Studies
Dr. Hilla Dayan, Sociology, Amsterdam University College, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Idan Landau, Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Dr. Ilan Saban, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, specializes in minority rights, international law, and Nationalism
Dr. Ilana Hammerman, Writer, editor, translator and activist, winner of the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize (2015)
Dr. Inna Michaeli, Independent scholar and activist
Dr. Irit Dekel, Research Associate, Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies Friedrich Schiller University, specializes in memory politics in Germany and Israel
Prof. Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Head of the Talmud and Late Antiquity section in the department of Jewish Philosophy, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Isaac (Yanni) Nevo, The Department of Philosophy, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Dr. Itamar Kastner, Humboldt University, Berlin
Dr. Itamar Shachar, Marie Curie Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Itay Snir, Political Philosophy, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, The Open University of Israel
Prof. (emeritus) Jacob Katriel, Chemistry Department, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Prof. James Cohen, Anglophone World Department, Université de Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle
Dr. Jared Margulies, Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield
Prof. Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, Yale University
Dr. (emeritus) Jeanne Fagnani, Senior researcher at The French National Centre for Scientific Research, associate researcher at the Institute of Economic and Social Research, member of the scientific committee of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Mankind
Dr. Jeffrey Melnick, American Studies Department, University of Massachusetts
Prof. (emeritus) Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University
Prof. Joel Gordon, The Department of History, University of Arkansas Fayetteville
Prof. Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature and Critical Theory, University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Judith Norman, Department of Philosophy, Trinity University San Antonio, Texas USA
Prof. (emeritus) Jules Chametzky, Department of English, University of Massachusetts
Dr. Karel Arnaut, Associate Professor and Research Coordinator of the Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre (IMMRC), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Prof. (emerita) Karen Brodkin, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, specializes in anti-Semitism and racism
Dr. Katharina Galor, Hirschfeld Visiting Associate Professor of Judaic Studies, Brown University
Kathy Wazana, Documentary filmmaker, Master’s student at the Department of Cinema and Media Arts, York University
Dr. Katy Fox-Hodess, Lecturer in Employment Relations, Accreditations Management School, University of Sheffield
Prof. Kobi Peterzil, Department of Mathematics, University of Haifa
Dr. Kobi Snitz, Mathematics Department, Weizmann Institute of Science
Prof. (emeritus) Laurence Dreyfus, Faculty of Music, University of Oxford
Prof. (emeritus) Lawrence Blum, Professor of Philosophy, and Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education University of Massachusetts Boston, specializes in anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
Dr. Les Levidow, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Open University, UK
Dr. Lin Chalozin-Dovrat, The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas and Minerva Humanities Center, Tel Aviv University
Prof. (emerita) Linda Dittmar, The English Department, University of Massachusetts, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Linda Gordon, Florence Kelley Professor of History, New York University, specializes in right-wing populism
Dr. Lior Volinz, Post-doctoral researcher at the Crime and Society (CRiS) research group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Prof. Lisa Baraitser, Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck Institute, University of London
Dr. Lisa Stampnitzky, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, specializes in political violence
Prof. (emeritus) Louis Kampf, Literature and Women’s & Gender Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prof. Louise Bethlehem, English and Cultural Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in South African apartheid
Prof. Lynne Segal, Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck Institute, University of London
Prof. (emeritus) Marc David, Department of Mathematics – Computer Science, Universiteit Antwerpen
Prof. (emeritus) Marc Steinling, School of Medicine, University of Lille Nord de France
Prof. Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor of English, Department of English and Comparative Literature, co-director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality, Columbia University, specializes in politics of memory, the Holocaust and Jewish memory
Prof. (emerita) Marianne Lederer, Former director of the School of Interpreters and Translators (ESIT), Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle
Dr. Marie-José Durand-Richard, Associated researcher at Laboratoire SPHERE, Université Paris Diderot and honorary lecturer of Mathematics and History of Science, Université Paris 8
Dr. Mark Levene, Parkes Centre for Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
Prof. (emeritus) Mateo Alaluf, Institute of Sociology, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Prof. (emeritus), Maurice Pasternak, Artist and Professor at L’École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre
Prof. Menachem Klein, Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan University, former advisor for Israeli officials regarding negotiations with Palestinian counterparts and participant in several Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Prof. Michael Chanan, Department of Media, Culture and Language, University of Roehampton
Prof. Michael Keren, Department of Economics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. (cmeritus) Micah Leshem, The Department of Psychology, University of Haifa
Prof. Michael Rothberg, 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, specializes in Holocaust studies
DipEd. Michel Staszewski, Visiting Researcher Department of Education Free University of Brussels
Dr. Mir Yarfitz, Associate Professor of History, Jewish Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Wake Forest University
Dr. Miriam Ticktin, Associate Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research
Prof. (emeritus) Mordechai Shechter, The Department of Economics and The Department of Natural Resource & Environmental Management, University of Haifa, former Rector of the University of Haifa, former President of Tel-Hai Academic College, former head of Israel’s National Parks and Nature Reserves Authority Council
Prof. (emeritus) Moshe Zimmermann, Former director of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in the German Jewry during the Second World War and anti-Semitism
Prof. (emeritus) Moshe Zuckermann, The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, son of Holocaust survivors, specializes in Zionism and anti-Semitism
Prof. (emeritus) Moshé Machover, Professor of Philosophy, University of London
Dr. Na’ama Rokem, Associate Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature & Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, specializes in Zionist and Israeli literature, and German-Jewish relations
Dr. Nadia Valman, Reader in English Literature Co-director, of the Raphael Samuel History Centre, Queen Mary, University of London, specializes in Jewish History
Dr. Naor Ben-Yehoyada, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
Prof. Neve Gordon, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, specializes in human rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Prof. Nicholas Stargardt, History Department, Magdalen College, specializes in the history of Nazi Germany
Dr. Nina Caputo, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Florida
Prof. Nir Gov, Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science
Prof. (emeritus) Nira Yuval-Davis, Honorary Director Centre for Migration, Refugees & Belonging, The University of East London
Dr. Noa Roei, Literary and Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. (emeritus) Noam Chomsky, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Laureate Professor, The Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona
Prof. (emerita), Nomi Erteschik-Shir, Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan, The School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The David Yellin Academic College of Education, co-winner of the Sakharov Prize (2001)
Prof. Oded Goldreich, Computer Science, Weizmann Institute of Science
Dr. Oded Na’aman, Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities and Social Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. Ofer Aharony, Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science
Dr. Ofri Ilany, Post-doctoral fellow, The Polonsky Academy The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, specializes in German history and in German-Jewish relations
D.Arch Olivier Tric, Honorary teacher at School of Architecture of Nantes
Prof. Oren Yiftachel, Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Dr. Orian Zakai, The Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages, The George Washington University
Prof. Pascal Lederer, Honorary research director at The French National Centre for Scientific Research
Dr. Patricia Schor, Department of Social Sciences, Amsterdam University College, specializes in nationalism, race and racism
Prof. (emeritus) Paul Mendes-Flohr, Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor Emeritus of Modern Jewish History and Thought, Associate Faculty in the Department of History, The University of Chicago Divinity School
Dr. Peter Cosyns, Post-doctoral researcher, Art History and Archeology, Free University Brussels
Pierre Getzler, Artist, “Pupille de la Nation”, his father died in July 1940 fighting with the French Foreign Legion against Nazi Germany and received The Cross of War decoration, his mother was deported to Auschwitz where she died in 1943
Dr. R. Ruth Linden, UCSF School of Medicine, founder of the Holocaust Media Project
Prof. Rachel Giora, Department of Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Ran Greenstein, Associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Ran HaCohen, Department of Literature, Tel Aviv University, specializes in German-Jewish literature
Dr. Raya Cohen, Department of History, Tel Aviv University and The University of Naples Federico II, specializes in the history of the Holocaust and in the context of Israel-Palestine
Rela Mazali, Independent scholar, writer and peace activist
Revital Madar, PhD candidate, The Cultural Studies Program, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. (emeritus) Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law, Princeton University and former UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (2008-14)
Prof. Robert C. Rosen, Department of English, William Paterson University
Dr. Roi Livne, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan
Prof. (emeritus) Rolf Verleger, Psychologist, Member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany 2005-2009
M.D. Rony Brauman, Director of Studies at the Fondation Médecins Sans Frontières, associate professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, and director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Prof. Roy Wagner, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH Zürich
Dr. Sagi Schaefer, History Department, Tel Aviv University, specializes in the history of modern Germany
Dr. Sara Roy, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Sergio Tenenbaum, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto
Dr. Seth Anziska, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London, specializes Jewish-Muslim relations and in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Seth L. Sanders, Professor of Religious Studies, Director of the Graduate Group for the Study of Religion Member, Jewish Studies Program University of California, Davis
Prof. Dr. Shani Tzoref, School of Jewish Theology, Hebrew Bible and Biblical Exegesis, University of Potsdam
Prof. (emerita) Sherna Gluck, Director of the Oral History Program, Department of History, California State University Long Beach, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Sheryl Nestel, Independent Scholar, Toronto, specializes in race and racism
Dr. Shir Hever, Political Science, Free University of Berlin, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Shira Havkin, PhD candidate in Political Sociology, Centre d’Études et de Recherches Internationales, Sciences-Po Paris
Prof. (emerita) Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, English Department and the Department of General and Comparative Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. (emeritus) Shlomo Moran, Computer Science Department, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Prof. (emeritus) Shlomo Sand, History Department, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Sidney Corbett, composer and teacher at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts
Prof. Simona Sharoni, Director of the Women’s & Gender Studies Department, Interdisciplinary Institute, Merrimack College
Smadar Ben Natan, PhD candidate, Zvi Meitar Center for Advanced Legal studies, Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Snait B. Gissis, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas Tel Aviv University, specializes in racism
Prof. (emerita) Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Social Sciences, University Paris Diderot-Paris 7
Prof. Stephen Clingman, Department of English, University of Massachusetts
Prof. Stephen Deutsch, Professor of Post-Production, Department of Media Production, Bournemouth University
Prof. Stephen R. Shalom, Political Science Department, William Paterson University, member of the executive board of the Gandhian Forum for Peace & Justice
Prof. (emeritus) Steve Golin, History Department, Bloomfield College
Dr. Steven Levine, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts
Prof. (emeritus) Steven Rose, Neuroscience, The Open University, UK
Prof. Susan Slyomovics, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, specializes in human rights, German Reparations and Israel-Palestine
Dr. Sven-Erik Rose, Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, chair of the Department of German and Russian, University of California, Davis, specializes in German and German-Jewish literature and thought and Holocaust Studies
Dr. Tal Shuval, Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic studies, The Open University of Israel, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Tamar Blickstein, Post-doctoral researcher, Affective Societies, The Free University of Berlin
Prof. Tamar Rapoport, The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. Tamir Sorek, Sociology and Jewish Studies, University of Florida, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Dr. Terri Ginsberg, Assistant Professor, Department of the Arts, The American University in Cairo
Dr. Tom Pessah, Independent scholar and activist
Prof. (emeritus) Tommy Dreyfus, Mathematics Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
Udi Aloni, Writer and filmmaker, specializes in Jewish and Zionist thought and in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Uri Hadar, Head of Gerontological Clinical Psychology department, Ruppin Academic Center
Prof. (emerita) Vered Kraus, Department of Sociology, University of Haifa
Prof. Victor Ginsburgh, The European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Prof. Willie van Peer, Intercultural Hermeneutics, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich
Yaara Benger Alaluf, Post-doctoral fellow at The Center for The History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
Dr. Yael Politi, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam
Dr. Yair Wallach, Head of the Centre for Jewish Studies, Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East, SOAS, University of London, specializes in the context of Israel-Palestine
Prof. Yakov Rabkin, The Montreal Centre for International Studies and the Department of History, Université de Montréal, specializes in history of Jewish and Zionist thought
Dr. Yali Hashash, Haifa Feminist Research Center, Women and Gender Studies Program and The Oral History Laboratory: Life-stories under oppression at The Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Yann Guillaud, Lecturer at The Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), Sciences Po
Prof. (emeritus) Yehoshua Kolodny, Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, winner of the Israel Prize (2010)
Prof. Yinon Cohen, Yosef H. Yerushalmi Professor of Israel & Jewish Studies, Department of Sociology, Columbia University
Prof. (emeritus) Yonathan (Jon) Anson, Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. Yosef Grodzinsky, The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky, Centre for Media Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Prof. Yuri Pines, Director, The Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies Department of Asian Studies The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Yuval Eylon, The Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, The Open University of Israel
Dr. Yuval Yonay, Department of Sociology, University of Haifa
Dr. Zvi Bekerman, The Seymour Fox School of Education, The Melton Centre for Jewish Education and research fellow at The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializes in intercultural encounters and minority education

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Israeli Academics Condemn the Slaughter and Endless Oppression of the Palestinian People

July 20, 2014Public Voices

This protest petition just came to our attention. As a pubic service we are circulating it here. In the coming days, analysis from alternative perspectives will follow, including pieces by Nahed Habiballah, Benoit Challand and yours truly. – Jeff Goldfarb

The signatories to this statement, all academics at Israeli universities, wish it to be known that they utterly deplore the aggressive military strategy being deployed by the Israeli government. The slaughter of large numbers of wholly innocent people, is placing yet more barriers of blood in the way of the negotiated agreement which is the only alternative to the occupation and endless oppression of the Palestinian people. Israel must agree to an immediate cease-fire, and start negotiating in good faith for the end of the occupation and settlements, through a just peace agreement.

If you are an Israeli academic, working in Israel, and would like to sign this statement, please send an email to Prof. Rachel Giora rachel.giora@gmail.com with your name, title and affiliation.

Academics in Israeli universities who have signed the statement above:

Prof. Rachel Giora, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Emmanuel Farjoun, Hebrew University
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Hebrew University
Dr. Kobi Snitz, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Dr. Anat Matar, Tel Aviv University
Dr Efrat Ben-Zeev, Ruppin Academic Center
Prof. As’ad Ghanem, Haifa University
Prof. Anat Biletzki, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Adi Ophir, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Ovadia Ezra, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Zvi Tauber, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Vered Kraus, Haifa University
Dr. Yuval Yonay, Haifa University
Prof. Oded Goldreich, Weizman Institute
Prof. Dana Ron, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Gadi Algazi, Tel Aviv University
Professor Mira Ariel, Tel Aviv University
Professor Idan Landau, Ben Gurion University
Professor As’ad Ghanem, Haifa University
Dr. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Haifa University
Prof. Micah Leshem, Haifa University
Dr. Ilan Saban, University of Haifa
Dr. Avishai Ehrlich, TAU
Dr. Ivy Sichel, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Prof. Yehuda Shenhav, TAU
Dr. Hannah Safran, The Academic College for Society and the Arts
Dr. Yael Ben-zvi, Ben-Gurion University
Prof. Dudy Tzfati, Hebrew University
Dr. Tikva Honig-Parnass, Jerusalem
Professor David Blanc, University
Dr. Haim Yacobi Bezalel, Ben Gurion University
Elizabeth Ritter, Ben-Gurion University
Paul Wexler, Professor Emeritus, Tel-Aviv University
Prof. Tal Siloni, Tel Aviv University
Prof. Amatzia Weisel, Tel Aviv University (retired)
Prof. Tamar Katriel, Haifa University
Dr. Haim Deuelle Luski, Tel Aviv University & Bezalel Academy of Art
Prof. Matania Ben-Artzi, Hebrew University
Dr. Roy Wagner, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Uri Hadar, Tel Aviv University
Professor Shlomo Sand, Tel Aviv University
Professor Yuri Pines, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Amira Katz, Hebrew University Jerusalem
Prof. Julia Horvath, Tel-Aviv University
Dr. Arie M. Dubnov, University of Haifa
Dr. Raz Chen-Morris, Bar Ilan University
Dr. Amalia Sa’ar, University of Haifa

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Micah Leshem in Italian:

Don’t we set precondition to the negotiations of peace – because they ask for the Palestinian ones?

http://rete-eco.it/2012/approfondimenti/opposizione-israeliana/38483-precondizioni.html

Categoria: Opposizione israelianaPubblicato Giovedì, 18 Luglio 2013 08:22Scritto da Micah Leshem

24/06/2013

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BackOpen Letter from Faculty Members 
We, faculty members from a number of Israeli universities, wish to express our appreciation and support for those of our students and lecturers who refuse to serve as soldiers in the occupied territories. Such service too often involves carrying out orders that have no place in a democratic society founded on the sanctity of human life.
For thirty five years an entire people, some three and a half million in number, have been held without basic human rights. The occupation and oppression of another people have brought the State of Israel to where it is today.
Without an Israeli declaration of an end to the occupation, accompanied by appropriate action–unilateral, if necessary–the present war is not being fought for our home but for the settlements beyond the green line and for the continued oppression of another people.
We hereby express our readiness to do our best to help students who encounter academic, administrative or economic difficulties as a result of their refusal to serve in the territories. We call on the University community at large to support them.
Faculty members who wish to join are welcome to contact Anat Biletzki (anatbi@post.tau.ac.il).This letter is being updated. So far, 360 faculty members have signed it.Tel-Aviv UniversityGadi AlgaziBenjamin ArbelMira ArielMordecai ArieliAharon AtzmonIrit AverbuchMichal AviadArnon AvronRon BarkaiOfer BarneaOuti Bat-ElAvner Ben-AmosZiva Ben-PoratSigal Ben-PorathLinda Ben-ZviRuth BermanAnat BiletzkiYigal BronnerJose BrunnerRaya CohenYinon CohenGerald CohenLeo CorryBilha Davidson-HaradDaniel DorTommy DreyfusZohar EitanMiri Eliav-FeldonGuy EvenAharon EviatarOvadia EzraRivka FeldhayAmos FiatMenachem FischGideon FreudenthalAriella FriedmanLyat FriedmanIris FryChaim GansIsrael GershoniRachel GioraSnait GissisEli GlaznerOfra Goldstein-GidoniYuval GorenJoseph GrodzinskyUri HadarAvraham  HeffnerTalma HendlerHanna HerzogZe’ev HerzogYoram HirschfeldSylvie HonigmanJulia HorvathEva JablonkaDaphna JoelNaftali KaminskiHaggi KenaanAviad KleinbergNora Korin-LangerJudy KupfermanYehuda KupfermanYitzhak LaorHerardo LeibnerElia LeibovitzDafna LemishShimon LevyOrly LubinRuth ManorUri  MaorShmulik MarcoAnat MatarAriel  MeiravBen-Zion MunitzHannah NavehJudd Ne’emanJoseph NeumannYehuda NinyAdi OphirRonie ParciackYoav PeledEinat PeledTamar PiterbergDanny RabinowitzZvi RaziRaanan ReinElchanan ReinerTanya ReinhartFreddie RokemDana RonTova RosenSharon RotbardZeev RotemShlomo SandRakefet Sela-SheffyRuben SeroussiAharon ShabtaiRonen ShamirEdna ShavitUzi ShavitLeon SheleffYishayahu ShenYehuda ShenhavElana ShohamyTali SiloniAmy SingerRosalie SitmanZvi TauberShula VolkovPaul WexlerMina WilsonAmnon WolmanEli YassifNeta ZivMoshe ZuckermannHebrew UniversityZach AdamAmotz AgnonDaniel  AmitShalom BaerMalachi Beit-ArieMatania Ben-ArtziJochanan BenbassatGershon Ben-ShakharShlomo BentinTzvi BentwichMichel BercovierLouise BethlehemMichael BrandeisMenahem BrinkerVictoria BuchRuth ButlerErik CohenItamar CwikSidra DeKoven EzrahiAvner De-ShalitFanny DoljanskiOtniel DrorDavid EnochYehouda EnzelRuma FalkRaphael FalkEmanuel FarjounMichal  FrenkelElizabeth FreundEhud FriedgutDov FriedlanderAvraham  GalDaphna Golan-AgnonAmiram GoldblumCharles GreenbaumRuth HaCohenDon  HandelmanAlon HarelGalit Hasan-RokemYaacov HasingHannan HeverCarola  HilfrichPeter HillmanAriel  HirschfeldUdi HrushovskiRonen KadmonMichael KerenOrna KupfermanRaz  KupfermanJohn LandauYonata LevyNati  LinialJeanette MalkinNina MayorekPaul Mendes-FlohrNilly MorNava MoranStephane MosesUzi MotroGad NathanAnat NinioIlana PardesNurit Peled-ElhananShmuel  PelegMotty PerryYuri PinesItamar PitowskyJulia ResnikYaacov RitovIlana RitovMoshe RonZeev  RosenhekIdan SegevBenny  ShanonGideon  ShelachTuvia ShlonskyNita ShochatYinon ShrimDavid  ShulmanIvy SichelWilfred SteinZeev SternhellMorris TeubalDudy TzfatiAmiel VardiVered VinitzkyMarcus WasemJoseph WeidenfeldAvital WolmanMenachem YaariJoseph ZeiraAnat ZeiraMoshe ZimmermanBen-Gurion UniversityYael AmitaiArie ArnonDanny Bar-OnNaomi BenbassatShmuel  Ben-DorIts`hak  DinsteinDalia DraiGerda Elata-AlsterDanny FilcAlon FriedmanOfer GalNeve GordonHaim GordonLev GrinbergYitzhak HenSam KaplanShoshana KeinyHanan KischBecky KookIlana KrauzmanIdan LandauDaphna LevitAmnon MeiselsPnina Mutzafi-HallerIsaac (Yanni) NevoDavid NewmanIris ParushAdi ParushAmit PinchevskiRenee PoznanskiHaggai  RamUri  RamAmnon Raz-KrakotzkinNomi ShirZvi SolovBarak WeissNitza YanayOren YiftachelJoseph YonahHaifa UniversityAnat ArielUri Bar-JosephYair BaumlBenjamin Beit-HallahmiDevorah BernsteinDavid  BlancAmit GazitAvner GiladiIlan Gur-ZeevYossi  GuttmanMeir HemoTali ItzhakiDeborah Kalekin-FishmanTamar KatrielAmalia KoriatVered KraussHaggai KupermintzRon KuzarMicah LeshemJoyce LivingstoneJudah MatrasAvraham  OzNira PancerKobi Peter (Peterzil)Roni PiskerHenry RosenfeldIlan SabanDalia SachsHannah SafranMichael SaltmanAnna SfardArie ShapiraIlan  TorenMichael YogevYuval YonayTechnionColman AltmanErez  BraunDavid  DeganiMichael FryHaggai GilboaJacob KatrielUri  KatzHubert Law-YoneYaakov OshmanDanny RitterShammai SpeiserBronek WajnrybIrad YavnehOfer ZeitouniAcademic College, Tel-Aviv-JaffaOfer FeinHanan FrenkRebecca JacobyMichal ParnasAvraham SchweigerEran ShadakhDorit ShweikiDani  SzpruchRoy WagnerWeizman InstituteOfer AharonyOded GoldreichSteve KarlishRon NaamanYossi NirItamar ProcacciaAmitai RegevDaniel RohrlichVered Rom-KedarUzy SmilanskyInterdisciplinary CenterDanny Ben-ShaharMike DahanBezalel AcademyZivia Yair AvigdorYuval BaerEyal Ben-DovMichal Broshi-BenlevyIdo BrunoMaya Cohen LeviAnat DavidTzachi FarberDavid GintonShuka GlotmanDavid GuggenheimLance HunterShmuel  KaplanAnat KatsirYaacov KaufmanSharon KerenGil KleinMarylou LevinItzik RennertMiri SegalArie SivanKeren VinerHaim  YakovyReuven  ZehaviSapir CollegeDaniel DeMalachOrly SokerTel-Hai Academic CollegeAvihu RonenAshkelon Academic CollegeMenashe ShwedOpen UniversityAmira GelblumSimona GinsburgKaye College of EducationDoron NarkissGordon College of Education – HaifaAnat BarneaCollege of ManagementReuven HoreshBar Ilan UniversityHannah KasherRimon KasherBezalel ManekinDavid SeneshAcademic CenterOrly ShenkerBeit Berl CollegeDiana Silberman-KellerLevinsky College of EducationDorit CohenRamat Gan CollegeYael BerdaAbroadJacques Negre
 גילוי דעת של חברי סגל מהאוניברסיטאות והמכללותחזור
אנו חברי סגל מהאוניברסיטאות מביעים בזאת את תמיכתנו והערכתנו לסטודנטים ומרצים המסרבים לשרת כחיילים בשטחים הכבושים. שרות זה כרוך לעתים קרובות מדי בביצוע פקודות שאין להן מקום בחברה דמוקרטית המאמינה כי כל אדם נברא בצלם.
מזה 35 שנה, מוחזק עם שלם של שלשה וחצי מליון איש ללא זכויות אדם בסיסיות. הכיבוש והשליטה על עם אחר הביאו את מדינת ישראל אל המצב בו היא נמצאת היום.
ללא הצהרה ישראלית על סיום הכיבוש המלווה במעשים – ולו גם מעשים חד-צדדיים, אין מלחמה זאת מלחמה על הבית כי אם על המשך הדיכוי והמשך מפעל ההתנחלויות.
אנו מביעים בזאת את נכונותנו לעזור ככל יכולתנו לסטודנטים שכתוצאה מסירובם לשרת בשטחים יתקלו בקשיים לימודיים, כלכליים או מינהליים ואנו קוראים לקהילת האוניברסיטה לתמוך בסרבנים.
סטודנטים מוזמנים ליצור קשר עם כל אחד מהחתומים למעלה.
חברי סגל המעוניינים להצטרף מוזמנים לכתוב ל-anatbi@post.tau.ac.il
רשימה זאת מתעדכנת, עד כה חתמו עליה 360 חברי סגל מהאוניברסיטאות.
אוניברסיטת תל אביבמיכל אביעדאהרון אביתרגיא אבןארנון אברוןעדי אופיראירית אורבוךזוהר איתןגדי אלגזימירי אליאב-פלדוןבני ארבלמירה אריאלמרדכי אריאליענת בילצקיאבנר בן-עמוסזיוה בן-פורתסיגל בן-פורתלינדה בן-צבייגאל ברונרז’וזה ברונררות ברמןעופר ברנערון ברקאיאותי בת-אלעפרה גולדשטיין-גדעונייובל גורןרחל גיוראסנאית גיסיסאלי גלזנרחיים גנזיוסף גרודז’ינסקיישראל גרשוניבלהה דוידסון-הרדדניאל דורטומי דרייפוסאורי הדרסילבי הוניגמןג’וליה הורבטיורם הירשפלדתלמה הנדלראברהם הפנרחנה הרצוגזאב הרצוגמינה ווילסוןאמנון וולמןשולה וולקובפול ווקסלרנטע זיושלמה זנדצבי טאוברחוה יבלונקהדפנה יואלעלי יסיףרעיה כהןינון כהןג’רלד כהןחגי כנעןיצחק לאוראורלי לוביןשמעון לויאליה לייבוביץחררדו לייבנרדפנה למישאורי מאורבן-ציון מוניץענת מטראריאל מירברות מנורשמוליק מרקוג’אד נאמןחנה נוהיוסף נוימןיהודה נינירוזלי סיטמןטלי סילוניאיימי סינגררקפת סלע-שפיראובן סרוסיעובדיה עזראאהרון עצמוןעמוס פיאטתמר פיטרברגמנחם פישעינת פלדיואב פלדרבקה פלדחיגדעון פרוידנטלאריאלה פרידמןליאת פרידמןאיריס פריירוני פרצ`קמשה צוקרמןג’ודי קופפרמןיהודה קופפרמןליאו קורינורה קורין-לנגראביעד קליינברגנפתלי קמינסקידני רבינוביץטובה רוזןשרון רוטברדדנה רוןפרדי רוקםזאב רותםצבי רזירענן רייןטניה ריינהרטאלחנן ריינרעדנה שביטעוזי שביטאהרון שבתאיאילנה שוהמיליאון שלףרונן שמירישעיהו שןיהודה שנהבהאוניברסיטה העבריתצח אדםדוד אנוךיהודה אנזלויקטוריה בוךרות בטלרמלאכי בית-אריהלואיז בית-לחםמתניה בן-ארצייוחנן בן-בסטצבי בנטואיץ’שלמה בנטיןגרשון בן-שחרשלום ברמנחם ברינקרמיכאל ברנדייסמישל ברקוביארעמירם גולדבלוםדפנה גולןאברהם גלצ’רלס גרינבאוםאבנר דה-שליטפאני דולז`נסקיסדרה דיקובן אזרחיעתניאל דרורפיטר הילמןקרולה הילפריךאריאל הירשפלדרות הכהןדון הנדלמןיעקב הסינגאלון הראלאודי הרושובסקימרקוס ואסםיוסף ווידינפלדאביטל וולמןורד ויניצקיעמיאל ורדייוסי זעיראענת זעיראחנן חברגלית חזן-רוקםמנחם יעריאריק כהןיונתה לוינתי ליניאלג’ון לנדאוסטפני מוזסעוזי מוטרונילי מורנאוה מורןנינה מיורקז’נט מלכיןפאול מנדס-פלורענת ניניוגד נתןאייבי סישלאמוץ עגנוןדניאל עמיתאיתמר פיטובסקייורי פינסשמואל פלגנורית פלד-אלחנןרומה פלקרפאל פלקעמנואל פרגוןאילנה פרדסמוטי פריאהוד פרידגוטדב פרידלנדיראליזבת פריונדמיכל פרנקלאיתמר צביקמשה צימרמןדודי צפתירונן קדמוןאורנה קופרמןרז קופרמןמיכאל קרןזאב רוזנהקמשה רוןיעקב ריטובאילנה ריטובג’וליה רסניקעידן שגבניטה שוחטדוד שולמןזאב שטייןזאב שטרנהלטוביה שלונסקיגדעון שלחבני שנוןינון שריםמוריס תובלאוניברסיטת בן-גוריוןגרדה אילתה-אלסתריעל אמיתיאריה ארנוןנעמי בן-בסטשמואל בן-דורדן בר-אוןניב גורדוןחיים גורדוןעופר גללב גרינברגיצחק דינשטייןדליה דרעיברק וייסיצחק חןיוסי יונהניצה ינאיאורן יפתחאלדפנה לויטעידן לנדופנינה מוצפי-הלראמנון מייזלסיצחק (יאני) נבודוד ניומןצבי סולוברנה פוזננסקידני פילקעמית פינצ’בסקיעדי פרושאיריס פרושאלון פרידמןבקי קוקשושנה קייניחנן קישסם קפלןאילנה קראוזמןאמנון רז-קרקוצקיןחגי רםאורי רםנעמי שיראוניברסיטת חיפהענת אריאליאיר בוימלבנימין בית-הלחמידוד בלנקאורי בר-יוסףדבורה ברנשטייןיוסי גוטמןאילן גור-זאבעמית גזיתאבנר גלעדידליה זקשמאיר חמומיכאל יוגביובל יונאיטלי יצחקירון כוזרתמר כתריאלג’ויס ליוינגסטוןמיכה לשםיהודה מטרסאילן סבןמיכאל סולטמןאנה ספרדחנה ספרןאברהם עוזרוני פיסקרנירה פנסרקובי פתרחגי קופרמינץעמליה קוריאטדבורה קלקין-פישמןורד קראוסהנרי רוזנפלדאריה שפיראאילן תורןהטכניוןיעקב אושמןקלמן אלטמןארז בראוןחגי גלבועדוד דגניברונק ויינריבעופר זיתוניעירד יבנהאורי כץיעקב כתריאליוברט לו-יוןמיכאל פריידני ריטרשמאי שפייזרהמכללה האקדמית ת”א-יפורועי וגנררבקה יעקוביעופר פייןמיכל פרנסחנן פרנקערן שדךדורית שוויקיאברהם שוייגרדני שפרוךמכון וייצמןעופר אהרוניעודד גולדרייךיוסף ניררון  נעמןעוזי  סמילנסקיאיתמר פרוקצ`יהסטיב קרלישאמיתי רגבורד רום-קידרדניאל רורליךהמרכז הבין-תחומידני בן-שחרמייק דהאןאקדמיה בצלאלזיויה יאיר אביגדוראיל בן-דביובל ברעידו ברונומיכל ברושי בן-לוידוד גוגנהייםדוד גינתוןשוקה גלוטמןענת דודלנס הנטרקרן וינרראובן זהביחיים יעקובימיה כהן לוימרילו לויןמירי סגלאריה סיוןצחי פרבריעקב קאופמןגיל קלייןשמואל קפלןענת קצירשרון קרןאיציק רנרטמכללת ספירדניאל דה מלאךאורלי סוקרמכללה אקדמית תל-חיאביהו רונןמכללה אקדמית אשקלוןמנשה שוידהאוניברסיטה הפתוחהשמעונה גינצבורגאמירה גלבלוםהמכללה לחינוך ע”ש קיידורון נרקיסהמכללה לחינוך גורדון – חיפהענת ברנעהמכללה למנהלראובן חורשאוניברסיטת בר-אילןחנה כשררימון כשרבצלאל מנקיןדוד סנשהקריה האקדמיתאורלי שנקרמכללת בית ברלדיאנה סילברמן קלרמכללת לוינסקי לחינוךדורית כהןמכללת רמת גןיעל ברדהחו”לז’ק נגרה

When Activism Replaces Scholarship: The Case of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

09.04.26

Editorial Note

Later this month, Trinity College Dublin’s School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and the Irish School of Ecumenics will host a webinar titled “Why Wars? Voices of Women” or “Why Wars? The Cry for Just Peace,” on April 23, 2026.

The invitation to the webinar states that “Despite our hopes for abundant life, the business of death has been organized in ways that defy imagination. It has been structured, institutionalized, industrialized, legalized, and even morally justified on a mass scale. As a complex totality, industrial-scale death masquerades as ‘civilization’, presenting its own security to justify violence with lethal weaponry on a global scale. Human rights, democracy, development, women’s rights, and queer rights, often seen as achievements of modern civilization, have themselves been weaponized with promises of peace, prosperity, and security. But for whom? Children and women, those who sustain the continuation of life across generations, are among those most exposed to violence and suffering. Their cry for life is not a cry for any kind of peace, but for just peace, where liveable conditions and the continuation of life are ensured. Their resilience and resistance embody our hopes for life and invite our solidarity in seeking an alternative vision of just peace.” 

The webinar will feature four women, including Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the “internationally renowned scholar and activist whose work examines trauma, state violence, surveillance, gendered harm, and the intersections of law and society.” Formerly of the Hebrew University, she serves as Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London and holds academic affiliations across South Africa, the United States, and Jerusalem. She is the author of Militarization and Violence against Women.  

Israel Academia Monitor has been reporting on Shalhoub-Kevorkian numerous times, including earlier this year.  

In 2025, Shalhoub-Kevorkian published a paper titled “Five Pillars of Zionist Genocidal Apparatus: A Palestinian Problematization of Genocide Studies,” in the Journal of Genocide Research, Volume 28, 2026 – Issue 3, as part of a Roundtable: Gaza and Genocide Studies. There, she stated, “In this paper, I trouble the ways Genocide Studies has engaged with the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the political power embedded in invoking genocide.” She claims to be theorizing “Palestinian voices and testimonies from the beginning of the Nakba in 1948 through the ongoing genocide today.” She details a Palestinian woman, Fatmeh, a Gazan mother who went to get food for her children and came back to find their scattered body parts – “ashlaa’.” Shalhoub-Kevorkian continues, “I also speak for/from the unheard voices of Gazan newborns, left to decompose in incubators on 9 November 2023, in Al-Nasr hospital’s ICU ward,” referring to a CNN report. Her “analysis of the ongoing genocidal Nakba in Gaza stages the centrality of death and overkill apparent in the ashlaa’ of decomposed babies in incubators and of Fatmeh’s dismembered ashlaa’ of her children.” She looks at how “terror inhabiting the most vulnerable bodies – newborns and children – and most vulnerable spaces: homes, schools, and hospitals.”

Shalhoub-Kevorkian states her analysis “targets the Israeli state that reduces children and newborn bodies into decomposing, dismembered objects to support the larger project of demarcating the ontological boundary between the human and the non-human, the should-be-shredded, decomposed, and killed to disappear. The genocidal brutality of indiscriminate attacks intended to kill, including leaving newborns abandoned in incubators, inscribes in both the flesh and Zionist consciousness that Palestinian bodies can and should always be in a state of death and overkill. Such inscription of power on babies’ flesh, as on the flesh of Palestinian men and women, old and young, ontologically links their slowly dying bodies to the settler colonial state.” 

However, contrary to Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s antisemitic blood libel, during the fighting in northern Gaza in November 2023, after the evacuation of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, several premature babies were left behind in incubators. When medical staff returned, they found the infants dead. While some reports attributed responsibility to Israeli military actions, the available evidence reflects a chaotic wartime situation, and responsibility for the deaths remains disputed.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian presents the episode as evidence of a “genocidal apparatus” targeting Palestinian infants. Yet the available evidence regarding the deaths of the babies does not support the claim that Israel intentionally caused their deaths.

The tragedy is indisputable, but it was Hamas that started the war and used Palestinian civilians as human shields, including in hospitals and schools.

Worth noting that the Al-Nasr Children’s hospital was also discussed in an article by Robert Satloff, the executive director of The Washington Institute, who noted how an “heartrending story about finding decomposing infants in a Gaza hospital is full of troubling holes, discrepancies, and conflicts of interest that should have raised serious questions.” 

Shalhoub-Kevorkian argues that Israeli policies toward Palestinians must be understood through the framework of genocide studies. However, this interpretation is highly contested within the field. Several scholars have argued that the available evidence does not meet the legal or historical criteria for genocide, particularly the requirement of demonstrable intent to destroy a protected group.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian is not new to falsifications and lies. In 2014, she co-authored an article, stating that “The targeting of Palestinian women’s bodies and sexuality, we contend, is structural to the Israeli settler colonial project’s racialized logic of elimination.” The authors referred to a 2009 book by Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Militarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: A Palestinian Case-Study, which details how “Rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinian women have always been an element of the settler colonial state’s attempts to destroy and eliminate indigenous Palestinians from their land. In addition to rape and other forms of sexual violence, the racialized logic of sexual violence energizes the very imaginary and project of conquering and cultivating Palestinian land, in transforming it into the Jewish polis.  Hence, our discussion of sexual violence is embedded not only in the sexualized practices and politics of the Zionist state, but also in the nature of Israeli settler colonial violence itself.” 

Contrary to Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s claims, in 2006, a Hebrew University MA thesis by Tal Nitzan, supervised by Profs. Eyal Ben-Ari and Edna Lomsky-Feder, titled “The Borders of Occupation: The Rarity of Military Rape in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” indicated that rape by IDF soldiers was very rare. The study analyzed the reasons for this, examining cultural, social, and military aspects. The study concluded that cases of rape by IDF soldiers were extremely rare compared with patterns observed in many other military conflicts.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian knows full well that Palestinian civilians serve as cannon fodder for Islamist terrorist groups, but she finds ways to avoid it. She says that one of the issues addressed by her 2009 bookMilitarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East: a Palestinian Case, is the “complex way in which hegemonic economic, political, and patriarchal powers, including the mass media, ostracize Palestinian women and reproduce oppressive gender politics. If someone looks at Um Riad [a Palestinian mother] through the hegemonic lens, he or she might construct an image of this Palestinian woman based upon the popular discourses, such as the US media’s portrayal of Palestinian women as ‘bad’ mothers who ‘couldn’t care less’ for any of their losses, or who encourage ‘terrorism’, support extremism, and generally promote violence. Too often, their suffering, pain, and voices are camouflaged by the physics of the authority of Empire and the politics of representation that are a-historicized and de-contextualized. As an Orientalist perspective, this discourse transforms men and women into faceless, voiceless, and a-historical subjects who lack agency and who are in need of ‘modernization’ to raise them up from their ‘uncivilized’ state.”

Shalhoub-Kevorkian chose to side with Hamas, a terrorist organization that has deliberately put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way to maximize their casualties. By producing scholarship that fits Hamas’s ideology, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is not only betraying women and babies in Palestine but also the scholarship’s search for truth. 

The Hebrew University has a responsibility to ensure that its scholarship is not falsified, whether in the hard sciences or the social sciences. It should stop promoting Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s “research” after she has left the university.

Universities that host such speakers have a responsibility to provide their audiences with the relevant scholarly and factual context. Trinity College Dublin should include all this information in its upcoming webinar.

REFERENCES:

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies

Why Wars? Voices of Women

01 Apr 2026

ISE Ecumenical Conversation Webinar Series II

Thursday 23 April 12pm-1.30pm, online

This webinar brings together voices of women from across the world who, in different ways, encounter war while also embodying forms of resilience and resistance that defy death, displacement, and destruction. As Mahmoud Darwish reminds us, “life defined only as the opposite of death is not life.”

In keeping with the vision of the Irish School of Ecumenics, and in partnership with the Peace Culture Research Institute (PCRI), this webinar asks the question: Why Wars? It invites participants to engage in self-reflection from women’s perspectives, as they articulate an explicitly ethical political position.


Featuring:

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
An internationally renowned scholar and activist whose work examines trauma, state violence, surveillance, gendered harm, and the intersections of law and society.

Elizabeth W. Corrie
Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, where she also directs the MDiv Hybrid Program.

Khaldah Salih
Sudanese community organiser, communications professional, and researcher based in Toronto.

Necta Montes Rocas
Necta Montes Rocas works with feminist movements to amplify the voices and participation of marginalized women and LGBTQI communities in the Global South.

Denise Bradley
Programme Manager for Marginalisation at Corrymeela, working at the intersection of peacebuilding, trauma, and social justice.

Chaired by Jude Lal Fernando
Director, Irish School of Ecumenics, Associate Professor, School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin.

For full details and to book a place click here.

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Overview

ISE Ecumenical Conversation Webinar Series

Why Wars? Voices of Women

ByIrish School of Ecumenics

Online event

 Thursday, Apr 23 from 2 pm to 3:30 pm IDT

Free

Thu, Apr 23 • 2 pm IDT

ISE Ecumenical Conversation Webinar Series

Why Wars? The Cry for Just Peace

The real tragedy is that most people in the world are trapped between the horror of a putative peace and the terror of war… How do we climb out of this crevasse?

– Arundhati Roy.

23 April 2026 – Time 12 PM-1.30 PM (Ireland/UK Time)

Featuring:

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is an internationally renowned scholar and activist whose work examines trauma, state violence, surveillance, gendered harm, and the intersections of law and society. She serves as Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London and holds academic affiliations across South Africa, the United States, and Jerusalem. She is the author of Militarization and Violence against Women.

Elizabeth W. Corrie

Elizabeth W. Corrie is Professor in the Practice of Youth Education and Peacebuilding at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, where she also directs the MDiv Hybrid Program. Her work focuses on youth formation, moral agency, and peace education, particularly how practices of learning and community engagement can interrupt cycles of violence and silence. She is the author of Youth Ministry as Peace Education.

Khaldah Salih

Khaldah Salih is a Sudanese community organiser, communications professional, and researcher based in Toronto. She is a member of the Sudan Solidarity Collective, a diaspora-led initiative formed in response to the war in Sudan, working across advocacy, mutual aid, and community mobilisation. Her research focuses on grassroots responses to war and the role of collective care in sustaining communities under crisis.

Necta Montes Rocas

Necta Montes Rocas works with feminist movements to amplify the voices and participation of marginalized women and LGBTQI communities in the Global South. With a background in student activism in the Philippines, her work engages struggles against authoritarianism, as well as ongoing efforts toward gender justice, social transformation, and inclusive participation.

Denise Bradley

Denise Bradley is Programme Manager for Marginalisation at Corrymeela, working at the intersection of peacebuilding, trauma, and social justice. With over 25 years of experience, she has supported communities affected by conflict, displacement, sectarianism, and gender-based violence, with a focus on creating relational spaces for dialogue, particularly among those experiencing deep marginalisation and structural injustice.

Chaired by Jude Lal Fernando

Director, Irish School of Ecumenics, Associate Professor, School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin

About the Webinar

Despite our hopes for abundant life, the business of death has been organised in ways that defy imagination. It has been structured, institutionalised, industrialised, legalised, and even morally justified on a mass scale. As a complex totality, industrial-scale death masquerades as ‘civilisation’, presenting its own security to justify violence with lethal weaponry on a global scale. Human rights, democracy, development, women’s rights, and queer rights, often seen as achievements of modern civilisation, have themselves been weaponised with promises of peace, prosperity, and security. But for whom? Children and women, those who sustain the continuation of life across generations, are among those most exposed to violence and suffering. Their cry for life is not a cry for any kind of peace, but for just peace, where liveable conditions and the continuation of life are ensured. Their resilience and resistance embody our hopes for life and invite our solidarity in seeking an alternative vision of just peace.

This webinar brings together voices of women from across the world who, in different ways, encounter war while also embodying forms of resilience and resistance that defy death, displacement, and destruction. As Mahmoud Darwish reminds us, “life defined only as the opposite of death is not life.” In keeping with the vision of the Irish School of Ecumenics, and in partnership with the Peace Culture Research Institute (PCRI), this webinar asks the question: Why Wars? It invites participants to engage in self-reflection from women’s perspectives, as they articulate an explicitly ethical political position.

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Journal of Genocide Research Volume 28, 2026 – Issue 3

Roundtable: Gaza and Genocide Studies
Five Pillars of Zionist Genocidal Apparatus: A Palestinian Problematization of Genocide Studies
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Pages 540-552 | Published online: 19 Sep 2025

Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2025.2556589

JOURNAL OF GENOCIDE RESEARCH

2026, VOL. 28, NO. 3, 540–552

ROUNDTABLE: GAZA AND GENOCIDE STUDIES

Five Pillars of Zionist Genocidal Apparatus: A Palestinian Problematization of Genocide Studies

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkianᵃᵇ

ᵃInstitute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa;

ᵇGlobal Law, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK


In this paper, I trouble the ways Genocide Studies has engaged with the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the political power embedded in invoking genocide. To begin, I must state that what guides my theorization are Palestinian voices and testimonies from the beginning of the Nakba in 1948 through the ongoing genocide today: Palestinian voices, like the voice of Fatmeh, the Gazan mother who went viral in October 2023 when she went to get food for her children, only to come back and find their scattered body parts – ashlaa’. As she said: “My kids died hungry …. I went to get them food and came back to find them ashlaa’, body remains, scattered all over the place, ashlaa’ ….” I also speak for/from the unheard voices of Gazan newborns, left to decompose in incubators on 9 November 2023, in Al-Nasr hospital’s ICU ward. CNN reported: “The tiny bodies of babies, several still attached to wires and tubes that were meant to keep them alive, decomposing in their hospital beds. Milk bottles and spare diapers still next to them on the sheets.”¹

My analysis of the ongoing genocidal Nakba in Gaza stages the centrality of death and overkill apparent in the ashlaa’ of decomposed babies in incubators and of Fatmeh’s dismembered ashlaa’ of her children. It brings to our view the ordinary terror inhabiting the most vulnerable bodies – newborns and children – and most vulnerable spaces: homes, schools, and hospitals.

My analysis targets the Israeli state that reduces children and newborn bodies into decomposing, dismembered objects to support the larger project of demarcating the ontological boundary between the human and the non-human, the should-be-shredded, decomposed, and killed to disappear. The genocidal brutality of indiscriminate attacks intended to kill, including leaving newborns abandoned in incubators, inscribes in both the flesh and Zionist consciousness that Palestinian bodies can and should always be in a state of death and overkill. Such inscription of power on babies’ flesh, as on the flesh of Palestinian men and women, old and young, ontologically links their slowly dying bodies to the settler colonial state. As Fanon has explained, understanding the ontological difference of the colonized involves seeing below the notion of being and even below the notion of nonbeing, hence his insistence on talking about the colonized.


CONTACT

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian — nadera@sh-ke.com — 12 Charlton St., Princeton, NJ 08540

  1. Allegra Goodwin et al., “Infants Found Dead and Decomposing in Evacuated Hospital ICU in Gaza. Here’s What We Know,” CNN, 8 December 2023,https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/08/middleeast/babies-al-nasr-gaza-hospital-what-we-know-intl/index.html


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Five Pillars of Zionist Genocidal Apparatus: A Palestinian Problematization of Genocide Studies

·         Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

Original languageEnglish 
JournalJournal of Genocide Research

Access to Document

·         10.1080/14623528.2025.255658



Accepted/In press – 2025 Externally published Yes

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (Accepted/In press). Five Pillars of Zionist Genocidal Apparatus: A Palestinian Problematization of Genocide Studies. Journal of Genocide Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2025.2556589

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In Gaza, we are witnessing the genocidal economy at scale

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

23 August 2025 14:28 BST | Last update:5 months 2 weeks ago

Dispossession and death at the hands of Zionists are embedded in a settler-colonial ideology that rejects Palestinian humanity

The following is adapted from a presentation to the Gaza Tribunal in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, earlier this year.

In this talk, I plan to trouble (or unsettle) the ways in which genocide studies has engaged with the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and the political power embedded in invoking genocide.

To begin, I must state that what guides my theorisation are Palestinian voices and testimonies from the beginning of the Nakba in 1948 through the ongoing genocide today.

Palestinian voices, like the voice of Fatmeh, the Gazan mother who went viral in October 2023 when she went to get food for her children, only to come back and find their scattered body parts, ashlaa’,  as she said: “My kids died hungry … I went to get them food and came back to find them ashlaa’, body remains, scattered all over the place, ashlaa’… hungry… my kids died hungry.”

I also speak for the unheard voices of Gazan newborns, left to decompose in incubators on 9 November 2023, in Nasser Hospital’s ICU ward. CNN reported: “The tiny bodies of babies, several still attached to wires and tubes that were meant to keep them alive, decomposing in their hospital beds. Milk bottles and spare diapers still next to them on the sheets.”

My analysis of the ongoing genocidal Nakba stages the centrality of death and overkill apparent in the ashlaa’ of decomposed babies in incubators and Fatmeh’s dismembered ashlaa’ of her children.  It brings to our view the ordinary terror inhabiting the most vulnerable bodies of newborns and children, and most vulnerable spaces: homes, schools and hospitals.

Reducing children and newborn bodies into decomposed, dismembered objects that can be used to support the larger project of demarcating the ontological boundary between the human and the non-human that should be shredded, decomposed and killed to disappear, is at the centre of my analysis.

The genocidal brutality of indiscriminate attacks to kill, including leaving newborns abandoned in incubators, inscribes both in the flesh and Zionist consciousness that Palestinian bodies can and should always be in a state of death and overkill. It is such an inscription of power on babies’ flesh, as on the Palestinian flesh of men and women, old and young, that I ontologically link their slowly dying bodies to the settler-colonial state.

A colonial prism

As Frantz Fanon has explained, the notion of ontological difference involves seeing below the notion of being, and even below the notion of nonbeing, hence his insistence on talking about the colonised and the tensions that emerge in the flesh/land and, I would say, the cut, scattered, burned flesh and bones. Seen through the prism of the incomprehensible ashlaa’, the racialised being, voided of life, is deprived of their humanity and Palestinian unwholeness is maintained and extended.

The violent horrors we are seeing in Gaza over the past 20 months have made us witnesses to the strangulation of newborn babies, a strangulation that demands their submission to the occupying power. What we have witnessed through these horrors is part of the Israeli necropenological global and local regime.

We witnessed another glimpse just recently this month through the intentional starvation of Palestinian children and their communities by Israeli expansionist greed.

Another blatant example of Israel’s necropenological regime happened on 5 May, when a group of Israeli soldiers filmed themselves blowing up a building in Gaza, while laughing that the blue colour of the smoke represented a “gender reveal” to celebrate the birth of a baby boy.

This horrific act of celebration came as the Israeli army was abandoning newborns in incubators, and bombing entire families while at home or in their tents, in hospitals, while care-taking. The indiscriminate assassinations of doctorsjournalistseducators and more reveals the hunger for unending Palestinian death.

The indiscriminate assassinations of doctors, journalists, educators and more reveals the hunger for unending Palestinian death

It is from the silent voices of those shredded newborn babies as ashlaa’, and through the necropolitical brutality of the “gender reveal” using the Palestinian ashlaa’, that I read the brutality of the occupier. It is against this deadly enfleshed ontology, and the centrality of death in this ontology, that I read the scattered body parts – the ashlaa’ – the decomposed babies’ overwhelming presence as a strong voice to guide my analyses. 

My ontological analysis is guided through the figurative occupation and possession of the decomposed Palestinian body. It is on this body that we can read the Zionist wanton use of violence to understand the centrality of death, killing and overkilling to the settler-colonial project.  

The emotions of pleasure and joy expressed by the Israeli soldiers during the “gender reveal” in May that I just mentioned, expresses the Zionist coloniser’s ideology. This ideology rejoices over Palestinian maiming, death and suffering. As they literally blew up Palestinians’ bodies, the soldiers celebrated by chanting “it is a boy”.

What does this suggest about Zionist ideology, that soldiers can and do celebrate in the exact moments they destroy the colonised’s geography and home? This convergence of violence and pleasure so spectacularly live-streamed, demonstrated through the gender reveal/bombing with its monstrosity, exposes the local and global ontological politics and dilemmas facing genocide studies today. 

Commitment to violence 

Palestinian dispossession and death as a result of Zionism reveals a genocidal economy – an economy embedded in white supremacy/racism that dispossesses Palestinian humanity, even the newborn babies, with its codes, technologies, aesthetics and visuality. This is what enables the ongoing genocide and/in its ontological consumption.

The genocidal economy is constituted through the enmeshment of ashlaa’ and the viscerality of it, living in such a scale of death and the geopolitics of racism. It is rooted in the colonial state’s commitment to violence, and its exercise of power over the non-human, always killable Palestinian body – an ontological stand that can be detected in all aspects of the settler-colonial genocidal criminalities of the state.

Under such conditions, Palestinian ashlaa’ becomes more visible in the settler state’s infinite desire for expansion, even over shredded or sick bodies, empty stomachs and collective graves. Palestinians are always kept in a state of neither life nor being.

This enduring ontology depends on attacking the wholeness, integrity and continuity of the Palestinian body and land. It has turned Gaza/Palestine into a collective graveyard for slow and fast death, a slaughterhouse of maiming and wounding for the political functioning of the state – and hence the continuous Nakba.

I stand against the settler-colonial assertion of turning the Palestinian body/flesh, geography and economy into a death zone. This stand grounds my analysis as a criminologist and scholar. My imperative is not the legal apparatus, nor the human right conventions, but rather human life, dignity, integrity and futurity of the people. I also do not believe in the system of the state, or the “security of the state”. The people are my centre.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her primary research focus is state criminality and its effect on human suffering.

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Nov 17, 2014Sexual Violence, Women’s Bodies, and Israeli Settler Colonialism

By : Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Sarah Ihmoud and Suhad Dahir-Nashif

They not only invaded our home, took over our space, and evicted us—they even arrested me and took me to the Maskubya—the police station.  I was put in room number four, alone, for a long time.  Then, a big and tall man, a police officer, entered the interrogation room.  I was alone, and started shivering from fear as he closed the door, started moving things around in the room and examining me from head to toe.  I was terrorized, and my heart was beating so fast.  His eyes penetrated my body, as he was opening the drawers looking for something.  Then, he left the room and came back five minutes later holding a box.  He pulled out a pair of blue plastic gloves, and put one on each of his hands, while looking at me and saying “…Come here…” I must tell you that I was terrorized when they invaded the house and evicted us. I was extremely anxious when they arrested my son. But my fears of ‘you know what’…You know…being abused…being raped by his blue big hands and more…were the most terrifying moments of my life.[1] 
 

These were the words of Sama, a thirty-six-year-old Palestinian woman who lost the intimate familial and physical space of her home, only to experience further terror with the threat of sexual abuse.  Sama’s narrative is not uncommon, as colonized women living under severe deprivation and dispossession are subject to daily attacks against their sexuality and bodily rights. Sexual violence is central to the larger structure of colonial power, its racialized machinery of domination, and its logic of elimination.  This is readily apparent in the history of settler colonial contexts, where the machinery of violence explicitly targets native women’s sexuality and bodily safety as biologized “internal enemies” since they are the producers of the next generation.

Settler colonialism, as a “structure, not an event” operates through a “logic of elimination” that seeks to erase indigenous presence on a specific territory (settler colonialism’s “irreducible element”). Settler colonialism “destroys in order to replace.” The invasion of indigenous land seeks to permanently erase the indigenous presence on the land, in order to replace it with the new settler society and polity. Scholars have argued that settler colonialism’s logic of elimination may culminate in indigenous genocide. In its European formations, both settler colonialism and genocide have “employed the organizing grammar of race.” Since its inception, the Jewish state has been embedded in a racialized colonial logic. This logic constructs the Palestinian as a dangerous other in opposition to the white/Jewish subject and polis. As numerous authors have noted, this racial configuration is articulated through early Zionist thinkers’ Orientalist ideology that framed the Jewish people as bearers of European civilization in the face of a culturally backward region and people. Such a “modernizing” project or “civilizing” mission relied on a Zionist imaginary of exclusively Jewish labor cultivating an empty, uncultivated land, and “making the desert bloom.” Early Zionist leadership attempted to actualize the foundational Zionist myth of a “land without people for a people without land” through systematic ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians in 1948.  The Zionist entity continues to evict native Palestinians today.  The massacres in Gaza of July- August 2014, and the repressive “iron fist” policies targeting Palestinian Jerusalemites at the time we write this article, are contemporary modes of settler colonial eviction of the Palestinian native.

The targeting of Palestinian women’s bodies and sexuality, we contend, is structural to the Israeli settler colonial project’s racialized logic of elimination.  Rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinian women have always been an element of the settler colonial state’s attempts to destroy and eliminate indigenous Palestinians from their land. In addition to rape and other forms of sexual violence, the racialized logic of sexual violence energizes the very imaginary and project of conquering and cultivating Palestinian land, in transforming it into the Jewish polis.  Hence, our discussion of sexual violence is embedded not only in the sexualized practices and politics of the Zionist state, but also in the nature of Israeli settler colonial violence itself. 

As Palestinian feminists, we assert that the Zionist movement’s imaginary of conquering and settling the Palestinian body is inseparable from the project of conquering and settling Palestinian land, and erasing indigenous presence. Here, we build on native scholar Andrea Smith’s assertion that the logic of colonial sexual violence “establishes the ideology that Native bodies are inherently violable—and by extension, that Native lands are also inherently violable.” It is the logic of settler colonial sexual violence that we center in our analysis of the continuous Nakba that targets our people. We trace the logic of sexual violence, in its historical and present context, as machinery, hidden and apparent, of colonial patriarchy against indigenous communities in Palestine. The logic of sexual violence attempts to fragment Palestinian family and communal life, as it severs the connection to the Palestinian homeland.  The Zionist project is inherently based on the destruction of Palestinian native bodies and land, which cannot be separated from the colonial logic of elimination. Sexual violence is not simply a byproduct of colonialism, rather “colonialism is itself structured by the logic of sexual violence.

Sexual Violence and Palestinian Genocide Since the Nakba

Understanding the intensified attacks on Palestinian women’s bodies in times of heightened attacks by the settler colonial regime requires a feminist analysis. Such an analysis takes the Nakba as its analytical point of departure. Israel was built on the ruins of the Palestinian homeland, on its land, pain, and displacement.  It was built on the destruction of our communal social ties, the violation and invasion of our homes and bodies.

Rape and killing of Palestinian women was a central aspect of Israeli troops’ systematic massacres and evictions during the destruction of Palestinian villages in 1948. During the Deir Yassin massacre, for instance:

All the inhabitants were ordered into the village square. Here, they were lined up against a wall and shot.  One eyewitness said her sister, who was nine months pregnant, was shot in the back of the neck. Her assailants then cut open her stomach with a butcher’s knife and extracted the unborn baby. When an Arab woman tried to take the baby, she was shot…Women were raped before the eyes of their children before being murdered and dumped down the well.

David Ben Gurion, like other Zionist leaders, openly discussed the rape and sexual torture of Palestinian women in his diary entries during 1948. At the same time that he advocated the killing of Palestinian women and children, constructing them as a threat to the Jewish settler polity, he awarded a prize to every Jewish mother on her tenth child. Ben Gurion ensured that the Jewish Agency, not the state, administered such pronatal incentives in order to guarantee the exclusion of Arabs.[2] The fetishization of fertility has made Palestinians, especially women, targets of nationalist rhetoric that deeply politicizes their reproduction. For Zionists, Palestinian women have always been, and continue to be, as we have seen in the latest attacks on Gaza, targets of the Zionist killing machine.

Feminist scholars have also suggested that the Zionist state mobilizes violence against Palestinian women’s bodies and sexuality to strengthen indigenous patriarchal structures and aid in the eviction of Palestinians from their land.  Militarized sexual abuse has been rampant under Israeli occupation. The Israeli state and military forces have exploited the threat of sexual violence against Palestinian women, and patriarchal perceptions of sexuality and “honor” to “recruit Palestinians as collaborators” during periods of uprisings and deter attempts at organized resistance.  This practice has been so historically prevalent that it gained its own term in the Arabic language as isqat siyassy, meaning the sexual abuse of Palestinians for political reasons. The state’s security apparatus continues to use Palestinians’ sexual identities and Orientalist conceptions of “Arab culture” to recruit collaborators and fragment Palestinian society. Recent revelations by Israel’s secret military intelligence Unit 8200 have revisited this fact. The literal and figurative “rape” of Palestinian women’s bodies, framed as inherently violable by the Zionist entity, is inherently structured by the same logic of sexual violence that energizes the settler colonial project’s violation and continued confiscation of Palestinian natives’ land.


Unmasking the Logic of Sexual Violence

The silence on the Zionist machinery’s use of sexual violence against Palestinian women[3] and their communities has been further revealed since the inception of the state’s most recent military operations.  The logic of sexualized violence that structures the Israeli settler colonial project has become more visible during the last period of military invasion. Slogans such as “Death to Arabs” and “Arabs out” have become more usable and tolerable in the Israeli public sphere, exposing the necropolitical drive against Palestinian natives at the core of the so-called Jewish democracy.

On 1 July, just after discovery of the bodies of three Jewish settler youth who had gone missing in the occupied West Bank, Israeli professor Mordechai Kedar of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies remarked on public radio: “the only deterrent for … those who kidnapped the [Israeli] children and killed them, the only way to deter them is their knowledge that either their sister or their mother will be raped if they are caught … this is the culture of the Middle East.” His comments suggested that raping Palestinian women was the only deterrent to Palestinian resistance and “terrorism.” 

We as Palestinian feminists were not surprised to hear Kedar advocating rape as an antidote to anti-colonial resistance. Making such comments on public radio, in the open, where it would be heard by a wide Israeli Jewish public, women as well as men, including Israeli Jewish feminists, reflects the settler`s mentality and socialization towards Palestinians. Discussing the rape of Palestinian women as a military strategy by a so-called scholar from one of the prominent universities in Israel reveals the mode in which colonizers portray colonized women. The presentation of a sexualized Orientalist discourse positions Palestinians as culturally “backward,” non-human Others.

Lest the sexualized discourses Kedar mobilized appear an aberration, it is important to note that he was not the only performer in this latest theater of sexualized violence.  Israeli soldiers on their way to killing Palestinians in Gaza read slogans of support prepared by their fellow Jewish-Israeli civilians stating: “Go pound their mothers, and come back to your mother.” Israeli Jews gathered on hillsides to watch and cheer as the military dropped bombs on Gaza. One young Jewish woman’s Facebook post summed up the sexualized pleasure they received in spectatorship of our collective lynching:  “What an orgasm to see the Israeli Defense Forces bomb buildings in Gaza with children and families at the same time. Boom boom.” Even their Prime Minister Netanyahu received a post, which circulated widely among the Israeli public via social media, showing a veiled woman labeled “Gaza,” naked from the waist down, holding a message: “Bibi, finish inside this time!  Signed, citizens in favor of a ground assault.” This is in addition to Knesset member Ayelet Shaked’s public declaration that Palestinian mothers should be killed.

The rape of the land as the rape of women’s bodies has thus come to the fore in Israel’s most recent eliminatory attacks against the Palestinian people. As the massacres of the Palestinian people in Gaza continued, the sexualized nature of Israeli invasion and racial terror against Palestinian natives came to the forefront of nationalist politics and discussion among the public sphere within 1948 Palestine as well. Palestinian women took to the streets with their communities throughout historic Palestine to demonstrate against the continuous massacres in Gaza. Public demonstrations took a sexualized turn, as crowds’ calls for “death to Arabs” quickly turned to chanting “Haneen Zoabi is a whore!” naming a female Palestinian  member of the Israeli parliament who stood up for her people’s right to life. Israeli police attacked Palestinian women’s bodies, along with their male counterparts, and dragged them out of protests in Haifa and Nazareth, where they were arrested or beaten by racist crowds. Leading religious and military figures on the state’s payroll issued religious edicts which stated that during times of war it is permissible to bomb Palestinian civilians in order to “exterminate the enemy.” The city council of Or Yehuda, a settlement in Israel’s coastal region, hung a banner supporting Israeli soldiers that suggested the rape of Palestinian women:  “Israeli soldiers, the residents of Or Yehuda are with you!  Pound their mother and come back home safely to your mother.” [4]

We argue that the logic of sexual violence exhibited during attacks on indigenous Palestinians throughout historic Palestine, both historically and during the Israeli state’s most recent attacks, pervades both the Israeli settler state and settler society.  Indeed, the state and settler society are inseparable entities, connected through a visceral psychological and political imaginary that exceeds the commonly framed state/civil society divide.  As Lorenzo Veracini notes, settlers “carry their sovereignty with them.” Both the state apparatuses (including public elected officials, academic and military institutions) and settler society (including Israeli publics—situated along the continuum of Zionist ideology) embody the machinery of settler colonial violence. It is no surprise then, that both the official state apparatuses and unofficial settler spheres have exhibited grave attacks on Palestinian women’s sexuality, bodies, and lives in the context of the latest invasions of our people in Gaza, in the daily attacks today in Jerusalem, and throughout historic Palestine. 

Israeli officials’ repressive policies and incitement against the Palestinian people work to empower and embolden Israeli settler society to embody the power of the state and viciously attack Palestinians.  This is clearly exhibited in the attacks on Palestinian women’s bodies inside Al Aqsa mosque these last weeks in Jerusalem, by both settler publics empowered by the state’s military protection, and members of the state security forces. A recent example of the daily scene of sexual violence is Israeli border police’s violent beating and arrest of Aida, a Palestinian woman from the old city of Jerusalem.  When she tried to enter Al-Aqsa mosque, border police attacked and brutally beat Aida. They tore off her hijab and pulled her by her hair, as they continued to beat her through the streets of the old city, and dragged her into the police car. She was then taken to the police station, where she was violently interrogated, further beaten and accused of attacking a police officer.  Security forces’ brutalization and violation of Aida’s body, and attempts to mark her as an inherently criminal other, are a form of gendered and sexual violence.  The legalization of such forms of violence marks the Israeli legal system itself as deeply embedded in the settler colonial project’s machinery of elimination. 

Palestinian women’s brutalization and violation by the settler colonial state also takes on more mundane forms. When Samera was arrested for participating in a demonstration in occupied East Jerusalem, her release by authorities was conditional upon her completing what they termed “community service.”  Samera’s “community service” required her to scrub the bathrooms of a facility for Israeli border police and soldiers.  As she explained to us: 

I could not afford to pay the huge fine, and needed to be released [from prison] to go back to my kids.  I had no other choice but to scrub their bathrooms….Just by being there, in men’s bathrooms, in the Israeli men’s toilets felt like rape. I did it to avoid payment, but I can’t avoid feeling that I allowed them to keep me there, in their bathrooms, in a constant state of terror, fearing being sexually abused, then trashed like we trash toilet paper in toilets.

Samera’s words and analysis further illustrate the gendered and sexualized aspects of the complex machinery of settler colonial violence.  Yet as Samera concluded:  “Sometimes I feel I was their slave, but some other times I tell myself no, this is resistance, this is sumud, this is power…I did what was needed to come back to my children, without being touched or violated sexually….yes hard, complex…our situation is complex.” Even in the face of such violent inscription of settler colonial violence, Palestinian women’s daily acts of resistance and survival demonstrate their power and sumud, or steadfastness.

In sum, sexual and gender violence are not merely a tool of patriarchal control, the byproduct of war or intensified conflict.  Colonial relationships are themselves gendered and sexualized.  We contend that sexual violence, a logic embedded in the Israeli settler colonial project, follows two contradictory principles that operate simultaneously: invasion/violation/occupation and supremacy/purification/demarcation. That is, the Zionist settler colonial project’s invasion, violation, and occupation of indigenous Palestinians’ bodies, lives, and land is intimately intertwined with its demarcation of racialized geographical and physical boundaries between Jewish citizenry and Palestinian natives as well as attempts to “purify” the Jewish national body of the Palestinian body, which is framed as a biopolitical contaminant.  It is thus that the logic of sexual violence, embedded in the Zionist regime, energizes historical and continuous attacks on Palestinian bodies and lives.

Thus our struggle for indigenous sovereignty within anti-colonial activism as feminists is necessarily situated in the protection of Palestinian women’s bodily safety and sexuality, family, and communal right to life. It is a struggle against the hypermasculine Zionist military and settler apparatuses that frame Palestinian women as inherently threatening racialized Others whose bodies must be violated and destroyed as the internal enemy and “reproducers of Palestinians.” This logic is inseparable from the settler colonial logic of elimination.  

As Palestinian feminists concerned about the safety of women’s bodies and lives, the continuity of our people and our future generations, we call on local and international feminists to join our struggle, challenge the settler colonial culture of impunity and raise their voices against the ongoing Israeli state crimes.

Endnotes

[1] This quote was taken from a group discussion with Palestinian women in Jerusalem, 2014.

[2] In the 1950s Ben Gurion, as the first prime minister of Israel, turned the issue of women’s fertility into national priority, arguing that “increasing the Jewish birthrate is a vital need for the existence of Israel” and that “a Jewish woman who does not bring at least four children into the world is defrauding the Jewish mission.” See Sharoni, S. (1995). Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: the Politics of Women’s Resistance. Syracuse University Press.  Also see Davis, U. & Lehn, W. (1983). “And the Fund Still Lives: The Role of the Jewish International Fund in the Determination of Israel’s Land Policies”, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 7 (4), p.3, at pp.4-6(1978).

[3] While centering our analysis on Palestinian women, we also note the Zionist state’s use of sexual violence as a tactic to curb the “demographic threat” over some Jewish women’s bodies, including black women (from the Ethiopian community) and women from impoverished backgrounds. While attempting to curb the birth rates of black and/or poor Jewish women, a practice we analyze as connected to the racialized project of curbing Palestinian reproduction and life, Israel has simultaneously sought to increase European Jewish birth through modernized practices such as buying ovum for human reproductive cloning from poor, Eastern European women.  Besides, the Israeli state suggested that the law for preventing human reproductive cloning (1999) had expired and many of Israel’s physicians, politicians and social researchers are embracing this practice as yet another strategy for maintaining a Jewish demographic advantage on the land of Palestine.  

[4] In addition to the posts and declarations against Palestinian mothers, Jewish girls and women encouraged men serving in the Israeli Occupation Forces by sending them semi-nude or pornographic pictures as an expression of love and support (see http://www.pitria.com/israeli-girls-support-zahal).

The University of Edinburgh Targeted by Anti-Israel Activists

01.04.26

Editorial Note

Last week, Justice for Palestine Society occupied two key buildings at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) campus as part of a pro-Palestine protest movement in a campaign to pressure the University to divest from Israel-linked companies and universities. The group has been protesting for a number of years.  The University has threatened legal action if the protesters do not leave.

The group announced: “Following continued impunity by Balfour University, students have reclaimed the building to reiterate the majority student demand. Divestment is inevitable. Liberation is unconditional. Shame on Balfour university. Meet our demands.”

The University of Edinburgh has been targeted because the famous Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) was the chancellor of the University of Edinburgh from 1891 to 1930, including in 1917, when he issued the Balfour Declaration expressing British support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. In 1925, Balfour visited Palestine to inaugurate the Hebrew University, wearing his academic robes from the University of Edinburgh. Balfour presided over the university during his time as Prime Minister (1902–1905) and Foreign Secretary (1916–1919). 

Last month, Nicola Perugini, a long-time anti-Israel activist and a senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, featured before by Israel Academia Monitor, co-authored an article titled “Balfour University: Race, Imperial Education, and the Declaration on Palestine” with his UoE colleague, Shaira Vadasaria. The article discusses “the University of Edinburgh’s racial entanglement with the British Empire and settler colonialism in Palestine through the figure of its former chancellor, Arthur James Balfour. It explores two intertwined aspects of Balfour’s legacy: his role as a statesman who advanced racial policies and settler-colonial dispossession in Palestine, and as an academic leader who promoted race thinking and imperial education. The analysis situates the 1917 Balfour Declaration within these overlapping domains, showing how Balfour’s imperial and academic roles were inseparable. It analyzes the declaration as not solely a matter of historical harm, but as a formative moment in the longue durée of the university’s entanglement with imperialism and Zionist settler-colonial violence enacted in Palestine.” 

To be more precise, Perugini’s and Vadasaria’s article largely focuses on political activism: “Edinburgh’s student and staff mobilization against the genocide in Gaza exposed this historical nexus, revealing how institutional legacies of colonial and imperial violence remain present even within so-called moments of racial and decolonial redress.”

According to Perugini and Vadasaria, “Balfour Must Fall Everywhere.”

The University of Edinburgh is home to a number of pro-Palestinian activists. These academics frequently deal with themes of displacement, colonial violence, and Palestinian agency: Samer Abdelnour (Senior Lecturer, Business School): Engages with analyses of the Economies of Occupation and Genocide, and has discussed the “University of Edinburgh complicity in the conflict.” Lotte Segal (Senior Lecturer, Social Anthropology): Focuses on the everyday life, violence, and displacement, including work on “Caring for the Ordinary in Palestine – When Ongoing Occupation Becomes Maddening.” Nicola Perugini & Shaira Vadasaria: Academic researchers who have written on the University of Edinburgh’s historical and contemporary complicity in the context of Palestinian rights, published in the Journal of Palestine Studies. Pietro Stefanini (Researcher): Specializes in settler colonialism and humanitarianism, with a focus on Palestine and the Nakba/Naksa. Mona Siddiqui (Professor): Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, and International Dean for the Middle East. 

The activists enjoy the support of UCU Edinburgh, the local branch of the University and College Union, representing academic and academic-related staff at the University of Edinburgh, which usually campaigns against job cuts, pensions, and working conditions. However, on December 6, 2025, it published a petition titled “Suppression of freedom of expression on Palestine at the University of Edinburgh must stop!” Stating, “We the undersigned unions, organizations, networks and individual staff and students write to condemn our institution’s senior managers for their suppression of Palestine-related expression at the University of Edinburgh.”

The petition argued that UoE “senior managers have adopted increasingly intimidatory behavior towards student groups who are supporting Palestine and speaking out against Israel’s ongoing war of annihilation in Gaza and attacks in Lebanon, including threatening members with disciplinary action for social media posts and protests that would not have carried such consequences before. This is part of broader suppression of on-campus manifestations of solidarity with the people in Palestine and Lebanon.” The petition listed all the incidents and was signed by 363 staff, 126 PhD researchers, 70 students, and 6 alumni.

In July 2025, the British Guardian reported that “Edinburgh University could unadapt antisemitism definition after report into its colonial links,” stating that the UoE is “considering whether to unadopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism because critics say it “inhibits freedom of speech on the subject of Israel and Palestine.”  UoE is also considering “whether to divest from companies accused of enabling alleged human rights violations by Israel,” the Guardian stated, and that these issues are being “reviewed by university authorities as a report on the legacy of its historical links with the region is published. The report is part of a broader investigation of the university’s involvement in colonialism and slavery. It recommends that the university divest from companies allegedly complicit in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The Guardian notes that the UoE is also considering the establishment of a Palestine Studies Center to “investigate the legacy of the Balfour declaration and offer scholarships to students of Palestinian origin.” 

The Guardian discusses that article by Perugini and Vadasaria, who told the Guardian the decision to include Balfour’s legacy in the research was a “direct response” to pressure on the university leadership by campus protests over the Gaza war. The pair, both of whom taught for several years at al-Quds University, a Palestinian institution on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, had already been researching Balfour’s legacy for several years. They have been involved in divestment campaigns on campus, and last year Perugini demanded Mathieson apologize publicly after the principal met the Israeli deputy ambassador to the UK.” 

Perugini and Vadasaria’s research on “the legacy of the Balfour declaration was added to the broader study of the university’s links to colonialism a year after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza,” the Guardian claimed.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism was adopted by the UoE in 2020, “without broad consultation with students and staff,” according to the report of Perugini and Vadasaria. For them, the definition “violates academic freedom and freedom of speech by framing any criticism of Israel’s policies of settler-colonial dispossession driven by state racism as a form of antisemitism.” The IHRA also offers contemporary examples of antisemitism that “critics say are used to protect Israel from legitimate criticism. Supporters of the definition say it is essential in helping to protect Jews from hate crimes and abuse. In 2020, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary in the Conservative government, threatened to cut funding to universities in England that failed to adopt the IHRA definition. The majority have done so,” the Guardian concluded.

According to the Guardian, “The state of Israel was declared within hours of the end of the mandate in May 1948. The subsequent war drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during what became known as the Nakba, or catastrophe. Many Palestinians still blame Balfour for what they see as an act of perfidy and betrayal.” 

Perugini and Vadasaria’s article “points out that the declaration defined Palestinians as ‘non-Jewish communities’ rather than an Indigenous people with national rights to self-determination, and referred only to civil and religious rights rather than political and national rights. In the Nakba, Palestinians were forced into ‘permanent exile that continues into the present.’ Balfour’s legacy was ‘not merely a matter of historical harm,’ it says. According to the Guardian, “Indeed, harm to Palestinians today can be seen as an extension of Balfour’s legacy in the present. While this violence may have begun with Balfour’s declaration, it remains through ongoing policies that continue with the trajectory of imperialism, settler colonialism and the dispossession of Palestinian land and life.” 

Israel Academia Monitor has frequently discussed the genre that Perugini and Vadasaria’s article follows: it is full of disinformation and falsifications and totally decontextualized from real-life events.  For starters, it fails to mention that the Nakba was a self-inflicted wound by the Palestinians who received the larger part of Mandatory Palestine when the United Nations voted on the Partition Proposal in 1947.  The Palestinians were persuaded by their Arab allies to reject the offer and started a war against nascent Israel, which they had lost.  In 2000, during the Camp David Summit, Yasser Arafat refused to sign an agreement that would have given the Palestinians virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, he launched the Second Intifada. Iran, which supported Hamas as part of its “Axis of Resistance,” was closely linked to the group that carried out the brutal attacks against civilians on October 7, 2023. Documents recovered from Hamas tunnels indicate that the violence was intended, in part, to disrupt the Abraham Accords—most notably by preventing Saudi Arabia from joining the normalization process. 

More to the point, nowhere have Perugini and his peers mentioned Hamas’s extreme violations of a wide range of international humanitarian law during the conflict. To list just a few, the group built its tunnel system under civilian spaces, including hospitals, schools, and mosques. Noncombatants were turned into human shields, causing considerable civilian casualties.  

The growing prominence of pro-Palestinian activism in higher education has contributed to the diffusion of highly contested narratives. This development has had several consequences: it has intensified campus polarization, complicated efforts to sustain open scholarly debate, and, in some cases, blurred the line between political advocacy and academic inquiry.

REFERENCES:

Edinburgh University threatens legal action as pro-Palestine activists occupy second building

Gordon Aikman and Appleton Tower have now been occupied

3 days ago

Jamie Calder | News

Students at the University of Edinburgh have occupied two prominent campus buildings as part of a pro-Palestine protest movement.

Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (EUJPS) has occupied the Gordon Aikman lecture theatre and Appleton Tower.

The university has threatened legal action if the protesters do not leave.

Gordon Aikman has been locked down by EUJPS since the early hours of Tuesday morning while Appleton Tower appears to have been occupied during the early hours of Friday.

The society has occupied the buildings as part of a long-term campaign to pressure the university to divest from Israel-linked companies.

Gordon Aikman had been occupied since Tuesday

Announcing the Gordon Aikman occupation on Facebook, EUJPS said: “We are reclaiming this building in the name of martyr Adnan Al-Bursh.

“Al-Bursh was a healthcare worker wrongfully taken into custody in December of 2023 per his refusal to evacuate a hospital that was to be targeted by IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] bombs.

“Taken to a detention camp and subsequently tortured by the IOF, he was later moved to the Israeli prison service in April of 2024 where he was martyred shortly after arrival. Adnan Al-Bursh’s death in custody is a result of the IOF’s war crimes unto Palestinian prisoners.

“We name this reclaimed building in his honour. May he resit in power. Glory to the martyrs”.

The statement goes on to say that there is “no business as usual during genocide”, calling for the university to divest from companies that are linked to Israel’s military and occupation of Palestinian territories.

Protesters have set up signs and flags in Appleton Tower

Announcing the Appleton Tower occupation, the group said: “We have reclaimed JAWAD ABU NASSAR TOWER (formerly Appleton Tower), alongside ADNAN AL BURSH BUILDING [Gordon Aikman].

“Following continued impunity by Balfour University, students have reclaimed the building to reiterate the majority student demand.

“Divestment is inevitable. Liberation is unconditional. Shame on Balfour university. Meet our demands.”

The group is campaigning for divestment from firms like Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Leonardo, among others, that have been linked to Israel’s operations in Palestine. The university holds more than £25 million in investments in these companies.

Last year, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, named the University of Edinburgh as one of “the most financially entangled” institutions in the UK to Israel.

The report stated: “The University of Edinburgh holds nearly £25.5 million (2.5 per cent of its endowment) in four tech giants – Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM – central to the Israeli surveillance apparatus and the ongoing Gaza destruction.

“With both direct and indexed investments, the university ranks among the most financially entangled institutions in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“The university also partners with firms aiding Israeli military operations, including Leonardo S.p.A. and Ben-Gurion University, through the AI and Data Science Lab at Ben Gurion University, sharing research that directly links it with assaults on Palestinians.”

The occupations come after a series of over EUJPS protests, including occupying Gordon Aikman twice in 2024 and encampment at Old College which coincided with a hunger strike.

The society has also blockaded the entrances to various university buildings, disrupted career fairs and spray painted slogans like “Divest Now” on university buildings.

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson told The Tab Edinburgh: “Our students’ education is always our priority. While we respect the right to peaceful and lawful protest, occupying buildings and interfering with teaching and our students’ learning experience is unacceptable.

“Each day our buildings are occupied, thousands of students face their lectures and tutorials being disrupted at short notice – a situation that cannot be tolerated, particularly at such a crucial time in the academic year.

“We have asked those occupying the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre and Appleton Tower to leave. If our request is ignored, we will consider all legal action available to us to prevent further disruption.”

Jamie Calder | News

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Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society

dsSoopnretl8aht0l0 M f014cam218lglacc759a3c:g4 il58i832ruihg ·

🚨Emergency rally held in support of student occupations and in protest against Balfour University’s complicity in Palestine at reclaimed Jawad Abu Nassar Tower, followed by a March to reclaimed Adnan Al-Bursh Theatre! First time in JPS history that two uni buildings have been occupied at once – POWER TO THE STUDENTS‼️🇵🇸

See previous posts for full statements regarding reasons and demands of each occupation.

Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society ·Follow

Sontesdrpo2ff4l7m302057f2318aufh69a6aa10hrt14 :48  h3atiMc2a ·

‼️We have reclaimed JAWAD ABU NASSAR TOWER (formerly Appleton Tower), alongside ADNAN AL BURSH BUILDING‼️

Following continued impunity by Balfour University, students have reclaimed the building to reiterate the majority student demand.

Divestment is inevitable. Liberation is unconditional. Shame on Balfour university. Meet our demands

Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society

 ·

Inn Ann (feat. Shabjdeed & Al Nather)  · Daboor ·

We have reclaimed ADNAN AL-BURSH

THEATRE (formerly Gordon Aikman)

Divestment is inevitable — it’s only a matter of time, it’s only a matter of principle.

We will not stop and we will not rest until Balfour university meets our demands.

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Balfour University: Race, Imperial Education, and the Declaration on Palestine

Nicola Perugini &

Shaira Vadasaria

Pages 26-50 | Received 09 May 2025, Accepted 26 Aug 2025, Published online: 18 Feb 2026

Abstract

This article discusses the University of Edinburgh’s racial entanglement with the British Empire and settler colonialism in Palestine through the figure of its former chancellor, Arthur James Balfour. It explores two intertwined aspects of Balfour’s legacy: his role as a statesman who advanced racial policies and settler-colonial dispossession in Palestine, and as an academic leader who promoted race thinking and imperial education. The analysis situates the 1917 Balfour Declaration within these overlapping domains, showing how Balfour’s imperial and academic roles were inseparable. It analyzes the declaration as not solely a matter of historical harm, but as a formative moment in the longue durée of the university’s entanglement with imperialism and Zionist settler-colonial violence enacted in Palestine. Edinburgh’s student and staff mobilization against the genocide in Gaza exposed this historical nexus, revealing how institutional legacies of colonial and imperial violence remain present even within so-called moments of racial and decolonial redress.

Keywords:

During the spring of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter (BLM) global protests, a renewed sense of political consciousness emerged in large parts of the Global North across a spectrum of political sensibilities. The killing of Breonna Taylor, a twenty-six-year-old Black woman shot by US police officers in her own home, and the 9 mins., 29 secs. lynching of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old Black man killed in broad daylight by asphyxiation with a police officer’s knee to his neck, were two cases among many that evidenced the routine constancy in which Black life is rendered disposable and killable.Footnote1 Neoliberal corporate responses immediately capitalized on the momentum by celebrating the BLM movement and promoting so-called decolonizing initiatives, which, in the context of higher education, coalesced with a resurgent wave of student- and faculty-led movements for racial justice. An uncanny constellation began to form, bringing together forces with different political inclinations around anti-racism, from critiques of white supremacy via abolition of policing and prisons, to a surge in equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.

At the University of Edinburgh (UoE), this period raised questions around the university’s direct and indirect involvement in the Atlantic slave trade through financial investments in plantations and the exchange of epistemic knowledge. As a leading Western academic institution established firmly in the era of colonial modernity and consolidated under the rise of the British Empire, some of the most notorious racial scientists, physicians, architects of colonial settlements, positivist sociologists, and political philosophers developed their racial views about the world at UoE, working hand in hand with military and imperial administrative servants. This included some of the university’s esteemed alumni and former faculty and students, such as Charles Darwin, David Hume and Patrick Geddes, all of whom introduced ideas that came to justify and naturalize systems of racial hierarchy. These racial views were not simply a matter of individual prejudice or cultural norms of an era, as their apologists like to proclaim. Rather, these viewpoints shaped imperial reason and helped institute and prolong systems of racial and economic domination under modern colonial and imperial rule that have lasting impact in the present. As the racial legacy of such figures began to surface, UoE took some swift actions, including the decision to rename some of its buildings. In September 2020, after a petition was addressed to the university’s senior leadership about Hume’s racist worldviews,Footnote2 the David Hume Tower was renamed 40 George Square. UoE seemed to be on some kind of path toward recognition of its historical wrongs.

By the end of 2020, and amid this political climate of racial redress, we came to notice another one of UoE’s skeletons. Out of curiosity, we opened the university chancellor’s official webpage. As we scrolled through the list, we read: “1891–1930: Earl of Balfour.”Footnote3 Between 1891 and 1930, Arthur James Balfour presided as chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. The timeline around Balfour’s appointment was striking not only because he was the second longest serving chancellor since the inception of the university in 1583. It was also during his appointment at UoE that he decisively contributed to the racialization of the Palestinian people who, through his 1917 declaration, came to cast the Palestinian people outside of the legal parameters of “personhood” by negating their national sovereignty as a people with political rights to self-determination on their land.Footnote4 The strategic wording of his 1917 declaration came to authorize a historical process of race making through dehumanizing Palestinians as a people incapable of self-governance. The final draft of what would come to be known as the Balfour Declaration was adopted almost immediately into the British Mandate for Palestine and, unlike other wartime statements, inscribed verbatim.Footnote5 We asked ourselves: If university leadership would rename a building because of Hume’s irredeemable views on race and slavery, how might they respond when asked to account for the fact that their own chancellor, while in post, issued a “false promissory note”Footnote6 that categorically set into motion a century-long process of imperial expansion, settler-colonial dispossession, and racialization in Palestine by means of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, occupation, apartheid, and genocide? So began our research into UoE’s entanglements with the question of Palestine, Zionism, and settler-colonial dispossession.Footnote7

In UK academia, the roles of chancellors and other institutional appointees are often dismissed as simply ceremonial, lacking weight or influence. In our encounters, such claims are especially prominent when institutions are asked to account for their historical records of violence. The past deeds of such figures are exempted from scrutiny or institutional accountability in the present, their erstwhile views excused as signposts of a historical time and culture that normalized racial and colonial sensibilities. But such appointments were made at a time when institutions of higher education were at the fore of advancing imperial knowledge in service of the British Empire, and as a means of governance and domination within its colonies. The ongoing imperial and settler-colonial attempts at annihilating Palestinians as a group reveals the violence of Balfour’s legacy in the present and compels us to reckon seriously with this genealogy. We would be remiss if we ignored this continuity.

During the nomination speech of Balfour to the chancellorship on October 31, 1891, Vice Chancellor Alexander Campbell Fraser defined the role as “the supreme head of the university.”Footnote8 In the speech, Fraser also likened Balfour’s public and intellectual life to English philosophers like John Stuart Mill, and described Balfour as a “remarkable combination of intellectual power and high academic sympathies,” coupled with “practical statesmanship, which was too rare in the annals of our English history.”Footnote9 Today, the chancellor still represents one of the highest positions in the institution and aims to enhance “the profile and reputation of the University on national and global levels.”Footnote10

Balfour’s academic associations and institutional roles were intimately tied to his racial worldviews. Indeed, as evidenced in his domestic and foreign imperial policies, Balfour the imperial statesman and Balfour the university chancellor were hardly separable. The very tenure of his appointment as chancellor coincided with the years in which he played a decisive role in Britain’s imperial foreign policy—at the height of British empire, no less. What connected his various political and academic careers, including his chancellorship at UoE and the University of Cambridge (UoC) from 1919 to 1930, and his role as president of the British Academy (1921–28), was his philosophical commitment to the development of racial thought in support of imperial projects advanced under the British Empire. It was this duality between his political and academic appointments that made him an ideal candidate to serve as chancellor, being at once a scholar and a well-positioned figure of public affairs.Footnote11

This article highlights these two interconnected elements of his biography—namely, Balfour’s racial thinking and policies as a statesman, where he instituted a process of settler-colonial dispossession in Palestine, and second, Balfour as an institutional academic who dedicated himself to the promotion of race thinking and imperial education more widely. In this twofold role, he signed the declaration that would come to be named after him, and which inaugurated a process of dispossessing Palestinians. Critical scholarship on the Balfour Declaration—and on Balfour more generally—has largely overlooked the significance of this twofold role. Scholars and biographers have mostly focused on Balfour the statesman, and when they have addressed Balfour the “man of science,” they have tended to compartmentalize it from his political career.Footnote12 In this article, by contrast, we situate our analysis precisely at the intersection of his dual careers, exploring their encounters, overlaps, and interconnections as a productive space for thinking about institutional accountability.

We read Balfour’s legacy, and student and staff calls for accountability at UoE since the start of the genocide, through an active divestment campaign and a reparative justice process titled “Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University’s Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism.”Footnote13 Drawing on David Scott’s engagement with reparatory history as a method of genealogical critique, we revisit the Balfour Declaration, the divestment movement, and the Decolonised Transformations Project and its relevance to ongoing struggles for Palestinian reparation, by recomposing the scattered fragments of Balfour’s engagement with governmental policies, scholarship, public intellectual life, and philosophical writing on race and imperialism.Footnote14 By reading the 1917 declaration alongside Balfour’s wider racial career and alongside mobilization in support of Palestinian self-determination at UoE, we consider what is at stake when the academy enters into the arena of reparatory history and racial redress to the question of Palestine.

The article is organized into four parts. First, we contextualize the political terrain upon which both the divestment movement and Decolonised Transformations developed and overlapped, despite emerging from different trajectories and constituents of the university. Next, we analyze the Balfour Declaration and its repercussions in Palestine, historically and to the present day, and reread it as emblematic of Balfour’s wider racial career, including his antisemitic legislation and his academic associations, circles, and appointments. We read these connections alongside the development of Balfour’s racial thinking and policies as a statesman that systematically targeted Palestinians, South Africans, and Jewish immigrants in Britain at the very time that he was serving in the ranks of the British Empire and representing UoE. We then turn to Balfour’s one and only visit to Palestine in 1925, eight years after the signing of the declaration and the military conquest of the country by British General Edmund Allenby, who would likewise be celebrated by UoE. We analyze how, during this visit, Balfour inaugurated the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as part of his broader commitment to the development of imperial education and racist ideas around civilizing the so-called Orient. The fourth and final section describes the imperial afterlife of Balfour at UoE amid the genocide, and student and staff’s protests and demands for divestment.Footnote15 Building from Stuart Hall’s concept of conjuncture, we introduce the Balfour conjuncture as a method for analyzing the multifaceted forces shaping ongoing racial, settler-colonial, and imperial politics around the question of Palestine within higher education, and as a tool for intervening in and challenging them.Footnote16

Divestment and Decolonized Transformations: Reparative Justice in a Time of Genocide

Following Hamas’s armed resistance operation on October 7, 2023, which broke Israel’s seventeen-year siege of Gaza and ushered in its war of annihilation, university campuses across the world became settings of unprecedented community mobilization for Palestine. The surge in student encampments and renewed calls for divestment marked a new era of Palestine solidarity praxis. These movements owe their ethical inheritances and political debts to a century-long Palestinian liberation struggle that drew from preceding anti-colonial movements and echoed throughout the era of third-world internationalism. We must understand present-day student encampments and divestment campaigns as part and parcel of these longer traditions of Global South resistance, refusal, and affirmation of the right to self-determination. Inspired by the longue durée of Palestinian defiance through boycotts, revolt, hunger strikes, uprisings, and other forms of resistance, the student-led encampments following October 7, which were supported by many university staff, deployed a diversity of tactics to hold universities to account for their complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and their wider investments in the political economy of Israeli settler colonialism. Though varied, university administrative responses to student encampments reproduced the same liberal and at times fascist logic constitutive of decades of Western discourse and reactions to the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Rather than genuinely addressing the global demands for justice for Palestine, academic institutions complicit in Israel’s settler-colonial dispossession reacted through a combination of genocide denial, the frequent adoption of repressive measures in coordination with state apparatuses, and the implementation of bureaucratic processes aimed at managing protests and preventing divestment.

By October 2023, we were three years into active community mobilizations on UoE’s links to Palestine, conducting archival research at the university’s Centre for Research Collections, alongside other Scottish archives. After October 7, our campus became one of the UK’s epicenters of academic protest against the genocide. Students and staff coalesced in a multi-racial and multi-religious alliance that carried out a sustained divestment campaign led first and foremost by the student encampment.Footnote17 As a result of the political pressure of the divestment movement on our institution, UoE finally included Palestine among the questions to be examined in the Decolonised Transformations Project.Footnote18 This initiative, commissioned by UoE’s vice chancellor in 2021 as a “sector-leading” effort aimed at strengthening the university as a global institution,Footnote19 was structured around two main components. The first was a research-focused working group led by “distinguished scholars on issues of race and racism,” which also included student representatives and racialized community members from outside the university.Footnote20 The second component was a community engagement program focusing on reparatory justice both as a participatory process involving racialized communities and as the central goal of the initiative. In addition, a steering group was created to advise the working group on research and community engagement activities. The group was led by the late Sir Geoff Palmer, a former alumnus of UoE and Scotland’s first Black professor, who died shortly before the release of the group’s report in July 2025. The steering committee also involved other alumni, including donors to the university.

Initially, the project opted not to include Palestine in its remit despite our encouragement. Following pressure from the divestment struggle, in which students and staff asked for acknowledgment of the university’s relationship to Balfour and his actions, alongside divestment and reparations from what they renamed as “Balfour University,” senior leadership made a concession. For the first time in history, a Global North academic institution brought Palestine within the remit of a university reparative justice inquiry into historical wrongs committed by the university. This period was marked by an unprecedented conjuncture of events and a powerful assemblage of epistemic and political forces galvanized by the student- and staff-led anti-genocide and divestment movement at UoE. It was this constellation of forces that led to the inclusion of Palestine in the academic review of our institution’s entanglement with slavery and colonialism. Our contribution to this review—which brought into view a section of the report titled “University of Edinburgh and the Question of Palestine: Balfour’s Imperial Legacy and Its Afterlife”Footnote21—was rooted in our involvement in the Palestinian divestment movement and research into Balfour’s imperial practices and racial worldviews.

We entered into this reparative justice inquiry not because we believe that any meaningful or easy repair can be done to redress a century of dehumanization and dispossession of Palestinians. To ameliorate the wreckage, incalculable racial horror, grief, and loss that political Zionism and its colonial and racial supremacist ideology have cast upon Palestine and on its Indigenous people from the river to the sea and beyond, feels an impossible task. There is no sanitizing this institutional record. The litany of horrors remains with us. The reconstitution of Gaza as a death world marks a world of no return—not for the hundreds of thousands who have been martyred, nor for those tortured and maimed, nor for those who might survive this mass slaughter and face the consequences of forced starvation. Those who do survive will inherit an afterlife marked by genocide, in the absence of kin, limbs, homes, and the sanctity of life itself. These unconscionable horrors belong to us all now and we live with them. There is no coming back from this, and certainly no reparative formula to heal this moment or the century of colonial dispossession of Palestine and Palestinians. Nonetheless, justice and accountability for Palestine remain at the core of a just and free world. It is an ethical imperative and a political compass for crafting a different world order entirely, free from imperialism, colonialism, and interconnected forms of domination. Reparation for us is about accountability and building alliances with subjugated peoples, and with all the communities in struggle against hegemony and systems of domination. For this reason, we entered the reparative justice process by way of duty, as a way to mobilize and at the very minimum, ensure the cessation of the university’s ongoing harm through its investments in the genocide and ties to Israel’s settler-colonial economy.

As David Scott’s work on the moral and reparatory history of New World slavery helps us understand, the meaning of reparatory history is not only about reckoning with past evil but also present debts. For Scott, it is about the political repair of moral debt. As he explains, “unrepaired wrong remains wrong and, moreover, that the unrepair of such wrong is itself a grievous wrong requiring redress in conjunction with the repair of the original wrong. Wrong is not static; it compounds.”Footnote22 Yet, as he explains, in the case of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism, wrong can amount to forms of devastation and intergenerational harm that make loss almost “irreversible and irrecoverable.”Footnote23 We entered Decolonised Transformations knowing very well that the very concept of reparation operates within this tension between the aspiration to redress and the irreparability of anti-Palestinian violence. This tension becomes all the more pronounced in a time of genocide. Yet the alternative was to ignore UoE’s past and present complicity in the destruction of Palestine. Hence, we ambivalently and cautiously entered this work with an understanding of reparatory history as a horizon for forging ethical relations that challenge the imperial core and its contribution to the epistemic and material destruction of Palestine. For those of us within the Global North and in particular, Europe and the UK, we view decolonial work as the work of dismantling empire and its violence from within the metropole.

In our engagement with Decolonised Transformations, we conceived of divestment from the Israeli regime as a primary target of the project. We repeatedly made the claim that cessation of harm and guarantee of nonrepetition are the guiding and preliminary principles to any meaningful form of redress. It was a small crack, but an important one. In this ongoing work, we strive to pragmatically undo our institutional complicity while remaining fully conscious that the horizon of reparations is not a horizon of forgiveness and redemption. Rather, reparation is the process: The practice of anti-racist solidarity driven by the possibility of undoing not evil itself, but complicity with it. To achieve this limited but crucial objective, our particular archival research within the institution looked at the unique role that Balfour played during his tenure as chancellor of UoE from 1891 to 1930, as he established and set into motion a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial dispossession in Palestine. The result of this process has been one of the longest military occupations and apartheid regimes in modern history, and the most protracted refugee crisis in the world today.Footnote24 As we were researching and writing the report on Balfour’s legacy, the very regime that Balfour so decisively contributed to instituting revealed its genocidal tendency, enabled, in part, by our institution’s investments. Confronting our university’s ongoing complicity with genocide and exposing our settler-colonial legacy in Palestine became the same struggle. The past and the present collapsed into one. The political struggle against genocide became the lens for writing about a past that refuses to pass: Balfour University.

The genocide in Gaza constitutes an unprecedented threat to the Palestinian people as an Indigenous people—a threat that introduces new ways of understanding how the past remains present through the convergence of new AI-driven technologies of violence, killing, and mass slaughter for the purpose of capital accumulation and settler land usurpation. In the case of the student- and staff-led movement at UoE, the conjuncture translated into new ways of understanding the relationship between the origins of the Nakba through Balfour’s negation of Palestinian self-determination on behalf of the Zionist movement, and the contemporary moment of Zionist eliminationist violence in which our institution is invested materially and epistemically. Thus, in the struggle against Israel’s genocide and toward divestment from it at our university, among other universities in the UK, the very enunciation of Balfour University became a call for action against the continuity of historical wrongs and ongoing academic financial complicity with genocide. The racial and imperial career of the chancellor statesman at the threshold of empire, government, and academia that we theorize through our research and direct engagement in the encampment, provides a lens through which to better understand this Balfour conjuncture.

Reading the Declaration Through the Imperial Chancellor’s Racial Career

By the time Arthur James Balfour mailed his sixty-seven-word declaration in 1917 to the home address of Lionel Walter Rothschild, the figurehead of the British Jewish community and prominent member of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland in 1917, he was no stranger to race thinking and foreign policy. Indeed, when he entered politics in 1874, he was the second Scot to serve as prime minister and was also the wealthiest man in Great Britain.Footnote25 Besides their personal fortunes, Scottish aristocrats also benefited from university loans. Before becoming chancellor at UoE, Balfour received a £12,000 loan from the university (the equivalent of £1.5 million today), which he repaid immediately after his election in October 1891.Footnote26 Wealth was certainly an important factor in Balfour’s election, but in terms of reputation, UoE was also looking for someone who “united knowledge of the world and world affairs … [a] great public career, high scholarship and philosophic thought.”Footnote27

The first traces of Balfour’s imperial statesmanship appeared before he was elected chancellor. In 1886, when he was secretary for Scotland, Balfour initiated a colonization scheme for the crofters of the Scottish Highlands, encouraging them to settle in Canada.Footnote28 Immediately after this position, Balfour was nominated chief secretary for Ireland and administered Britain’s oldest settler colony until 1891. Like his disregard of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination years later, Balfour also opposed self-determination for the Irish people. He introduced repressive emergency laws and quelled the political agitations caused by economic depression and anti-British sentiments, earning him the epithet “bloody Balfour.”Footnote29

Balfour’s chancellorship coincided with what Jason Tomes has called “the zenith of the British Empire.”Footnote30 This role also coincided with a series of domestic and imperial decisions influenced by Balfour that would come to have a seismic impact on the racial and colonial configurations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries at both national and global scales. In 1902, he became prime minister of the UK, and, in this position, continued to play a decisive role in imperial affairs. He was already directing the Foreign Office during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), but it was only later that he articulated his vision for the British dominion of South Africa. While the South African apartheid regime was in the making, Balfour viewed racial segregation as a crucial means to preserve the racial purity of white supremacist democracies. As he explained in one of his reflections on imperial political reforms: “Where racial differences are clear cut and profound […] where a [White] race obviously superior is mixed with a race obviously inferior, the superior race may be constituted as a democracy, but into that democracy the inferior race will never be admitted. It may be kept out by law, as in South Africa, or it may be kept out by practice, as in the Southern States of America; but kept out it will be.”Footnote31 The imperial chancellor assumed race to be a social and biological fact, upholding the racial logic that “one European race” had to govern and dominate.Footnote32 He also explicitly claimed that “[a]ll men are, from some points of view, equal; but, to suppose that the races of Africa are in any sense the equals of men of European descent, so far as government, as society, as the higher interests of civilisation are concerned, is really, I think, an absurdity.”Footnote33

In 1907, two years after the end of Balfour’s mandate as prime minister (though still in post as chancellor), the Eugenics Education Society was established in the UK.Footnote34 Its creation was also a response to the social unrest resulting from capitalist development. The focus of the society, which expressed a conservative agenda of social reform and control of the proletariat (while also including socialist members), was predominantly on the prevention of the “degeneration of race” at a national level.Footnote35 In spite of his reluctance to embrace its most radical biological ideas, Balfour endorsed scientific racism. He considered eugenics a “splendid applied science” and directly supported the Eugenics Education Society.Footnote36 In 1912, Balfour as chancellor was the main guest at the Eugenics International Congress in London; and in 1913, he became honorary vice president of the society, reiterating the special place that racial reason played in his understanding of the world.

With this track record, it is no surprise that Balfour had no qualms erasing Palestinian peoplehood in 1917. In his promise to Rothschild, with no legal basis, Balfour endorsed the idea of a territorial-based, Jewish national home inside Palestine while simultaneously denying Palestine’s Indigenous community recognition as a people with national rights to self-determination. While there were several drafts of this declaration, the final version was issued on November 2, 1917, and publicly declared the following: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”Footnote37 Sherene Seikaly has noted that the declaration defined Palestinians “by who they were not,” as non-Jewish communities entitled only to civil and religious rights, but not political or national rights, while rendering Palestine a “national home” for an incoming Jewish settler society.Footnote38 In leaving the status of Palestinian political rights unprotected, the declaration set a precedent for the continued denial of the rights of Palestinian peoplehood and for the installation of a new racial order by means of negation. Though Palestinians immediately and categorically challenged the basis of the declaration, it became juridically enshrined verbatim in the British Mandate for Palestine as a result of Balfour’s political role as representative of Britain at the League of Nations Council.Footnote39

The territorial realization of modern political Zionism as a settler colony inside of Palestine was first instituted through the material, discursive, and military support of the British Empire in the lead-up to and during the British Mandate for Palestine (1922–48), and in coordination with leading figures of the Zionist movement. The transition from the mandate to the declaration of Israeli statehood in May 1948 was accomplished through the Nakba: an aggressive ethnic cleansing campaign of systematic elimination by means of massacre, dispossession, the destruction of 531 villages, and the forced expulsion of approximately 750,000 of Palestine’s Indigenous people by Zionist militias, namely, the Haganah (the future army of the state of Israel) and the Irgun. Over the course of the 1947–48 Nakba, in addition to those who fled to nearby countries, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were internally displacedFootnote40 to different areas of Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Nakba survivors and their descendants have been subjected to an ongoing war of annihilation by Israel since October 2023.

As historians have argued, settler colonialism in Palestine did not begin in 1948 at the time of Israel’s inception, but in 1917 through the signing of the Balfour Declaration.Footnote41 As a British imperial statesman, and in coordination with the Zionist movement, Balfour issued this political statement “of dubious legal standing,” since Britain had no authority over the land of Palestine.Footnote42 However, the juridical framework he architected instigated a process of governance in Palestine based upon naturalized racialized categories that treated Palestinians as political infants unfit for national self-determination. This was evident in Balfour’s other writings. In a 1919 memo to UK Foreign Secretary Lord George Curzon for circulation to cabinet ministers, he wrote: “Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-old traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land.”Footnote43 The casualness with which the fate of a people and the dispossession of an entire nation was declared reveals just how little the people and history of Palestine mattered to British imperial and Zionist leaders alike.

The results of Balfour’s racist logic and policy would come to sow death and destruction in Palestine during and after the British Mandate, both from British forces and Zionist militias, through ethnic cleansing and depopulation. The declaration also set in motion the processes leading up to the UN General Assembly’s Resolution 181 of November 1947, which proposed the partition of Palestine and set a precedent for fragmenting the land in a way that disproportionately favored settler colonists at the expense of an Indigenous people firmly rooted in the land and engaged in an ongoing struggle for sovereignty. The Jewish population, which made up roughly one-third of the total population, was offered close to 56 percent of the land. Conversely, Palestinians who were in the majority were expected to settle for approximately 40 percent.Footnote44 The sixty-seven-word declaration thus triggered what Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi has defined as the one-hundred-year war on Palestine.Footnote45

It should be noted, however, that Balfour’s disdain for Palestinians and his allegiance to Zionism did not mean that he held favorable views toward Jewish people. On the contrary, his domestic policies restricted Jewish immigration into Britain under the 1905 Aliens Act, which passed twelve years before the promulgation of the declaration on Palestine when Balfour was prime minister. This legislation constituted the first modern anti-immigration law in the United Kingdom. Its principal aim was to prevent Jewish immigration from eastern Europe after a surge in anti-Jewish hatred and religious persecution in the Russian Empire, forcing one million Jews to flee to western Europe and the Americas between 1880 and 1905.Footnote46 Within this period of mass Jewish migration, “aliens” meant Jewish people. In Balfour’s racially charged opinion, “It would not be to the advantage of the civilization of this country that there should be an immense body of [Jewish] persons who, however patriotic, able and industrious […] remained a people apart.”Footnote47

These details of his intellectual and public life are neither an aberration from his political views as an imperial statesman, nor a deviation from his involvement in global affairs, such as the question of Palestine. While our research was under review by the steering committee of UoE’s Decolonised Transformations initiative, an alumnus and donor to the university tried to exclude our research and recommendations to the university executive, arguing that our investigation failed to distinguish “between an individual’s principal professional activities and voluntary non-executive roles they might take on.”Footnote48 The argument is certainly representative of a sensibility that would like to set the clock back to an era in which knowledge, political power, and institutional roles were analyzed separately.

But besides displacing the scholarly untenability of this approach, what the examination of Balfour’s multifaceted career through the lens of his race thinking allows us to do is crucial for understanding the continuity between Balfour’s racial reason and the establishment of a settler colony in Palestine. The 1917 Balfour Declaration demonstrates most explicitly the ways in which his forms of race thinking had matured into explicitly racist policy. As Balfour himself commented: “the deep underlying principle of self-determination really points to a Zionist policy” that excluded Palestinians from becoming part of the family of nations.Footnote49 Indeed, as he later admitted, his ultimate goal with the declaration was to create the conditions for a Jewish settler “numerical majority in the future” that was entitled to exclusive national sovereignty in virtue of their alleged superior civilization and capacity to govern themselves.Footnote50 According to Balfour, in the best of cases, Palestinians could aspire to civil and religious rights, but not to national ones.

There are thus two interconnected elements of the Balfour Declaration that mark its contribution to what scholars such as Edward Said have called a settler-colonial order in Palestine. First, as Said succinctly described in The Question of Palestine, Balfour took “for granted the higher right of a colonial power to dispose of a territory as it saw fit.”Footnote51 Second, he gave credence to the rights of an incoming settler society that gradually but forcefully secured their settlement through colonial dispossession, theft, and expulsion. The Balfour Declaration was therefore the sine qua non for the constitution of a settler-colonial order in Palestine that endures into the present.

Balfour in Palestine and Imperial Education

On July 8, 1903, the first Allied Colonial University Conference took place in London. The development of a colonial space for knowledge production through university networks was intended to support British imperial rule.Footnote52 As both prime minister and chancellor, Balfour was one of the main architects of this imperial turn to academia. At the Hotel Cecil, Balfour presided over the conference dinner attended by delegates of colonial universities, heads of colleges, and “men prominent in educational and scientific work.”Footnote53 After the customary toasts, Balfour delivered a speech in which he celebrated the foundation of a new British colonial-­academic alliance and explained why this was a remarkable political achievement:

We are here representing what will turn out to be, I believe, a great alliance of the greatest educational instruments in the Empire—an alliance of all the universities that, in an increasing measure, are feeling their responsibilities, not merely for training the youth which is destined to carry on the traditions of the British Empire, but also to further those great interests of knowledge, scientific research, and culture without which no Empire, however materially magnificent, can really say that it is doing its share in the progress of the world.Footnote54

For Balfour, the new colonial-academic alliance was a crucial tool for cementing the same British global domination to which he was contributing as a statesman. But it was also a key instrument for affirming a racial sense of White Anglo-Saxon unity, since, in his own words, “we boast a community of blood, of language, of laws, of literature.”Footnote55

After terminating his mandate as prime minister in 1905, Balfour withdrew for almost a decade from imperial foreign policy, before making his return in 1916 as foreign secretary, one year before the Balfour Declaration. But in those ten years preceding World War I, UoE’s chancellor continued to contribute to the construction of the British imperial academic space. In 1912, perhaps due to his growing interest in the so-called Orient, Balfour was asked to chair a session of the First Congress of the Universities of the Empire on “The Problem of Universities in the East in Regard to their Influence on Character and Moral Ideals.” In his opening speech, he underscored what he saw as the inherent incompatibility between Eastern traditions and Western science. He commented that if there has been “mutual adjustment” between scientific knowledge and sociocultural traditions in Western universities, science and social customs are in a relationship of “collision” in Eastern universities.Footnote56

This idea of incompatibility was grounded in a concept of “natural” racial inequalities that Balfour had articulated a few years earlier in a philosophical essay titled “Decadence.” In this essay, Balfour explained how the history of the “unchanging East” is dominated by a monotony of “Oriental despotism” that pointed toward its inability to self-govern.Footnote57 In his own writing: “I at least find it quite impossible to believe that any attempt to provide widely different races with an identical […] educational [environment] can ever make them alike. They have been different and unequal since history began; different and unequal they are destined to remain.”Footnote58 While Balfour was developing his theories on racial difference, the Zionists were planning the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as a move of high “practical and symbolic significance” toward the consolidation of their colonial settlement in Palestine. To quote its chairman, Chaim Weizmann, who was a leader in the World Zionist Organization and also played a prominent role in convincing Balfour to issue the declaration, the university was conceived as the “fulfilment of [the] particular dream of the early days of the [Zionist] movement.”Footnote59 In 1923, Weizmann invited Patrick Geddes, a former lecturer in zoology at UoE and a renowned Scottish sociologist and urbanist, to assist the British Mandate in replanning Jerusalem and the Zionists in the “design and layout of the university buildings.”Footnote60 The plans for this are preserved at UoE’s Centre for Research Collections.Footnote61 Later, Geddes was asked to help the Zionist movement develop plans for Tel Aviv (the first Zionist urban colony), Tiberias, and Haifa.Footnote62

Figure 1. Balfour inaugurating the Hebrew University in Jerusalem wearing UoE and UoC robes in 1925.

Source: Library of Congress.Footnote63

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Two years later, Balfour visited Palestine for the first and last time. He was invited by the Zionists to inaugurate the Hebrew University and lay the foundation stone for the Balfour-Einstein Institute of Mathematics and Physics on a site selected by Geddes.Footnote64 As Jerusalem’s Palestinian inhabitants took to the streets to protest his visit, Balfour proudly appeared dressed in his UoE and UoC robes, delivering his inauguration speech on Mount Scopus, and celebrating the Hebrew University as an experiment of adapting “Western methods” developed by the “Jewish race” to an Asiatic site and as an institution capable of regenerating a stagnant Palestine.Footnote65 In this way, Balfour espoused the Zionist narrative about the need to develop a backward Palestine. Significantly, following this inauguration in 1925, Hebrew University was included in the network of allied imperial universities to which Balfour had contributed.Footnote66 The land and buildings of the university were registered in the name of the Jewish National Fund, the main organization leading “Jewish colonisation in Palestine” through the acquisition of land under British imperial protection that resulted in the dispossession of Indigenous Palestinian communities.Footnote67 After inaugurating the Hebrew University, Balfour also toured Tel Aviv and the first Jewish settlements established in Palestine. In Balfouria, a colony of mainly US settlers that was dedicated to him by the Zionist movement, Balfour celebrated the “great industrial and agricultural efforts” of the settlers and their colonial enterprise as a “triumph of civilisation.”Footnote68

Figure 2. Balfour visits Jewish settler colonies in Palestine, 1925.

Source: Library of Congress.Footnote69

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Following Balfour’s visit to Palestine, UoE continued to celebrate its colonizers. As the Balfour Declaration was being signed, General Edmund Allenby occupied Gaza in the first days of November 1917, and six weeks later, on December 11, he captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans, marking a turning point in the destructive Palestine campaign. In 1926, UoE presented Allenby with an honorary degree in law,Footnote70 and the dean of the faculty celebrated his contribution to imperial conquest and the dispossession of Palestinians, explaining that the degree was a way for the university “to pay homage to the leader of the latest and most thrilling of the Crusades [and] the capture of Jerusalem out of the infidels’ hands.”Footnote71 In 1935, shortly before his death, Allenby was also made rector of the University of Edinburgh.

Today, in the UK, Palestine’s imperial oppressor and contemporary genocide enabler, universities continue the tradition of honoring Palestine’s violent British colonizers. At least two prominent “Balfour universities” still celebrate Arthur James Balfour: The University of Glasgow lists him among the “individuals who had already achieved or would go on to achieve great things,”Footnote72 while UoE refers to its chancellors as distinguished individuals who enhance “the profile and reputation of the University on national and global levels.”Footnote73 These commemorations deliberately obfuscate the racial careers and the foundational roles of figures like Balfour in creating the conditions for the displacement and elimination of the Palestinian people.

The “Balfour Conjuncture”: Genocide and the Chancellor’s Imperial Afterlife

As we read and explored Balfour’s career as a “man of science”Footnote74 at the intersection of imperial and racial governance, and alongside his commitment to advancing imperial academia while holding prestigious positions, we sought and received support from UoE to investigate our institutional archives and organize initiatives aimed at raising awareness in our community about our historical entanglements with the question of Palestine and Israel’s settler-colonial violence. Some of the preliminary findings of our research were published in Retrospect Journal as part of the special issue “Race in Retrospective,” which explored the university’s entanglements with race and racialization from the eighteenth century to the present.Footnote75 This special issue served as an important tool for raising awareness about the university’s links to racism and undoubtedly helped prepare the ground for the Decolonised Transformations Project.

A year later, in November 2022, despite the exclusion of our Balfour research from the university reparatory justice initiative, we invited Salman Abu Sitta, the founder and president of the Palestine Land Society, to address our former chancellor, Arthur James Balfour. The event, titled “A Palestinian Address to Balfour: In Honour of Truth, Memory, and Justice,” was organized by RACE.ED, an inter-university network focused on race, racialization, and decolonial studies at UoE, and the Kenyon Institute, in collaboration with various university networks and research groups. This event marked a significant milestone in acknowledging UoE and the British academy’s involvement in settler-colonial dispossession in Palestine, and in understanding Balfour’s relevance to ongoing Zionist violence.

Abu Sitta’s address was preceded by an attack against Balfour’s legacy at the UK House of Commons, in which Palestine Action activists squirted ketchup on Balfour’s statue around the anniversary of the 1917 declaration. “Palestine Action won’t stop until British complicity does,” said the activists.Footnote76 Ten days later, in his lecture at Balfour’s academic home in Edinburgh, Abu Sitta traced the chancellor’s racial legacy, including his antisemitic immigration policies. He examined the relationship between the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the Nakba, using maps and memories archived in the Palestine Land Society Centre and his autobiography to illustrate the continuities between British occupation after the declaration, and Zionist settler colonization leading up to 1948. Crucially, through Abu Sitta—a man whose family fought Balfour’s troops in Beersheba in 1917 and who was himself exiled from Palestine as a child in the Nakba—this event created a powerful sense of historical afterlife and reincarnation. Standing before Balfour’s portrait, which UoE owns and once displayed in the gallery of its main building, Abu Sitta spoke as if summoning him: “If you did not die in 1930,” he said, “you would be alive today and would be judged by people during your imagined life, so that we can hear firsthand what they say about your deeds.” Footnote77

Figure 3. Salman Abu Sitta delivers “A Palestinian Address to Balfour: In Honour of Truth, Memory, and Justice,” November 2022.

Source: Salman Abu Sitta.Footnote78

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Balfour’s legacy as the most prominent imperial chancellor of UoE, who triggered a process of settler-colonial dispossession and dehumanization in Palestine, is not merely a matter of historical harm. Harm to Palestinians today must be seen as an extension of Balfour’s legacy. While this violence may have begun with Balfour’s declaration, it remains through ongoing policies that continue the trajectory of imperialism, settler colonialism, and dispossession of Palestinian land and life. Abu Sitta’s dialogue with Balfour was thus a critical moment and a materialization of Balfour’s afterlife in the physical space of the room with the portrait.

But to grasp further the relevance of our research project and community initiatives to the present, and how the sources and materials we explored in different archives—along with the literacy and community awareness activities we organized—have become salient, we build on Stuart Hall’s notion of conjuncture. More precisely, we must understand the contemporary moment since October 7, 2023, as a “condensation of contradictions”Footnote79—an accumulation of historical, political, and epistemic forces that are erupting in the struggle between the global front supporting settler-­colonial genocide and the front opposing it. This opposition has found university campuses and student encampments therein to be key spaces for expression and articulation. At UoE, staff and students organizing for Palestine use Balfour and the university’s historical entanglement with the dispossession of Palestinians as tools for understanding and acting in the conjuncture, in the “immediate terrain of struggle”Footnote80 in which our institution is implicated.

Let us analyze the conjuncture further. Following October 7, 2023, unprecedented community mobilization at UoE began to cohere and coordinate. Students and staff investigated the university, revealing how our direct and indirect investments contributed to multiple war crimes carried out as part of Israel’s regime of settler-colonial apartheid—ranging from the arms industry and high-tech surveillance to companies profiting from illegal settlements. As later revealed in a report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, our university is among the most heavily invested in the UK in high-tech companies that have intensified their collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Defense since the beginning of the genocide.Footnote81 After weeks of student and staff protests, which were met with threats in weekly messages from UoE’s senior leadership—without any acknowledgment of the crimes perpetrated by Israel in Gaza—the university decided to make a concession to the anti-genocide front. One of the movement’s key demands since the first weeks was for the university to apologize for the historical harm it caused through the figure of Balfour and the 1917 declaration. In November 2023, for the first time in its history, and for the first time in the history of academic institutions situated in the imperial center, the university publicly acknowledged in a statement that it “has a historical link to this conflict […] in the Middle East” and that “the issue of coloniality will play a factor in any decisions taken” to address our seminal involvement in the process of denial of Palestinian self-determination.Footnote82

The Balfour conjuncture manifested further at UoE, and with global media coverage, in December 2023. In the days following the university’s announcement on the race review, we were tasked by colleagues in charge of the Decolonised Transformations Project to curate the section of the race review on Palestine, focusing on Balfour. While we were beginning to develop our investigation, our research informed “Balfour Reparations 2023–2043,” a performance lecture by Palestinian artist and University of Glasgow scholar Farah Saleh developed in collaboration with us, in which she confronted UoE’s imperial legacy. Dressed like Balfour in his UoE robe during his inauguration of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1925, she distributed a letter of apology that she asked the audience to read as part of the performance. In the fictional letter, printed on UoE letterhead, the university pledged to “disclose and divest from all investments in companies that directly or indirectly profit from the illegal military occupation and colonisation of Palestine.”Footnote83 Fiction somehow became reality. A picture of the letter taken by the audience went viral, framed as “a public apology for Balfour,” shared globally and quoted by the press to such an extent that, after circulating it as official news, Reuters Fact Check had to issue a statement clarifying that the “University of Edinburgh’s apology letter to Palestinians is fictional.”Footnote84

Figure 4. Farah Saleh performing “Balfour Reparations 2023–2043” at UoE in December 2023. Source: Photo taken by Lucas Chih-Peng Kao and used with permission.

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Not long after Saleh’s performance, South Africa initiated proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza. A month later, in January 2024, the court ruled that South Africa’s claims were credible and that Israel had carried out acts that plausibly amounted to genocide.Footnote85 In the months following the ICJ decision, as we continued our research while mobilizing alongside our campus community, students escalated their direct actions for divestment through multiple occupations of different university buildings. The historical complicity of our university through Balfour and the demand for an official apology for our historical entanglements remained one of the fundamental requests advanced by students in their divestment negotiations with the institution. However, the university’s intransigent approach to campus protests against our financial links with settler-colonial genocide pushed students to organize a vote on divestment. At the end of March 2024, the university’s Student Council overwhelmingly voted in favor of divestment, with a staggering 97 percent majority.Footnote86

In the same month, the relationship between Balfour, British academia, and the ongoing genocide became a focal point of struggle at UoC.Footnote87 A member of Palestine Action entered Trinity College and attacked a portrait of Balfour. The direct action organization released an official statement: “Palestine Action ruined a 1914 painting by Philip Alexius de László inside Trinity College, University of Cambridge, of Lord Arthur James Balfour—the colonial administrator and signatory of the Balfour Declaration.”Footnote88 The slashing of the UoC portrait—what Nicholas Mirzoeff called “slashing the screen”—allowed people to “see in the dark” of genocide and its imperial genealogy through Balfour.Footnote89 The slashing was an act of solidarity with Gaza that revealed the deep financial link between a world-leading university in the imperial center and Israeli arms manufacturers. Two months later, UoC divested from Israeli military companies.Footnote90

The Balfour conjuncture erupted irreversibly at the core of the UK Russell Group, in Edinburgh, a few weeks later, at the beginning of May 2025, when students joined the international student encampment movement spreading across continents, and set up tents at UoE’s Old College, home to the university administration. In their opening message on social media announcing the encampment, they declared: “Students take Lord Balfour University, known internationally as the University of Edinburgh.”Footnote91 They emphasized “the special legacy” of the University of Edinburgh “in the colonization of Palestine” and demanded that it “divest entirely from companies tied to Israel.”Footnote92 Our ongoing research, the community-led forms of truth-­telling led by Abu Sitta and Saleh, and the archival materials we retrieved, helped inform both the student movement and the increasing involvement of staff in the anti-genocide and pro-­divestment movement at UoE.

While “Balfour University Still Complicit with Genocide” became the official banner of the encampment, it was more than just a slogan. The connection and convergence between past and present—what we call Balfour’s afterlife—became a political conjuncture that took shape through the intersection of various processes and forces, giving the encampment a sense of historical mission. Multiple constituencies began to believe that the trajectory of historical injustice in which our institution has been implicated and that our research revealed in its granular aspects, could be challenged. This process led to the condensation and accumulation of multiple forces and community activism on campus, culminating in the largest mobilization for divestment since the 1970s.Footnote93

Balfour Must Fall Everywhere

This article has demonstrated, though only partially, the historical continuities of Balfour’s violent racial legacy and his imperial afterlife. In reading the breadth of his racial thinking, we showed how his declaration on Palestine was inscribed in his racialized imperial worldviews and quintessentially emblematic of them. We read this genealogy alongside an active movement at UoE calling for Palestinian liberation. Through various forms of political struggle at UoE, including a protracted hunger strike, students managed to mobilize over six hundred members of staff in support of divestment. This was achieved through a letter we drafted with colleagues, which was signed by the entire Decolonised Transformations network—meaning all the scholars engaged in reviewing our institution’s entanglements with colonialism and imperialism. As a network, we collectively signed the call for divestment, expressing full support for the student hunger strike and anti-genocide mobilization. We recognized that colonialism and imperialism are not merely historical legacies, but ongoing realities.

Our collective research on institutional entanglements with different forms and contexts of racial domination in the past became a tool for political struggle in the present. From the Palestine exception and the exclusion of Palestine from the race review, we reached a moment where Balfour and Palestine came to symbolize contemporary anti-colonial struggles. In this conjuncture, as scholars leading the Balfour section of the race review and as organizers of the Divestment Committee representing six hundred signatories, we engaged in the anti-genocide struggle by merging research, activism, and the pursuit of institutional change.

Figure 5. Student and staff mobilization for divestment and against Balfour University at UoE on June 17, 2024.

Source: Photo taken by Nicola Perugini.

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Figure 6. Student and staff mobilization for divestment and against Balfour University at UoE. This was taken at Old College on May 29, 2024. Old College is where Balfour’s portrait once resided and has since been taken down. It is also where Abu Sitta and Saleh staged part of their interventions.

Source: Photo taken by Nicola Perugini.

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Figure 7. Student and staff mobilization for divestment and against Balfour University at UoE. This was taken at Old College on May 19, 2024.

Source: Photo taken by Meher Vepari and used with permission.

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UoE continues to resist divestment when it comes to Palestine. Despite issuing an official statement in response to the anti-genocide protests acknowledging its historical involvement in the dispossession of Palestinians through Balfour, the university remains unwilling to ­recognize that true reparations and justice can only come by ending the cycle of harm—­particularly through financial profiteering from settler-colonial annihilation. Instead, the senior leadership team has deployed what one member of staff termed a “conflict agnostic” approach, refusing to engage with the Nakba and its settler-colonial afterlife. This Nakba denialism delimits the outcomes of the working groups that are informing court decisions on responsible investments and preventing precautionary divestment from companies involved with the Israeli military in Gaza. This approach also means that UoE runs the risk of eluding due diligence and exposing itself to complicity with genocide, crimes against humanity, and an illegal military occupation. Instead of financial disentanglement, the university prefers repetition of the colonial and imperial harms that the Balfour Declaration institutionalized more than a century ago.

In spite of our institution’s resistance to divestment, the collective process of understanding the relationship between past and present through Balfour’s violent legacy has triggered an irreversible political process. For the first time, a Western academic institution was forced, through anti-colonial political mobilization against Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial genocide, to transform Palestine from an exception to one of the core questions at the center of its investigations into the legacies of colonialism and imperialism in academic institutions. This is only the beginning of a much larger and urgently needed process. Our work at the intersection of research, anti-colonial mobilization, and reparatory justice is only a drop in the ocean compared with what remains to be done to delink Western academic institutions from their legacy of dispossession in Palestine. Indeed, this research and analysis of community engagement at UoE should serve as an invitation to colleagues and students in other institutions in the imperial center to look for and follow the traces of Palestinian dispossession in their archives, in their collections, in the names of their buildings, and in the names of their scholarships. Balfour must fall everywhere.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank a number of people who worked with us and provided support toward this project: The UoE’s student-staff divestment movement and in particular the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. The former president of Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society and our research assistant Hajar Ibrahim, who helped us archive the mobilization for divestment, as well as Henry Dee and Tom Cunningham for their research assistance in the Centre for Research Collection (CRC). Our colleagues in CRC, Rachel Hosker and Daryl Green for their support in amassing relevant and helpful materials. Salman Abu Sitta for putting Balfour on trial in his centenary lecture on the British Mandate in Palestine, alongside Toufic Haddad for co-organizing this joint lecture. Farah Saleh for her lecture performance “Balfour’s Afterlife: Balfour Reparations 2025–2045” and the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities for providing support around these various events. The Research and Engagement Work Group for their support toward the encampment and divestment movement, and toward our contribution with the reparations project. Nadim Bawalsa and R. R. Abdelnabi for their close and incisive editorial suggestions. This article was prepared with equal contribution by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

SRSF.

Notes on contributors

Nicola Perugini

Nicola Perugini is a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Edinburgh.

Shaira Vadasaria

Shaira Vadasaria is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Edinburgh.

Notes

1 See Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s definition of racism as “state-sanctioned and/or extra-legal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerabilities to premature death, in distinct yet densely interconnected political geographies.” Ruth Wilson Gilmore, “Race and Globalization,” in Geographies of Global Change: Remapping the World, ed. R. J. Johnston et al. (Blackwell Publishing, 2002), 261.

2 Full petition here: “Rename David Hume Tower at UoE,” Change.org, June 29, 2020, https://www.change.org/p/university-of-edinburgh-rename-david-hume-tower-at-uoe.

3 “The Chancellor,” University of Edinburgh, last accessed December 22, 2025, https://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/officials/chancellor.

4 Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019), 15–17.

5 Susan Pedersen, “Writing the Balfour Declaration into the Mandate for Palestine,” International History Review 45, no. 2 (2023): 279-91, https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2022.2123377.

6 Salman Abu Sitta, “A Palestinian Address to Balfour: In Honour of Truth, Memory, and Justice,” Palestine Land Society, November 8, 2022, https://www.plands.org/en/articles-speeches/speeches/2022/A-Palestinian-Address-to-Balfour.

7 We came together on this project having both joined UoE after teaching for several years at Al-Quds Bard College in Abu Dis—an experience that marked our lives and teaching by bringing us into Palestinian spaces of learning shaped by everyday resistance to settler-colonial occupation and dispossession. With Palestinian campuses under siege, students and staff strive to carry out their academic lives while resisting all forms of violence—restrictions on movement, ­invasive surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture, death, land and resource theft, and dispossession—we carried these memories with us and learned from them. With a deep sense of ­comradeship, solidarity, responsibility, and love for the communities we lived with during our years at ­Al-Quds Bard College, and with an unwavering commitment to the Palestinian struggle for liberation, we both joined UoE with a sense of loss and duty to maintain our bond to Palestine by engaging in new epistemic and political battles through which we do our small part. It was from these affective and political trajectories and commitments to Palestine’s liberation struggle that our research into Balfour’s deeds of destruction began.

8 “The Chancellor.” Alexander Campbell Fraser, “Professor Campbell Fraser’s speech on the occasion of the University of Edinburgh’s election of Balfour,” The Scotsman, Edinburgh University General Council, October 31, 1891, as cited in Tommy Curry et al., Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh’s History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism (University of Edinburgh, June 2025), 45, https://www.ed.ac.uk/about/race-review/read-the-review.

9 Fraser, “Speech,” as cited in Curry et al., Decolonised Transformations, 48.

10 “The Chancellor.”

11 See Fraser’s speech in The Scotsman (1891). Balfour was succeeded by two other imperial chancellors who similarly spanned the worlds of academia and public affairs: John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, was chancellor from 1937 to 1940, and was a well-known Scottish novelist, governor general of Canada (1935–40), an imperial administrator with Balfour in South Africa, and played a prominent intelligence role in the Middle East; and Victor Alexander John Hope, Marquess of Linlithgow, was chancellor from 1946 to 1952, and was both the general governor in India (1936–43) and a politician.

12 Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt), Lord Balfour in His Relation to Science (Cambridge University Press, 1930); Sydney H. Zebel, Balfour: A Political Biography (Cambridge University Press, 1973); Ruddock F. MacKay, Balfour: Intellectual Statesman (Oxford University Press, 1985); Blanche Elizabeth Campbell Dugdale, Arthur James Balfour: First Earl of Balfour (Hutchinson, 1936).

13 Full project description here: Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University’s Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism (blog), University of Edinburgh, https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/decolonise/.

14 As David Scott explains, the idea of reparatory history refers to a “dimension of moral history concerned specifically with historical wrongs that remain unrepaired in the present.” David Scott, Irreparable Evil: An Essay in Moral and Reparatory History (Columbia University Press, 2024), 27.

15 The concept of imperial afterlife draws inspiration from the work of Saidiya Hartman who coined the phrase “afterlife of slavery,” which is now a widely used analytic for understanding the ongoing material and psychic conditions of subjugation as instituted under the racial and economic structures of chattel slavery. This historiographical framework draws attention to the ­relentless and ongoing systems and structures of racial domination that define anti-Black violence, constitutive of Atlantic slavery, and instituted after formal abolition. Saidiya V. Hartman, Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford University Press, 1997). We pay homage to this concept and its legacy and draw on it as a way to also think about the afterlife of British empire and its lasting legacy in Palestine and on Palestinians, which many Palestinian scholars refer to as the “ongoing Nakba.” As Nasser Abourahme details in his recent work, Nakba, translated to catastrophe, first appears in the work of Constantin Zureiq, in his book, Ma´a al-Nakba, written amid the ethnic cleansing campaign in 1948. Nasser Abourahme, The Time Beneath the Concrete: Palestine Between Camp and Colony (Duke University Press, 2025). The concept of ongoing Nakba is also a historiographical frame that explains how the colonial dispossession of Palestine and Palestinians, and resistance to it, is part of Palestine’s ongoing liberation struggle against settler-colonial and imperial domination.

16 Primary sources include, but are not limited to, the University of Edinburgh’s institutional ­records (Court, Senatus Academicus, Accounts), student societies journals, and archival records on Arthur James Balfour, Edmund Allenby, and the Patrick Geddes collection. In person and remote research in archives beyond the University of Edinburgh records include the National Records of Scotland, National Library of Scotland, Library of Congress, and British Pathé. The research on contemporary university investments supporting settler-colonial dispossession and genocide in Palestine is based on: International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court records of investigations on events in Gaza after October 7, 2023; media; the United Nations; advocacy and human rights organizations; staff/student reports on companies that are complicit with human rights, international law, and Genocide Convention violations in the ­occupied Palestinian territories; the University of Edinburgh’s official institutional communications on the process of the reform of responsible investments; as well as the archives of the community mobilization preserved by different groups and divestment campaign participants.

17 Kerr Simeon, “Edinburgh Student Hunger Strikers Demand University Divests over Gaza ‘Complicity,’” Financial Times, May 16, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/e5ddee87-be2b-4283-8a1f-ecddbd95c368.

18 Curry et al., Decolonial Transformations.

19 University of Edinburgh (UoE), “Statement from the Principal,” news release, January 19, 2021, https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2021/addressing-contemporary-and-historic-racism/statement-from-principal.

20 UoE “Statement.”

21 “Member Bios: Researchers on the UoE and the Question of Palestine,” University of Edinburgh, last accessed December 10, 2025, https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/decolonise/2024/11/07/member-bios-researchers-on-the-uoe-and-the-question-of-palestine/.

22 Scott, Irreparable Evil, 58.

23 Scott, Irreparable Evil, 15.

24 Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)–Intervention, I.C.J., January 24, 2024, https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192/intervention. Also, see Rosemary Sayigh, The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries (Zed Books, 1979); Walid Khalidi, All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 (Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992); Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of “Transfer” in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948 (Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992); Ahmad H. Saʻdi and Lila Abu-Lughod, eds., Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory (Columbia University Press, 2007).

25 Jock Gallagher, Scotland’s Global Empire: A Chronicle of Great Scots (Whittles Publishing, 2014), 140–41. Also, see Zebel, Balfour.

26 Meeting minutes of the University Court Finance Committee, July 9, 1891, as cited in Curry et al., Decolonised Transformations, 48.

27 Fraser, “Speech,” as cited in Curry et al., Decolonise Transformation, 48.

28 Emigration: Secretary of State’s Correspondence, 1885, file AF51/1, National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

29 Jason Tomes, Balfour and Foreign Policy: The International Thought of a Conservative Statesman (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 78–81.

30 Tomes, Balfour and Foreign Policy, 2.

31 Arthur James Balfour, “A note on Indian reform,” August 7, 1917, cited in Tomes, Balfour and Foreign Policy, 65.

32 South Africa Bill of Lords, remarks by Arthur James Balfour, August 16, 1909, UK Parliament, House of Commons, Hansard, vol. 9, Column 1002, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1909-08-16/debates/1a5e419c-77c8-4cbe-aa0e-e24099f46f50/SouthAfricaBillLords.

33 South Africa Bill of Lords, remarks by Arthur James Balfour, August 16, 1909.

34 L. S. Jacyna, “Science and Social Order in the Thought of A. J. Balfour,” Isis 71, no. 1 (March 1980): 31, https://doi.org/10.1086/352406.

35 Stefan Kühl, For the Betterment of the Race: The Rise and Fall of the International Movement for Eugenics and Racial Hygiene (Macmillan, 2013), 12–20.

36 Cited in Kühl, For the Betterment of the Race, 26; Jacyna, “Science and Social Order,” 31.

37 “Balfour Declaration, 2 November 1917: Promising Palestine Away,” Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question, last accessed December 9, 2025, https://www.palquest.org/en/highlight/157/balfour-declaration-2-november-1917.

38 Sherene Seikaly, Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2016), 5–6.

39 Pedersen, “Writing the Balfour Declaration.” Also, see Sahar Huneidi, “Was Balfour Policy Reversible? The Colonial Office and Palestine, 1921–23,” JPS 27, no. 2 (1998): 33, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538282.

40 Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (One World, 2007); Sa’di and Abu-Lughod, Nakba; Nahla Abdo and Nur Masalha, eds., An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019).

41 As historians Rashid Khalidi and Sherene Seikaly argue, “To begin the story in 1917 is to name the struggle for what it is: settler colonialism. We know that Zionism was a response to centuries of Judeophobia in Europe and, more immediately, the consolidation of state-led anti-Semitism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, Zionism was not the most popular response to the oppression of Jewish people in Europe, nor was it the only one.” Rashid I. Khalidi and Sherene Seikaly, “From the Editors,” JPS 50, no. 3 (2021): 2, https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2021.1947645.

42 Shawan Jabarin and Ralph Wilde, “How Britain Broke International Law to Stop Palestinian Independence 100 Years Ago,” Mondoweiss, September 29, 2023, https://mondoweiss.net/2023/09/how-britain-broke-international-law-to-stop-palestinian-independence-100-years-ago/. Also, see John Quigley, “Britain and the League of Nations: Was There Ever a Mandate for Palestine?,” JPS 53, no. 2 (2024): 35–49, https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2024.2366771.

43 United Nations, The International Status of the Palestinian People, 1981, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-204352/. Also, see Michael Adams, “What Went Wrong in Palestine?,” JPS 18, no. 1 (1988): 71–82, https://doi.org/10.2307/2537595. For the original source, see Letter from Mr. Balfour to Lord Curzon, Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Public Records Office, August 11, 1919, file FO.371/4183, National Archives, United Kingdom.

44 Pappe, Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, 52–54.

45 Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 (Metropolitan Books, 2020), 17–54.

46 David Englander, ed., A Documentary History of Jewish Immigrants in Britain, 1840–1920 (Leicester University Press, 1994), 10.

47 Aliens Bill, Remarks by Arthur James Balfour, July 10, 1905, UK Parliament, Hansards, vol. 149, column 155, https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1905/jul/10/aliens-bill.

48 Decolonised Transformations Project, internal correspondence, February 5, 2025.

49 Arthur James Balfour, Speeches on Zionism (Arrowsmith, 1928), 25.

50 Tomes, Balfour and Foreign Policy, 212.

51 Edward Said, The Question of Palestine (Vintage Books, 1979), 16.

52 Tamson Pietsch, Empire of Scholars: Universities, Networks and the British Academic World, 1850–1939 (Manchester University Press, 2013). On Balfour as a white supremacist, see Yousef Munayyer, “It’s Time to Admit That Arthur Balfour Was a White Supremacist—and an Anti-Semite Too,” Institute for Palestine Studies, November 1, 2017, https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/232119.

53 Official Report of the Allied Colonial Universities, in The Empire Review, VI (London, 1904), p. 121, Special Collections, Main Library, University of Edinburgh.

54 Official Report of the Allied Colonial Universities, p. 121.

55 Official Report of the Allied Colonial Universities, p. 122.

56 Report of Proceedings: Congress of the Universities of the Empire (University of London Press and Hodder & Stoughton, 1912), 25.

57 Arthur Balfour, Decadence (Cambridge University Press, 1908), 35.

58 Balfour, Decadence, 46–47.

59 Chaim Weizmann, Trial and Error: The Autobiography (Hamish Hamilton, 1949), 390.

60 Weizmann, Trial and Error, 391.

61 The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research Collections holds the largest existing archival collection on Geddes. Moreover, the university has a Patrick Geddes Hall, which includes a dedicated Geddes plaque at the entrance. “Sir Patrick Geddes,” University of Edinburgh, November 12, 2024, https://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/plaques/geddes.

62 Nazmi Jubeh, “Patrick Geddes: Luminary or Prophet of Demonic Planning,” Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 80 (Winter 2019): 26 and 38, https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1649528.

63 Hebrew University and Lord Balfour’s visit. Lord Balfour declaring university open, file LC-M32- B-434 [P&P], April 1, 1925, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019697069/.

64 “Hebrew University. Distinguished Visitors to Jerusalem,” The Scotsman, March 18, 1925, 10, as cited in Curry et al., Decolonised Transformation, 53. The Balfour-Einstein Institute of Mathematics and Physics was the initial name given to this institute, which can also be found in the American Jewish Yearbook of 1926 and 1927, vol. 28.

65 Roy Macleod, “Balfour’s Mission to Palestine: Science, Strategy, and the Inauguration of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem,” Minerva 46 (2008): 75, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-008-9087-x. Balfour, Speeches on Zionism, 78 and 83.

66 The Yearbook of the Universities of the Empire (Bell and Sons, 1925), 497.

67 The Yearbook of the Universities of the Empire (Bell and Sons, 1930), 528. Moïse Berenstein, “Jewish Colonisation in Palestine; II,” International Labour Review 30, no. 6 (1934): 797–819, https://researchrepository.ilo.org/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/Jewish-colonisation-in-Palestine-II/995219341902676?institution=41ILO_INST. For a history of the JNF and its role in Palestinian dispossession, see Walter Lehn, “The Jewish National Fund,” JPS 3, no. 4 (1974): 74–96, https://doi.org/10.2307/2535450.

68 Balfour, Speeches on Zionism, 110 and 112.

69 “Balfour at Jewish colonies,” Matson Collection negative numbers 13816-13914, file LC-M32- 13876 [P&P], 1925, G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019695045/.

70 Senate minutes, University of Edinburgh, July 20, 1926, files 360 and 361, Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh.

71 Senate minutes, University of Edinburgh, July 20, 1926.

72 “Rectors Past and Present,” University of Glasgow, last accessed December 9, 2025, https://www.gla.ac.uk/alumni/ouralumni/rectorspastandpresent/.

73 “The Chancellor.”

74 Robert John Strutt Rayleigh (Lord Rayleigh), Lord Balfour in His Relation to Science (Cambridge University Press, 1930).

75 Shaira Vadasaria and Nicola Perugini, “Arthur James Balfour: The University of Edinburgh’s Imperial Chancellor (1891–1930),” Retrospect Journal, no. 29 (June 2021): 24–27, https://retrospectjournal.com/race-in-retrospective-2/.

76 Katy Prickett, “Police End Balfour Portrait Damage Investigation,” BBC, March 13, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2xpnx93epo.

77 Salman Abu Sitta, “A Palestinian Address to Balfour: In Honor of Truth, Memory, and Justice,” Mondoweiss, November 30, 2022, https://mondoweiss.net/2022/11/a-palestinian-address-to-balfour-in-honor-of-truth-memory-and-justice/.

78 Abu Sitta, “A Palestinian Address to Balfour.”

79 Stuart Hall, The Hard Road to Renewal: Thatcherism and the Crisis of the Left (Verso, 1988), 130.

80 Hall, Hard Road to Renewal, 43.

81 Francesca Albanese, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, A/HRC/59/23, June 30, 2025, p. 25, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23.

82 “A University of Sanctuary: Israel and Palestine,” University of Edinburgh, December 4, 2023, https://university-of-sanctuary.ed.ac.uk/israel-and-palestine.

83 “Balfour Reparations (2025–2045),” FarahSaleh.com, last accessed December 9, 2025, https://www.farahsaleh.com/balfour-reparations.

84 “Fact Check: University of Edinburgh’s Apology Letter to Palestinians Is Fictional,” Reuters, December 21, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/university-edinburghs-apology-letter-palestinians-is-fictional-2023-12-21/.

85 Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

86 Agenda and papers of the Senatus Academicus, University of Edinburgh, May 22, 2024, https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2024-07/22%20May%202024%20-%20Agenda%20and%20papers.pdf.

87 “Former Chancellors,” University of Edinburgh, last accessed December 12, 2025, https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/how-the-university-and-colleges-work/people/chancellor/former-chancellors.

88 Prickett, “Police End Balfour.” Official statement by Palestine Action. Link removed from the internet after Palestine Action was declared a terrorist organization by the UK government.

89 Nicholas Mirzoeff, To See in the Dark: Palestine and Visual Activism Since October 7 (Pluto Press, 2025), 102–3.

90 Imran Mulla, “Cambridge’s Wealthiest College Votes to Divest from Arms Companies,” Middle East Eye, May 12, 2024, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/cambridges-wealthiest-college-divest-arms-companies.

91 Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (eu_jps), “Gaza Solidarity Camp at the University of Edinburgh,” Instagram, May 5, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/C6lcH7VoFxX/?img_index=3&igsh=ang3cWVucm95OHkx.

92 Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (eu_jps), “Gaza Solidarity Camp at the University of Edinburgh.”

93 The last comparable campaign on campus addressing the university’s complicity with a ­settler-colonial apartheid regime was the one that ultimately resulted in full divestment from South Africa in 1971.

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6 Dec 2025

Suppression of freedom of expression on Palestine at the University of Edinburgh must stop!

Image of University Old College dome with a Palestinian flag

We the undersigned unions, organisations, networks and individual staff and students write to condemn our institution’s senior managers for their suppression of Palestine-related expression at the University of Edinburgh, as detailed below. We cannot tolerate the contradiction of an institution that claims to uphold freedom of expression, but actively works to shut down certain views and threaten those who continue to insist on speaking. There cannot be a Palestine exception to freedom of expression.

Since the beginning of the academic year, after the insensitive and inappropriate meeting between our Principal and the deputy ambassador of Israel, senior managers have adopted increasingly intimidatory behaviour towards student groups who are supporting Palestine and speaking out against Israel’s ongoing war of annihilation in Gaza and attacks in Lebanon, including threatening members with disciplinary action for social media posts and protests that would not have carried such consequences before. This is part of broader suppression of on-campus manifestations of solidarity with the people in Palestine and Lebanon. 

Edinburgh students have been doing essential work in refusing to normalise genocide and carry on with our lives as if the killing of more than 43,000 Palestinians (with more than 10,000 uncounted under the rubble), the complete destruction of the educational and medical sectors, the destruction and damaging of more than 70% of homes, the obliteration of all life-saving and life-sustaining infrastructures, and the starvation of 2.3 million people, were not happening. They have organised events to educate themselves and others on the historical roots of the current extermination, called protests and occupied University spaces, put up posters calling for a ceasefire, set up memorials for the victims, all of which is precisely to oppose the normalisation of what has been going on in Gaza. Since the beginning of 2024, with the opening of the investigation against Israel at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide, students have informed our community about the financial entanglements of the University with what the ICJ then ruled as ‘plausible genocide’. As a result, students and staff have come together, unequivocally asking in all available fora (Student Council, Academic Senate, the encampment, public letters) for divestment from genocide, egregious human rights and international law violations, and Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians. 

By contrast, the UoE senior leadership and Court have ignored the strong and consistent calls for divestment in our community. The Court’s repeated dithering and postponement of divestment from stocks of companies directly supporting the Israeli military is not only contributing to creating a university environment that normalises genocide, giving the impression that the financial involvement in the crime of crimes is not an urgent matter that requires an immediate cessation, but also implicates our community in its enactment. We cannot accept this. 

As we can document below, UoE management has reacted to student mobilisation by arbitrarily cancelling room bookings for events without any prior consultation with student organisers; repeatedly removing posters in staff offices; removing at least four memorials, including throwing materials such as the photographs of students’ family friends and relatives killed in Gaza into the bin as ‘waste’; refusing student requests to be allocated a space for the commemoration of the victims of the violence in Gaza; and sending threats of disciplinary action to members of two student groups. These actions contravene the principles of freedom of thought and speech outlined in the UoE management’s own guidelines on events. Such restrictions on legitimate freedom of expression and association are not only violations of UoE policy, but are also discriminatory in character, in that they single out certain forms of expression and association for suppression. This appears to be a breach of the Public Sector Duty UoE holds under the Equality Act (2010).

We call on the UoE management to immediately cease all intimidation of students mobilising and raising awareness on campus in solidarity with Palestine. UoE management must change how it addresses Israel’s ceaseless assault on Gaza and its implications for students and staff. This means acknowledging the role of this institution as a contributor to the current violence through its refusal to confront its own historical responsibility for the continuing dispossession of the Palestinians and its current institutional financial support to the Israeli military operations. Suppression of Palestine solidarity is part of a pattern of complicity that we insist must end now.

List of incidents:
While we are in the process of compiling a comprehensive list of all incidents since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the table below outlines the most recent incidents related to solidarity with Palestine on campus:

Poster Removal

  • Occurrences: Multiple. 8 incidents recorded between September and November, some with repeated instances.
  • Location: Multiple. SPS staff and PhD student offices, LLC staff offices, Vet School, Geosciences.

There have been multiple reports of incidents involving the removal of posters from various areas of the university. These include UCU ‘Ceasefire Now’ posters and general Palestine solidarity posters that were taken down from the offices of staff and students by either Security or Estates. No clear explanation was given for the removals, other than the claim that the posters were deemed inappropriate and were interfering with the freedom of expression of staff and students.

Intimidation

  • Occurrences: Multiple. 3 instances of intimidation have been reported so far between April and October.
  • Location: Multiple. SPS CMB & PhD Offices, Vet School.

There have been incidents of intimidation directed at staff and PhD students, one of which escalated into racial abuse and harassment. These incidents stemmed from the distribution or display of posters and flyers in support of Palestine in public spaces or offices. The intimidation took various forms, including formal communications addressed to staff involved with their line managers copied in, or security and Estates interrogating PhD students in a threatening manner, particularly those from the BAME community, and demanding to see their student IDs. Additionally, one colleague experienced repeated harassment and racial abuse from a fellow staff member since March. Despite a formal complaint to HR, management decided to side with the perpetrator.

Gaza Victims Memorials (Martyrs Memorials) taken down and pictures of killed family members and relatives binned

  • Occurrences: Multiple. The Gaza Victims Memorials were taken down 4 times (between June and October).
  • Location: Old College. The Victims Memorial, created by UoE students and staff to honour the victims of the Gaza genocide, has been dismantled four times.

The first incident occurred in June when security disposed of photos belonging to Palestinian students and their relatives. After students complained, the memorial was reinstated, but was removed again in August mere days prior to the meeting of the Deputy Ambassador of Israel with the Principal. The memorial was once again reinstated at the end of August and in September, only to be removed twice again by security. Throughout these events, management refused to allocate space for students and staff to pay tribute to their lost loved ones.

Room Cancellations: 

  • Occurrences: Multiple. At least 2 cancelled room bookings were reported in October (other room bookings made by students and staff had also been reported as cancelled earlier in 2024 – currently gathering information from lead organisers) 
  • Location: Various locations.

It was reported that at least two student room bookings were cancelled by University Timetabling. The first one was made by a non-registered student group for a tutorial reading group scheduled for October 7th. As the activities of this particular student group, including their social media platforms, are closely monitored by the University, the event was flagged and Timetabling cancelled it on the grounds that it was considered a ‘public event’, and that there was not sufficient time for a risk assessment. Additionally, Timetabling indicated that the topic ‘might have been controversial’.
The second room booking, organised by a registered student society, was also cancelled by Timetabling who mistakenly claimed that the event was being organised by the aforementioned non-registered student group. When the lead organiser challenged the false allegation, the UoE Deputy Secretary – Students (whom the case was referred to) provided a different reason for the cancellation, claiming that the event was cancelled due to its ‘public’ nature requiring a risk assessment, hinting also at the topic being ‘controversial’.
In the two instances there was no prior communications with the students, they were only notified about the cancellation of their events via e-mail.

Threatening two student groups with disciplinary action

  • Occurrences: November, via e-mail

Policing the social platforms of two student groups, management issued a formal letter to the students threatening disciplinary action, following two posts on X calling for divestment. The letter gave the students an ultimatum demanding that the posts be deleted or they would face disciplinary action, emphasising that the University would no longer engage with the two student groups unless their ‘approach changed’.

Organisational signatories:

  • School of Social and Political Science Palestine Solidarity Network
  • UCU Edinburgh
  • Staff Bame Network
  • Womxn of Colour Collective 
  • CRITIQUE, Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought
  • Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA)
  • Staff Pride Network Committee
  • Staff-Student Solidarity Network
  • Edinburgh Race Equality Network (EREN) Committee
  • Decolonised Transformations Research and Engagement Working Group (REWG) 
  • Geographies of Social Justice Research Group
  • Food Researchers in Edinburgh (FRIED)

To date, the letter is also signed by 363 staff, 126 PhD researchers, 70 students and 6 alumni

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

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students 

Professor of Applied Economics 

The University of Edinburgh 

Old College South Bridge Edinburgh, EH8 9YL 

Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 6443 

Email: VP.students@ed.ac.uk

Web: www.ed.ac.uk

To: Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society 

A safe and respectful campus

We want to underline how seriously we are taking the appalling episode that led to one of our students being assaulted last Friday. We understand how upsetting this is, and urge anyone affected to access the range of support we have available. 

While we are assisting Police Scotland in its enquiries, we are also looking to ensure that we learn and improve from experiences, and are meeting with the Students’ Association to discuss this matter. 

Edinburgh is a safe city and University to study, work and live in, which makes dreadful incidents such as this all the more shocking. Our hardworking teams are highly experienced in managing security across our city-wide campus, ensuring members of our University can carry out their day confident in their safety. 

We are limited in what we can say in the context of an ongoing Police investigation, however we will continue to listen and engage with our community. 

Looking ahead, we ask, as always, and like many other organisations supporting peaceful protest, that those organising any events, including protests, engage with our Security team in advance in order that they can support these as effectively as possible. Security have supported very many events, of many kinds, over many years, and these have taken place most effectively when that engagement has been strong. We have not had the benefit of that pre-engagement to date with EU-JPS, which means that we are obliged to plan reactively. 

Your social media posts about the incident (e.g. Instagram on 30 March) are incorrect and irresponsible. Our University fully supports the lawful and respectful expression of views and opinions. Members of our Security team are always on duty across campus and attend events including protests as a matter of routine. Team members were present at Friday’s protest and provided immediate support to those affected during and after the incident. 

Social media posts

Your recent social media posts (including on Instagram and X/Twitter on 28 March) in reference to ‘platforming’ a member of the Israeli Defence Forces directly refer to a current student. These are discriminatory, disrespectful and, more critically, potentially threaten that student’s safety. 

We ask that you immediately remove these posts along with the template email (Google Docs). 

We are disappointed by the way that you have chosen to frame what was an important discussion on antisemitism between staff and students, one that your supporters participated in with strength and conviction. The discussion took place in a constructive manner, with the direct purpose of reaching out to all sides towards a bridging of experiences. 

The University will not tolerate bullying, intimidation and offensive behaviour, whether online or in person. Actions which target a student and encourage others to do the same have no place in this University. We have been very clear that disciplinary action may be taken should anyone breach the Code of Student Conduct. 

As we mentioned in our previous email (6 November 2024), EU-JPS represents a small minority of students – many others will have different perspectives and they should feel safe to voice their views as well. We will continue to engage with our wider student and staff community in this spirit. 

Regards, 

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students, University of Edinburgh  

Lucy Evans  

Deputy Secretary Students 

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336 

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

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students 

Professor of Applied Economics 

The University of Edinburgh 

Old College South Bridge Edinburgh, EH8 9YL 

Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 6443 

Email: Colm.Harmon@ed.ac.uk

www.ed.ac.uk

To: Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society 

We note your response to our letter of 31 October. 

In our most recent letter to you, we reiterated that the University supports the right to lawful, peaceful and respectful protest. You do not, however, have the right to prevent access to our buildings or to disrupt or interfere with events or the choices of our students and staff. 

We remind you that your blockade of the entrances to Charles Stewart House on 18 October and your occupation of the Sanderson Building on 30 October, as well as your entry to the Main Library on 2 November when you were asked not to enter, are completely unacceptable and such actions will not be tolerated. 

Your most recent social media posts (including 30 October on X and 3 November on X) are offensive and have taken an increasingly threatening tone against us, the Principal and other colleagues. We take these threats against our staff very seriously. You must remove these immediately.

The University will not tolerate bullying, intimidation and offensive behaviour of the type that has been witnessed in recent weeks, both online and in person. We have been very clear that disciplinary action may be taken should anyone breach the Code of Student Conduct. We have now reached that position and will be investigating these breaches with a view to pursuing disciplinary action against individual students thought to be in breach of the Code. 

To date, we engaged with the demands you have made, and we have remained open to a dialogue with EU-JPS that is respectful, constructive and held in a spirit of collegiality. However, since your use of offensive language and threatening behaviour has increased, you have left us with no option but to cease all engagement with EU-JPS until your approach to dialogue, including what you post on social media, changes. 

EU-JPS represents a small minority of students – many others will have different perspectives and they should feel safe to voice their views as well. We will continue to engage with our wider student and staff community in this spirit. This will not impact our planned approach to review the University’s Responsible Investment Policy. 

Regards,

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students, University of Edinburgh

Lucy Evans  

Deputy Secretary Students  

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336

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

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students 

Professor of Applied Economics 

The University of Edinburgh 

Old College South Bridge Edinburgh, EH8 9YL 

Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 6443 

Email: Colm.Harmon@ed.ac.uk

www.ed.ac.uk

Occupation of the Sanderson Building, King’s Buildings

Dear Occupiers, 

We note that your occupation of the Sanderson Building and the resulting disruption to the Careers in Engineering Fair has now come to an end. 

Actions of this kind are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

As we have highlighted many times over the last few months, the University supports the right to lawful, peaceful and respectful protest but we do not condone preventing access to our buildings. You do not, however, have the right to disrupt or interfere with events or the choices of our students and staff, and the University has been very clear that disciplinary action may be taken should anyone breach its Code of Student Conduct. 

The Careers Service offers impartial support to all of our students, helping them make informed choices about their future by providing information and access to a range of industries and professional networks. It is the right of students to engage with these companies without disruption. 

This action today is consistent with the ongoing inappropriate, aggressive and personal attacks on University colleagues that you have been posting on your social media channels. This must stop. 

We remain open to a dialogue with EU-JPS that is respectful, constructive and held in a spirit of collegiality. That is far from where we are at the moment. 

Regards, 

Professor Colm Harmon BA MA PhD 

Vice Principal Students, University of Edinburgh

Lucy Evans 

Deputy Secretary Students 

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336 

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

  Dear Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society, 

I refer to my previous letter from 29 August

In that email I asked for care and caution in relation to social media postings and respect for the community of the University. 

Your latest social media posting makes explicit reference to the events of October 7th. We view these comments as grossly offensive, not just to the Jewish community at large, but to the wider public. The abhorrence of the violence in Gaza does not mean that those in our community and beyond cannot feel abhorrence of the events which took place in Israel on that day. 

While we respect your lens on events, we have been clear that protests including social media postings which negate in any way the feelings of the wider community are unacceptable. In this instance, the wording goes further, and portrays a terrorist act in a manner that is offensive. 

We ask that you remove this posting (see here). 

I support your right to freedom of expression, but this right is not without responsibility. I again ask for you to reflect on that, and ask always where and how your actions will intimidate or offend. In not doing so, we view you, as students of our University, to be potentially in breach of our code of conduct and subject to appropriate disciplinary considerations. 

Yours sincerely, 

Colm  

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

Edinburgh University could unadopt antisemitism definition after report into its colonial links

This article is more than 7 months old

One of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious universities is reviewing whether to launch divestment drive and drop antisemitism definition

Harriet Sherwood and Severin Carrell 

Sun 27 Jul 2025 09.59 BST

The University of Edinburgh is considering whether to unadopt an internationally recognised definition of antisemitism that critics say inhibits freedom of speech on the subject of Israel and Palestine.

Edinburgh, one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious universities, is also considering whether to divest from companies accused of enabling alleged human rights violations by Israel.

Both issues are being reviewed by university authorities as a report on the legacy of its historical links with the region is published. The report is part of a broader investigation of the university’s involvement in colonialism and slavery.

It recommends that the university divest from companies allegedly complicit in Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the West Bank, supports the reversal of its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, and establish a Palestine Studies Centre to investigate the legacy of the Balfour declaration and offer scholarships to students of Palestinian origin.

The report focuses on the repercussions over the past century of the Balfour declaration, a 1917 statement by the British government in favour of “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

Edinburgh students protest in the Old College quadView image in fullscreen

Edinburgh students protest in the Old College quad, asking for the university to divest from companies complicit in the war on Gaza . Photograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

As well as being British foreign secretary at the time, Arthur James Balfour was the University of Edinburgh’s chancellor – a ceremonial and ambassadorial role – between 1891 and 1930. He had been prime minister from 1902 to 1905.

Balfour played a “unique role” in “establishing and maintaining a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial rule in Palestine, resulting today in one of the longest-standing colonial occupations and apartheid regimes in modern history”, the report says.

The IHRA definition and the university’s investments were already under review, Sir Peter Mathieson, the university’s principal, told the Guardian. The definition was a “hot topic” and “contentious”, he said. “There is not a unanimity of view. There are some Jewish people who think IHRA is a helpful definition, there are some people who think it’s unhelpful, and so those discussions are ongoing and we haven’t come to a conclusion.”

This year’s graduation ceremonies have been hit by a series of protests and walkouts by graduates, with about 200 students staging protests at 24 ceremonies; some directly accused Mathieson of complicity in the Gaza crisis. Last year, students occupied the quad in Old College, where Mathieson has his office.

The university was setting up a “responsible investment group” to examine its financial holdings, he added. Its remit included reviewing “investments in relation to companies which are allegedly supporting Israel”.

Research on the legacy of the Balfour declaration was added to the broader study of the university’s links to colonialism a year after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The report’s authors, Nicola Perugini and Shaira Vadasaria, both academics at Edinburgh, told the Guardian the decision to include Balfour’s legacy in the research was a “direct response” to pressure on the university leadership by campus protests over the Gaza war.

The pair, both of whom taught for several years at al-Quds University, a Palestinian institution on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, had already been researching Balfour’s legacy for several years. They have been involved in divestment campaigns on campus, and last year Perugini demanded Mathieson apologise publicly after the principal met the Israeli deputy ambassador to the UK.

Balfour’s 67-word declaration said: “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

During and after the first world war, Britain and other imperial powers were intent on dividing up the Middle East. Britain controlled Palestine under a League of Nations mandate between 1922 and 1948, during which its forces brutally suppressed Palestinian resistance to increased Jewish immigration in the wake of the Balfour declaration.

Palestinian refugees during the Arab Israeli war of 1948View image in fullscreen

Palestinian refugees during the Arab Israeli war of 1948. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The state of Israel was declared within hours of the end of the mandate in May 1948. The subsequent war drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during what became known as the Nakba, or catastrophe. Many Palestinians still blame Balfour for what they see as an act of perfidy and betrayal.

The report’s authors argue Balfour espoused openly racist views that explained his attitudes towards the Middle East, and had a record of supporting settler colonialism in Ireland, South Africa and Canada. In 1913, he became honorary vice-president of the British Eugenics Education Society. Some historians also say he was an antisemite who had backed the 1905 Aliens Act, which severely restricted Jewish immigration to Britain.

The main university report said this legislation constituted the first modern UK anti-immigration law that was designed to prevent Jews fleeing to the UK after an explosion of anti-Jewish hatred and religious persecution in Russia.

The academics who oversaw the university review believe Balfour’s views can be traced back to racist sciences that they say Edinburgh helped to formulate in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Although there is no evidence the university was involved in drafting the 1917 declaration, the report’s authors maintain it was closely aligned with Balfour’s career. It loaned him £12,000 – equivalent to more than £1.8m today – before he became its chancellor, and in 1925 Balfour wore his official university robes when he laid the foundation stone for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Vadasaria told the Guardian: “Balfour signed a declaration that put in place an imperial and settler-colonial structure of racial domination inside Palestine, which has been sustained by military occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide.”

The report points out that the declaration defined Palestinians as “non-Jewish communities” rather than an Indigenous people with national rights to self-determination, and referred only to civil and religious rights rather than political and national rights. In the Nakba, Palestinians were forced into “permanent exile that continues into the present”.

Balfour’s legacy was “not merely a matter of historical harm,” it says. “Indeed, harm to Palestinians today can be seen as an extension of Balfour’s legacy in the present. While this violence may have begun with Balfour’s declaration, it remains through ongoing policies that continue with the trajectory of imperialism, settler colonialism and the dispossession of Palestinian land and life.”

The Balfour declaration was given an effusive welcome by the Guardian in 1917. Its then editor, CP Scott, had facilitated key introductions between prominent Zionists and members of the government.

The report’s forthright language and recommendations, plus the absence of any reference to centuries of Jewish persecution and dispossession that led to the development of Zionism, or the horrific nature of the Hamas atrocities committed on 7 October 2023, are likely to be controversial in a climate of bitter divisions over the war in Gaza.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism was adopted by the university in 2020, “without broad consultation with students and staff”, according to the report. The definition “violates academic freedom and freedom of speech by framing any criticism of Israel’s policies of settler-colonial dispossession driven by state racism as a form of antisemitism”, it adds.

Alongside the definition, the IHRA offers what it describes as contemporary examples of antisemitism that critics say are used to protect Israel from legitimate criticism. Supporters of the definition say it is essential in helping to protect Jews from hate crimes and abuse.

In 2020, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary in the Conservative government, threatened to cut funding to universities in England that failed to adopt the IHRA definition. The majority have done so.

On the issue of divestment, the authors say the university authorities have “adopted a ‘conflict agnostic’ approach, a term that denies the Nakba and its settler-colonial afterlife”.

This month, a UN report highlighted the involvement of companies from around the world in supporting Israel during its war in Gaza. It noted that the University of Edinburgh was one of the “UK’s most financially entangled institutions”, with nearly £25.5m invested in four tech corporations – Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM – that were “central to Israel’s surveillance apparatus and the ongoing Gaza destruction”.

According to Perugini and Vadasaria’s report, the investments have left the university exposed to “complicity with genocide, crimes against humanity and illegal occupation”. A failure to divest would risk reputational damage and lead to further campus protests, the authors told the Guardian.

 This article was amended on 29 July 2025 to correct a misquote in the opening line of the Balfour declaration. The British monarch in 1917 was George V, and the text referred to His Majesty’s government, not “Her Majesty’s government.”

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https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/university-edinburghs-apology-letter-palestinians-is-fictional-2023-12-21/https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/university-edinburghs-apology-letter-palestinians-is-fictional-2023-12-21/

Fact Check: University of Edinburgh’s apology letter to Palestinians is fictional

By Reuters Fact Check

December 21, 2023 3:35 PM GMT+2Updated December 21, 2023

Reuters Fact Check logo

A fictional letter written by a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh for a performance lecture this month exploring the university’s colonial legacy and potential reparations for Palestinians has been falsely claimed online to be an official letter from the institution.

The letter is headed with the University of Edinburgh’s logo and is date stamped Dec. 14, 2023.

It apologises to Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration, an authentic 1917 policy statement by Arthur Balfour – then Britain’s foreign minister and Edinburgh University’s chancellor – that said Britain favoured the establishment of a national home for Jewish people in Palestine.

Palestinians have long condemned the 1917 declaration, opens new tab as a promise by Britain to hand over land that it did not own.

On X, opens new tab (archived, opens new tab) and Facebook, opens new tab (archived, opens new tab), posts sharing an image of the university-headed apology suggested it was a bona fide statement by the University of Edinburgh.

But Palestinian dance artist and scholar Farah Saleh said in Dec. 17 posts on X, opens new tab (archived, opens new tab) and Facebook, opens new tab (archived, opens new tab) that the letter is fictional and is part of her performance lecture, “Balfour Reparations (2023-2043)”, opens new tab (archived, opens new tab), which was developed during her postdoctoral fellowship.

An Edinburgh University spokesperson said in an email: “This is not an official statement from the University of Edinburgh. It is a fictional text that was created for a private theatre event.” 

VERDICT

Missing context. The image shows a fictive letter created for a performance lecture.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.

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RACE.ED is a University of Edinburgh network concerned with race, racialization and decolonial studies from a multidisciplinary perspective,

The Chancellor Balfour Declaration: our university, imperial knowledge and the racialised global order

By 

Author

11 February 2022

Lord Balfour declaring a Hebrew University open

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Blog post by Nicola Perugini, University of Edinburgh

On July 8 1903, the first Allied Colonial University Conference took place at the Hotel Cecil on the Thames Embankment in London. The development of knowledge production and university networks was meant to foster British imperial rule. One of the main architects of this imperial turn to academe was Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at that time, and also Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. Balfour had been appointed to the Edinburgh post in 1891 and ultimately held the position until 1930 – the longest chancellorship in the history of Scotland’s most prominent university.

At Hotel Cecil, Balfour presided the conference dinner attended by universities delegates, heads of colleges, and “men prominent in educational and scientific work.” After the customary toasts, Balfour delivered a speech in which he celebrated the foundation of the new British-colonial academic alliance and explained why this was a remarkable political achievement: “It is not merely, or simply, or chiefly that there are here in this room representatives of scholarship, of science, of all the great spheres of activity in which modern thought is indulging itself. It is that we are here representing what will turn out to be, I believe, a great alliance of the greatest educational instruments in the Empire – an alliance of all the universities that, in an increasing measure, are feeling their responsibilities, not merely for training the youth which is destined to carry on the traditions of the British Empire, but also to further those great interests of knowledge, scientific research, and culture without which no Empire, however materially magnificent, can really say that it is doing to share in the progress of the world.”

In Balfour’s mind, the new academic alliance was a crucial tool for cementing Britain’s global dominance. But it was also a key instrument for affirming a sense of a racialised Anglo-Saxon unity: “We boast a community of blood, of language, of laws, of literature,” the ecstatic Chancellor-PM exclaimed at the conference dinner.

After ending his tenure as Prime Minister in 1905, Balfour withdrew for almost a decade from the centre-stage of imperial foreign policy, before making his return in 1916 as Foreign Secretary. But in those ten years, the Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh continued to construct British academic space as an imperial project.

In 1912, perhaps also due to his growing interest in “the Orient,” Balfour was asked to chair a session of the Second Congress of the Universities of the Empire on The Problem of Universities in the East in Regard to their Influence on Character and Moral Ideals. In his opening speech, he underscored how in Western universities there has been “mutual adjustment” between scientific knowledge and socio-cultural traditions, while in Eastern universities science and social customs were on course for “collision.” This idea of an inherent incompatibility between Eastern traditions and science was grounded in a concept of natural racial inequalities that Balfour had articulated quite clearly a few years earlier, in his book On Decadence. In this book, Balfour theorised that Oriental history was dominated by a monotony of despotism and an incapacity of self-government, and how “any attempt to provide widely different races with an identical […] educational [environment] can never make them alike. They have been different and unequal since history began; different and unequal they are destined to remain.”

This kind of racial thinking shaped Balfour’s imperial world-making both as a statesman and a man of science and academia. This racialised understanding of global order constituted the backbone of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which created a new imperial legal framework in the Middle East. The Declaration, issued on the 2 of November, endorsed the creation of a territorial based settler national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, while denying Palestinians their national rights and offering them only civil and religious rights. Ultimately, and in line with his writings, Palestinians were Orientals incapable of governing themselves or achieving self-determination.

Balfour wrote and signed the Declaration before visiting Palestine. In fact, his first visit took place in 1925, when he inaugurated the Hebrew University of Jerusalem dressed in the robes of Edinburgh and Cambridge (where he had become Chancellor in 1919). As a guest of the Zionist movement, he toured the first “Jewish colonies” established in Palestine, including Balfouria, a settlement dedicated to him by the Zionist leadership.

In his inauguration speech on Mount Scopus, Balfour celebrated the Hebrew University as an experiment of adapting “Western methods” (“Jewish science and theories”) to an Asiatic site and as an institution capable of regenerating a “stagnant Palestine.” Balfour-the-statesman espoused the Zionist narrative about the need to regenerate the arid Palestine also when he wore the clothes of Balfour-the-Edinburgh-Chancellor. As Chaim Weizmann – who played a decisive role in convincing Balfour to issue the 1917 Declaration and invited him to give the inauguration speech in 1925 – made clear in his Trial and Error, the Hebrew University was “the fulfilment of my particular dream of the early days of the movement” and a crucial tool for Zionist affirmation in Palestine. Significantly, after the inauguration, Hebrew University was included in the network of allied imperial universities Balfour had helped constitute in the beginning of the century.

The link between Balfour’s contribution to imperial governance and his contribution to the development of British imperial academia have for some reason been completely erased and does not appear in the vast amount of literature and the contemporary debates on his involvement in global imperial affairs and his infamous Declaration on Palestine.

That is why this year we might use the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration to rediscover this link and raise some fundamental questions on the imperial history of the University of Edinburgh, as well as Scottish and British academia, and its relevance to the present. As universities that formally and publicly embrace the decolonial agenda and try to decolonise curricula and academic spaces: how could we decolonise our historical imbrication with the injustice to which Palestinians have been subjected as a result of the imperial declaration issued by one of our chancellors? Why don’t we publicly acknowledge that the man that has been appointed to enhance our global academic reputation for forty years, was also a key political-intellectual actor in the production of a racialised imperial order that has dispossessed so many peoples? What would be the implications of such a recognition? And since the question of Palestine is still alive as a colonial question that continues to generate violence and dispossession, as we have seen also recently: how could we contribute, with concrete and tangible institutional actions, to decolonise Palestine and repair our institutional entanglement with a settler colonial project that continues to deny Palestinians the right to self-determination and uproot them from their land?

After all, the Balfour Declaration was also our Chancellor’s declaration.

This article is based on a research project on the imperial legacy of the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the Centre for Research Collections and with the support of SPS and CAHSS.

Image credit: Balfour inaugurates the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925 Source: Library of Congress.

Jürgen Habermas’s Passing Triggered Anti-Israel Sentiments Among Scholars

25.03.26

Editorial Note

Jürgen Habermas, widely regarded as one of the most important social thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century, passed away at the age of 96 on March 14, 2026. 

Habermas was the last surviving member of the Frankfurt School, a group of largely Jewish, neo-Marxist intellectuals who fled Nazi Germany and found home in The New School in New York (NSNY).  The New School hosted other Frankfurt School luminaries, including Max Horkheimer, the Director of the Institute of Social Research, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse.  Unlike his much older Jewish peers, Habermas, a Protestant, did not settle in the United States and spent most of his academic career at the University of Frankfurt.  His major opus, the Theory of Communicative Action, postulated that to sustain a democracy, the public discourse needed to be characterized by honesty, reason-driven, and openness to criticism. He occasionally delivered lectures at the New School and had contacts with the new generation of scholars there.  

The German philosopher’s iconic status among critical theorists and the New Left lasted until the Hamas attack in Gaza on October 7, 2023.  Five days later, he and three other German scholars published a Statement on the online publication Normative Orders of the University of Frankfurt. 

The “Principles of Solidarity” expressed solidarity with Israel and Jews in Germany. The statement reads: “ The current situation created by Hamas’ unparalleled atrocity and Israel’s response to it has led to a cascade of moral and political statements and demonstrations. We believe that for all the conflicting views being expressed, there are some principles that should not be disputed. They form the basis of a rightly understood solidarity with Israel and Jews in Germany. The Hamas massacre with the declared intention of destroying Jewish life in general has prompted Israel to retaliate. How this principally justified counter-strike is carried out is the subject of controversial debate; principles of proportionality, the avoidance of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect of future peace must be the guiding principles. Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgment slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israeli action. In particular, Israel’s actions in no way justify anti-Semitic reactions, especially not in Germany. It is intolerable that Jews in Germany are once again exposed to threats to life and limb and have to fear physical violence on the streets. The democratic self-image of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is based on the obligation to respect human dignity, is linked to a political culture for which Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist are central elements worthy of special protection in light of the mass crimes of the Nazi era. The commitment to this is fundamental to our political coexistence. The elementary rights to freedom and physical integrity as well as to protection from racist defamation are indivisible and apply equally to all. This must also apply to those in our country who have cultivated anti-Semitic affects and convictions behind all kinds of pretexts and now see a welcome opportunity to express them uninhibitedly.”

This statement infuriated some in the New School. James Miller, a Professor of Politics and Liberal Studies there, and an executive editor of the New School’s journal Public Seminar, published an editorial on November 27, 2023. He stated that “Because the resulting open letter is a significant intervention in a fraught public debate, prominently involving members of the philosophy department at The New School, we have decided to bring it to the attention of our readers, and publish as well the full list of signatories. As executive editor of Public Seminar, I also think it crucial to facilitate an informed debate over the very complex questions surrounding how to interpret, and uphold, international laws that both prohibit war crimes and genocide—but also entitle nations to act in self-defense when they are attacked. Read the open letter to the Principles of Solidarity statement, signed by over 100 academics from around the world.”

The academic controversy surrounding Habermas’s statement quickly spread to various media outlets.

The London-based anti-Israel media, the New Arab (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed), founded and funded by Qatar (and run by Azmi Bishara, an ex-member of the Israeli Knesset, wanted in Israel for treason and espionage for Hezbollah), summarized the scholars’ critique: “The passing of Jürgen Habermas, the last titan of the Frankfurt School, marks the end of an era for modern philosophy. While his legacy of ‘Communicative Action’ and ‘Deliberative Democracy’ shaped the late 20th century, his final months were overshadowed by a profound ‘ethical lapse’ that sparked unprecedented division in the global academic community.” 

For the New Arab, Habermas et al. were “expressing unconditional support for Israel as a ‘national interest’ of Germany, rooted in the historical responsibility for the Holocaust. This stance triggered a fierce backlash, culminating in a global academic petition signed by hundreds of prominent scholars. They accused him of ‘double standards’ and ‘moral blindness.’ The petitioners dismantled Habermas’s logic, questioning how the philosopher of ‘Universalism’ could ignore decades of occupation and the immense suffering in Gaza. The critique argued that Habermas applied a ‘selective morality,’ categorizing victims based on political leanings rather than universal human dignity. For many in the ‘Global South,’ this was seen as a collapse of Western philosophy into ‘Eurocentrism,’ where the ideals of freedom and dialogue seemingly stop at the borders of the Western world. What do you think of Habermas’s stance on the genocide in Gaza? Share your thoughts in the comments.”

No doubt that Qatar is the culprit here, as Doha has extensive ties to the New School. Qatar’s anti-Israel sentiments have persisted for decades, and Qatar is the largest donor to US campuses. Evidently, social sciences and some law schools in the West, primarily the United States and Great Britain, have adopted a key principle of antisemitism, namely that Jews should be judged by a different standard than others.  

It should be seen within a wider picture that the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran cultivated a campaign known as “civilizational jihad.” The end goal of this plan is to influence the academy and the civil society, most notably civil rights and humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, to perpetuate the view that Jews and their collective embodiment, Israel, is a bloodthirsty, genocidal society.  

At the same time, the “civilizational jihad” makes every effort possible to hide the true nature of the Islamists, be it Hamas or Iran, where recently some thirty thousand civilians were massacred as a result of public protest. To make the point, most of the academy was conspicuously silent about these events. 

Habermas advocated for a free, rational, and unfettered discourse, which hardly exists in many Muslim societies, especially in the brutal Islamist theocracy in Iran, where peaceful protest has been brutally suppressed.  Those who buy into the “civilizational jihad” against the Jews or keep silent about the wave of antisemitism not seen in the West since the 1930s in Europe should be reminded that Jews have been the proverbial canary in the coalmine. The civilizational jihad’s ultimate goal is to spread many of the Islamist standards within the West to remedy it from perceived moral corruption. 

The New School scholars need to be aware of two things: First, both Qatar and Iran have sponsored, trained, and facilitated Hamas’s terrorism infrastructure in Gaza for two decades, culminating in the October 2023 massacre. Second, the accusations against Israel of genocide do not fit the definition of genocide in International Law. Repetition of an accusation does not transform it into a legal fact.

REFERENCES:

The New Arab

15 March at 12:30

The passing of Jürgen Habermas, the last titan of the Frankfurt School, marks the end of an era for modern philosophy. While his legacy of “Communicative Action” and “Deliberative Democracy” shaped the late 20th century, his final months were overshadowed by a profound “ethical lapse” that sparked unprecedented division in the global academic community.

In November 2023, Habermas co-authored a statement titled “Principles of Solidarity,” expressing unconditional support for Israel as a “national interest” of Germany, rooted in the historical responsibility for the Holocaust. This stance triggered a fierce backlash, culminating in a global academic petition signed by hundreds of prominent scholars. They accused him of “double standards” and “moral blindness.”

The petitioners dismantled Habermas’s logic, questioning how the philosopher of “Universalism” could ignore decades of occupation and the immense suffering in Gaza. The critique argued that Habermas applied a “selective morality,” categorising victims based on political leanings rather than universal human dignity. For many in the “Global South,” this was seen as a collapse of Western philosophy into “Eurocentrism,” where the ideals of freedom and dialogue seemingly stop at the borders of the Western world.

What do you think of Habermas’s stance on the genocide in Gaza? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Jürgen Habermas: Humanist except for the suffering of Palestine

Habermas championed Western rationality but ignored Palestinian suffering, exposing limits of his universalist principles, argues Professor Emad Abdel-Latif

By Emad Abdul-Latif

21 Mar, 2026

One of the most prominent philosophers of recent decades, German thinker Jürgen Habermas (1929–2026), passed away recently. He made significant contributions to philosophy, sociology, communication studies, and political science. He was widely known for his role in developing the German critical school, also known as the Frankfurt School, for founding the Theory of Communicative Action and for advocating rational and free dialogue. 

For decades, Habermas was seen as an icon of rationality and enlightenment in the contemporary world. But after his death, debates emerged among Arab intellectuals and academics, particularly regarding his political biases. Central to these discussions was Habermas’s continued support for the occupation of Palestine and his unconditional backing of the Zionist settler war against the Palestinian people, the indigenous population of the land. 

His position on the past two years of Gaza’s devastation and siege drew criticism and scrutiny from many thinkers worldwide. 

The fundamental question is why a philosopher who dedicated his life to defending democracy, rationality, and free communication would support a settler-colonial occupation founded on historical fabrications and religious myths. Indeed, Israel’s occupation directly contradicts the intellectual project Habermas championed.

It also clashes with other instances in which he adhered to his “principles,” such as his 2021 rejection of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. After an article in the German magazine Der Spiegel highlighted repression, the denial of freedoms, and the lack of justice in the United Arab Emirates, he refused the award. This stance was seen as evidence of Habermas’s consistency in defending democracy and freedom. 

In the case of the Israeli occupation, however, Habermas denied that the war on the people of Gaza constituted genocide, despite the unprecedented scale of the killings, accompanying massacres, war crimes, forced displacement, and starvation. Over 10% of Gaza’s population was killed or injured, and the death toll exceeded 72,000, mostly children, women, and the elderly, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (16 March 2026).

Some analysts explain this contradiction between Habermas’s stated principles and his political alignment with the settler-colonial occupation of Palestine as a product of the local context of the German elite. For decades, this elite has carried a profound sense of guilt stemming from the Nazi legacy and its crimes against Jews. 

Part of contemporary Germany’s attempt to atone for Hitler’s crimes has been unconditional support for the Israeli state, which positioned itself as the official representative of Holocaust victims and their reparations. 

Others attribute this stance to the influence of the German pro-Israel lobby over state institutions, to the point where some describe Germany as effectively under a combined U.S.-Israeli tutelage, limiting its autonomy. 

This explanation is reinforced by the positions and rhetoric of current German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, which some see as echoing that of convicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as by the German government’s repressive policies against Germans opposing the Gaza killings. These policies, in many cases, rival the brutality of authoritarian regimes in what they call the “Third World”. 

Beyond these explanations, another interpretation sheds light on the gap between Habermas’s principles and his actions regarding Palestine. This view considers the contradiction not as unique to Habermas or to German thinkers and politicians but as pervasive throughout Western thought historically, with few exceptions. 

The reason for this inconsistency is what the author calls “exclusive humanist principles”, where a group adopts values and ethics for its own members but abandons them when dealing with people outside the group. In other words, Western ethics and principles remain universal in discourse only; in practice, they are applied selectively to those recognised as belonging to the in-group and ignored entirely for the “Others”.

The brutal history of colonialism offers stark evidence. 

While the French professed fraternity, justice, and equality among citizens in France, they simultaneously annihilated entire populations in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. 

Britain portrayed itself as a defender of human rights and minority freedoms while killing millions worldwide to seize wealth, without seeing a contradiction with human rights principles. 

This model extends to the modern U.S. empire, which justifies resource plundering under the banner of spreading democracy and free-world values, sending armies to kill and destroy. 

Western philosophers, thinkers, and reformers produced tens of thousands of texts on European humanist principles over centuries of colonialism, largely ignoring their  application in occupied countries, and those few who noticed faced harsh local criticism. 

The concept of exclusive humanist principles applies to all “non-Western” peoples, including non-European residents of Western countries. Even those with citizenship face forms of discrimination and racism contrary to Western humanist ideals. 

Right-wing ideologies express this bias overtly, and the U.S. administration’s rhetoric against immigrants exemplifies these selective humanist principles, often justified by myths of European white supremacy and calls for globalising Western culture. 

As such, Habermas did not betray his principles by supporting the killing of Palestinians. Rather, he remained faithful to the Western exclusive humanist principles, which only recognise humanity when reflected in the in-group. 

Habermas did not advocate for global rationality and democracy or defend free communication worldwide. His defence of these values was limited to the Western sphere; outside it, Western principles do not exist.

Emad Abdul-Latif is Professor of Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis at Qatar University

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https://www.alquds.com/en/posts/101708

Habermas’s blind loyalty to Zionism.. How did Oct. 7th expose Western political and moral system?

Translation for “Al-Quds” dot com
Opinion Writer
By Alsahabi Al-Majri

The French philosopher and sociologist Raymond Aron says: Many left-wing intellectuals did the same thing as my experience: “They forget for a while imperialism and the colonial reality, remember their origins, and find themselves, to their astonishment, Jews.” This matter was revealed unequivocally in the statement issued by the most important philosophers today, Jurgen Habermas, the philosopher of critical theory and one of the most important philosophers of communicative theory and dialogue ethics, and one of the most influential philosophers currently on the philosophical debate about public space and post-secularism, and one of the symbols of post-modernism.

Today, Habermas reveals that talk about universal values, humanity, and coexistence are nothing but empty slogans when it comes to protecting Israel in the face of what Habermas considered in his statement the brutality of the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas, and that everything that is happening now in Gaza is borne by the resistance alone, and that the Israeli occupation does not bears the burden of the genocide in Gaza while expressing some concern for the fate of the Palestinian population.

Rather, he went further than that, as he considered the democratic spirit of the Federal Republic of Germany to be linked to a political culture that considers Jewish life and the right of the Israeli occupation to exist as two basic elements that deserve special protection, and that adherence to them is essential to our common political life, such that political life cannot be sustained without it, and this approach will continue. When former Chancellor Merkel said that Israel’s security is a “national interest”; she considered that the reason for Germany’s existence was Israel and not the other way around.

It is blind loyalty to Zionism that does not befit someone of Habermas’ stature. We do not find in the statement signed with a German elite of global stature any reference to the genocide in Gaza, but we find in it all possible justifications for this genocide, and all possible legislation in the name of self-defense to kill children, which is fundamentally inconsistent with philosophical thinking.

The guilt complex from the Nazi period is what moved the German political mind towards the Zionist movement, which called for the establishment of a state for the Jews on usurped land. Today, it is once again allied and colluding with a fascist occupation that commits massacres in Gaza to push the Palestinians there to emigrate outside it, and the more the people of the land cling to their land, the more the machine abuses them. The Israeli war, while defending its crimes against civilians in Gaza, are defended by politicians, philosophers, thinkers and intellectuals in the West, ignoring all the human values that they defended in their speeches.

We will discover in the end that this speech is directed only to Western people and that it does not look at the rest, especially the people of the Middle East. However, they are part of that human being. Just as they defended genocide in Fallujah, Iraq, they today defend genocide in Palestine, claiming that Israel’s goal is to achieve peace in the future, since it is a war, as Habermas says in his statement, accompanied by the possibility (not certain) of peace in the future. When was peace achieved under the fire of genocidal cannons?!

The absolute war practiced by the occupation cannot achieve peace, given that it is a brutal war whose goal is to completely crush the other in order to completely nullify his resistance. While realistic war aims to push the other to accept peace and ward off harm. The statement legislates for the first and contradicts the second, and thus it becomes a philosophical discourse that opposes philosophy itself, considering that it is a speech for peace and not for war, whether absolute or realistic. The goal of philosophy is to liberate man from the state of nature, where war of all against all prevails, to the civil state, where peace prevails, which can only be achieved by rejecting hatred. The absolute war practiced by the Israeli occupation is based on absolute hatred for the enemy, while realistic war whose goal is peace ends with hatred, and just as peace replaces war, love replaces hatred. The genocide practiced by the occupation cannot in any way achieve the desired peace, but rather makes exiting from the natural state impossible.

The attack on October 7th on the occupation settlement outposts in the occupied land of Palestine is considered a landmark event that will have major repercussions on the region as a whole and will change the face of future alliances in the world. This event, which represented a huge shock from a military and political perspective, revealed the truth about the positions of the Western powers, led by the United States and the old colonial countries, in absolute support of the Israeli occupation that has occupied Palestine for nearly a hundred years, and the background of this support, which is based on some religious foundations, no matter how some try to deny it. The absolute Western support can be understood from Bush Jr.’s slip of the tongue after the events of September 11 when he spoke of a crusade, and Western support is part of that war and is the motivation for all positions of Western countries. Today we see how the Zionist movement is allied with the extreme right, which dominates most Western governments and controls the Western media, which adopts the Israeli vision of what is happening in Palestine.

What happened in Palestine changed the face of the world and revealed everyone’s true positions, and confirmed that freedom cannot be guided, but rather taken away by force, and that the only option to liberate Palestine is armed resistance inside it and peaceful resistance outside it to liberate the Arab peoples from the internal colonialism crushed by the occupation.

Peaceful popular resistance is the only way for people to liberate themselves from that colonialism. It is not in the interest of the people to engage in armed resistance from which only those with interests can benefit. Perhaps what happened in Syria, Yemen and Libya is evidence of that. Only those loyal to tyranny and neo-colonialism benefited from the movement for liberation from tyranny. It is also not in the interest of the people to destroy the infrastructure of the state, which is in fact the property of the people and not the property of the ruler, no matter who that ruler is. Peaceful resistance, as the spring of 2011 proved, is capable of achieving what is required, but only that the people must not hand over their revolution except to those who deserve it, so that the forces of the counter-revolution do not infiltrate it and contribute to its destruction from within, as happened with the Egyptian revolution and after it the Tunisian revolution. It is a lesson that must be remembered in the upcoming wave of revolutions that are approaching.

The liberation of Palestine inevitably comes with the liberation of the Arab and Islamic peoples from the agents of neocolonialism and from the intellectual elites affiliated with them, who are trying in every way to direct public opinion towards burying the Palestinian issue, and seducing it with imaginary economic gains from normalization with the Israeli occupation, which violates the sanctity of Palestine, while the reality reveals those countries will only turn into a vast market for goods for Israel, as it will remain the sole beneficiary, while the normalizers’ sole goal is to possess more tools for monitoring and abusing their people and to obtain complete American satisfaction, even if their practice is completely inconsistent with all the values that the West defends.

When the interests of the peoples of the region conflict with the interests of Washington, it becomes the greatest supporter of the most repressive regimes in the world, and perhaps recent history bears witness to this in Africa, South America, and the Middle East. How many democratic governments and projects to build a democratic state were aborted with the full blessing of the United States and the Western powers, which falsely claim defending the values of freedom, dignity, and the right of peoples to self-determination, and defending the great lie about the right of peoples to rational and just democratic rule that achieves dignity for peoples and equality before the law, whereby people are transformed from subjects to citizens.

Since the overthrow of the Mosaddegh government in Iran until today, Western powers have been the largest supporter of repressive regimes and tyranny, because this serves their interests in plundering people’s wealth through their local agents. Perhaps the example of France in Niger is the greatest evidence of this, as it was plundering its natural wealth while fully supporting an oppressive rule that impoverished the people and filled the coffers of Paris.

Africa has begun to be liberated from neo-colonialism and liberated from Western hegemony, and the next turn is for the Arab and Islamic countries, whose time has come for their liberation. What happened in Palestine marked the beginning of the liberation of those peoples. The new generation that blessed and supported the resistance is not governed by the ideologies of the dominant regimes and elites. Rather, it does not believe in those elites at all and disbelieves in them and all their imaginary projects for a better future. Rather, they believe that they are an obstacle whose time has come to disappear and set so that a new sun can rise that will pave the way for liberation. Saladin would not have liberated Jerusalem if he had not liberated the surroundings of Palestine from all the rulers who had ties with the Crusaders.

Seven years ago today, Ari Shavit wrote an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in which he pointed out that Israel is breathing its last, despite all the propaganda machine and military arrogance. We add that the decline of Israel will be accompanied by the decline of the Orientalist elites and pro-colonial regimes. The time has come when these people die. Their last breath, they have no future, just as they have no present, because normalization does not come from the vision of the people, and the normalized elites use all tools of oppression and arrogance to prevent their people from expressing their position rejecting normalization, but for how long?

The lesson of Palestine revealed that there is no invincible enemy.

The resistance attack revealed the fragility of the occupation, despite all the arrogance with which it deals with the Palestinians and peoples in the region every day. Perhaps the massive support of the Western powers for the occupation is due to the fact that what happened sent them a warning of an existential threat to the occupation and its interests in the region. If only a thousand fighters caused all this, what if that force was in the tens of thousands, ending colonialism from its roots in one day?

The Western support we see today may postpone the inevitable, but it will happen in the end. No matter how much Western countries try to protect the occupation, in the end it will breathe its last, with all the tyrannical regimes in the region. There is no future except for the forces of freedom and dignity.

Source:Arabic Post

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Luis Fleischman

15 March at 15:38

The publication The New Arab condemned the great thinker Jurgen Habermas , who passed away on Saturday for his “unconditional support “ of Israel . The New Arab is seeking signatures to condemn Habermas . This shows the barbaric and uncivilized nature of the Palestinian and Arab propaganda . It is to this propaganda that a large sector of our academia subscribes, including professors at the New School for Social Research , where Habermas has had tremendous influence . The New School is also my alma matter . I am not proud of the current Academic status of the New School . In fact, I am not proud of Western academia in general . Habermas was an outstanding exception . May his memory be blessed !

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13.11.2023

Principles of solidarity. A statement

The current situation created by Hamas’ unparalleled atrocity and Israel’s response to it has led to a cascade of moral and political statements and demonstrations. We believe that for all the conflicting views being expressed, there are some principles that should not be disputed. They form the basis of a rightly understood solidarity with Israel and Jews in Germany.

The Hamas massacre with the declared intention of destroying Jewish life in general has prompted Israel to retaliate. How this principally justified counter-strike is carried out is the subject of controversial debate; principles of proportionality, the avoidance of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect of future peace must be the guiding principles. Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgment slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israeli action.

In particular, Israel’s actions in no way justify anti-Semitic reactions, especially not in Germany. It is intolerable that Jews in Germany are once again exposed to threats to life and limb and have to fear physical violence on the streets. The democratic self-image of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is based on the obligation to respect human dignity, is linked to a political culture for which Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist are central elements worthy of special protection in light of the mass crimes of the Nazi era. The commitment to this is fundamental to our political coexistence. The elementary rights to freedom and physical integrity as well as to protection from racist defamation are indivisible and apply equally to all. This must also apply to those in our country who have cultivated anti-Semitic affects and convictions behind all kinds of pretexts and now see a welcome opportunity to express them uninhibitedly.

Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, Klaus Günther and Jürgen Habermas


Principles of solidarity. A statement

The current situation created by Hamas’ extreme atrocity and Israel’s response to it has led to a cascade of moral and political statements and protests. We believe that amidst all the conflicting views being expressed, there are some principles that should not be disputed. They are the basis of a rightly understood solidarity with Israel and Jews in Germany.

The Hamas massacre with the declared intention of eliminating Jewish life in general has prompted Israel to strike back. How this retaliation, which is justified in principle, is carried out is the subject of controversial debate; principles of proportionality, the prevention of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect of future peace must be the guiding principles. Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgement slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions.

In particular, Israel’s actions in no way justify anti-Semitic reactions, especially not in Germany. It is intolerable that Jews in Germany are once again exposed to threats to life and limb and have to fear physical violence on the streets. The democratic ethos of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is oriented towards the obligation to respect human dignity, is linked to a political culture for which Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist are central elements worthy of special protection in light of the mass crimes of the Nazi era. The commitment to this is fundamental to our political life. The elementary rights to freedom and physical integrity as well as to protection from racist defamation are indivisible and apply equally to all. All those in our country who have cultivated anti-Semitic sentiments and convictions behind all kinds of pretexts and now see a welcome opportunity to express them uninhibitedly must also abide by this.

Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, Klaus Günther and Jürgen Habermas

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We Need to Facilitate Informed Debate about Israel-Palestine

A preface to the open letter in response to “Principles of Solidarity”

November 27, 2023James Miller

Image Credit: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, October 1914/UAF Abt. 850 Nr. 40


On November 13, the online publication of the Normative Orders research center at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main posted a statement outlining “Principles of solidarity” with Israel and Jews in Germany. This statement—and particularly a key paragraph—caught the attention of a great many philosophers and friends of critical theory around the world, coming as it did from the Frankfurt School, the home of critical theory, and signed as it was by Jürgen Habermas, long regarded as Europe’s leading public intellectual, as well as by Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, and Klaus Günther, all currently affiliated with the Frankfurt School:

The Hamas massacre with the declared intention of eliminating Jewish life in general has prompted Israel to strike back. How this retaliation, which is justified in principle, is carried out is the subject of controversial debate; principles of proportionality, the prevention of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect of future peace must be the guiding principles. Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgement slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions. [Emphasis added.]

A number of philosophers were also concerned about an absence: while key principles of international law are alluded to in this paragraph, the authority of international law—so often contested—is not explicitly affirmed.  

Because the resulting open letter is a significant intervention in a fraught public debate, prominently involving members of the philosophy department at The New School, we have decided to bring it to the attention of our readers, and publish as well the full list of signatories. 

As executive editor of Public Seminar, I also think it crucial to facilitate an informed debate over the very complex questions surrounding how to interpret, and uphold, international laws that both prohibit war crimes and genocide—but also entitle nations to act in self-defense when they are attacked.  

November 22, 2023


Read the open letter to the Principles of Solidarity statement, signed by over 100 academics from around the world.


James Miller is Professor of Politics and Liberal Studies and Faculty Director of the MA in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism at The New School for Social Research.

James Miller
James Miller

Professor of Politics and Liberal Studies and Faculty Director of the MA in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism, New School for Social Research

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A Response to “Principles of Solidarity. A Statement”

Human dignity for all

November 22, 2023Public Seminar

We the undersigned are deeply concerned by the statement “Principles of solidarity” published on the website of the Normative Orders research center at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt on 13th November 2023, signed by Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, Klaus Günther and Jürgen Habermas.

We join the authors in condemning the killing and taking hostage of Israeli civilians by Hamas on 7th October 2023 and we fully agree with the vital need to protect Jewish life in Germany in the face of rising antisemitism. We also agree with the statement’s grounding of these positions in the respect for human dignity for all people as a central part of the “democratic ethos of the Federal Republic of Germany”.

However, we are deeply troubled by the apparent limits of the solidarity expressed by the authors. The statement’s concern for human dignity is not adequately extended to Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are facing death and destruction. Nor is it applied or extended to Muslims in Germany experiencing rising Islamophobia. Solidarity means that the principle of human dignity must apply to all people. This requires us to recognize and address the suffering of all those affected by an armed conflict.

The statement claims that, “the standards of judgement slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions”. There is ongoing discussion among genocide scholars and legal experts whether the legal standard for genocide has been met. Human rights groups have filed lawsuits alleging genocide at the International Criminal Court and a federal court in the US. Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and Genocide studies at Brown University, has recently reminded us: “We know from history that it is crucial to warn of the potential for genocide before it occurs, rather than belatedly condemn it after it has taken place. I think we still have that time.” Showing solidarity and respecting human dignity means that we must heed this warning and not close down the space for debate and reflection about the possibility of genocide. Not all signatories believe that the legal standards for genocide have been met, nevertheless, all agree this is a matter of legitimate debate.

The statement mentions three “guiding principles” for military action: “principles of proportionality, the prevention of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect for future peace”. We are concerned that there is no mention of upholding international law, which also prohibits war crimes and crimes against humanity such as collective punishment, persecution, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure including schools, hospitals and places of worship. Being guided by principles of international legal standards, solidarity and human dignity compels us to hold all participants in the conflict to this higher standard. 

We cannot allow the atrocities to force us to abandon these principles.

  1. Adam Tooze (Professor of History, Columbia University)
  2. Samuel Moyn (Professor, Yale University)
  3. Amia Srinivasan (Professor of Social and Political Theory, University of Oxford)
  4. Nancy Fraser (Professor of Political and Social Science, New School for Social Research)
  5. Jay Bernstein (Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research)
  6. Alice Crary (Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Reserach)
  7. Juliane Rebentisch (Universität Offenbach/University of Princeton)
  8. Chandra Talpade Mohanti (Distinguished Professor, Syracuse University)
  9. Diedrich Diederichsen (Professor for Theory of Contemporary Art, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna)
  10. Beate Roessler (Professor of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam)
  11. Quinn Slobodian (Professor of History, Wellesley College)
  12. Michael Hardt (Professor, Duke)
  13. Franco Bifo Berardi (Philosopher, Napoli)
  14. Frederick Neuhouser (Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University)
  15. Linda Zerilli (Charles E. Merriam Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science University of Chicago)
  16. Paul Preciado (Philosopher, Paris)
  17. Nikhil Pal Singh (Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History, Chair of the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University)
  18. Dr Scilla Elworthy (Founder, The Business Plan for Peace)
  19. Rosalind Morris (Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University)
  20. Albena Azmanova (Professor, University of Kent)
  21. W. J. T. Mitchell (Professor, University of Chicago)
  22. Daniel Loick (Associate Professor of Political and Social Philosophy, Universität Amsterdam)
  23. Steven Klein (Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, King’s College London)
  24. Robin Celikates (Professor of Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin
  25. Esra Özyürek (Professor, University of Cambridge)
  26. Jeanne Morefield (Associate Professor of Political Theory, University of Oxford)
  27. Katrin Flikschuh (Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science)
  28. Melissa Williams (Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto)
  29. Alison M Jaggar (Emerita Professor of Distinction, University of Colorado Boulder)
  30. Fumi Okiji (Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley)
  31. Eli Zaretzky (Professor of History, New School for Social Research)
  32. Zeynep Gambetti (Associate Professor, Istanbul)
  33. Bruno Leipold (Fellow, The New Institute)
  34. Anselm Franke  (Professor, University of the Arts Zurich)
  35. Tobias Müller (Fellow, The New Institute)
  36. Akwugo Emejulu (Professor, University of Warwick)
  37. Eva von Redecker (Berlin)
  38. Maeve McKeown (Assistant Professor of Political Theory, University of Groningen)
  39. Manuela Bojadžijev (Professor, Humboldt-University)
  40. Dirk Moses (Spitzer Professor of International Relations, City College of New York)
  41. William Clare Roberts (Associate Professor of Political Science , McGill University)
  42. Erin R. Pineda (Phyllis C. Rappaport ’68 New Century Term Assistant Professor of Government, Smith College)
  43. Alasia Nuti (Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, University of York)
  44. Henrike Kohpeiß (Postdoc, Free University, Berlin)
  45. Matthias Lievens (Assistant Professor, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven)
  46. John Smith (Professor Emeritus of Fine Art, University of East London)
  47. Oreet Ashery (Artist)
  48. Mason Leaver-Yap (Postgraduate Studies, Glasgow School of Art)
  49. Eyal Weizman (Professor)
  50. Angela Dimitrakaki (Art historian and novelist)
  51. Yaiza Hernández Velázquez (Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London)
  52. Marina Vishmidt (Professor of Art Theory, University of Applied Arts, Vienna)
  53. Cecile Malaspina (Directrice de programme, College international de philosophie, France)
  54. Gabriëlle Schleijpen (Artistic director | head of program DAI Roaming Academy)
  55. Larne Abse Gogarty (Head of History and Theory of Art, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL)
  56. Peter Osborne (Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University London)
  57. Mirjam Müller (Jun.- Professor of Feminist Philosophy, Humboldt University of Berlin
  58. Charles Esche (Professor, University of the Arts, London)
  59. Marion Detjen (Bard College Berlin)
  60. Sultan Doughan (Lecturer, Goldsmiths)
  61. Claire Bishop (Professor, CUNY Graduate Center)
  62. David Lloyd (Distinguished Professor of English , University of California, Riverside)
  63. Alice von Bieberstein (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
  64. Paul Apostolidis (Professor, LSE)
  65. Aurelia Kalisky (Berlin)
  66. Maurizio Lazzarato (Philosopher, Paris)
  67. Alberto Toscano (Professor of Critical Theory, Goldsmiths, University of London / Simon Fraser University)
  68. Ana Teixeira Pinto (Professor HBK/Dutch Art Institute)
  69. William Callison (Postdoc, Uppsala University)
  70. Nadim Khoury (Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Science)
  71. Natasha Lennard (Associate Director Critical Journalism, The New School, New York)
  72. Volkan Çidam (Assist. Prof, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul)
  73. Jacob Blumenfeld (Fellow, Centre for Social Critique, HU Berlin)
  74. Anya Topolski (Associate Professor in Political Philosophy, Radboud University)
  75. Antke Engel (Institute for Queer Theory, Berlin)
  76. Thomas Locher (Artist)
  77. Denise Ferreira da Silva (Professor, University of British Columbia)
  78. Paula Chakravarttu (James Weldon Johnson Associate Professor of Media Studies, New York University)
  79. Alexi Kukuljevic (Assistant Professor, University of Applied Arts Vienna)
  80. Giovanna Zapperi (Professor, University of Geneva)
  81. Frieder Vogelmann (Professor for Epistemology and Theory of Science, University of Freiburg)
  82. James Cochrane (Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town)
  83. Enzo Rossi (Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Amsterdam)
  84. Siddharth Soni (Research Fellow, University of Cambridge)
  85. Franz Knappik (Professor of Philosophy, University of Bergen)
  86. Daniel James (Postdoc, Technische Universität Dresden)
  87. Eyja Brynjarsdottir (Professor of Philosophy, University of Iceland)
  88. Hanna Meißner (Professor, Technische Universität Berlin)
  89. Su Ming Khoo (Associate Professor, University of Galway)
  90. Timothy Waligore (Associate Professor Political Science, Pace University)
  91. David Welch (Professor of Political Science, University of Waterloo)
  92. Giovanni Mascaretti (Postdoc, University of Bergamo)
  93. Peter J. Verovšek (Assistant Professor, History and Theory of European Integration, University of Groningen)
  94. Amy Reed-Sandoval (Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
  95. John Pringle (Independent Researcher)
  96. Assel Tutumlu (Associate Professor in Political Science, Near East University)
  97. Tirdad Zolghadr (Guest professor, University of the Arts Berlin)
  98. Mathelinda Nabugodi (Lecturer, University College London)
  99. Doriane Zerka (Assistant Professor, University of Cambridge)
  100. Sina Kramer (Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Loyola Marymount University)
  101. Chady Seubert (Actress)
  102. Diana Abbani (Researcher, Forum Transregionale Studien)
  103. Eddie Bruce-Jones (Professor of Law, SOAS, University of London)
  104. Vanessa E. Thompson (Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, Canada)
  105. Thandeka Cochrane (Research Associate, King’s College London)
  106. Christine Schwöbel-Patel (Professor, Warwick Law School, University of Warwick)
  107. Lily Crawford (Graduate student, University of Oslo)
  108. Gerard Delanty (Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, UK)
  109. Joel Whitebook (The Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research,
    Columbia University)

Read a preface to this open letter by James E. Miller, executive editor at Public Seminar