04.04.24

Editorial Note

In late March, a group of academics and activists wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden requesting him to immediately stop transferring all offensive arms and related funds to Israel. According to them, “Israel’s assault on Gaza appears to include both acts and intent stated in the definition of genocide.” They wrote, “President Biden, do not let the United States go down in history as the enabler of genocide.” Since “The US is a party to the Genocide Convention, and owes the international community the obligation to prevent this heinous crime. When the US continues to send weapons to Israel, especially after ICJ’s provisional measures, it violates these obligations.”

Some 900 academics and activists signed this letter, including Israelis. Some Israelis teach in Israeli institutions, and others were recruited by pro-Palestinians – with the backing of oil-wealthy Middle Eastern states donations – to teach in Western institutions.

The following is the list of Israeli academics from Israeli institutions who signed the letter:

Avner Giladi, Professor (emeritus) of Islamic Studies, University of Haifa. Raphael Greenberg, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Associate Professor of English, University of Haifa. Dr. Erella Shadmi, retired scholar, Beit Berl College. Miriam Eliav-Feldon, Professor of History, Tel Aviv University. Efraim Davidi, Lecturer of History, Tel-Aviv University. Avner Ben-Amos, Professor of History, Tel-Aviv University. Yuval Yonay, Sociologist, University of Haifa. Ron Barkai, Professor of History (emeritus), Tel Aviv University. Uri Mor, Associate Professor of Hebrew Language, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Tali Bitan, Associate Professor, University of Haifa. Isaac (Yanni) Nevo, Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Zohar Eviatar, Professor Emerita, University of Haifa. Eran Fisher, Associate Professor, The Open University of Israel. Gideon Freudenthal, Prof (em.), Tel Aviv University. Maya Rosenfeld, Sociologist, Hebrew University and Sapir College. Michal Givoni, Senior Lecturer in political theory, Ben Gurion University. Anat Matar, Senior Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Tel Aviv University. Oded Na’aman, Senior Lecturer, Hebrew University. Udi Adiv, PhD, Open University. Yossi Wolfson, Teaching Associate, Tel Aviv University. Michal Braier, Urban Planner and Researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hannah Safran, Haifa Feminist Institute. Tamir Swissa, Teaching Assistant, Tel Aviv University. Maor Zeev-Wolf, Assistant Professor, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Anat Greenstein, Disability Studies Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Nufar Shimony, Philosophy Lecturer (retired).

The following is the list of Israeli academics from Western institutions who signed the letter:

Meir Amor, Associate Professor, Concordia University (ret.). Shira Klein, Associate Professor of History, Chapman University. Tamir Sorek, Professor of History, Penn State University. Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Penn State University. Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University. Yinon Cohen, Prof. of Israel & Jewish Studies, Columbia University. Eldar Shafir, Professor of Behavioral Science & Public Policy, Princeton University. Ra’anan Boustan, Research Scholar, Program in Judaic Studies, Princeton University. Hagar Kotef, Professor of Political Theory, SOAS, University of London. Nitzan Lebovic, Professor of History, Lehigh University. Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, The University of Notre Dame. Lital Levy, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University. Liron Mor, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Irvine. Gilat Levy, Professor of Economics, LSE. Shira Robinson, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GWU. Regev Nathansohn, Lecturer, Sapir College. Dr. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer at Amsterdam University College. Dorit Naaman, Professor, Queen’s University. Yael Sela, A. von Humboldt Research Fellow, Goethe University Frankfurt. Noa Shaindlinger, Assistant Professor of History, Worcester State University. Ran Greenstein, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Nitzan Lebovic, professor of History, Lehigh University. Yohai Hakak, Senior lecturer in social work, Brunel University London. Sharon Cohen, Assistant Professor of Introduction to Visual Culture, Bezalel Academy of Arts, Theater director. Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, Professorial Research Associate, SOAS. Yair Wallach, Associate Professor in Israeli Studies, SOAS, University of London. Shira Avni, Associate Professor, Concordia University. Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker & independent researcher. Adi M. Ophir, Visiting Professor, Brown University. Anat Biletzki, Albert Schweitzer Professor of Philosophy, Quinnipiac University. Nadav Assor, Associate Professor of Studio Art, Connecticut College. Thalia Drori Ramirez, Lecturer, CLA, University of Minnesota. Shai Ginsburg, Associate Professor, Duke University. B.H. Yael, Professor, OCAD University. Amittai Aviram, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Boston College. Revital Madar, Postdoctoral Fellow, European University Institute. Shir Alon, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, UMN. Ophira Gamliel, Lecturer in South Asian Religions, University of Glasgow. Marcelo Svirsky, Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong. Nadav Amir, Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University. Tom Pessah, Sociologist. Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning, University College London. Neve Gordon, Professor of human rights and humanitarian law, Queen Mary University of London; Vice President of the British Society for Middle East Studies. Itamar Shachar, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Hasselt University, Belgium. Tamar Schneider, Lecturer of Philosophy. Uri Horesh, Lecturer in Arabic, University of St Andrews.

Interestingly, some of the academics are Iranians. Numerous Iranian names, but only several are identified as related to Iran:

Amirhosein Vedadi, Researcher, University of Tehran. Mahd Zarghami, University of Tehran. Ali Ahmad, Tehran University. Atiyeh Vahidmanesh, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Tehran. Camron Michael Amin, Professor of Middle East and Iranian Diaspora Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Former President of the Association for Iranian Studies. Janet Afary, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, Former President of the Association for Iranian Studies. Nasser Mohajer, Independent Historian of Modern Iran. Frieda Afary, Iranian American librarian, translator, author, Los Angeles.

While it is possible that some of the Iranians are Iranian dissenters, it is also possible that there are regime agents among them. Iranian Universities are known for close connections to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Revolutionary Guards.  

Dr. Lior Sternfeld, an associate professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State University, was behind the letter to Biden. He is a researcher of Iranian-Jewish history. Sternfeld was apparently influenced by Haggai Ram, a professor of Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University who was his MA Thesis adviser and is a friend. Ram achieved a certain notoriety with his book Iranophbia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession, where he argued that Israel’s preoccupation with Tehran’s nuclear project stems from its effort to deflect from the mistreatment of the Mizrahim, Jews who immigrated from Arab countries. Various book reviewers described the book in glowing terms, noting that Ram emphasized the colonial/Orientalist character of Israel. The Iranian regime considered Ram an essential addition to its gallery of Israeli scholars critical of “the Zionist enemy,” such as Professors Ilan Pappe and Shlomo Sand.

In a 2011 review of this book, Sternfeld called Ram “a prominent Israeli scholar” who helped to explain “the pathology of the Israeli obsession with an Iranian threat. He wrote, “Ram juxtaposes this development with the changing political reality in Israel, as the long time Ashkenazi ruling hegemony was voted out, and the ‘Likud’ party—overwhelmingly supported by religious Mizrahi Jews—came to power. At that point, Israelis saw Iran as a reflection of Israel’s own dark future if the Mizrahi forces in Israel should gain more political power. This sentiment grew stronger during the 1980s and the early 1990s.” 

Sternfeld’s newest venture into explaining Iran came in an article published in January in Hebrew. Sternfeld wrote, “In my understanding, the October 7 attack came at a very bad time for Iran, when it was supposed to agree with the US on a new outline for the nuclear talks and instead found itself in an international defensive position due to the Hamas attack.” 

Discussing how Israeli media reported on the visit of the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdullahian, to Lebanon, on October 12, 2023, Sternfeld wrote, “I believe that it is appropriate to examine the visit precisely as one that seeks to prevent Hezbollah from joining the war and thus being dragged into a regional war. Today, from a distance of three months, we see that while there is a limited military confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel, there has not been an entry into the war in full force as estimated by military and political commentators. That is, alongside pressures from within the Lebanese civil society and system, it is very possible that Iran actually served as a restraining factor.”

Evidently, Sternfeld did not read the voluminous post-October 7, 2023 commentaries that indicate that one of the goals of Hamas was to disrupt the Biden administration’s plan to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accord pact. The regime and all its proxies harshly denounced the prospective Saudi move and are now gloating that the Gaza War put an end to the plan. Alternatively, it is possible that Sternfeld, like many radical leftist academics, has tried to minimize Iran’s pernicious role in destabilizing the region as a step toward “wiping Israel off the map.” According to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “Zionist enemy,” aka the “Little Satan,” would cease to exist in the year 2040. A digital clock in a main Tehran square is actually counting down the time to the alleged Israeli demise. Inspired by their Supreme Leader, various regime spokesmen mentioned that a nuclear weapon would be a tool for dispatching the “Little Satan” to its doom. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president of Iran, once commented that Israel was a one atomic bomb country, adding that all its population would be eliminated. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, another former president who pushed hard for the nuclear program, was fond of speculating on how the world would look after the “Zionist enemy” is gone. He went so far as to support a 2005 conference in Tehran titled “A World without Zionism.” 

Whatever the reason for Sternfeld’s stand, he is officially added to the roster of anti-Israel Israeli scholars who wrote the public letter to President Biden, with his name being mentioned in Persian by the Iranian media. 

Arguably, they are all reaching out to promote dictatorships in the Middle East.

REFERENCES:

https://www.academics4peace.org/petitions/march-24-stop-arms-to-israel

Genocide is plausible; stop arms to Israel

Published March 2024

President Biden,

We, the undersigned academics and supporters, call on the US to stop transfer of all offensive arms and related funds to Israel, immediately. The International Court of Justice found by an overwhelming majority (15 of 17 judges) that South Africa’s allegations – that Israel is engaged in genocide – are plausible. Despite the court ordering provisional measures, the killing and starvation of Gazans has worsened exponentially. 

The crime of genocide is defined as “any of the following acts [when] committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting conditions to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births.

Israel’s assault on Gaza appears to include both acts and intent stated in the definition of genocide. In the last five months, Israel’s targeting of civilians in Gaza has resulted in over 30,000 dead, 70% of them children and women, with thousands more under rubble. There are documented cases of executions, torture, sexual violence, and persistent policies leading to starvation and dehydration. Public health experts predict that by year’s end, hundreds of thousands will die as a result of Israel’s actions. Israeli leaders have called for retribution and abandoning restraint, assigned collective responsibility to an entire nation for the atrocious Oct. 7 crimes of Hamas, and called for making the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.

The US is a party to the Genocide Convention, and owes the international community the obligation to prevent this heinous crime. When the US continues to send weapons to Israel, especially after ICJ’s provisional measures, it violates these obligations. 

President Biden, do not let the United States go down in history as the enabler of genocide. Respect the US’s obligation under international law and basic morality. The only way to stop the starvation of two million people, including 100+ Israeli hostages, is to end this war.

We repeat, genocide is plausible.

List of Signatories

Statement Authors

1. Meir Amor, Associate Professor, Concordia University (ret.)
2. Joel Beinin, Donald J. Mclachlan Profesor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University, Former President of the Middle East Studies Association
3. Sonia Boulos, Associate Professor of International Human Rights Law, Nebrija University, Spain, Fulbright Fellow 
4. Nubar Hovsepian, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, Chapman University, previously Political Affairs Officer for the United Nations Conference on the Question of Palestine 
5. Shira Klein, Associate Professor of History, Chapman University, National Jewish Book Award finalist
6. Karin Loevy, Researcher at the Institute for International Law and Justice, New York University School of Law, Israel Law Review Prize winner
7. Tamir Sorek, Professor of History, Penn State University, Shapiro Prize for best book in Israel Studies winner
8. Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Penn State University, Templeton Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Award Winners & Academic Leaders

9. George P. Smith, 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
10. Sir Richard J. Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chief Scientific Officer, New England Biolabs
11. Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University, National Jewish Book Award winner
12. Zachary Lockman, Professor of Middle East History, New York University, Former President of Middle East Studies Association, Member of the British Academy
13. Sasha Senderovich, Associate Professor of Slavic and Jewish Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, National Jewish Book Award finalist
14. Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, Guggenheim Fellow
15. Yinon Cohen, Prof. of Israel & Jewish Studies, Columbia University, Winner of the United States-Israel Bi-national Science Foundation (BSF)
16. Crystal Murphy, Associate professor of Political Science, Chapman University, Fulbright Scholar
17. Stefan H. Krieger, Richard J. Cardali Distinguished Professor in Trial Advocacy, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
18. Bill Ayers, Distinguished Professor (retired), University of Illinois at Chicago
19. Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History, The University of Michigan, Guggenheim Fellow
20. Howard Winant, Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara, Fulbright Scholar
21. Zia Mian, Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, Linus Pauling Legacy Award; Leo Szilard Award; Fellow of the American Physical Society
22. Eldar Shafir, Professor of Behavioral Science & Public Policy, Princeton University, Guggenheim Fellowship; Named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers; member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
23. Ra’anan Boustan, Research Scholar, Program in Judaic Studies, Princeton University, Fulbright Fellow
24. Lydia Kiesling, Writer, National Book Foundation honoree; VCU Cabell First Novelist Award finalist
25. Hagar Kotef, Professor of Political Theory, SOAS, University of London, C.B Macpherson Book Award; Yale Ferguson Award; Spitz Prize in Democratic Theory
26. Camron Michael Amin, Professor of Middle East and Iranian Diaspora Studies, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Former President of the Association for Iranian Studies
27. Carolyn J. Dean, Charles J. Stille Professor of History and French, Yale University, Guggenheim Fellow
28. Jeff Warner, Former Chief of Geochemistry, NASA Johnson Space Center, NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal
29. Hasia Diner, Professor Emeritus of History, New York University, National Jewish Book Award winner, Guggenheim Fellow
30. Mitchell Plitnick, President, ReThinking Foreign Policy, Palestine Book Counter Current Award
31. Simon Dinnerstein, Artist, Rome Prize, Fulbright Fellow
32. Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor Emerita, Yale University; Ernst Bloch prize; Leopold Lucas Prize; Meister Eckhart Prize of the Identity Foundation and the University of Cologne; former President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association
33. Joseph Camilleri, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Order of Australia Medal, Member of Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
34. Kathryn Levy, Poet; American Poetry Series Finalist, Midwest Book Award
35. Elliott Lieb, Professor of Mathematics and Physics (emeritus), Princeton University, Fulbright Fellow
36. Rob Nixon, Professor, Princeton; American Book Award; Fulbright Fellow; MacArthur Foundation Peace and Security Fellow 
37. Lawrence Rosenwald, Professor of English Emeritus, Wellesley College, Guggenheim Fellow
38. Jo Radner, Professor Emerita, American University; former President of the American Folklore Society 
39. Arlene Stein, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University; American Sociological Association’s Simon and Gagnon Award 
40. Nitzan Lebovic, Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values, Professor of History, Lehigh UniversityAdeeb Khalid, Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies and History, Carleton College; Guggenheim Fellow
41. Kia Corthron, American playwright and novelist, Windham Campbell Prize 
42. Melissa Williams, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, First Book Award from the American Political Science Association
43. Barbara B. Brown, Lecturer in African Studies, Boston University, Fulbright Scholar
44. Harriet Zaidman, Writer; Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction
45. Lawrence Blum, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education, University of Massachusetts, Boston
46. Lynne Tillman, writer, Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital Andy Warhol Foundation Grantee, American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Katherine Anne Porter Award for Contributions to Literature
47. Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University, Member of the National Academy of Sciences
48. Arthur Ogus, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, UC Berkeley
49. Rebecca Ruth Gould, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Poetics and Global Politics, SOAS University of London
50. Janet Afary, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, Former President of the Association for Iranian Studies
51. Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, The University of Notre Dame, Andrew Carnegie Fellow
52. Eva Mroczek, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, UC Davis, Director of Jewish Studies Program; Association for Jewish Studies Jordan Schnitzer Book Prize; De Long Book History Prize awarded by the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing; Manfred Lautenschlaeger Prize for Theological Promise
53. Victoria de Grazia, Professor of History Emerita, Columbia University, Member of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
54. Lital Levy, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University, Salo Baron Prize for the best book in Jewish history
55. Elizabeth Bernstein, Professor and Chair of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Professor of Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University, Norbert Elias Prize
56. Allison Mickel, Director of Global Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology, Lehigh University, Fulbright Scholar
57. John Harte, Professor of Ecology, University of California, Berkeley, Guggenheim Fellow; George Polk Award; Leo Szi­lard Prize from the Amer­i­can Phys­i­cal Soci­ety; Member of the Amer­i­can Phys­i­cal Soci­ety; Pew Schol­ars Prize in Con­ser­va­tion and the Envi­ron­ment 
58. Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, President, Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation; winner of the Fred Packard International Parks Merit Award 
59. Arturo` Escobar, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, UNC, CHapel Hill, Member of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
60. Soraya de Chadarevian, Professor of History, UCLA, National Science Foundation (NSF) Award
61. David Barkin, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Metropolitan University, Mexico City; Alexander von Humboldt Award
62. Silvia Kolbowski, Artist, Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Grant awardee; National Endowment for the Arts awardee; Terra Foundation for the American Art awardee
63. Kenneth Frampton, Emeritus Professor, GSAPP, Columbia University, Soane Medal, London; Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Venice; American Institute of Architects’ National Honors Award, Washington, DC; Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
64. Beverly R. Voloshin, Professor Emerita of English, San Francisco State University, Former president of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association; Fulbright Scholar
65. Susan S. Lanser, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, English, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University, Former President of the American Society of 18th-Century Studies; Former President of the International Society for the Study of Narrative; Wayne C Booth Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Narrative; Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar Grant
66. Carlos Alvarez Pereira, Advisor, UNESCO Chair of Global Understanding for Sustainability
67. S Faizi, Ecologist, UN Environmental negotiatiator; UNEP Global 500 Award; Lifetime Achievement in Biodiversity Honour of the Serbian Government

Academics, Clergy, Professionals, Artists

68. Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim
69. Rabbi Michael Feinberg, NYC
70. Danny Sleator, Professor of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
71. Avi-ram Tzoreff, Historian, Van-Leer Jerusalem Institute
72. Carmel Dor, Artist 
73. Lee Mordechai, Senior Lecturer of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
74. Soumava Basu, President and Founder, Council for Global Cooperation (CGC)
75. Elana Michelson, Professor Emerita, SUNY-Empire State University
76. Max Weiss, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University
77. Liron Mor, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
78. Alma Rachel Heckman, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, UC Santa Cruz
79. Edna Gruvman, Adjunct Professor, Nassau Community College
80. Rabbi Michael Feinberg, NYC
81. Cantor Michael Zoosman, Co-Founder: “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty”
82. Mairaj Syed, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Middle East/South Asia Studies, University of California, Davis
83. Steven DeLue, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Miami University
84. Noah Asher Golden, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, CSU Long Beach
85. Tommaso Valletti, Professor of Economics, Imperial College London
86. Avner Giladi, Professor (emeritus) of Islamic Studies, University of Haifa
87. Frances Tanzer, Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture, Clark University
88. Danna Agmon, Associate Professor of History, Virginia Tech
89. Gilat Levy, Professor of Economics, LSE
90. Tavi Gevinson, Writer and actor
91. Claire Phillips, Lecturer, CalArts
92. Martha Ezell, Writer
93. Vardit Goldner, Artist
94. Nora Pearl, WREN
95. Sara Feldman, Preceptor in Yiddish, Harvard University
96. Nufar Shimony, Philosophy Lecturer (retired)
97. Raphael Greenberg, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University
98. Amy Beck MD MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco
99. Shira Robinson, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, GWU
100. Yonatan Ginzburg, Professor of Linguistics, Université Paris Cité
101. Roni Tzoreef, Post-doctoral Candidate, University of Michigan
102. Harry Hochheiser, Associate Professor of Biomedical University, University of Pittsburgh
103. Andrew Spiegel, Emeritus Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of Cape Town
104. Cynthia Clarkson, RN
105. Regev Nathansohn, Lecturer, Sapir College
106. Cat Zavis, Rabbi
107. Baki Tezcan, Professor of History, University of California, Davis
108. Jane Zighelboim Awni, American Jew
109. Dr. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer at Amsterdam University College and Visiting Fellow at Remarque institute, New York
110. Ayelet Ben-Yishai, Associate Professor of English, University of Haifa
111. Aron Lee Rosenberg, Faculty Lecturer, McGill University
112. Dana Schwartz, Marriage, Family Therapist
113. Dr. Erella Shadmi, Independent researcher and retired scholar, Beit Berl College
114. Miriam Eliav-Feldon, Professor of History, Tel Aviv University
115. Aaron Berman, Professor Emeritus of History, Hampshire College
116. Mark LeVine, Professor of History, UC Irvine
117. Steven Gelb, Professor of Education (Retired), University of San Diego
118. Fred Rogers, VP & Treasurer Emeritus, Carleton College
119. Alan Wallach, William and Mary, Professor Emeritus
120. Jacob Serruya, Historian
121. Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, Israel
122. Ursula Wokoeck, PhD
123. Brooke Daly
124. Dorit Naaman, Professor, Queen’s University
125. Robert Reid, concerned citizen
126. A. George Beeler, Architect
127. Efraim Davidi, Lecturer of History, Tel-Aviv University
128. Yossef Rapoport, Professor of Islamic History, Queen Mary University London
129. Avner Ben-Amos, Professor of History, Tel-Aviv University
130. Kimberly Katz, Professor of History, Towson University
131. Flagg Miller, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Davis
132. Kathleen O’Donnell, Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University
133. Emmanuel Szurek, Associate Professor of History, EHESS, Paris
134. Elly Levy, Attorney
135. Sandy Polishuk, Retired oral historian and Adjunct Instructor, Portland State University
136. Persis Karim, Professor, San Francisco State University
137. Yuval Yonay, Sociologist, University of Haifa
138. Constance Griffith, retired
139. Yael Sela, A. von Humboldt Research Fellow, Goethe University Frankfurt
140. Ron Barkai, Professor of History (emeritus), Tel Aviv University
141. Uri Mor, Associate Professor of Hebrew Language, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
142. Adam Hochschild, author
143. Gail Steiner, Activist
144. Allan Potofsky, Professor of History, Université Paris Cité
145. Claire Kahane, Professor Emerita, University at Buffalo
146. Martinez Rocio, History of Art Professor
147. T. Samir, Part-Time Assistant Professor, The New School
148. Drew Levine, Fairchild & Levine LLP
149. Yoav Di-Capua, Professor, UT Austin
150. Michal Sapir, Musician and writer
151. Najib Joe Hakim, Photographer
152. Steven Jordan, Associate Professor, McGill University
153. Hella Cohen, former Associate Professor of English, St. Catherine University
154. Maresi Nerad, Emerita professor, University of Washington
155. Diane L Wolf, Professor Emerita of Sociology and Faculty Assistant to the Vice-Provost, UC Davis
156. Simcha Srebnik, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia
157. Megan Shaw, Attorney
158. Noa Shaindlinger, Assistant Professor of History, Worcester State University
159. Naomi Richman, International Institute for Trauma Studies, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
160. Angela Ginorio, Emerita Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, University of Washington
161. Betsy Valdes, Activist
162. Lynn Wardley, Former faculty, San Francisco State University
163. Victor Silverman, Emeritus Professor of History, Pomona College
164. Therese Mughannam-Walrath, Peace Activist
165. Michal Sela, International consultant & expert on Palestinian affairs
166. Amanda Horack, MS. Counseling-Student Development in Higher Education, CSULB
167. Zamir Shatz, Artist
168. Arlette Mintzer, clinical psychologist
169. Steven Robins, Professor of Sociology & Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
170. Ira Noveck, Directeur de Recherche, CNRS-Université de Paris-Cité
171. Tali Bitan, Associate Professor, University of Haifa
172. Elliott Green, Professor of Development Studies, London School of Economics
173. Leila Züllighoven, PhD, lawyer
174. Oana Ionescu Firicã, TV producer
175. Dimitra Kolliakou, teacher and writer
176. Noa Levin, Postdoctoral Researcher, Università della Svizzera Italiana
177. Marianne Hirschberg, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Kassel
178. Jenny Labendz, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, St Francis College
179. Itamar Shapira, Tour operator
180. Pauline Coderre, concerned citizen
181. Isaac (Yanni) Nevo, Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, Ben Gurion University, Israel
182. Earnest Arky Solomon, Jewish educator
183. Robyn Bem, Editor
184. Ruth Zaslansky
185. Deborah T Levenson, Professor of History, Emerita, Boston College
186. Myrna Breitbart, Emerita Professor of Geography and Urban Studies, Hampshire College
187. Susan LaDue, Member, HILR, Harvard
188. Sarah Kittilsen, B.A. Student, McGill University
189. Thomas Weisskopf, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Michigan
190. Zohar Eviatar, Profesor Emerita, University of Haifa
191. Elizaveta Strakhov, Associate Professor of English, Marquette University
192. Batya Yelloz, Student
193. Cedric Parizot, Anthropologist & researcher, CNRS, Aix en Provence, France
194. Bard Swallow, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto
195. Summer Star, Associate Professor of English, San Francisco State University
196. Kate Ward, Associate Professor of Theology, Marquette University
197. Yael Shomroni, Artist
198. Shirin Khanmohamadi, Professor, Comparative and World Literature, SFSU
199. Ruth Rosen, Professor Emerita, University of California
200. Barry Ingber
201. Avi Kaplan, Professor of Educational Psychology, Temple University
202. S.C. Kaplan
203. Jennifer L. Derr, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
204. Deborah Rosenfelt, Professor Emerita, University of Maryland
205. Susan Nakley, Professor of English, St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn NY
206. Nancy Ries, Professor of Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies, Emerita
207. Arlie Hochschild, Professor Emerita, UC Berkeley
208. David Lawton
209. Gilad BenDavid, PhD Candidate, The Graduate Center (CUNY)
210. Jessica Spence Moss, PhD
211. Aviad Albert, postdoctoral researcher, University of Cologne
212. Jean-Pierre Digard, Directeur de recherche honoraire du CNRS, Paris
213. Steve Golin, Professor Emeritus of History, Bloomfield College (NJ)
214. Randy Baker, Appellate attorney
215. Peter Rosenblum, Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Bard College
216. Barbara A. Kidney. Ph.D., NYS Licensed Psychologist in private practice
217. Carol Strauss Sotiropoulos, Professor emerita, Northern Michigan University
218. Claude Calame, directeur d’études, EHESS, Paris
219. Laurie Toner, Activist
220. Phyllis Bloom, Chinese Medicine practitioner
221. Peter Bohmer, Faculty emeritus, The Evergreen State College
222. Adele Cuthbert, Adjunct Professor (retired), Montomery College
223. Ellen W. Echeverria, Associate Prof. of Spanish (Retired) George Washington University
224. Etienne de la Vaissière, Professor of Central Asian History, EHESS Paris
225. Sarah Constantine, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
226. Ran Greenstein, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
227. Cheryl Zatuchni, Artist, writer
228. Steve Breyman, Retired
229. Hal Foster, Towsend Martin ’17 Professor of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University
230. Karen Olsen, Writer
231. Shirley Crenshaw, Psychotherapist
232. Rabbi Ruth Gais
233. Cristina Ruotolo, Professor of Humanities, San Francisco State University
234. Barbara Niederer, CNRS, France
235. Hamid Shahnasser, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, SFSU
236. Caterina Guenzi, Associate Professor, EHESS, France
237. Thomas Bierschenk, Mainz
238. Laura Garcia Moreno, Professor, Humanities and Comparative Literature, SFSU
239. Christelle Rabier, Reader, EHESS (France)
240. Murat Dinc
241. Mojtaba Azadi, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University
242. Karen Miller, Environmental steward
243. Elodie Richard, researcher (history), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/ EHESS
244. Michelle Decker, Associate Professor of English, Scripps College
245. Masood A. Sheikh, Peace Activist
246. Nicolas Sihlé, anthropologist, research fellow at CNRS (France)
247. Clara Lecadet, Anthropologist, French National Center for Scientific Research
248. Nitzan Lebovic, professor of History, Lehigh University
249. Martin Nguyen, Professor of Religious Studies, Fairfield University
250. Yohai Hakak, Senior lecturer in social work, Brunel University London
251. Sharon Cohen, Assistant Professor of Introduction to Visual Culture, Bezalel Academy of Arts, Theater director
252. Nancy C. Arvold, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, California Inst. Integral Studies
253. Luca Gabbiani, Professor of Chinese History, EFEO, Paris
254. Cristina Ciucu, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, EHESS, Paris
255. Amy Kilgard, Professor and Chair, Communication Studies, San Francisco State University
256. Jo Salas, writer
257. Risana Chowdhury, Research Fellow, Binghamton University
258. Yarden Dankner, Artist
259. Leïla Tazi, retired professor of medecine, Casablanca University
260. Arthur Camins, Assessment Specialist, Retired
261. Meryem Sebti, Directrice de Recherche CNRS
262. Denis Therien, Emeritus Professor, McGill University
263. Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, Professorial Research Associate, SOAS
264. Catherine Markey, Artist
265. Leonard Sklar, Emeritus Professor of Geosciences, San Franciso State University
266. Shoshana Dreyfus, Associate Professor, University of Wollongong, Australia
267. Nathan Eric Dickman, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of the Ozarks
268. Wayne Klug, Professor of Psychology, Berkshire Community College
269. J Kirshner, Concerned citizen
270. Felicity Figueroa, Community Advocate
271. Moshe Adler, Visiting Associate Professor, SUNY Empire
272. Nancy Stern, Professor, The City College of New York, CUNY
273. Fred Nagel, Retired career counselor, Vassar College
274. Irene Small, Associate Professor, Princeton University
275. Hana Masud, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute
276. Abby M. Schrader, Professor of History, Franklin & Marshall College
277. Farzana Jangbarwala
278. Reuven Shultz, Peace Now supporter
279. Joan Nestle, writer, archivist
280. Huw Price, Emeritus Bertrand Russell Professor, Cambridge
281. Mieka Polanco, gender-based violence specialist
282. Renee Worringer, Professor, University of Guelph
283. J. A. Bernstein, Associate Professor of English, University of Southern Mississippi
284. Colin Macleod, Professor of Philosophy and Law, University of Victoria
285. Aubrey Blecher, Mathematician, University of Witwatersrand
286. Thomas Heyd, Lecturer, University of Victoria
287. Alison Moore, Associate Professor of English Language & Linguistics, University of Wollongong
288. Brian A. Schwartz, PhD, Career & Life Design Psychologist
289. Pablo Blitstein, EHESS, Paris
290. François Burgat, Former DR CNRS IREMAM (France)
291. Hugh Govan, Adjunct Senior Fellow, University of the South Pacific
292. Sandra Kloff, Independant marine biologist
293. Debbie Becher, Associate Professor of Sociology, Barnard College
294. Arie Meidav, US and Israeli concerned citizen
295. Andréa Finger, PhD Environment and forestry, consultant, Geneva
296. Marie Ladier-Fouladi, demographer and sociologist, senior researcher, CNRS -Paris
297. Gildas Salmon, Researcher (Philosophy), CNRS, Paris
298. David Pena-Guzman, Associate Professor, SFSU
299. Michel Pimbert, Professor Emeritus, Coventry University, UK
300. Choleh Chafaie, Professor of Cross Cultural Management, Sorbonne University, France
301. Richard David, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Illinois Chicago
302. Stephen R. Shalom, Emeritus, Political Science, William Paterson University
303. Madeleine Segall-Marx, Sculptor
304. Ana Paredes, Professor, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico
305. Susan Crosby, National Board Certified Teacher (retired)
306. Nasser Mohajer, Independant Historian of Modern Iran
307. Alana Roth, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley
308. Joy Howse
309. Michael R. Jackson, Research Professor, Earlham College
310. Satyel Larson, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
311. L. Mullenneaux, Columbia University
312. Greg Anderson, Professor of History, Ohio State University
313. Colin Anderson, Associate Professor, University of Vermont
314. Deborah Garber, Artist
315. Karen Walasek, Doctoral Candidate, Prescott College
316. Elena Miska, Creative Director
317. Alain Jehlen, journalist
318. Elena Aoun, Associate professor of International relations, UCLouvain
319. John Ehrenberg, Senior Professor Emeritus, Long Island University
320. Thoraya Muhammad
321. Yair Wallach, Associate Professor in Israeli Studies, SOAS, University of London
322. Ceren Baysan, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Toronto
323. Shaun Marmon, Associate Professor Religion, Princeton University
324. Mary Pampalk, Women in Black
325. Barry Trachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Wake Forest University
326. Shira Avni, Associate Professor, Concordia University
327. John Newhouse
328. Betsy Smith, Retired Professor of ESL
329. April Heaslip, Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern New Hampshire University
330. Ronnie C. Lesser, Ph. D., psychoanalyst
331. Noah Miska, LMSW
332. David Laibman, Professor of Economics (Emeritus), City University of New York
333. Helen Hughes-Brock, archaeologist, independent scholar, Oxford
334. Carl Gelderloos, Associate Professor of German Studies, Binghamton University (SUNY)
335. Irene Fellmann, former member of the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research
336. Assaf Kfoury, Professor of Computer Science, Boston University
337. Patrizia Longo, Professor of Politics, Saint Mary’s College of California
338. Helen Brock, archaeologist, Oxford
339. Janis Alcorn, Ph.D
340. Carlos Canas, Systems Engineer
341. Bruce N. Fisk, Professor of Religious Studies, Westmont College (retired)
342. Anne C. Bernstein, Professor Emerita, The Wright Institute
343. Lynn Sableman
344. Preston J. Werner, Senior Lecturer (Philosophy), Hebrew University of Jerusalem
345. WD Lemke, Head Librarian (ret) German Institute Oriental Studies Beirut Istanbul
346. Doug Tarnopol, Instructional Designer and Private Tutor
347. Arturo Marzano, Associate Professor, University of Pisa
348. Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria
349. Anthony Chase, International relations professor, Occidental College
350. Carina Ray, Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan
351. Rabbi Suzanne Griffel, Chicago, IL
352. Franke Wilmer, University of Colorado
353. Manar Sabry
354. Daniel Bannoura, PhD candidate, University of Notre Dame
355. Christian Chatelain
356. Barry Cohen, Associate Dean College of Computing, NJIT (retired)
357. Josiane Olff-Nathan, University of Strasbourg, France
358. Enzo Traverso, Professor in the Humanities, Cornell University
359. Lori Ginzberg, Professor emeritus of History & WGSS, Penn State
360. Genie Silver, Ph.D., Former Lecturer, Bryn Mawr College
361. Håvar Knutsen, Hematologist
362. Farhad Khosrokhavar, Emeritus professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
363. Joan Hazbun, Retired High School teacher
364. Jennifer Duskey
365. Mark Schafer, Senior Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Boston
366. Ilise Cohen, Scholar-Activist
367. Connie Sosnoff
368. Dean Christ, Pathology Director, Retired
369. Brooke Maddux, PhD candidate Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne and MD
370. Eugene Epstein, PhD Psychologist
371. Henri Picciotto, Math educator
372. David Mandel, Human Rights Attorney
373. Benjamin Ben-Baruch, Former Jewish educator
374. Farouq Shafie, Ph.D, RPh
375. Anjali Choksi, Professor, Dawson College, Montreal
376. Barbara Eisold, Psychologist, NYU
377. David Abram, Director, Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE)
378. Kapil Raj, Professor, EHESS, Paris, France
379. Stephen Soldz, Professor, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
380. Mary Lounsbury, PhD
381. Ahmad Ganji, Professor of Engineering, San Francisco State University
382. Rob Dalrymple, Director of Determinetruth
383. Alma Albert, Art Conservator
384. Anthony Gad Bigio, World Bank alumnus
385. E. Arnon, Retiree
386. George Siemensma
387. Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker & independent researcher
388. Miriyam Glazer, Rabbi & PhD, Professor Emerita, American Jewish University
389. María Hantzopoulos, Professor of Education, Vassar College
390. Tatyana Kleyn, Professor of Bilingual Education, The City College of New York, CUNY
391. Sam Shuman, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Davidson College
392. Guy Levi, Art of Learning Innovation
393. Leah Even Chorev
394. Aria Fani, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of Washington
395. Judith B. Kerman, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of English, Saginaw Valley State University
396. Adi M. Ophir, Visiting Professor, Brown University
397. Robert Lieberman, Retired teacher
398. Anastasia Mann, Lecturer, Princeton University School of Public & International Affairs
399. Erica Schoenberg, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst
400. Rabbi David Mivasair, Ahavat Olam Synagogue
401. Nancy Chien-Eriksen, Professional artist and teacher
402. Sherry J Katz, Lecturer Emerita, San Francisco State University
403. Robert Ambaras
404. Abbas Amanat, William Sumner Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University
405. Judith Berlowitz, Mills College, retired
406. Anat Biletzki, Albert Schweitzer Professor of Philosophy, Quinnipiac University
407. Jeffrey Cooper, retired Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College & Santa Monica College
408. Kathy Wazana, Documentary Filmmaker
409. Brigitta Schildknecht, Dancer, Singer
410. Hamutal Zur, Translator
411. Ethel Renate Jaeger, Psychoanalyst
412. Derek Brian Gripper, Maths Educator, Cape Town
413. Clea McNeely, Research Professor, Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
414. Selim Kuru, Associate Professor, University of Washington
415. Silvia Helena Lopes Pires, Masters student, EHESS
416. David Ozonoff, Professor Emeritus, Boston University School of Public Health
417. Christopher Pollmann, Professor of Public Law, Université de Lorraine, France
418. Helen Langa, Associate Professor Emerita, American University
419. Ramzi Suleiman, Professor Emritus of Psychology and Economics, University of Haifa
420. Robert Weinberg, Isaac Clothier Professor of History, Swarthmore College
421. Rebecca Garrett, Artist
422. Meenal Mamdani, Assistant Professor of Neurology (retd), Loyola University, Chicago
423. Adriana Aristizabal
424. Sarah Covington, Professor, City University of New York
425. Richard W. Franke, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, Montclair State University
426. Suzy C., JVP Atlanta
427. Howard Tzvi Adelman, Retired, Director, Jewish Studies, Queen’s University
428. Brenda Longfellow, Professor, York University, Toronto
429. Sharon Lax, Teacher, Author, Editor
430. Nina Nissen, PhD, socio-cultural anthropologist
431. Alex Bay, Associate Professor of History, Chapman University
432. Bert Terpstra, Mathematician
433. Lisa LaSalle, Professor, California State University-Monterey Bay
434. Eran Fisher, Associate Professor, The Open University of Israel
435. Anders Klemetsen, Professor of Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
436. Barbara Regenspan, Emerita Professor of Educational Studies, Colgate University
437. Carola Mathers, Psychiatrist (retired)
438. Bernd Hummes
439. Susanne Krueger-Hummes, Teacher
440. Michelle Mason Bizri, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota
441. Francis Kern, Professor (emeritus),Strasbourg University
442. Christopher Rose, Assistant Professor and Program Head, History, Our Lady of the Lake University
443. Eleanor Friedman, co-founder New Israel Fund
444. Gloria Rudolf, Anthropologist, University of Pittsburgh
445. Robert Shapiro, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Mount Wachusett Community College
446. David Getz, Former Principal, NYC Department of Education
447. Laura Troutman, MA, Columbia University
448. Leslie Schwartz Leff, LICSW, Clinical social worker and educator
449. Joy Ladin, Writer
450. Margaret Power, Professor Emerita, Illinois Tech
451. Mikael Levin, Artist
452. Riva Hocherman, Book Editor
453. Kees Schepers, Associate Professor of Literature, Antwerp University
454. Ronnie C. Lesser, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst
455. Joseph Auslander, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Maryland
456. Phyllis Ewen, Artist
457. Sasha Kuczynski, Lecturer, Communication Studies, California State University, Long Beach
458. Marc David, Emeritus professor, Antwerp University
459. Robert Cohen, International communication consultant
460. Lyn Mehl, Lutheran pastor
461. Kiki Munshi, US Foreign Service (retired)
462. Rhonda F Levine, Professor of Sociology, Emerita, Colgate University
463. Joy Dworkin, Professor of English (ret.), Missouri Southern State University
464. A.I. Silver, Dept of History, University of Toronto (ret.)
465. Jonathan Graubart, Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University
466. Shaker Chuck Farah, Full Professor, University of São Paulo
467. Jenny Jones, Teacher
468. Cynthia Chris, Professor, College of Staten Island CUNY
469. Joel Whitebook, Psychoanalyst, Columbia University
470. Jordan Bridges, graduate student of philosophy, Rutgers New Brunswick
471. Vanessa Berg, retired, Leines, Norway
472. Francesca Morgan, Professor of History, Northeastern Illinois University
473. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Jerusalem. Actor; human rights & peace activist; painter; writer; teacher (Beit Zvi).
474. Marcia G. Yerman, Writer/Artist/Activist
475. Lawrence Jacobson, Ph.D., Faculty, W.A. White Institute of Psychoanalysis, NY
476. Elizabeth Zoob, Psychotherapist
477. Laura Mullen, Writer
478. Paul Blain Levy, Reader, University of Birmingham
479. Monica Frölander-Ulf, Associate Professor Emerita, University of Pittsburgh Johnstown
480. Janine Jones, PhD, UT Austin
481. Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, King’s College London
482. Amanda Minervini, Assistant Professor, Italian Studies, Colorado College
483. Stephanie Buechler, Associate Research Professor, Penn State College
484. O. Nigel Bolland, Professor of Sociology and Caribbean Studies, emeritus, Colgate University
485. Zachary Levenson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Florida International University
486. Joseph Schmitz, Associate Professor, emeritus, Western Illinois University; Retired USAF pilot
487. Richard Ganulin, Civil Rights Lawyer
488. Saeb Rawashdeh, Editor of International news, The Jordan Times
489. Bernhard Klinghammer, medical doctor
490. Einor Cervone, Associate curator, Denver Art Museum
491. Erika Shea, Family Nurse Practitioner
492. Simkha Y. Weintraub, Retired Rabbinic Director, Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, New York
493. Nathan Nossal, Toyama Prefectural University Department of Engineering
494. Mohammed Nachtaoui, Professor, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco
495. Nelson Kasfir, Professor of Government Emeritus, Dartmouth College
496. Mona Acker, Professor Emerita, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
497. Katherine McCaffrey, Professor of Anthropology, Montclair State University
498. Julie Diamond, Retired New York City elementary school teacher and adjunct professor, CCNY
499. J. Mark Davidson, Voices for Justice in Palestine
500. Gregory Randall, Professor, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
501. Hester Eisenstein, Professor Emerita, City University of New York
502. Maynard Seider, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
503. Thomas Jay Lynn, Associate Professor of English, Penn State Berks
504. Julio A. Urbina, Emeritus Investigator, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC)
505. Janet Theophano, retired Assistant Professor of Folklore, University of Pennsylvania
506. Norbert Hornstein, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Maryland College Park
507. Marion Werner, Professor of Geography, University at Buffalo, SUNY
508. Joel Weisberg, Stark Prof. Emeritus of Physics & Astronomy, Carleton College, MN
509. Lisa Schlesinger, Playwright and librettist
510. Nick White, Albion Systems
511. Jules Mermelstein, Jewish educator
512. Benjamin N Schiff, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Law, Oberlin College
513. Mohammad Afzal Shadab, Graduate Student and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Graduate Fellow
514. Hossein Akhlaghpour, ML Engineer
515. Sarah Romano, Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Studies, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
516. Gloria Young, Public Anthropologist
517. Richard Van Dellen, retired physician
518. Azita Yazdani, Engineer
519. Vahid Akbari, Assistant Professor of AI, University of Stirling
520. Mina Tavakolzadeh, Graduate Student
521. Tolga Turan, Principal Scientist
522. Nafisa Tanjeem, Associate Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Worcester State University
523. Vinodha Joly, Psychotherapist, Ex-Computer Engineer
524. Koohyar Minoo, Philanthropist
525. Sajay Samuel, Clinical Professor of Accounting, Penn State University
526. Jonathan Miran, Professor of History, Western Washington University
527. Tom Buffo
528. Jane Ariel, Psychologist
529. Mazi Taghivand, Technologist
530. Miriyam Glazer, Rabbi & PhD, Professor Emerita, American Jewish University
531. Jonathan Preminger, Senior Lecturer in Management, Cardiff University
532. Millet Treinin, Associate Professor, Hebrew University
533. Gloria Burd
534. Adam Wilkins, Guest Scientist, Institute of Theoretical Biology, Humbold Universität zu Berlin
535. Nadav Assor, Associate Professor of Studio Art, Connecticut College
536. Hossein Renani, Professional Engineer
537. Gideon Freudenthal, Prof (em.), Tel Aviv University
538. Sara Carmeli, Ph.D
539. Zameer Katwal, IT Engineer at Hexaware Technologies
540. Mireille Gleizes, Pianist
541. Emily McDonald, Researcher/Policy Officer
542. Cham Morad
543. Marco Garrone, Emergency Physician
544. Ashish Kothari, Researcher, Pune, India
545. Farhan Humayun, Institute of Space Technology
546. Mahdi Razavi, Brain Scientist
547. Selma Hasimbegovic, Ophthalmologist, Cataract surgeon
548. Ruth Luschnat, Case worker, Berlin
549. Véroniquqe Nahoum-Grappe, chercheure en sciences sociales Paris
550. Francesca Klug, Visiting Professor, LSE Human Rights
551. Martin Adel, Ass.Prof. of Soc.& Cult. Studies, Univ. Vienna
552. Suliman AlFayoumi, Principal Clinical Pharmacology Consultant
553. Lejla Zametica, Physician
554. Deirdre Ruscitti Harshman, Assistant Professor of History, Christopher Newport University
555. Jerome Bourdon, Professor of Communication, Tel Aviv University, Associate Researcher, Paris 2 University
556. Kurt Bader, PhD
557. Richard Pennington
558. Kirsten Leefhelm, Psychoanalyst
559. Shahryar Gheibi, Associate Professor of Business Analytics, Siena College
560. Vincent Bonin, Associate Professor, Catholic University of Leuven
561. Kavita Ramdas, Visiting Professor, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs
562. Françoise Willmann, enseignant-chercheur émérite, Université de Lorraine
563. Isabel Casimiro, Associate Professor, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
564. Richard Temple, Archivist
565. Leah Hager Cohen, Barrett Professor of Creative Writing, College of the Holy Cross
566. Naomi Guttman, Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Hamilton College
567. W Bruce Benson, Chaplain, retired, St. Olaf College
568. Gerald Hoekstra, Professor Emeritus of Music, St. Olaf College
569. Nicole Morse, Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University
570. Natasha Zaretsky, Professor of History, University of Alabama at Birmingham
571. Amirhosein Vedadi, Researcher, University of Tehran
572. Nausikaä El-Mecky, Assistant Professor of Art History, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
573. Anna Moltchanova, Professor of Philosophy, Carleton College
574. Sandra Rousseau, Associate Professor of Francophone Studies, Carleton College
575. Samia Rachid, Master of Science Student & Frontend Developer
576. Gretchen Willging, retired, Community College of Baltimore County
577. Jonathan Lebolt, PhD, Psychoanalyst
578. Brett Johnson, University of Strasbourg
579. Sebastian Brock, emeritus, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Oxford University
580. Christine Ho, Professor Emeritus, Fielding Graduate University
581. Joseph Levine, Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
582. Rowland Selame, Psychologist
583. Asjad Yahya, Finance Professional
584. Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg
585. Kenneth Barnes, M.D., Jewish Voice for Peace
586. Kathleen Engel, Research Professor of Law, Suffolk University
587. Anita Chikkatur, Professor of Educational Studies, Carleton College
588. Linda Mokdad, Associate Professor, St. Olaf College
589. Margaret Beissinger, Research Scholar/Lecturer, Slavic Languages & Literatures, Princeton University
590. Aaron Katz, Principal Lecturer Emeritus, University of Washington School of Public Health
591. Nastaran Zadeh, Data Scientist
592. Lisa Gray
593. Matthew J. Scholtes, Tactile Manager, Audio & Braille Literacy Enhancement
594. E David Emery, Emeritus Prof. St. Olaf College
595. Howard Johnson, Professor of history and Black American Studies, University of Delaware, Emeritus
596. Alireza Amini, Structural Engineer
597. Asher Fried, Political Science
598. Simon Robins, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York
599. Charles Ayash, Jazz Musician
600. Linda Bevis, ELL Teacher, North Seattle College
601. Zeynab Sh
602. Neil Vickers, Professor of English, King’s College London
603. David Howard, Robert Burns Fellow 2013, Otago University
604. Sara Avery, Violinist
605. Alice Holemans, Activist
606. Frieda Afary, Iranian American librarian, translator, author, Los Angeles
607. Hila Lernau
608. Kiarash Farahmand, PhD in Geological Engineering
609. Iacovos Psaltis, Dr. of Professional Studies in Educational Management
610. Jon Simons, Retired academic, UK
611. Martha Schoolman, Associate Professor of English, Florida International University
612. Gösta Hellström, Senior lecturer in Medical Engineering, Karolinska Institutet
613. Jette Braun
614. William P Mitchell, Professor Emeritus, Monmouth University
615. Mark Hudson, Retired Librarian, Pittsburgh, PA, US
616. Juliane Schicker, Associate Professor of German, Carleton College
617. Al Kagan, Professor of Library Administration Emeritus, University of Illinois
618. Hamid Rategh, Technologist
619. Jeremy Ironside, Rural Development consultant
620. Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton, History and Society, Babson College
621. Takashi Nakamura, Mathematics Instructor, British Columbia Institute of Technology
622. Stan Smith Professor Emeritus in English, Nottingham Trent University, UK
623. Alan Munton, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
624. Allan Kulikoff, Emeritus History Professor University of Georgia
625. Karen Adler, Historian and psychotherapist
626. Ellen W. Echeverria, (Ret.) Associate Professor of Spanish, George Washington University
627. Werner Lange, Retired professor
628. Peri Levin McKenna
629. Laura Punnett, Professor Emerita of Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
630. Mohammad Akbarsha
631. Fred Block, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis
632. Thalia Drori Ramirez, Lecturer, CLA, University of Minnesota
633. Jennifer Yanco, Research Affiliate, Boston University African Studies Center
634. Elisabeth Waingrow, Social worker
635. Patricia Eakins, Fiction writer and author
636. Isabel Sobral Campos, Teaching Professor, Northeastern University
637. Subash Bastola, Ground Control Engineer, Vale Base Metals
638. Carolina Franco, Clinical Psychologist
639. Iveta Jusova, Professor of GWSS, Carleton College
640. Bob Heymann
641. Bea Dewing
642. Alan Feigenberg
643. René Jean, Teacher
644. Pedro Saadé-Lloréns, Adjunct Prof., Environmental Law Clinic , University of Puerto Rico Law School
645. Angela Guerrero
646. Jazzie Terrell, PhD student
647. Rev Dr E-K Daufin, author of On Fat And Faith
648. Tony Litwinko, Retired
649. Giovanna Scruby, Artist
650. Itay Zutra, Instructor, University of Manitoba
651. Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker
652. Lawrence Marceau, Senior Lecturer (ret.), University of Auckland
653. Mark Charles Rosenzweig, Retired university librarian and archivist
654. Perrine Olff-Rastegar, UJFP et CJACP
655. Jeffrey Cooper, Professor emeritus, Santa Monica College
656. Jodie Evans, co-founder CODEPINK
657. Nils Wauschkuhn, Physicist, Berlin
658. Mourad Zerroug, Ph.D., Technology Executive, Los Angeles CA
659. Mary Ford, Ret. Psychology Professor, Vocalist, Philanthropist
660. Dr. Penny Rosenwasser, Interdisciplinary Studies, City College of San Francisco
661. Eric Leonard, Research Director, French Institute for Development Research
662. Daryl Glaser, Professor of Political Studies, University of Witwatersrand
663. Tanya Ury, Artist, writer, activist
664. Frank Stappaerts
665. Adam Farhi
666. Hans Martin Seip, Professor emeritus, University of Oslo
667. Sergio Couto, Universidad de Granada
668. John Halle, Composer & pianist
669. Ofer Neiman, Translator
670. Mehdi Ebrahimzadeh
671. Shai Ginsburg, Associate Professor, Duke University
672. Maya Rosenfeld, Sociologist, Hebrew University and Sapir College
673. Paul Sein Twa, Defender of Environmental and Indigenous Peoples Rights, Burma/Myanmar
674. Ron Amit
675. Catherine Raphael, Artist & Writer
676. Sandro Ventura, Psychiatrist
677. Ellen Goldfinch, Retired Librarian
678. John Munro, Lecturer in History, University of Birmingham
679. David Cannon, Chair of Jewish Network for Palestine (UK)
680. B.H. Yael, Professor, OCAD University
681. Jacqueline Goldman, Project Director, Brown University
682. Pfefferkorn Roland, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Strasbourg
683. Ari Zighelboim, Retired, Tulane University
684. Peggy L Curchack, Retired career advisor, University of Pennsylvania
685. Ellen L. Dohmen, Chair of Racial Justice Book Group, Bar Harbor, MaineGroup, Bar Harbor, Maine
686. Heather McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Art Therapy, Concordia University
687. Georgia Berner
688. Janet Penn, Activist
689. Muhammad Ali, Muslim American Poet and Mental Health Therapist
690. Mary Stranahan, Retired medical doctor
691. Amittai Aviram, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Boston College
692. Rahel Daniela Schneider
693. Karen Miyares, Retired clergy and social worker
694. Gabriel Smith, Architect & Artist
695. Shawn Fremstad, Director of Law & Political Economy, CEPR
696. Margaret Newell
697. Regina Birchem, Ph.D., Independent Scholar
698. Meera Sehgal, Associate Professor of Sociology, Carleton College
699. Kevin Bruyneel, Professor of Politics, Babson College
700. Georgina McAllister, Asst. Prof, Centre for Agroecology, Water & Resilience. Coventry University
701. Helene Klodawsky, Documentary Filmmaker
702. Brian Rothberg, Teacher
703. Lubna Mian, Adjunct Professor of Law, Penn Carey Law School
704. Louette Colombano
705. Reine Meylaerts, Professor, KU Leuven, Belgium
706. Philippe Lavigne Delville, Anthropologist, Institut de recherche pour le développement, France
707. Keith P. Feldman, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley
708. Elizabeth King , Ordained Minister, United Church of Christ
709. Stephen Benson, Psychologist
710. James Holden, Retired Professor of Education, St. Olaf College
711. Pietro Calabretta, Artist and PhD candidate
712. Ian Mutchnick, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Neurosurgery, University of Louisville
713. Ondine Rarey, Adjunct Professor of Documentary Editing, Chapman University
714. Loraine Chiarello
715. Lisa Schneier, Professor of Education, Emmanuel College
716. Diane Halcoussis, Instructor
717. Marie-Christine Skuncke, Emerita Professor of Literature, Uppsala University
718. Maia Ettinger, Author and Translator
719. Sandra Dijkstra, Literary Agent
720. Elise Capron, Literary Agent
721. Sabine Huppert, Writer
722. Nicholas Van Orden, Publishing Professional
723. Julia Stein, Writer & Editor
724. Heide Estes, Professor of English, Monmouth University (NJ)
725. Leonard Robbins, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University, Professor (retired), Università degli Studi di Siena
726. Moslem Noori, PhD, Principal scientist
727. Patricia C Vener-Saavedra, Artist and Assistant Adjunct Professor UMUC, Emerita
728. Mark Curchack, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (Retired), Arcadia University
729. Judith Aistleitner, Teacher
730. Jennifer Birkett, Emeritus Professor, Birmingham University UK
731. Alicia Koutsoulieris
732. Thao Le, Literary Agent, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
733. Hanna Noreiks
734. Louise Antony, Professor of Philosophy Emerita, University of Massachusetts
735. Michelle Melanson, MSW, RSW, Psychotherapist
736. Dena S. Davis, Professor Emerita, Religion Studies, Lehigh University
737. Rani Lill Anjum, Researcher of Philosophy, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
738. Andrew Klatt, Lecturer in Romance Studies (retired), Tufts University
739. Carla Harryman, Poet and Professor of English, Eastern Michigan University
740. Elena Rivera, Poet & Translator
741. Donna Baines, Professor & Former Director, Social Work, University of British Columbia
742. B. Jurdant, Université Paris Cité
743. Lois B. Watson, Professor Emerita of French Studies, Middlebury College
744. Anne Mullen, Reading Specialist
745. Sayera Hossain, Construction Project Manager
746. Ellen Oxfeld, Professor of Anthropology, Middlebury College
747. Britta Boyer PhD, Loughborough University, London
748. LJ White, Assistant Professor of Core Studies, Boston Conservatory at Berklee
749. Alfred Horsley, Musician
750. Shannon Still
751. Harriet Lipowitz, Retired instructor of English as a Second Language
752. Laurie Essig, Professor, Middlebury College
753. Derek D’Sa, Retired Faculty, Cal State Northridge
754. Peter Ford, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies (retired), Near East School of Theology, Beirut
755. Yuniya Edi Kwon, Lecturer and Arts Fellow, Princeton University
756. Yumna Siddiqi, Associate Professor of English, Middlebury College
757. Sandra Folzer, Professor (retired), Community College of Philadelphia
758. Michael Gnat, Actor & Academic Editor
759. Amit Prakash, VAP of Global Studies, Middlebury College
760. Daniel F. Silva, Associate Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies and Black Studies, Middlebury College
761. Merrick Rossein Professor of Law, City University of New York School of Law
762. Judah Adashi, Faculty, Johns Hopkins University
763. Dr. Lauren Whitmer, University of Michigan
764. Patricia Saunders, Poet, Editor, Teacher, Seattle
765. Kristin Hanson, Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley
766. Nawal El Meouchi, Political activist
767. Neda Shahidi, Principal Investigator in Neuroscience, University of Goettingen
768. Samir Okasha, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bristol
769. Molly Holshouser, Nurse Practitioner
770. Birgitte Rahbek, Cultural Sociologist
771. Benjamin Fasching-Gray, Academic Librarian
772. María del Mar Sánchez Vivancos, Teacher
773. Susan DeSimone, Associate Laboratory Professor, Middlebury College
774. Iris Hefets, Psychoanalyst, JVP-Germany
775. K. Cyr, Interlibrary Loan Associate
776. Kari Wolfe Borni, Dance Scholar, Middlebury College
777. David Comedi, Principal Researcher and Associate Professor of Physics, National University of Tucumán, Argentina
778. Marion Wells, Professor of English
779. Adrian R. Lewis, Professor, University of Kansa
780. Eryk Stacy, Lecturer, retired, Mechanical Engineering at CSU Fullerton
781. Loren Halfon
782. Kirsten K. Coe, Assistant Professor of Biology, Middlebury College
783. Jonathan E. Hill, Professor Emeritus of English, St Olaf College
784. Pauline Dishler, Healthcare worker
785. M. Eleanor Nevins, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Middlebury College
786. Sarah Rogers, Visiting Assistant of History of Art and Architecture, Middlebury College
787. Adriana Estill, M.A. and A.D. Hulings Professor of American Studies and English, Carleton College
788. Rachel Price, Associate Professor of Spanish & Portuguese, Princeton University
789. Aisha Shah
790. Erica Fischer, Author
791. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, Professor of Religion, Carleton College
792. Hugo Ceron-Anaya, Associate Professor Sociology, Lehigh University
793. Rachael Joo, Associate Professor, American Studies
794. Russell Vandenbroucke, Professor Emeritus, University of Louisville
795. Carlos Davidson, Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University
796. Andrew Shapiro, PhD Candidate, City University of New York
797. Marilyn Bronstein, Artist
798. Michal Givoni, Senior Lecturer in political theory, Ben Gurion University
799. Darcy Copeland, Harvard University, PhD student & composer
800. Richard Ruppel, English Professor, Chapman University
801. W. Russell Anderson, Architect
802. Mohammad Jarrahi, Associate Professor, UNC Chapel Hill
803. Marcella Durand, Poet
804. Anat Matar, Senior Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Tel Aviv University
805. Revital Madar, Postdoctoral Fellow, European University Institute
806. Alexandra Brown, Artist, UK
807. Oded Na’aman, Senior Lecturer, Hebrew University
808. Ali Moalem, Assistant Professor of Radiology, Columbia University
809. Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbi Emeritus, Mishkan Shalom
810. Fareed Munir, Professor of Religious Studies, Siena College
811. Annette Feld, Psychoanalyst, New Lacanian School, WAP
812. Caglayan Baser, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University
813. George Dameron, Emeritus Professor of History, Saint Michael’s College
814. Haneen Zoabi, Activist
815. Martha Sweezy, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
816. Dale Mendoza, Children’s book author
817. Jocelyn Leitzinger, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Chicago
818. Mahd Zarghami, University of Tehran
819. Phd, K. N. Toosi University of Technology
820. Lauren Newhouse
821. Misagh Parsa, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Dartmouth College
822. Mahmood Monshipouri, Professor of International Relations, San Francisco State University
823. Ali Akbar Mahdi, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Ohio Wesleyan University
824. Mojtaba Taiebat, PhD, Sr. Technical Program Manager AWS
825. Cyrus Bina, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Minnesota
826. Valentine M. Moghadam, Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston
827. Ali Ahmad, Tehran university
828. Mahmood Hakak, Professor of Theatre, Siena College
829. Himmat Zoubi, Researcher, EUME, Berlin
830. Lynellyn Long, Humanitarian worker
831. Yasmeen Daher, Academic
832. Vasuki Nesia, Professor of Human Rights and International Law, The Gallatin School, NYU
833. Ahmed Abbes, Mathematician, Paris
834. Niv Perelsztejn, PhD Candidate, Haifa University
835. Jamal Mimouni, Astrophysics Professor, Univ. of Constantine, Algeria
836. Orna Rinat, Journalist of animals rights, “Haaretz”
837. Ronen Wolf
838. Lily Truabmann, Feminist
839. Udi Adiv, PhD, Open University
840. Yossi Wolfson, Teaching Associate, Tel Aviv University
841. Bilha Golan Sundermann
842. Michal Braier, Urban Planner and Researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
843. Ron Naiweld, Resercher, CNRS-EHESS
844. Keren Assaf, Graduate assistant, University of New Mexico
845. Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun, Professor Emerita, Université Paris Cité
846. Mahmoud Sadri, Professor of Sociology, Texas Women’s University
847. Michael Cooper, Professor of Pediatric Cardiology (retired), UCSF-Benioff Children’s Hospital
848. Hannah Safran, Haifa Feminist Institute
849. Catherine Goldstein, Director of research at the CNRS, Paris
850. Arlene Richman, Artist
851. Sara Moreno, Special Education Teacher
852. Shir Alon, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, UMN
853. Ophira Gamliel, Lecturer in South Asian Religions, University of Glasgow
854. Jennifer Tomkins, Donor and activist
855. Dania Thomas, Assistant Professor, Glasgow University
856. Charkles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities, Penn State University
857. Giovanni Picker, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow (UK)
858. Ben Fulford, Senior Lecturer in Theology, University of Chester
859. Marcelo Svirsky, Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong
860. Netta Naaman, Curator
861. Yazid Ben Hounet, CNRS Researcher, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale
862. Dee Horne, Professor Emerita, University of Northern British Columbia
863. Dana Lloyd, Assistant Professor of Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Villanova University
864. Grant Freeman, Musician
865. Alexandra O’Brien, Former Adjunct Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Chicago
866. Jay Weber, Adjunct Faculty, Wentworth Institute of Technology
867. Nadav Amir, Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
868. Abraham Mizrachi
869. Tom Pessah, Sociologist
870. William Kumbier, Professor Emeritus, Missouri Southern State University
871. Andrea Schafer
872. Uri Bitan
873. Tamir Swissa, Teaching Assistant, Tel Aviv University
874. Daniel Falk, Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Penn State University
875. Max Likin, Board member, Freedom Education Project Puget Sound
876. Michael Stuart, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of York
877. Yiftach Starick, Musician
878. Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning, University Colllege London
879. Shlomit Ferguson , Psychotherapist, NI
880. Itamar Haritan, Doctoral candidate, Cornell University
881. Maria Stepanov, Activist
882. Atiyeh Vahidmanesh, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Tehran
883. Annick Suzor-Weiner, Professor Emeritus, University Paris-Saclay, Mare Nostrum Prize, French Commission for UNESCO
884. Galit Ferguson, Psychotherapist, London
885. Ira Kontorovsky, Clinical Psychologist
886. Le Page, Museum Educator
887. Richard Mynick, ER Physician (retired)
888. Arie Meidav, Concerned US and Israeli citizen
889. Eva Wohllaib, Psychotherapist
890. Michel Volovitch, Professor emeritus, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris
891. Claire Jones, Zimfest Coordinator
892. Rich Siegel, free-lance musician and music educator
893. Sophie Vriz, Professor, Université Paris Cité
894. Johanna Sellman, Associate Professor of Arabic Literature, The Ohio State University
895. Maor Zeev-Wolf, Assistant Professor, Ben Gurion University, Israel
896. Esti Micenmacher
897. Leah Yael Levy, Teaching Artist
898. Ertan Salik, Professor of Physics, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
899. Esther Rapoport, Psychologist
900. Brenda Griffith-Williams, Honorary Research Associate, Department of Greek and Latin, University College London
901. Andrea Cherez, Engaged Citizen
902. Rowland A Selame, Psychologist
903. Charles Hawksley, PhD, University of Wollongong, Australia
904. Irus Braverman, Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
905. Alan Thompson, Photographer
906. Neve Gordon, Professor of human rights and humanitarian law, Queen Mary University of London; Vice President of the British Society for Middle East Studies
907. Itamar Shachar, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Hasselt University, Belgium
908. Tamar Schneider, Lecturer of Philosophy
909. Gwendolyn Simmons, Professor Emerita, University of Florida
910. Anat Greenstein, Disability Studies Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
911. Jim Ritter, Sorbonne Université
912. Jason Sumich, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Essex
913. Ree Wells-Lewis, Professor of Sociology, Missouri Southern State University
914. Susan Roberta Katz, Professor Emerita, University of San Francisco
915. Neil Turok, Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh
916. Uri Horesh, Lecturer in Arabic, University of St Andrews
917. Joan Meier, National Family Violence Law Center Professor of Clinical Law, George Washington University Law School
918. Steven J. Heyman, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Tech
919. Stephen Roddy, Professor, University of San Francisco
920. Harriet Lipowitz, English as a Second Language Instructor (retired)
921. Alexandra Lazerow
922. Maria Llisterri Alvarez, HO Export Control Investigations, Airbus
923. Hossein Kamlay, Professor of Interreligious Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
924. Yohai Hakak, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Brunel University
925. Mireille Vaucoret
926. Yasmine Halevi, Translator
927. Manuel Rosaldo, Assistant Professor of Labor Relations, Pennsylvania State University
928. Noga Kadman
929. Guy Gillor, PhD, University of Melbourne
930. Sahar Bostock, PhD candidate, Columbia University
931. Tom Twiss, Faculty emeritus, retired librarian, University of Pittsburgh
932. Aline Hitti, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco

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

To sign the petition, click the “Sign now” button below. For press inquiries, contact Dr. Lior Sternfeld. For other inquiries, contact info@academics4peace.org.

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

מתחת לרדאר: איראן שואפת לתפקיד ממתן באזור

על אף הרטוריקה הלוחמנית, המשטר האיראני יודע להפגין פרגמטיות גם בזירה הפנימית וגם בזו הבינלאומית כדי לבסס את מעמדו כמעצמה אזורית. מאז 7 באוקטובר איראן מאותתת על רצונה לשמש גורם ממתן. מן הראוי שישראל לא תפסול את האפשרות על הסף

מאת: ליאור שטרנפלד9.1.2024

היריבות בין ישראל לאיראן, האיומים ההדדיים ומלחמות הפרוקסי והסייבר בין השתיים הפכו לכל כך ברורים מאליהם, עד שדומה כי אין צורך לבחון אם קיימת אופציה אחרת. בחיבור קצר זה אני מבקש לבחון את ההתנהלות והמדיניות של איראן מזווית שונה, תוך התמקדות במעשים במקום ברטוריקה.

איראן היא מעצמה אזורית ותפיסתה את עצמה ממקמת אותה כמעצמה במזרח התיכון, בעולם המוסלמי ובעולם דובר הפרסית (שכולל את אפגניסטן, טג’יקיסטן, אזרבייג’ן, ונושק להודו, פקיסטן ועוד). היא איננה מעצמה יחידה ולא מתיימרת להיות כזו, אבל היא כן מעוניינת במעמד גבוה יותר.

למרות שלכאורה הוא מגדיר במובן רחב את המחנה שלה, העימות בן 45 השנים בין איראן למערב לא משרת את המטרות של איראן, שמנסה תדיר לפרוץ מבעד למעגלים שמגבילים אותה, ללא קשר לזהות הנשיא המכהן בארה”ב. גם בהקשר של ישראל, המדיניות המוצהרת של הרפובליקה האסלאמית משאירה פתח למרחב תמרון. כך למשל, פעמים רבות, מממשל רפסנג’אני ועד ממשל רוחאני, בכירים איראנים טענו שאם הפלסטינים יגיעו להסכם שיהיה מקובל על כל הפלגים, הם (האיראנים) לא יישאו את דגל המאבק הפלסטיני. כאשר ארגון שיתוף הפעולה האסלאמי אימץ ב-2005 את יוזמת השלום של הליגה הערבית מ-2002, איראן נמנעה ולא התנגדה. עמדתה נעה בין קבלת עמדת הליגה הערבית לבין יוזמת “משאל העם” בין כל יושבי ישראל/פלסטין לגבי פתרון הקבע. כל עוד פתרון כזה לא התקבל, איראן, אמרו בכיריה, תמשיך לתמוך בארגוני התנגדות פלסטינית חמאס והג’יהאד האסלאמי הפלסטיני.

הגמישות הרעיונית היא גם זו שהובילה את המגעים להסכם הגרעין מ-2013 ועד חתימתו ב-2015. המטרה האיראנית הייתה להסיר את הסנקציות שהגבילו מאוד את יכולתה לשקם את הכלכלה ולהרחיב את המסחר. ב-2015 עוד דובר על היום הקרב, שבו ייפתחו מחדש שגרירות איראן בשדרות מסצ’וסטס בוושינגטון והשגרירות האמריקאית בטהראן. ההמשך, כידוע, היה בחירתו של טראמפ ויציאת ארה”ב מהסכם הגרעין, עד להתפוררותו המוחלטת.

בתקופת טראמפ היה ניסיון להגדיר בבירור את המחנה הפרו-אמריקאי (והאנטי-איראני) מחד ואת המחנה האיראני מנגד, כאשר זירות המאבק העיקריות היו תימן ולבנון. הדברים הגיעו אף לכדי ירי טילים איראנים על מתקני נפט סעודים ב-2019. באווירה זו, ממשל טראמפ קידם את הסכמי אברהם, שחתרו לנורמליזציה בין ישראל למדינות ערב, בהן איחוד האמירויות, בחריין, מרוקו וסודאן, כדרך לבלום את השפעתה של איראן. המהלך קיבל את ברכת הדרך הסעודית, שבעצמה נמנעה מלהצטרף בשל עמדתה המסורתית שהסכם ישראלי-סעודי יבוא רק לאחר פתרון הסכסוך בין ישראל לפלסטין.

ניסיונותיו של ביידן, שנכנס לבית הלבן בינואר 2021, חודשים ספורים לפני סוף כהונת רוחאני באיראן, להחיות את הסכם הגרעין, עלו בתוהו. ביוני 2021 איברהים ראיסי, השמרן הקיצוני (הידוע בכינויו “התליין מטהראן”, בשל תפקידו כסגן התובע הכללי בהוצאות להורג ההמוניות בשנת 1988) נבחר לנשיאות, במה שנראה כמסר ברור למערב שהניסיונות לפיוס דיפלומטי תמו. כך נתפסו הדברים בישראל, ארה”ב ובמערב בכלל. חשוב לציין שמעל הבחירות שבהן ניצח ראיסי ריחפה עננה של אי-לגיטימיות, שכן במהלכן נפסל כל מועמד שאינו שמרן מובהק, מה שהוביל לירידה חדה בשיעור המצביעים לעומת כל מערכת בחירות קודמת, אל מתחת ל-50 אחוז.

ממשל ראיסי ספג מכה קשה בעקבות המחאות ההמוניות שפרצו באיראן בספטמבר 2022 במחאה על מותה של מהסא ז’ינא אמיני בזמן מעצרה על ידי משטרת המוסר. ההפגנות, שנמשכו כחצי שנה, נראו בשלב מסוים ככאלה שיכולות להביא להתמוטטות המשטר האיראני. לבסוף, המשטר הצליח להכיל ולבלום את ההפגנות, חוקי החיג’אב כבר לא נאכפים כבעבר, משהו השתנה בהבנת המשטר את הדינמיקה בינו לבין העם. שרידות המשטר חייבה לנקוט צעדים על מנת ליצור דינמיקה חדשה ולזכות בלגיטימיות שאיבד.

לפיכך, ראיסי ביקש לחדש את שיחות הגרעין כדי להביא להסרת הסנקציות ולהישגים שיעזרו בשימור המשטר. במסגרת השיחות המחודשות, שוחררו אסירים אמריקאים עם אזרחות איראנית כפולה ובתמורה הופשרו נכסים איראנים בשווי 6 מיליארד דולר. תחת מטרייה דיפלומטית סינית, איראן חידשה יחסים דיפלומטיים עם סעודיה ויישרה הדורים עם בחריין ועם איחוד האמירויות, חתמה על הסכם לשיתוף פעולה כלכלי עם סין ל-25 שנה, ובקיץ 2023 הוזמנה להצטרף לברית הכלכלית ה-BRICS (הברית ה”מתחרה” ל-G7, וכוללת את החברות המייסדות ברזיל, רוסיה, הודו, סין ודרום אפריקה, לצד מצרים, אתיופיה, איחוד האמירויות וסעודיה). היו שראו בכך סימן להתקרבות של סעודיה ואיחוד האמירויות למחנה האיראני; אך האם לא ניתן לראות את זה דווקא כהתקרבות איראנית ל”ציר הלא איראני”?

להבנתי, מתקפת 7 באוקטובר באה לאיראן בעיתוי גרוע מאוד, שבו היתה אמורה להסכים עם ארה”ב על מתווה חדש לשיחות הגרעין ובמקום זאת מצאה עצמה בעמדת מגננה בינלאומית בשל מתקפת חמאס.

ב-12 באוקטובר דווח בתקשורת הישראלית על ביקור שר החוץ האיראני, חוסיין אמיר עבדאללהיאן, בלבנון, “בצל איומיהם של חיזבאללה הלבנוני וגדודי חיזבאללה העיראקיים, שניהם ארגונים בני חסות של טהראן, להתערב במלחמה”. מטעם שגריר איראן בלבנון נמסר כי “לאור האירועים הפלסטיניים הנוכחיים, הפשעים נגד האנושות שמתבצעים בעזה והשלכותיהם מסוכנות, מסע הדילוגים של שר החוץ באזור יחל היום”, כלומר, לפי דיווח זה והערכות מהימים שקדמו לביקור, איראן באה לתאם או לעודד את חיזבאללה לפעול נגד ישראל. אני סבור שראוי לבחון את הביקור דווקא ככזה שמבקש למנוע מחיזבאללה מלהצטרף למלחמה ובכך להיגרר למלחמה אזורית. כיום, ממרחק של שלושה חודשים אנו רואים שבעוד שמתקיים עימות צבאי מוגבל בין חיזבאללה לישראל, לא נרשמה כניסה למלחמה במלוא העוצמה כפי שהעריכו פרשנים צבאיים ומדיניים. כלומר, לצד לחצים מתוך החברה והמערכת האזרחית הלבנונית, ייתכן מאוד שאיראן שימשה דווקא כגורם מרסן.

בולטות בהיעדרן גם הפגנות ענק נגד ישראל או בעד פלסטין באיראן. למרות מפגן תמיכה במג’לס (הפרלמנט האיראני) בעד חמאס ופלסטין, הציבור האיראני, לא בפעם הראשונה, מזהה את המאבק הפלסטיני כמטרה של המשטר ואף ככלי להסחת דעת ופופוליזם זול. למעט הפגנות ספורדיות, נרשמה אדישות שמתחברת לעוינות הציבורית הכללית נגד המשטר. במספר משחקי כדורגל בליגה הבכירה צולמו סרטונים שהפכו לוויראליים, שבהם אוהדים שרו בעת הצגת הדגל הפלסטיני: “תדחפו אותו [את הדגל] לתחת שלכם”, או צעקו במשחק אחר בזמן דקת הדומייה לזכר קורבנות עזה. ידידי, ד”ר רז צימט, תיאר במאמר באתר “וואלה” את המתרחש סביב תוכנית אקטואליה בנושא הפלסטיני בטלוויזיה האיראנית, שהפכה לזירת התנגשויות בין זרמים פוליטיים.

“כל האופציות על השולחן”. האמנם?

על רקע זה אני מבקש להסב את תשומת הלב לדבריו של שר החוץ האיראני באו”ם ב-26 באוקטובר. עבדאללהיאן אמר שאיראן מעוניינת למנוע את הידרדרות המצב, “ובהתבסס על מאמצינו האחרונים, אנו מוכנים למלא תפקיד רציני יותר במקרה הזה. בהקשר זה, תנועת השחרור חמאס הודיעה על הסכמתה לשחרר בני ערובה לא צבאיים, ואיראן, טורקיה וקטר מוכנות לקחת תפקיד במשימה ההומניטרית החשובה הזו. כמובן ש[משימת] שחרור 6,000 אסירים פלסטינים מידי המשטר הכובש תהיה באחריות ארה”ב”.

איני טוען שצריך לקבל את דבריו ללא ביקורת, אולם לכל הפחות היה ראוי להגיב ואולי אף לבחון את כנות דבריו. ככל הידוע, הממשלה היחידה שביקשה להסתייע בהצעת איראן לתיווך היתה הממשלה התאילנדית, ועובדה היא שהאזרחים התאילנדים שוחררו ללא תמורה. ב-12 בדצמבר אמר עבדאללהיאן בז’נבה כי ישראל וארה”ב לעולם לא תוכלנה למחות את חמאס, ושישראל תוכל להבטיח את שחרור בני הערובה רק חלק מפתרון פוליטי לסכסוך כולו. גם הצהרה זו משקפת עמדה פרגמטית.

כאן תשאל הקוראת, ובצדק, אם איראן אכן שואפת לתפקיד ממתן, מדוע היא בכל זאת תומכת בארגוני המאבק המזוין הפלסטינים ובחיזבאללה, ואף הכניסה למשחק בעמדה משופרת את החות’ים.

אחת התשובות היא שחמאס והג’יהאד האסלאמי הם קודם כל ארגונים פלסטינים, ממש כמו שחיזבאללה הוא קודם כל ארגון לבנוני, ופעולותיהם באות לשרת את מטרותיהם בחברות המיידיות שבהן הם פועלים. כך גם החות’ים. המטרות המיידיות שלהם קשורות למלחמה ולהסדרי סיום המלחמה בתימן, ותמיכה במאבק הפלסטיני משרתת אותם בזירה התימנית והערבית, כפי שהראה לאחרונה שמוליק לדרמן במאמר בפורום לחשיבה אזורית.

שנית, אין לצפות שאיראן תפסיק את תמיכתה בארגונים פלסטיניים או אחרים כצעד ראשון. מהלך שכזה יכול להגיע אך ורק כחלק מתהליך אזורי כולל, שראשיתו בפתרון הסכסוך עם פלסטין. על ישראל מוטלת חובה לבחון את כל האפשרויות לנטרול סכנות ואיומים בדרכים לא צבאיות. ישראל הרשמית מעולם לא דנה ביוזמת השלום של הליגה הערבית, שלפחות בתיאוריה יכלה לשים סוף לאלימות ולמלחמות בסביבתנו הקרובה והאמצעית, מפלסטין בגדה וברצועה ועד לבנון, תימן ואיראן. אך משום מה, כאשר אומרים שכל האופציות על השולחן, אף פעם לא נכללות האופציות שאינן מלחמה.

המאמר נגזר מתוך חיבור ארוך יותר שנכתב לאחר שנת מחקר עבור ה- Foreign Policy Research Institute וכלל מקורות מהתקשורת בערבית, בעברית ובפרסית, כמו גם מקורות ארכיוניים ועיתונאיים בסין. פרופ’ ליאור שטרנפלד מלמד היסטוריה של איראן המודרנית במחלקה להיסטוריה ובתוכנית ללימודים יהודיים באוניברסיטת פן סטייט. מחבר הספר “בין איראן לציון: יהודי איראן במאה העשרים”.

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

Iranophobia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession by Haggai Ram (2009)

by Lior Sternfeld

Two weeks ago the British Guardian revealed that the Israeli Air-Force has been conducting secret training exercises in preparation for an imminent attack on Iran. As the war drums beats get stronger, one should ask why Iran preoccupies such a large part of Israel’s inner discourse? If Iran imposes such an existential threat to Israel, why do threats sound louder coming from Jerusalem? I am no expert on nuclear issues, therefore the goal of this essay is not to assess the level of threat Iran poses to Israel, but rather to question the pathology of the Israeli obsession with an Iranian threat.

There could be no better time to read Haggai Ram’s Iranophobia: the Logic of an Israeli Obsession (full disclosure: Haggai Ram was my MA Thesis advisor and is a friend). Haggai Ram, a prominent Israeli scholar, offers a new reading of the long history of the relationship between Israel and Iran, and persuasively analyzes the problematic Israeli “reading” of Iran.

Prior to the 1979 revolution, Iran and Israel forged a close and very beneficial relationship, stemming from Israel’s strategy of  “the Alliance of Periphery.” This alliance was aimed at bringing the three non-Arab countries of the Middle East — Israel, Turkey, and Iran, — and the Christian state of east Africa— Ethiopia—into a strategic collaboration vis-à-vis the Arab states. What brought these countries together was the fear of Nasser’s pan-Arabism, which appeared to be on the borders of each. Israel and Iran, apart from the strategic collaboration, also became trade partners. Iran supplied Israel most of its oil needs and Israeli companies worked throughout Iran in supplying military technology (ironically, even nuclear), agricultural assistance, and construction. The relationship thrived as both countries imagined themselves as non-Middle Eastern by nature. Israel’s self perception envisaged a Judeo-Christian civilization, and in Iran the Shah tried to instill the “Aryan Hypothesis” arguing that Iranians are of ancient indo-European tribes descent.

The 1979 revolution, however, took Iran to a different place in the Israeli imagination. Not only did Iran cease to be “modern,” but it also represented everything that seemed wrong and backward in the Middle East. The Israeli nightmare became a reality in the former close ally. Ram juxtaposes this development with the changing political reality in Israel, as the long time Ashkenazi ruling hegemony was voted out, and the ‘Likud’ party—overwhelmingly supported by religious Mizrahi Jews—came to power. At that point, Israelis saw Iran as a reflection of Israel’s own dark future if the Mizrahi forces in Israel should gain more political power. This sentiment grew stronger during the 1980s and the early 1990s. Ram brings a telling example of Iran’s function in the Israeli inner discourse in a slogan penned by Zionist leftist Meretz party in its 1992 campaign: “This is not Iran” (Kan lo iran). Ram explains: “in this slogan Meretz obviously rejected Iran, but at the same time it also suggested that Israel was becoming an Iran-like state, treading a dangerous path that might culminate in the establishment of a Jewish theocracy.”

In another important contribution of this work, Ram traces the place Iran had in the Israeli scholarship of the Middle East, especially on the Iranian Jews. Ram eloquently shows that the history of Iranian Jewry was written mainly by Iranian or Israeli Jews, and was deeply embedded in the Zionist paradigm, which denigrated Jewish existence anywhere but in Israel, and especially in a Muslim country. Therefore, the history of integrated communities in the Middle East was reduced to a history of persecution and cultural achievement.

Iranophobia is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in Israeli society. It helps explain Israeli anxieties about the Iranian nuclear threat and incidentally also helps explain Israeli anxieties in response to the Arab spring.

You may also enjoy:

Recent NEP blog post: Arab Autumn, Egypt Now by Yoav di-Capua

Other reviews by Lior Sternfeld: Making Islam Democratic and The Eastern Mediterranean and the Making of Global Radicalism

Posted November 9, 2011

28.03.24

Editorial note

Tel Aviv University emeritus Professor Moshe Zuckermann was finally defined as an Antisemite. IAM often reported on Zuckermann, so it came as little surprise that his activity was labeled antisemitic. 

Recently, Zuckermann was scheduled to appear at an event held by the Heilbronn Adult Education Center (VHS Heilbronn) in Germany. However, when the organizers asked the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany about Zuckermann, they pulled out because of concerns that “intense criticism was expected.” They were told that Zuckermann is “highly controversial” due to his position on Israel. He once spoke at a BDS event and would claim that there is “fundamentally an apartheid against non-Jews” in Israel. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental organization with 35 Member Countries founded in 1998, this is considered “anti-Semitic.” The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism was adopted by Germany in 2017.

The German-Israeli Society (DIG) was the first to raise concerns about Zuckermann because of his support of the BDS movement. According to DIG, Zuckermann’s support for the BDS movement violated the 2019 Bundestag resolution prohibiting the use of public funds to finance initiatives that call for a boycott of Israel. As a result, the higher education center withdrew its support, and the meeting was moved to another location. 

It is interesting in this context to present the exchange of emails pertaining to the case. Leonard B. Kaminski, Personal Advisor to the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism wrote in an email in response to the inquiry about Zuckermann: “Dear Mr. Hawighorst, Thank you very much for your inquiry to Commissioner Dr. Klein, on whose behalf I am answering you. Moshe Zuckermann is indeed highly controversial because of his positions on Israel. Specifically, for example, he was invited as a speaker to an event organized by BDS in 2022. He also holds the view that there is fundamentally apartheid against non-Jews in Israel. This is a position that would have to be considered anti-Semitic according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, which is endorsed by the federal government. Now there is no ban on inviting such controversial people. At the same time, democratic exchange also means that such an invitation must be expected to receive correspondingly intense criticism. Best regards, Leonard Kaminski.”

Zuckermann said in response to the allegations, “I am the son of Holocaust survivors, my parents were Auschwitz survivors, and then I have to let some German officials tell me that I am an anti-Semite because I criticize the country in where I live and, as a citizen of this country, I am also one I have a civil responsibility to criticize this country. For example, the 50-year-old, dehumanizing occupation regime that has existed in violation of international law is worthy of criticism. Every decent person has to become critical of this because a whole other People is being harassed. The mere fact that I take this out as a responsible citizen “Doing this here is seen by the Germans as an indication that I must be an anti-Semite.” He said in an interview.

Zuckermann added: “Why did the adult education center back down, even though they originally wanted to do the event with me? Because they are “afraid of being labeled anti-Semitic. The best way to silence people in Germany today and put a muzzle on them and to say: You’re anti-Semitic. And then it’s up to you how you manipulate them into anti-Semitism.” Zuckermann claims he has always criticized BDS but maintains that Israel is an apartheid state in the territories that have been occupied in violation of international law for 50 years. “Although Israel controls both the West Bank and the heartland of Israel, there are two justice systems. One is the civil justice system in Israel, and the other is the military justice system in the West Bank. There you go, two justice systems. That’s what you call apartheid.” He said.

However, contrary to Zuckermann’s denial of supporting BDS, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), a group that defends and empowers advocates for Palestinian rights across Europe through legal means, published in 2020, an Expert Opinion by M. Zuckerman on the Right to Boycott, where Zuckermann stated: “I am emeritus professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University, Israel. I have taught history and philosophy of the humanities, social sciences and cultural sciences, including German history of the humanities, at this institute. Among other things, I have published on German-Jewish history, on Zionism and antisemitism, and have lectured and written extensively on antisemitism and the public debate on Israel and its politics in Germany. Mr. Ahmed Abed asked me to prepare an expert opinion on a case he is currently representing against the City of Bonn. I would like to emphasize and explain three things with this expert opinion: (1) that the decision ‘There is no place in Bonn for the anti-Semitic BDS movement’ taken by the City of Bonn on 14.5.2019 incorrectly equates legitimate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism; (2) that BDS is a non-violent movement that protests against human rights violations in Israel/Palestine and has expressed its strong opposition to ‘all forms of racism, including antisemitism’; (3) that the application of the Decision has an adverse effect on the legitimate and urgent debate on violations of human rights and international law in Israel/Palestine, thus disregarding and undermining the right to freedom of expression as formulated in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees ‘the reception and dissemination of information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers’.” 

Never to miss an opportunity to publicize his views, Zuckermann published an article in the German media. He wrote, “Now I can boast of having been officially defined as anti-Semitic by the German government.”

Zuckermann should be aware that the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism is based on the speech content alone. The ethnic background of the person, even if he is the son of Holocaust survivors, does not matter, and neither do other personal characteristics. The IHRA Definition is also clear that legitimate criticism of Israel is not a form of antisemitism. Unfortunately, Zuckermann is one of several Israeli scholars who use their taxpayer-supported academic position to harshly attack Israel. As IAM frequently reported, they are highly sought after by pro-Palestinian advocates. 

IAM will report on Zuckermann in due course.

(Google Translate)

https://elsc.support/resources/expert-opinion-by-m-zuckerman-on-the-right-to-boycott

Expert Opinion by M. Zuckerman on the Right to Boycott

I am emeritus professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University, Israel. I have taught history and philosophy of the humanities, social sciences and cultural sciences, including German history of the humanities, at this institute. Among other things, I have published on German-Jewish history, on Zionism and antisemitism, and have lectured and written extensively on antisemitism and the public debate on Israel and its politics in Germany.

Mr. Ahmed Abed asked me to prepare an expert opinion on a case he is currently representing against the City of Bonn. I would like to emphasize and explain three things with this expert opinion: (1) that the decision “There is no place in Bonn for the anti-Semitic BDS movement” taken by the City of Bonn on 14.5.2019 incorrectly equates legitimate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism; (2) that BDS is a non-violent movement that protests against human rights violations in Israel/Palestine and has expressed its strong opposition to “all forms of racism, including antisemitism”; (3) that the application of the Decision has an adverse effect on the legitimate and urgent debate on violations of human rights and international law in Israel/Palestine, thus disregarding and undermining the right to freedom of expression as formulated in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees “the reception and dissemination of information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers”.”

Read the expert opinion [German]

21.03.24

Editorial Note

Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a professor of Criminology at the Hebrew University Law Faculty, caused a stir. Throughout the years, IAM reported on her anti-Israel publications and activities numerous times. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is an Israeli-Christian Arab born in Haifa, married an Armenian, and moved to the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem. Recently, she was interviewed for the Makdisi Street podcast on Mar 9, 2024. A podcast co-hosted by Palestinians Saree Makdisi, Ussama Makdisi, and Karim Makdisi, whose maternal great-uncle was the renowned author Edward Said. According to the Podcast, “The brothers talk with Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian about life under occupation in East Jerusalem, the scattering and reconstitution of Palestinian bodies and Palestine itself, and the affirmation of life and love that lie at the heart of the Palestinian struggle for freedom.”

In her interview Shalhoub-Kevorkian said, (1:17:10) “yes it’s time to abolish Zionism, this is where I’m going today, just abolish Zionism. Well, it can’t continue, it cannot, it’s criminal, it’s criminal. Only by abolishing Zionism, we can continue, this is what I see.”

(1:18:29) “I read it as shaming the state of Israel because they’re using women’s bodies, women’s sexuality and women’s intimate life to play with it in political terms, now if rapes, abuses, sexual abuses, gang rapes it always happened in war times.”

 (1:20:43) “we don’t see women coming out and saying what happened, so women’s bodies are being used as political weapons, if it happens not in my my name, if it didn’t happen, it’s shame on the state to use women’s bodies and sexuality to promote political agendas to promote further dispossession of land to promote further killing, to promote abuse and rape and you know keep in mind that the rapability of the Palestinians based on the Zionist agenda, is hard at work hard at work in so many ways and I’ve, again, have written about that and the State Crime that is sexualized and gender right is there, so we need to, we need to, number one, remember this is a very dishonest to come to say the the state, they will use everything to further kill, it’s a killing machine and it’s a necro, political regime that can survive only on the erasure of Palestinians and only when they will stop this and they will acknowledge what they’re doing we can start talking, like, but not to criminals, criminals should be punished.”

 (1:22:07) “when I look at the pictures at the photos of soldiers today getting into Palestinian homes using the laundry, playing with it using and laughing and putting it on tanks and putting it on rifles, what is it, what is this if it’s not sexual abuse? when you see the way they’re treating men undressing them keeping them with nothing, using that, what is it if it’s not sexual abuse?… the body of the Palestinian, the living body, the dead body, the cut to pieces body, are all capital in the hands of this Zionist entity and of course they will use any lie, they started with babies, they continued with rape, they will continue with million other lies, every day with another story, we stopped believing them. I hope that the world will stop believing them and if things like this happened, not in my name, I will never approve it.” 

The interview angered many Israeli audiences, and MK Sharren Haskel wrote in protest. The Hebrew University posted a statement reacting to Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s interview. It says, “The Hebrew University rejects with disgust all of Prof. Kevorkian’s distorted statements. The Hebrew University is proud to be an Israeli, public and Zionist institution. As in the past, the heads of the University repeated their call for Prof. Kevorkian to find another academic home that matches her position. At this point, the University has decided to suspend her from teaching in order to maintain a safe climate on campus for the benefit of our students.”

In response, a letter protesting the decision of the Hebrew University administration was signed by 90 staff members. It said, “We strongly disapprove of Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s words in an interview published on the Internet, and some of us even participated in a letter condemning her similar words in a petition she initiated, near the beginning of the war. On the other hand, we believed then and today that the only permissible response to these things is to condemn and reject them… the decision of the administration and the deans suffers from three main issues: first, in terms of authority, a decision on the suspension, permanent or temporary, of a faculty member is possible only after a complaint has been submitted to a disciplinary committee and it is submitted to the head of the Faculty Disciplinary Court or the Commissioner for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, only after the faculty member has been given the right to argue and while respecting the right to appeal. Second, from a substantive point of view, we believe there is no incitement to violence, terrorism, or racism, in what Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian said in the interview, and there is no danger from them… Third, the reaction of the administration of the University could seriously harm the status of the University and may intensify the calls for an international academic boycott of it… In light of all this, we call on the University administration to cancel the decision, given without authority, regarding the suspension of Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian from teaching. The administration must act by the provisions of the disciplinary regulations if it believes that there is a suspicion that some disciplinary offense has been committed.”

 Another angry response came from Professor Yuri Pines, who, in protest, resigned from his position as the Director of the Confucius Center at the University. His response was posted by Academia for Equality (A4E). He wrote, “Asher and Tamir Shalom, I was amazed to discover – unfortunately, indirectly and without a statement on your part – the despicable content of the letter you wrote to MK Sharren Haskel. I never thought that the Hebrew University was a Zionist institution: I saw it as an academic institution where Zionists, non-Zionists, and also people who oppose Zionism like myself can work. I also thought that the Hebrew University is led by people who are wise enough to understand that the issue of whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza or just ‘normal’ war crimes belongs precisely to the area where lecturers and students can express themselves freely. I have never heard of a lecturer being suspended, whatever his/her political positions may be. And I never knew there was a political position test that we are obliged to take in order teach in the university. It seems that I was wrong in my assessments of the university and its leaders, and I must take responsibility. I hereby announce that from now on I refuse to do any work at the university that involves its representation in Israel or abroad. Therefore, I am ceasing my work as director of the Confucius Institute and will not accept any position in the future. I will inform my close colleagues of this decision. You have really disgraced the institution. I have never felt so betrayed and humiliated.” Worth noting that Prof. Neve Gordon translated the letter. 

When A4E was confronted for supporting Shalhoub-Kevorkian, it responded that accusations against Shalhoub-Kevorkian were lies. A4E claimed it brought the “exact” wording where Shalhoub-Kevorkian said: “My reaction to the stories on October 7th were horrified. I was talking to all my friends saying, not in my name. I will never allow anybody to touch a baby, to kidnap a child, to rape a woman. This is not in my name and I will never accept it as a Palestinian because all our lives, we fought for the dignity, for life, for the wholeness of a human and not the opposite. So not in my name and nobody can do it in my name. Yeah, but the production of those stories, to produce fear, to fear us more, to kill us more, to reach a space where by not only killability, overkillability, it’s not enough to kill you.” That was… This is something that I’ve written about and in my book on un-childing, it opens up the chapter on the Nakka area. Abuses and sexual abuse happened and it shouldn’t happen. And I will never approve it, not to Israelis nor to Palestinians, and not in my name. The reports sometimes can get testimonies, some other times cannot get testimonies. The issue is that is Israel allowing proper collection of evidence? Plus, you know, personally, as a feminist, I do not… I don’t go and interrogate the rape victims. If a woman said she was raped, I will believe her.”

As can be seen, A4E cherry-picked Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s wording to clear her from accusations. But, IAM summarized what Shalhoub-Kevorkian actually said, “yes it’s time to abolish Zionism, this is where I’m going today, just abolish Zionism. Well, it can’t continue… it’s criminal. Only by abolishing Zionism we can continue.” And that, “the state of Israel is using women’s bodies to play with in political terms… we don’t see women coming out and saying what happened… it’s shame on the state to use women’s bodies and sexuality to promote political agendas… to promote further dispossession of land to promote further killing, to promote abuse and rape and you know keep in mind that the rapability of the Palestinians based on the Zionist agenda… the state, they will use everything to further kill, it’s a killing machine and it’s a necro, political regime that can survive only on the erasure of Palestinians… soldiers today getting into Palestinian homes using the laundry, playing with it using and laughing and putting it on tanks and putting it on rifles, what is it, what is this if it’s not sexual abuse?… the body of the Palestinian, the living body, the dead body, the cut to pieces body, are all capital in the hands of this Zionist entity and of course they will use any lie, they started with babies, they continued with rape, they will continue with million other lies, every day with another story, we stopped believing them. I hope that the world will stop believing them.”

Shalhoub-Kevorkian was suspended for four days till the end of the semester on March 17, 2024. The question is, would she return to teach in the second semester on May 5, 2024? The Dean of Social Work conditioned her return on acknowledging the brutal nature of the assault by Hamas. He explained that the suspension was not about political views; rather than the fact that she denied Hamas’s behavior that was widely documented and denounced by the United Nations and most of the international human rights community.

A study on academic freedoms published by IAM in 2014, found that Israeli universities are highly tolerant of their faculty’s expressions. Several Hebrew University professors, including Yeshayahu Leibowitz, accused Israel of Nazi-like behavior or used some other unsavory comparisons. Hebrew University and almost all universities are public institutions supported by the taxpayer.  

Finally, as a Christian, Shalhoub-Kevorkian must be aware that Christians, other minorities, and women who live under the Islamist rule of Hamas, influenced by Iran, suffer from daily discrimination and persecution. Yet neither she nor any of her colleagues have ever spoken out against this issue. 

The reason is, as IAM has repeatedly stated, in the eyes of the radical-leftist academic elites, “Israel can do no right, and the Palestinians can do no wrong.”

REFERENCES:

Transcript provided by Youtube

0:00
welcome to a new episode of the Makdisi Street podcast my name is Usama makdisi
0:05
and I’m joined as always by my brothers Saree here hello and Karim hi everybody
0:13
and special thanks to our producer Cena rman who reminds me to tell all our listeners and viewers to Please
0:19
Subscribe and give like and give a five star review uh if and whenever you can
0:25
on whatever platform you’re listening to um or watching this this podast podcast
0:31
we started also I want to remind all our viewers and listeners that we’ve started a patreon recently and we are in fact
0:37
getting it up and running very soon so we it’s up it is up it’s up so we’re encouraging you to sign up um the link
0:43
is in the episode description below uh we have one tier for all the bonus content but you’re welcome to sign up
0:50
for higher tiers if you are so inclined and want to help support this show uh we’re we’re going to plan um on posting
0:57
bonus content um as well as a Q&A which we will um in involve our patreon
1:05
listeners and subscribers very soon um today however I’d like to introduce our
1:12
our main guest we’re joined um by Dr nadir shalhub Koran Dr Nadira is is one
1:21
of the most extremely distinguished uh Palestinian Scholars that I’m aware of of great International standing nadir is
1:29
a a professor and a chair of global law at Queen Mary University she’s at The
1:34
Cutting Edge of a critical work on feminism on public health on trauma as
1:40
they relate to the ongoing Palestinian reality of constant dispossession of
1:46
brutalization of violence uh and yet also she focuses on how Palestinians also continue to resist Israeli
1:54
colonization Nida really is a humanist among the dehumanized a humanist in the face of humanizer her work includes
2:02
dozens of essays and book chapters and articles and several hugely impactful books including the most recent book of
2:09
hers which is entitled incarcerated childhood and the politics of unchild
2:14
that was published by Cambridge University press in 2019 um NAD has received Awards and
2:21
accolades from around the world and in South Africa she told me when I saw her last saw her here at Berkeley she told
2:29
me well the great Nelson Mandela told her in 1999 of an African proverb until
2:35
the Lions have their historians tales of the hunt shall always glorify the Hunter
2:40
and because NAD is a Palestinian lioness or lion working on the Palestinian experience in an extraordinarily
2:46
unflinching and honest manner she has of course been defamed and threatened uh
2:52
mostly by Israeli settlers who encroached on her home in East Jerusalem
2:57
and who always harass her uh so so NAD welcome first and foremost to our
3:03
podcast and to the Mak Street podcast we’re really happy and honored to have you with us
3:09
today thank you thank you AMA thank you s and and Kim as well and we we would
3:16
love to um we would love to just start n obviously with the most basic and
3:21
obvious question how are you how are you holding up in this moment of of
3:27
extraordinary uh evil and genocide and and just tell us how how you are
3:33
please well as you know it’s we’ve never lived in an ongoing
3:40
genocide and it’s it’s hard to wake up in the morning this is what I was trying
3:45
to tell Kim it’s it’s just hard to hold it and check the news because every day
3:52
I’m losing another kid I have interviewed another colleague I have worked with another student who had
3:58
dreams and and um and this constant loss the atrocities the violence the state
4:05
violence and the fact that it’s not acknowledged is very very very heavy on
4:11
my heart and um yeah today was a tough day because of them because I lost
4:18
another close friend of mine you know every day is is is um is lost so it’s
4:25
this from one side you feel that we’ve never lived in such a tough very tough
4:31
situation and uh unfortunately as an academic epistemic violence is hard at
4:37
work as well so it’s not only the actual violence State violence the brutality the lack of acknowledgment of the pain
4:44
of Palestinians but but rather the fact that you go into an academic institution
4:50
and you see epistemic violence the production of of of violence that is that is produced in highly uh recognized
4:58
academic settings and institution this is what also a is
5:04
agonizing and of course being in in occupied East Jerusalem is not an easy thing to do at
5:13
all you know just coming back to be able to participate in this um in in this um
5:20
Gathering of ours was not a joke because the there was an attack of um of Jewish
5:27
settlers on the Armenian uh uh in the Armenian area and all of a sudden I’m
5:32
getting those text messages and whatsapps uh please come please come join us they’re attacking so it’s this
5:40
day-to-day uh living situation that are making life too heavy really too
5:47
heavy so NAD on on that on that and honestly we’re we’re of course deeply
5:52
affected and and and sorry that you have to go through this and live through this and you’ve been living through this you
5:58
know for decades and decades es for our viewers and listeners you live in the Armenian quarter correct in Jerusalem um
6:05
can you tell us a little bit more about what life is like there and how there’s a genocide going on in Gaza and all the
6:11
attention today obviously and understandably is on the the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza but of course
6:17
there are Palestinians in Jerusalem there are Palestinians inside um Palestine there are Palestinians in the
6:23
West Bank can you tell us a little bit about what’s the relationship between the experience you’re going through in
6:29
Jerusalem with what’s going on in Gaza and the West Bank you know I I think
6:35
that one of the ways to look at what goes on is that if they are attacking on one side they do million other things on
6:42
the other side so if they’re killing demolishing bombs starving people
6:48
leaving babies in uh to be decomposed in incubators in Gaza what you see in
6:54
Jerusalem or in the West Bank is is surveillance is H militarization is
7:01
militarization of schools is demolitions like two three days ago I woke up like opening my my my Instagram or my my
7:09
Facebook and all of a sudden I see my dentist and he’s like telling telling
7:14
everybody they demolished my house they so it’s here just by by my house so to
7:20
see Dr nidal and I know Dr nidal Who work you know building his house bit by
7:27
bit working so hard and all of a sudden the house demolished so what you what is
7:32
happening in every single space whether it’s in hia where they’re arresting an
7:38
artist because she wrote something whether our students in different universities in Palestinian students in
7:44
Israeli universities that cannot open their mouth or say something because it might be considered against the the
7:51
state whether University professors like me who signed a a petition saying stop
7:56
the genocide and calling for ceasefire that that made everybody go you know
8:01
bizarre or or even you know I can tell you that when when was it on on Sunday
8:07
Sunday I I learned about um a child who was 14 years old who was
8:14
shot and killed he he was allegedly accused of stabbing a
8:19
soldier um they managed to shoot him but he was not dead but then a female
8:24
Soldier came Point Blank and shot him and you see in the video his body just jumping 36 kilos 37 kilos a kid and I
8:35
needed to go to the family to see a mother of 34 year old to see his brother
8:41
uh ham and bah and and to listen to his father and the the request is to release
8:49
his dead body from the Israeli refrigerators you understand these are
8:54
issues and then I I I come home and I tell them okay let’s see how how we can
8:59
convince the Israelis we’re talking about a child his unchild did even when he’s dead even in the Israeli freezers
9:07
and the mother is telling me that her hands are very cold because she feels that he is cold and that he is calling
9:14
from the freezers you know like and and think about his classmates think about
9:20
his school friends think about his relative think about everybody and like
9:25
for God’s sake return free his dead body from your freezers so of course I was
9:33
busy with the family I needed to go to to visit them I needed to talk to the
9:38
special reporter Franchesca Alban and write her and tell her uh dear
9:44
Franchesca please you know this is a 14-year-old kid can you please help me
9:49
release him now we know that it’s after Gaza and after October 7th I’ve done
9:54
that before and I was able to pressure the Israelis to release the the the dead
9:59
body of Nasim abumi who was also 14 years old and who our only request was
10:05
to return his body in a Humane Manner and that it’s not very free so that the
10:11
mother can hug and the father can bury properly and in in this case sorry n
10:17
sorry on that point I think many of our readers and listeners in fact I didn’t know this till I talked to you about
10:23
this they won’t know that when the Israelis if you are able to persuade them to release a body they always do it
10:30
in such a way that the body is sped out all still like not we like we always
10:36
imagine a body like in a morg you know with a sheet and stuff like that that’s not how they they return the body bloody
10:41
and muddy and dirty and Frozen and in in contorted and terrible shapes right that’s it’s part of this continuing
10:47
abuse that you’re talking about in in the cases that I dealt with in the cases that and I’m talking about occupied East
10:54
Jerusalem actually in in one case it was in in Nabis where the legs were in
11:00
condition that there was no possibility of burying uh uh the Martyr in in one
11:08
case that I personally was following up and dealt with and we were seven months in the courts trying to convince the
11:14
court to release the body of Hassam manasan and Hassan was 15 years old uh
11:20
when they released the body the father could not handle what he’ve seen I’ve
11:25
written about it I have an article called persistent faces because the father came back telling me yeah you
11:34
know do his mouth was open he was talking maybe they closed the black bag
11:42
while he was still alive his eyes were tearing he was crying maybe and then the feeling of the
11:49
father that there’s something he failed in protecting his child even his in his
11:55
death and after seven months of struggling with the Israeli police and Court to release the body of Hassan Abu
12:02
Brahim his father came to because they asked the father to recognize the body
12:08
and of course after putting million conditions only 23 or 33 people and you
12:14
can’t have your phones you can’t have this you can’t have that until we manage to reach there he goes into the
12:20
ambulance to see the body and he sees Hassan’s face in a way that he could
12:26
not take him and he said no this is not my son and he returned the body back now
12:33
according to Islam if you want to respect the dead
12:38
you need to bury them so everybody was upset at the father how dare you return
12:44
the body after soone like you need to respect your son but then when talking
12:49
to the father and listening to his narration and his narrative is what usually my compass is people’s
12:57
narratives I don’t look at laws I don’t look at this is as a person who works in the criminalities of the states and
13:04
basically in criminalities in spaces of death this is where you see that the the
13:11
the pinology the punishment is not only of the living the punishment is of the
13:17
dead so in the case in the last case last two days ago three days ago you
13:24
know talking to the parents and and asking this is why I asked Franchesca Alania who’s a un reporter for the
13:32
occupied the Palestinian territories can you please help me release V’s body
13:37
because his parents are requesting this and because they need to give him the proper barrier because this is a child
13:45
and a child that is dead in the freezers there’s no need and this I call it in my
13:51
writing necrology it’s penalizing the dead but it’s actually penalizing the family
13:59
penalizing his classmates and it’s it’s increasing the this feeling of so of of
14:06
of being oppressed and dominated so this is Jerusalem while in Gaza you see
14:12
genocide you here see what I call in my writing it’s the attack from all sides
14:19
it’s the attack even over the dead body of of of and mind you is the third
14:29
in one family their cousins his was his cousin Ahmed was a month before was shot
14:36
and killed and now vadia 14y old so you wonder how much a family can handle and
14:44
I went to the family I was looking at the faces and I’m I know those faces every funeral I end up seeing the same
14:53
faces so this is Jerusalem Jerusalem is is packed with with agonies and
15:01
it’s I don’t know how to put it but it’s it’s on so many levels you know you you
15:08
just shared with the with the people that I live in The Old City I live in the old city in the Armenian quarter I
15:14
live in Armenian quarter of course the name the the name of my street was changed it
15:21
was so now it’s kabad street so of course everything is being changed but
15:27
again if when I go to get my grocery from the old city uh talking to shop
15:35
owners that’s another painful very painful story yeah I can tell you one
15:42
story that was it two two and a half weeks ago
15:47
when the neighbor was telling me uh I need to talk to you about something come
15:54
come let’s talk of course they know that um I I I write I deal I live I I I I
16:02
observe I’m constantly talking to the shop owners and and he he we sat in
16:09
those short um chairs you know in the old city and he said I need to tell you
16:16
something I didn’t tell my kids tell me and he’s like he couldn’t
16:23
speak he started crying and then he shared with me the fact that some
16:30
settlers uh in in the morning hours while he came to open his his shop they
16:37
pushed him down and they peed on his
16:43
beard now you’re talking to a man who’s 65 70 years
16:49
old um and you know telling me a
16:56
woman that tried to about violence sexual violence but to see three
17:05
settlers peeing on an old man in The Old City on his beard is very very very
17:13
painful so this is what’s happening in Jerusalem so between Dr Nidan my dentist
17:18
that his house that he ended up actually demolishing his house in his own hands
17:23
because if the Israelis will demolish his house he would he must pay the money
17:29
for the police that is coming the soldiers that are participating their breakfast of course and the bulldozers
17:34
that are bulldozing the house yeah and and and and uh my neighbor the shop
17:41
owner with with the agonies and with the cries of an old man Abu Hassan with
17:46
Hassan’s dead body and now Abu and IM that are hoping and waiting and I’m I’m
17:52
I’m running around asking how can we how can we handle so it’s heavy it’s heavy
17:58
Jerusalem is about judaization is about getting us out of the place it’s about
18:05
not to see Palestinians the formula is the less Palestinians the better so this
18:10
is what you see in everything they’re doing it’s taking over land like in the Armenian quarter and and and claiming
18:19
it’s their so they they call it developing they call it developers or
18:24
investors these are settlers it’s settler settler col colal and settler
18:30
colonialism was done by law so they’re using the law so in demolishing the
18:35
house it’s the law in in in taking over the land it’s the law in withholding
18:40
dead bodies it’s the law so it’s heavy it’s heavy and this is Jerusalem n one of the I mean this is
18:50
incredibly disturbing for all of us to hear of course but one of the one of the Striking things about the Israeli
18:57
settler Colonial project of course now you know most of the world’s attention is you know rightly on Gaza because the
19:02
scale there is so enormous right but what you’re telling us reminds us that
19:09
it’s when we’re talking about the Israeli state and its appendages like the you know the settlers and so on it’s
19:16
what we’re dealing with is a kind of full spectrum full spectrum I mean like from the large scale to the tiny tiny
19:22
tiny like the story of these horrible people urinating on a man’s beard for example like that’s so it I mean
19:29
obviously it’s horrible but it’s in it’s so and they have such attention to the smallest details of malice and and evil
19:37
and then of course the large scale you know bomb killing a 100 people at a time in a single bomb in Gaza and that sort
19:42
of thing this I don’t think I mean I could be wrong I’m sitting near a historian here but I don’t think that
19:48
there has ever been in history a project of systematic evil on that that’s that’s
19:56
that encompasses everything from the large L scale I mean there have been many genocides unfortunately in the past
20:01
genocide in and of itself is not unique dispossession Colonial dispossession ethnic cleansing they’ve happened before
20:08
but that there’s something about the Israeli project that runs the Spectrum from huge scale down to these tiny tiny
20:16
tiny tiny I mean obviously for the people concerned they’re not tiny but but on on a human scale they’re tiny you
20:23
know like this thing about the children’s bodies or the the individual
20:28
uh the the indiv like that the person has to destroy his own house to save the the shekels that otherwise the state
20:34
would charge him for for demolition uh the the the the per down to the personal
20:40
level of you know you walking down the street I’ve heard you tell me stories about your life in East Jerusalem at a
20:46
very very micrologic personal level so the Israeli assault on Palestinian life
20:52
runs this spectrum from the minuscule to the large scale and that’s part of what
20:57
makes makes it this unprecedented evil that I don’t think that there’s any other I mean I can’t I don’t know
21:03
another example uh there’s obviously this human history has has evil but not
21:08
in this kind of way but also also now that we’re also said we’re also in 2024 I mean we’re talking about it’s the
21:14
anachronism of what we’re talking about it’s the shocking levels of anachronism of this colonial project that unfolding
21:21
before our eyes so NAD maybe you could speak to this this this issue and also this question all your writing NAD all
21:28
your experience all the invitations you’ve had around the world and I’m wondering how you know maybe this is
21:34
maybe not even an appropriate question but how do do do you feel that that in
21:39
since you talked about epistemic violence in Academia among people who’ve talked about s colonialism do you feel
21:45
that that there has been a response or I mean I don’t know maybe it just these are different sets of questions one is
21:51
the anachronism and the and the full spectrum of Israeli colonialism and the and the violence that it inflicts on on
21:58
on an extraordinary level and on a micro level constantly there’s the question of anachronism and then there’s a question
22:04
of these are several questions so choose what you want the question of how do you feel you know all the academic work that
22:12
you’ve done and that we’ve done especially you’ve done do you feel that it it it it has made a that people
22:18
actually understand this level of of of extraordinary violence and and what has the response been to you and and that
22:25
you’ve seen these are different questions I’m sorry but what you’re saying is so haunting honestly
22:31
NAD you you know what at this point I don’t see that the Israeli
22:38
Society is seeing us let me start there you know I’m I’m really I’m sharing th
22:45
those day-to-day experiences to point that the mundane violence is very
22:53
important yes we probably do not count and maybe you know we need to be dead
22:59
bodies but not even dead bodies because we’re still not counting as dead bodies
23:05
because what is still in the in the in their Israeli freezers yeah but the
23:10
mundan violence is what I’m pointing to and it’s in the everydayness where I
23:17
start where I work where I write yeah it’s the the the kids that are on their
23:22
way to school that are being harassed yeah where boys are stopped and served
23:28
and all of a sudden they’re asking them to take off their socks because then the rifle can be exactly in a penetrat
23:34
manner in a rapable manner so you see those scenes every morning and you wonder do you think that the kids are
23:41
not comprehending it’s about power it’s about we are here and and you need to
23:48
evaporate somehow so the inhalation in Gaza is is hard at work and they don’t
23:55
care they don’t care the every time listen just look at us when we were
24:00
watching Gaza in every single aspect of watching Gaza uh we were saying okay they will
24:07
stop there is no way you know it’s too much like in in October I lost a a a
24:13
friend with her three kids on in October 17th I woke up with this scene of the
24:21
father holding the bags plastic bags screaming to everybody in Gaza yanas y
24:28
hadu these are my kids his kids dead bodies were in the plastic I
24:35
was sure the world would stand and would say no we won’t allow it to continue
24:42
that was in October 17th and today we’re in March and it
24:49
continues and more atrocities so number one a as a person who looks at the
24:55
Mandan and I think it’s very important to look what what is happening what is happening to pregnant women what is
25:01
happening to babies what is happening to men the undressing the humiliation you
25:07
know the new report that came yesterday of of of sexually abusing men and it’s
25:13
by the UN yes in in Gaza these are things that we need to look at and to
25:19
wonder really and I agree with Stud to wonder which settler Colonial entity
25:24
that the issue is maybe it happened but today everything is on
25:30
camera everything is seeing everybody is seeing everybody is
25:36
noticing things and and uh what I believe is that there are two
25:43
main factors in looking at what is going on because once we said it’s the biopolitics okay so it’s about uh uh
25:51
it’s about judaizing all Palestine okay then we said it’s demography there a
25:57
frayed from us because we’re a demographic threat then you know my work in 2014 my book on security theology
26:04
surveillance and the politics of fear I said you know it’s fear it’s the effect
26:10
of of of the history of the sists that are here it’s the security and security
26:17
became a theology but it’s if you add this security theology with the
26:23
sacralized politics which is God gave them the land and then the amount of
26:30
violence today I’m not there or here I’m not with you I say yes there is security
26:36
theology there is sacralized part but there’s another point that is really uh capturing me I feel that and I see as as
26:46
a as a as a criminologist that we are ontologically non being the story is not
26:54
only it’s not only about you know know human humanity and human rights no no no
27:02
all the world is seeing what is happening to Palestinians but ontologically we are nonone being there
27:09
is no other way to accept life for mothers for for men for there’s no way
27:16
every Power has a counterpower people will continue resisting Palestinians are
27:21
resisting in every way in every way they were incarcerated and with the with the
27:28
spoon they managed to get out of the prison yeah people it’s not this is the
27:33
normal like think in Psycho analytical terms think in criminological terms
27:39
think in any sociological Theory every Power has a counter power yeah but what
27:46
we are seeing and this is the father with the two plastic bags what was he saying he was telling the world when
27:53
he’s saying hadu he is really claiming what was
28:00
ontologically not claimed as a being this is how I see it I see it that there
28:06
is a major major failure in in the world
28:12
way in the world’s way of of looking at this is why if you’ll ask me where I’m
28:17
standing today and it might sound crazy to to some of you but I’m writing about
28:23
ashl I’m writing about body bags body parts because in in the history of
28:30
slavery you see Scholars writing about the flesh yeah or you you see the work
28:37
of HZ Piller in in her article Baba’s Mayes Papa’s may you see the work of
28:43
wahas when he’s talking about Happ viscos you see you see the work of of of
28:49
last book of um uh Jackson Zakia Jackson
28:55
but in Palestine it’s not good enough for me it’s somehow
29:01
Fon wrote about the flesh today I feel it’s the ASL it’s the scattered body
29:07
parts it’s the really I am I am there because I’m I am starting from that gam
29:15
father’s voice and his kids as yeah in the plastic bags those scattered body
29:21
pieces in those sides of the intimate love to his children that became dead
29:27
pieces of Flesh the overkilled by the settler States Machinery of this
29:33
possession and that is continuing and as a Palestinian feminist that is theorizing ashla I I’m
29:40
I’m really looking at this moment with this ongoing
29:45
genocide I can’t think but through the Palestinian gathered bagged scattered
29:53
unfounded ashl because ashl is untranslatable yeah in English but it’s
29:59
it’s those where the cut dead bodies means securitized and sacralized
30:06
Necessities to Israel according to them according to their logic according to their policies according to their
30:13
imaginaries where dead Palestinian bodies are like scattered in the Wind on
30:20
the ruins of demolished flattened Gaza and and it’s this ashla
30:27
uh to me is where I’m I’m this is where you know the the the massacre the flower
30:34
Massacre where pal over pales 100 Palestinian were killed yes 750 were
30:41
injured and then collected reassembled the the ashl by their by
30:47
their loved ones this is why you know when I think about it and I I I feel I
30:52
argue today that Ash the the scatter the cut body part indexes patterns of
31:01
colonial atrocities policies genocide that is refusing to accept the humanity
31:09
ontologically of the Palestinian yeah because because when the father is
31:15
saying hadu yeah he is he is reclaiming his
31:22
fatherhood uh although as in plastic bags but he’s maintaining
31:28
the non orphaning condition of his of his kids you know I’ve seen it I’ve seen
31:33
it m and Dr hanin also shared uh that her
31:39
father her uncle her cousins other members of her family were were hit by a
31:45
rocket and they were turned AA and then she said you know I heard dogs I heard
31:51
cats eating my family members and I was running after cats and dogs to collect
31:57
the ash to bury them to dignify the family so what I see today in in
32:04
Palestine I see that ontologically we’re not counted we’re not we’re n
32:12
being epistemic violence is clear in media in politicians in academic writing
32:22
and I’m here like what can I tell you this is what I’m writing about
32:27
I’m writing about Ash I’m thinking about Ash I woke up in
32:33
the morning and this is what I think about I’m always worried that another
32:39
loved ones and I see the Defiance of Palestinians you know um um Samar is seven years old her
32:51
father shared a video of her she was holding her cat
32:57
and she was talking to her cat telling her
33:03
cat don’t you even dare eating me after I die is AED if I’ll die
33:13
don’t eat my flesh you understand what I see here
33:18
what I see is that the entire world failed Sumer so she’s talking maybe her
33:24
bissy her cat maybe she will hear her because the
33:30
world is not hearing Palestinian voices not in Jerusalem for years I’m writing and I’m
33:37
asking and I’m telling people come see what’s happening not in the West Bank
33:42
look what’s going on in Janine look what’s going on in Hebron and definitely
33:47
with the genocide in Gaza with the amount of killing with the annihilation
33:54
with the starvation
34:00
n i mean this this is uh it’s it’s incredible you know to hear this and it’s very it’s
34:06
emotional um but I wanted to ask you know on on you you were talking about
34:11
the babies and the and all these dead babies uh the these images that I remember seeing the image of the I think
34:18
it was a five Monon old baby that they the Jerusalem Post or somebody made a whole thing about this was fake it was a
34:25
doll uh if you remember that and then on the other hand there was the case of the
34:31
the the so-called beheaded babies on October 7th that made it all the way to Biden’s speech and to all the American
34:38
Press and everything and so you have these very Stark things you know all these babies and children being killed
34:44
by the hundreds and by the thousands and the image came as oh no this is this is a fake doll that wasn’t even true and so
34:50
therefore I me obviously as you’re saying kind of negating not just I mean the the the very life and the idea that
34:58
these parents were holding this baby and the grandparents were holding this baby uh because I think the parents were
35:03
killed as well uh their their grief or or whatever it is that they’re feeling also gets negated in that but on the
35:09
other hand it goes all the way up even after it was proven to be fake this business of the beheaded babies it goes
35:15
all the way up to the president not once but more than once and and in his speech of the 100 days uh you know you you’ve
35:23
talked about obviously your thing about unch childing can can you explain expl that a bit more to to our to our
35:29
listeners and and and these the way in which these two babies have been
35:34
represented well let me let me start by the production of stories to justify
35:41
violence number one they don’t need to just to to produce stories but they needed in this case to produce more
35:48
stories of horror to to frame Palestinians as those you know Savages
35:54
and and don’t misunderstand me anybody you know my reaction to the stories on
36:00
on October 7th were horrify I just I was talking to all my friends saying not in
36:06
my name I will never allow anybody to touch a baby to touch to kidnap a child
36:11
to rape a woman this is not in my name and I will never accept it as as a as a
36:17
Palestinian because all our lives we fought for the dignity for life for for
36:24
for the the wholeness of of a human and not the opposite so not in my name and
36:29
nobody can do it in my name yeah but uh the production of those stories to
36:36
produce fear to fear us more to kill us more to to reach a space whereby Not
36:43
only kabil over
36:55
killabilly of soldiers today today there was a post by a soldier you know you you feel so you ask
37:04
yourself what is going on what is going on like the way they
37:10
talk about Palestinians they said it Human animals
37:15
flat in Gaza they said it they said it openly and Lies Over Lies We I don’t
37:21
believe any of them I do not it’s very clear that they’re lying yeah it it it
37:28
just it just feels so painful that no matter what we say you can produce
37:34
whatever you want in terms of evidence proofs documentations and of course what
37:40
goes on today in Gaza is destroying all the evidence is to destroy it but you know
37:47
since 1948 they were destroying everything I I grew up in hia I was born
37:52
in haa and every time we passed by the graveyard of my my TAA my grandma there
37:59
was a building and my dad always told me Baba remember this is where your grandma
38:04
is buried the fact that there is a big building and all of a sudden it’s a nice area doesn’t mean that she doesn’t exist
38:11
so it’s over our dead bodies yeah but but you know in in the
38:18
case of babies of course all the world will will listen to the to the Zionist entity and Zionism was done in VI with
38:27
violence yeah it was it was it was the the the this
38:33
Euro you know um it’s it’s this Western violent that came here and all of a
38:40
sudden is destroying everything because we really we lived together we had
38:45
neighbor Bears Baba and Mama my my mom and dad you know and and so on Jews
38:52
Muslims Christians they were they were together it’s not a problem of of the
38:57
the indigenous Jews here it’s the problem of the Europeans that came with the Zionist uh project that is so
39:04
violent that this settler Colonial that is about the Eraser and the logic is
39:10
totally different it’s about judaizing everything and all of a sudden the Bible is the answer and mind you you know
39:17
they’re um they’re secular but God gave them the land yeah which is nothing has
39:23
to make sense nothing so so babies are used and the the issue what I’m saying
39:31
in unch childing number one unchild came from the voices of Palestinians that
39:37
kept on saying what our kids are not kids so there is what what I’m what I’m
39:43
saying in in my work as a critical childhood studies scholar is that
39:48
children are a capital in the hands of the States you know in international relation there’s a scholar that writes
39:55
who’s Afraid from children Helen brookers who’s Afraid from children yes they are afraid from our
40:02
children because our children are the future are the power are the love are the source of joy to to us you know I’m
40:09
I’m a mama and I’m a grandma they’re they’re everything they’re the apple of my eyes my kids and listen I will fight
40:15
everybody if someone will come that close to my kids it’s so normal no so so
40:21
the childhood is a capital in the hands of the state and unch childing
40:27
is is like turning them into nobody’s again again the element of ontology and
40:33
unch childing is really aligned with this Opera with with and operated along
40:39
this Twisted logic of necropolitics whereby the present and historical
40:45
realities of who had died in the past who gets to live in the present who is
40:51
left to die now is is exactly where I go so unch childing sheds the light on on
40:58
the effect of racial violence against the Palestinian of settler colonialism
41:03
against the Palestinian and of course on the intimate lives of children and what
41:09
I say in my work on unch childing and look at how when it came to their kids
41:16
they are hyper
41:25
visibilization you see that unch childing is operated profoundly through
41:30
the disruption of the global perception of childhood and of the intimate here
41:37
that is embodied in a biopolitics and it’s so much visceral as
41:44
well as Global as we see it because there is silence there is negligence
41:49
there is lack of intervention there’s an inaction to the unchild so you have the
41:55
wounding that everybody can see it you know if you talk to uh to my colleague
42:01
and friend dran abti from Gaza and we work together because I interviewed the
42:06
kids that participated in the march of return and Gan operated on them yeah now
42:12
if you talk to him now he explains clearly that a child who’s wounded today
42:18
with like an imputation he needs 12 operations to be able to function as an
42:23
adult do you understand we’re talking about 37 kids with imputations in Gaza
42:29
today and these are the counted let alone other kind of 37,000 do you mean
42:35
37,000 yeah yeah yeah so so 12 operations who would be able to fund
42:41
those operations who will be able to fund those operations so you you ask
42:47
those questions and you wonder you know I’m I’m really I’m telling you this is why I’m in the ashl
42:54
I feel that we as Palestinians and as a Palestinian feminist today when I see
43:01
the humiliation and the IM masculation of men in in in Gaza putting them all in
43:09
tracks the and you know today today Bennett was interviewed and he said oh we interrogated 3,000 men and they’re
43:16
still in Gaza we’re not bringing them to you you you hear the amount so they way
43:23
have past Abu and and of course using dogs just listen to the
43:28
testimonies and and using torture and and and causing
43:33
major problems so you wonder where where are we going and where is this world
43:39
going NAD on on that point that what what doesn’t make any sense I mean to to those of us who are outside of Palestine
43:47
is that this catalog of horror that’s documented that that you see and that they talk about openly and yet the
43:54
narrative that is always and K refer to this already with the Biden talking about the beheaded babies and the
43:59
October 7th uh uh Stories the about the babies and so on and so forth what what
44:06
um what always comes out and you have experience of this how how do you respond or how do you deal with the fact
44:13
that they that both Israelis and their supporters in the west constantly refer to themselves as victims in the face of
44:21
this mountain of evidence that you you also experience firsthand and that you document and that you work with I mean
44:27
I’m just just something doesn’t make any sense is it is it and you know you’re also you know how how do we make sense
44:33
of that how do you respond and because you also live and interact with with many of these people is it how do they
44:39
not see what’s going on or is it do they do they not care is it denial is it
44:45
something else I don’t and then we can I want to get to the UN report and K I know wants to ask you about the UN
44:50
report I I have a question too okay okay but so do you see what I’m saying and I mean it’s it’s a catalog of horror that
44:57
is so obvious to any person who has eyes to see and ears to hear and yet the narrative here is that they are the
45:03
victims in fact now actually let me let me add to usama’s question so the flip side of his question in a way so when
45:10
you were describing the horror right and we’ve all seen these atrocious Israeli soldier videos of you know where they’re
45:16
they’re they’re laughing about what they’re doing I mean for them it seems to be a source of amusement that they can we’ve SE like there’s one where
45:23
there they show people urinating on the bodes of dead Palestinians for example right and you had another similar story
45:29
parading women’s under paring the thing with the women’s underwear which there’s a there’s a kind of this clearly but but
45:35
the business with the with the destruction of bodies and this Obsession that the Israelis have with bodies and with as you say holding children’s
45:42
bodies you know long after their dead just just to abuse families there’s
45:47
something and then the business with the ash also I mean part of what’s in a very strange way it’s sort of like we you
45:54
know remember the beginning of fuko’s discipline and punish like we’ve it’s like there’s a there’s a really weird
46:00
18th century mentality there you know the beginning of Fuko where he talks about the the reeside and how he was
46:07
pulled in pieces like there’s this thing about now you’re going to see the power of the king exercised on this body the
46:14
king can pull the body apart the Israelis are doing something else like that but of course it’s with high-tech
46:19
weaponry and we’re no longer in 1745 or whatever we’re in 2024 so there there’s
46:26
there’s a really weird way in which the Israelis seem to be living in a 17th and
46:32
18th century settler Colonial mentality while using high-tech and broadcasting this to the world and then we have
46:38
osama’s question about but the West is sort of mind you it’s the official because I think the popular level of the
46:44
West understands now it’s the but the elite the official level is all about oh we must now see what happened again yet
46:51
another recycled story about October 7th using the same warn out evidence that no
46:56
that has zero credibility at this point also that’s and or Biden saying as Kim said you know I’ve seen the pictures of
47:03
the 40 beheaded babies I you didn’t see anything those there is that there were no such babies and there were no photographs but there’s this incredible
47:10
kind of attention to let’s talk about Israeli suffering and Israeli this and Israeli that whereas this mountain of
47:16
evidence that they themselves are recording on Tik Tok and YouTube and everywhere else showing their exploits
47:23
there’s a kind of it’s like we’re we all feel sort of schizophrenic as we there’s these two different realities that seem
47:30
to be in in commensurate with one another and I yeah just to sorry that’s a rambling question but to go back to
47:35
what AMA was saying too
47:41
um listen these are tough questions but I must tell you this is the ideology
47:47
it’s not I’m I’m I cannot argue with people
47:52
feeling victims I don’t argue with emotions I if you feel afraid if you feel a
47:59
victim if you feel whatever I will respect it
48:04
but there’s a clear policy here number one they
48:10
can they can argue that they’re the victims and they can cause the
48:16
victimization and wounding and killing and continue to to because the global
48:23
Community is allowing them it’s not because only because they’re V victims
48:31
because you know those that are around me uh that are working on victimology
48:37
I’m a victimologist see I started my career as a victimologist but there is a clear
48:45
policy and the policy is mowing the lawn
48:51
flattening judaizing getting rid of the pal
48:57
Palestinians if if in 1948 it was with their politics of look
49:03
listen my two my my Baba and Mama my dad and my mom were defined legally as
49:11
infiltrators my dad was shot and then he came back and then he shot was shot and
49:16
my mom was hiding in in a graveyard and they caught her and they threw her back
49:22
to Southern Lebanon and she managed to come
49:27
back so I don’t know who is the victim here and I’m not fighting over victimization we’re not victims we’re
49:34
not victims and we’re not even survivors we are defying and resisting this this
49:40
regime but there is a clear necro capitalist regime in Zionism and this necro it’s it’s power
49:48
because they can’t punish because they have the power of the world not because they are powerful
49:54
no no not because they are powerful and I think that we have we have seen that
50:00
yeah but you know I I kind of I’m looking at at at the
50:07
situation in Jerusalem in Gaza in in what goes on
50:13
and I see that all you know that that the the the World Acceptance of the
50:20
power of this place is is is is the is what is giving them the power so it is
50:27
the fuk it is what I see again that it’s a necr capitalist settler Colonial
50:35
regime that is utilizing every Power they are getting from different places
50:42
to distort the minds of of of the of the world and of
50:48
the colonized yeah so they’re like always running after us in Million Ways
50:54
and that you know that regime that necro capitalist regime is is you know is is
51:01
giving an impunity and Immunity to the
51:06
colonizer so if you think about the ruins that we’re seeing today in
51:12
Gaza I I I I go to Fanon about the psychic ruins that are common usage in
51:19
colonial violence we’ve seen it all the time you know fenon argued that the
51:25
damage to the person to the psychic to this is and but we he insists on the
51:31
Romans I take it to a new place when I look at the the sist policy I take it to
51:38
a new place why are they that busy with graveyards did you see how many graveyards were destroyed in in Gaza 17
51:45
graveyards in one shot why are they busy in universities all the
51:51
universities why are they shooting and extra judicial killing of Educators do
51:57
you understand what will this do to our society I I was walking today back home
52:04
and asking myself how would I look at myself in 10 years when I’m asking
52:10
myself what was I doing during the genocide what was I doing during the genocide this is where
52:18
I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m thinking that they are the victims that something bad happened in
52:25
October 7th I’m not saying no that it was cruel I’m not saying no
52:31
but what I’m seeing today in Gaza after so many month is not only cruelty is not
52:37
only brutality is not only genocide it’s something that the world is accepting
52:42
and is giving them the power to continue yeah and um it’s mowing the lawn there
52:50
they said it they continue you listen if you if you go to Bennett he had a plan
52:56
and the plan is being um is being used and I don’t know I I don’t know like to
53:03
to think to think about graveyards is to think that this is what they want to see
53:08
in Palestine they want to see ashl and what I see is what we’re doing is
53:16
bringing those ashl Back to Life by talking about it writing about it and
53:22
telling everybody that have that is writing yes in slavery in indigenous
53:29
studies in this we talk about the flesh we theorize about the flesh but
53:35
Palestine and I NAD as a criminologist I’m putting at the center the scattered
53:41
body parts the the the body bags and the dead bodies the burned bodies this is
53:47
the center today and if the world cannot see it I don’t know how how can I keep
53:53
the hope you know really I don’t why NAD sorry to but you you mentioned earlier I
53:59
mean you you were you’ve been talking about power and you know on the one hand you were talking about the very visible
54:06
kind of annihilation the assassination of journalists so they can’t document what’s going on the assassination of all
54:13
the Educators University people School teachers Etc so that nobody can learn
54:18
and going forward the all the healthc Care people all the doctors all of this kind of very systematic eral and very
54:26
systematic Annihilation so that when this this Infamous day after comes there’s there’s there’s there’s nobody
54:32
to kind of be there and the day after except for victims as they will be framed in the humanitarian world right
54:38
they’ll be okay send some Aid and maybe we give unaa maybe we don’t give unir maybe UNICEF comes in maybe this NGO
54:45
maybe the Germans will send some money and food and we we’ll feel grateful the Americans will ship some more uh you
54:51
know the food or whatever and this kind of thing but on the other hand you I I think if I heard you correctly you also
54:58
talked about you said that they were not powerful and and and I’m I’m curious
55:04
about that because I’m in Lebanon now and the way in which I think at least
55:11
some people here some of us perceive the Israelis is that they’re not powerful so
55:16
they they talk a big game yes they can yeah they can come and they can destroy Lebanon they can destroy they can hit they can okay they’re they’re very good
55:23
at that I mean we’ll give them the they’re excellent at destroying from the air but the sense of you know after
55:30
let’s say the 2006 War here and then onwards the sense of this Israeli machine was punctured psychologically it
55:37
was punctured they be they went from When We Were Young oh they’re so incredible and you know the mad and you
55:42
know everything was so scary everything they do is so amazing to the sense of no these people are defeatable these people
55:50
are weak in their in their in their way and there’s a lot of things that were dispelled and and you know here we are
55:56
150 days into a genocide and they still haven’t frankly achieved their objectives I mean with all the Geno with
56:03
all this this beyond belief damage and destruction and people dying and and
56:08
being killed and body parts as you’re saying and children and babies there’s a sense of it’s it’s an expression of not
56:15
being powerful at the same time so could you explain a little bit more about that because I’m very curious listen that’s
56:22
exactly what I’m I’m saying yes they have power and the power is coming not
56:28
from them they are not powerful I I’m convinced and like this is the
56:34
discussion our I agree I agree morning discussion in this place like uh with my
56:40
better half it’s the morning discussion they are not because if I walk in the
56:46
street and I speak Arabic you will see them like this and they should be afraid and they
56:55
should be afraid because criminals are always afraid they cannot dispossess my
57:00
land they cannot displace my people they cannot kill and not be afraid so they
57:05
better be afraid and and this is why they are afraid because they cannot look at as in our phase listen it’s it’s the
57:15
power they have is the power that the global Community is giving
57:20
them morally bankruptcy
57:26
bankruptcy maybe once Israel had a moral base not anymore this war on Gaza have
57:34
really all the masks have fallen and and no today also military we know that they
57:41
are not as strong as others right and and to me you know and I’ve I’ve known
57:48
that I’ve known that I was always you know this is the story of people that walk around the old city with me and
57:55
they always tell me yeah canra you’re not afraid Habi why should I be afraid the fact that they are carrying so many
58:02
guns and so many rifles tells you it’s an indication of their fear not because
58:07
they’re afraid of me no no not because they’re afraid of me you know I’ll I’ll give you one
58:14
example you go to uh the um an area here in Jerusalem
58:20
and you see a high number of children arrested there’s a high child arrest a topic I write about and I I cover and
58:29
and a high rate and then all of a sudden the Israeli scholar are saying you can listen we need to discuss this because
58:36
we’re afraid from their um stones and throwing and they no no no no Habibi
58:42
leave the place the kid won’t throw a stone the stone is telling you I refuse
58:48
to accept humiliation as part of my daily life I refuse to see my teacher
58:54
being humil humiliated so read it differently what I’m asking us to do is
59:00
to think otherwise to think with from us here from what we experience from the
59:07
mandane from the daily from the act of of ab in gazi who is saying who who was
59:14
talking about thei and his analysis thei stood with Palestinians more than the
59:21
Arab countries because the kui he can eat it and that while the Arab countries are not
59:26
standing with but the problem is today to catch to go and gather kui you need
59:32
to go to the bord so you might be killed for the so AB is talking about the I
59:38
think that power is what can I tell you power is
59:44
corruption extreme power corrupt extremely Israel is being is given lots of power
59:51
and and the article that was published this week New York Times by U an
1:00:00
Israeli leftist uh Grossman about what goes on I’m like I
1:00:07
flipped in my chair I’m like if if he can’t see
1:00:13
us or hear or understand the over 75
1:00:19
years of agonies and then the New York Times is producing it and giving him a stage
1:00:26
where others cannot because I want to write about ashla I really want to Stage
1:00:32
Ash and our our scattered dead bodies in plastic bags that are being reassembled
1:00:38
to create life and to create the wholeness of Palestinians and no they cannot change anything the fact that
1:00:45
they have power they have no power the father with the plastic bags is telling
1:00:50
no these are hadu and hadu is a statement that the wholeness of
1:00:57
Palestine cannot be scattered to ashl the opposite so yes it might sound I
1:01:03
might sound to you a bit um uh um not not logical but you know in in in
1:01:11
rationality doesn’t work in colonial context NAD on on that I mean you are
1:01:17
logical of course and it’s it is you’re you’re giving incredible testimony and and witness but and and the the answer
1:01:23
you gave to the question of when I asked you about when the the oppressors
1:01:29
constantly talk of themselves as victims and you said you you I want to push back a little bit on this point and you said
1:01:35
that you you can’t argue correctly you can’t one can’t argue with feelings people feel something it’s TR you can’t
1:01:40
say they don’t feel it they do feel it but on the other hand how how do you how do you how do you I mean Beyond saying
1:01:47
you acknowledge feelings but isn’t the whole point of their Narrative of being victims precisely what
1:01:55
enables the the the the the the the refusal to accept Palestinian Humanity
1:02:01
the refusal to accept uh the the 75 years that precedes October 7th the the
1:02:07
the the refusal to accept the Palestinian wholeness isn’t so I don’t understand when you say you can’t argue
1:02:14
with their feelings but but their discourse of victimization is precisely what then leads into into this this this
1:02:21
thing so I’m just trying to understand explain to us take you to some to some um theorization in
1:02:28
criminology on on techniques of neutralization but I’ll start by saying
1:02:33
culturally culturally uh this is what they sell
1:02:39
this is what they teach this is what they educate so not that they believe
1:02:44
that they are victims but this is how the the the curriculum at school we are
1:02:51
victims we are victims if you look at the the every feast and every single thing it’s about a war with someone
1:02:58
because they are the victim so it’s it’s this cultural repor that is really being
1:03:04
repeated and repeated and repeated so and this is why when I teach Israeli
1:03:10
students I do not blame them or argue with with their feelings because this is
1:03:16
what they were being um fed all their lives uh contrary to this you know I was
1:03:23
I was raised as a Palestinian
1:03:29
woman keep your head up with all the the the agonies and stories and daily
1:03:36
hardships that we’re facing yeah rasim my head is raised up this is how I was
1:03:44
raised so I think that it’s also cultural but let me take you to one of
1:03:50
the theories in criminology and talks about techniques of neutralization when a criminal commits a crime it’s either I
1:03:57
didn’t do it it was by mistake they pushed me to do it it’s all those Techni
1:04:03
techniques of neutralization that they will continue using but they are criminals let us stay
1:04:10
there whatever they’re saying to neutralize the effect of their crime we
1:04:16
can read it we can analyze it they want to say I’m the victim they want to say I did not mean it they want to say I was
1:04:23
afraid they they can say whatever they want this is one thing the other thing is the amount of
1:04:31
criminality and atrocities and brutality and necropolitics against Palestinians
1:04:37
is nonnegotiable everybody can see it including Biden
1:04:44
everyone can see it so so it’s not it’s not that I’m arguing with their
1:04:50
techniques of neutralization at all they can continue using it you know you
1:04:55
remind me of one of my colleagues who’s like he keeps on asking why you know why
1:05:01
do I think I’m um when I talk about Palestine that I’m like uh uh saying it
1:05:08
in in Pride that you know I’m I’m Palestinian and um and and his his
1:05:14
argument is that those Palestinians those terrorists those habbi we’re not
1:05:20
terrorists we are not terrorist you cannot you can’t frame us in this
1:05:25
islamophobic mentality racialized Colonial mentality because this is what
1:05:31
colonialists have always done Fon told us that the colonizer perceived the
1:05:37
colonized in theological terms yeah and and this is why they put them in ban in
1:05:43
spaces and they’re afraid so in haa we were all put in wed Nas to make sure
1:05:49
that uh the Palestinian animalized others are kept kept in one place but it
1:05:55
doesn’t mean and they can stay as much as they want they are the victims and
1:06:02
listen again I don’t argue with what happened in the Holocaust it’s horrible it’s unacceptable it’s genocidal it’s
1:06:09
something that I look at I learn from I look at books on testimonies from people
1:06:15
who who survived uh the holocost and I I have lots of you know respect to those
1:06:23
with witnessing this is not this is Palestine by the way but at the same
1:06:30
time this these cultural beliefs that are you know uh uh sugarcoated with
1:06:38
other stories sometimes biblical sometimes the netanyahu’s analysis or the Bang’s
1:06:46
analysis is we need to look at them as criminals and we need to analyze them from a criminal perspective that’s this
1:06:53
is how I see it as NAD and it’s not dehumanizing them at
1:07:00
all it just realizing we are dealing with vicious criminals and they should
1:07:08
really somebody should stop them and to to me if you ask me today the only way
1:07:13
is a global political movement that will stop them economic I don’t know what I’m I’m
1:07:21
not a politician but I’m I I feel that this is where we should go Nat I wanted to ask um I I think
1:07:29
we’ll probably I want to get to the October 7th reports but before that I have one last question which is you
1:07:35
you’ve been talking about T and the the body parts that that you you know have
1:07:40
have expressed so so vividly in this sense but I mean politically the oso
1:07:48
created this in in the political body of of of Palestine through the PLO through
1:07:53
this division through the West Bank and Gaza and area a and area B and area C and I don’t know what all all these The
1:07:58
Armenian quarter the you know all these different things within Jerusalem it’s all divided it’s
1:08:04
all political body parts let’s say and so the question you know okay
1:08:11
colonialism setto colonialism genocidal racial hierarchy all this stuff but
1:08:16
where is the the Palestinian Authority where is the PLO where are the the those
1:08:24
I don’t mean people but the the authorities the political bodies that uh
1:08:30
at least I don’t hear much and maybe they are but I don’t see I don’t hear I
1:08:36
don’t see a voice I don’t see mm abas I don’t see these people coming out on a
1:08:41
daily basis and saying something um so where are they and and what about the Arab Islamic World
1:08:48
Egypt Gulf the rest of the Islamic world
1:08:54
where where are they in all of this listen you’re you’re talking uh you’re
1:09:00
talking to me and uh and I will you’ll never hear me um defending Mahmud Abbas
1:09:06
or or or I think that they’re not doing enough I think that they are uh doing a
1:09:15
major damage really major damage I want them out I really want this is if you’ll
1:09:21
ask me I’ve done that million times I’ve written I’ve written petitions I’ve I’ve only lately I I I
1:09:30
signed a letter asking for the reform of the PLO I think we’re not doing enough I think that the Palestinian Authority is
1:09:37
functioning like H you know if you’ll ask me like belad like um municipality
1:09:43
it’s good to to collect the trash and to offer police services and to make sure
1:09:49
that the streets are okay but the problem is that it’s it’s creating a
1:09:55
major damage to us Palestinians and with with with a leadership that is not aware of of the
1:10:02
Matrix of power of the global Matrix of power they are causing they are wounding
1:10:10
the already wounded Ash this is how I see it today and and I really think that
1:10:17
and and I think that your point is is is well taken that this is why I think about as
1:10:24
today because I feel that centering the shattered flesh here that is maintained
1:10:33
by the the PA and by the way they function is a major problem and that’s
1:10:38
our responsibility yeah because I feel that here we need to to to to push them
1:10:45
towards thinking otherwise again if we if we don’t uh if
1:10:52
we don’t re form the PLO today if we don’t work against this onto racial
1:10:59
economy if we don’t work against the as the continuous ashl because it is it is
1:11:06
not only not only Jerusalem come look at Jerusalem it’s a it’s a catastrophe what
1:11:12
goes on look at the West Bank and and think about a simple case of of somebody
1:11:19
a woman that is calling the police in area C the the police the Palestinian police needs to get the approval of the
1:11:25
Israeli police to be able to come help a woman who is abused in in ay it’s you
1:11:31
know in in houses here in N waji the bathroom is in area B and the house is
1:11:36
in and the bedroom is in this is the situation and this is the PA and they are responsible they they put us in the
1:11:43
situation and and the settler Colonial regime is working on ash geographical
1:11:49
Ash of course and and
1:11:55
it’s I might sound a bit but my feminist analysis it’s so it’s so sexual it’s so
1:12:03
gendered that really dispersal that dismemberment it’s part of the uprooting
1:12:09
our work is to reassemble the dismembered exactly like the father with the plastic bags he claimed again
1:12:18
hadu these are my kids so yes area a area B area C
1:12:24
uh Jerusalem occupied Jerusalem nasara Gaza these are this is
1:12:31
what this is my my space this is my nation we need to put it together and
1:12:38
and yes you know Palestinians in in in refugee camps in in in Jordan in Syria
1:12:45
in in Lebanon this is all it’s part of the ash it’s part of the this is why all
1:12:52
I see is is I know I’m I’m I’m over overemphasizing and centering the but to
1:12:59
be honest you know politically I’m there criminologically I’m there and psychoanalytically I’m there because
1:13:06
there is no way you can deal with such a wound without number one acknowledging
1:13:14
that there is a here there is uprooting there is dismemberment there is no other
1:13:21
way so it’s judaization it’s Israel isation but how
1:13:27
but the question remains why the world is allowing this and this is really my
1:13:37
question just just to follow up on this thing the the Arab Islamic
1:13:42
world it’s also part of the Arab Islamic World well Arab Islamic word is a big
1:13:48
failure I I just told you about AB in Gaza who said that yeah of course yeah
1:13:54
you think that it’s easy to know today that you know I don’t want to give
1:14:01
more examples about the failure of of the Arab countries I always say I’m I’m
1:14:06
a very proud Palestinian I don’t want to be called Arab because like when you think about
1:14:12
it and you think about the failure you think about the people that are dying in in On the Border in Egypt you
1:14:19
think about the fact that the Arab countries are normalizing and and having relationship and the only ples that are
1:14:26
leaving from from Boron is is is the uh
1:14:32
Arab Arab aircrafts this is like this is like Madness this is insanity this is
1:14:38
Major it’s it’s additional wounding to the already scattered flesh of the
1:14:44
Palestinian but are Palestinians resp there are Palestinians Yen there are Lebanese pales yemenis Iraqis I mean
1:14:52
there are a lot of Arab of course I mean we’re proud to be Arab I mean be I know you are as well obviously but no I mean
1:14:59
you mean Arab State you mean official Arab states I’m talking about the Arab states and not the Arab people the
1:15:05
moment I Ste into the love it’s it’s the states and not the people because the Arab people are I know their heart is is
1:15:13
in Palestine the problem is the leadership exactly like the PA’s leadership exactly like the PA
1:15:20
leadership and and you ask million questions and I understand but then when I look at at for example bam zumot in in
1:15:29
in the UK and the amazing work he’s doing there to try to to bring together
1:15:35
and to raise and to discuss the Palestinian should he is part of the P so you ask your question why what is
1:15:41
going on so we need really to also do some internal work and um but at this
1:15:48
point we need to stop the genocide immediately like and and uh and and to
1:15:54
think it and to think about it not not in previous uh terms but really in
1:16:01
centering the shattered flesh of the Palestinian because this is where it allows me to develop a practice of being
1:16:10
against the ENT racial nonbeing yeah because again you know theoretically I
1:16:18
I’m I’m thinking about M’s work where he talks about you know the language the
1:16:24
culture the idea the flesh that is uh that doesn’t mean anything in in in the
1:16:32
in specific places and when you look at at us here in Palestine and you look at
1:16:38
Gaza and you look at um Dr gassan standing there trying Shell
1:16:45
Shocked to explain among the ashla with all the doctors H in the hospital you
1:16:51
wonder you know the people people are defying are resisting are speaking back
1:16:57
Samar is talking to her dog to her cat just to say you know don’t eat my ash so
1:17:03
I don’t know when would the world wake up and tell this Zionist movement and
1:17:10
yes it’s time to abolish Zionism this is where I’m going today just abolish Zionism Well it can’t continue it cannot
1:17:18
it’s criminal it’s criminal only by abolishing Z we can continue this is
1:17:24
what I see NAD um I want to ask maybe a final question which is on this report that
1:17:31
came out on the October 7th report that the UN just put out uh on the question
1:17:37
of the rape and the the you know the sexual violence now I I want to ask you as a as a as a Palestinian feminist
1:17:44
who’s there there’s a lot of there’s been a lot of you know criticism of this report
1:17:50
and the fact that it’s still as far as I know know still relies almost entirely on Israeli official sources with almost
1:17:58
no actual eyewitnesses and yet of course if one were to express this kind of thing to
1:18:04
say even to just to say that on social media or anything else one is open to attack for being against women and
1:18:10
against uh you know so how how how how how do you read that and how do you compare that to the absolute Silence of
1:18:18
all the other reports and all the documented rigorously documented reports on sexual violence let alone violence
1:18:24
sexual violence towards Palestinian men and women and and girls and
1:18:29
boys well you know it’s it’s very telling the way I read it I read it as
1:18:37
shaming the state of Israel because they’re using women’s bodies women’s
1:18:44
sexuality and women’s intimate life to play with it in
1:18:50
political terms now if if erh rapes abuses sexual abuses gang rapes it
1:18:59
always happened in war times it always happened we know of my my book on
1:19:05
militarization and violence against women covers this topic and and we know
1:19:10
that the state of Israel 1948 you know there is a report for example in in nin
1:19:17
exactly that specific place where October 7 started there was a case of a
1:19:22
bedwin woman a bedwin young girl that was not only you know there is a
1:19:28
documentation that I managed to get from the from the archive whereby Boran
1:19:34
learned about the case and the captain the the the military officer asked his
1:19:40
his um the soldiers what do you want to do with the with the bedwin woman H do
1:19:46
you want us to kill her or do you want us to rape her and the answer was L fot L fot to her that was this is
1:19:53
something that I’ve written about and in my book on unch childing it opens up the chapter on on on the nakab area abuses
1:20:02
and sexual abuses happen and it shouldn’t happen and I will never approve it not to not to Israelis nor to
1:20:09
Palestinians and not in my name the reports sometimes can get testimonies
1:20:16
some other times cannot get testimonies the issue is that is Israel allowing
1:20:21
proper collection of evidence plus you know personally as a feminist I do not I
1:20:26
don’t go and interrogate the rape victims if a woman said she was raped I
1:20:32
will believe her I do not need evidence and I don’t want to go check facts to be
1:20:37
honest this is my opinion the issue is that even that we don’t have we don’t
1:20:43
see women coming out and saying what happened so women’s bodies are being
1:20:49
used as political weapons if it happens not in my my name if it didn’t happen
1:20:54
it’s shame on the state to use women’s bodies and sexuality to promote political agendas to promote further
1:21:02
dispossession of land to promote further killing to promote abuse and rape and
1:21:08
and and and you know keep in mind that the Rapability of the Palestinian based on
1:21:15
the Zionist agenda is hard at work hard at work in so many ways and I’ve again
1:21:21
have written about that and the State Crime that is sexualized and gender right is there so we need to we need to
1:21:30
number one remember this is a very dishonest to come to say the the state
1:21:37
they will use everything to further kill it’s a killing machine and it’s a necro
1:21:45
political regime that can survive only on the Eraser of Palestinians and only
1:21:53
when they will stop this and they will acknowledge what they’re doing we can start talking like but not to criminals
1:22:01
criminals will will should be punished at this point so I don’t know what to
1:22:07
tell you else about you know when I look at the pictures at the photos of soldiers today getting into Palestinian
1:22:13
homes using the lerie playing with it using you and and laughing and putting
1:22:18
it on tanks and putting it on rifles what is it what is this if it’s not
1:22:23
sexual abuse when you see the way they’re treating men undressing them
1:22:28
keeping them with nothing using that what is it if it’s not sexual abuse so
1:22:34
using dogs exactly like what happened in Abu the body of the Palestinian the
1:22:39
living body the dead body the cut to Pieces body are all capital in the hands
1:22:46
of this Zionist entity and of course they will use any lie they started with
1:22:51
babies they continued with rap they will continue with million other lies every day with another story we stopped
1:22:57
believing them I hope that the world will stop believing them and if things like this happened not in my name I will
1:23:03
never approve it Adela thank you and I think we we’re going to wrap now I mean
1:23:09
we’ve taken up your time um you know in this extraordinary moment for you and
1:23:14
for all Palestinians um I guess the last question we want to ask as as a way of
1:23:19
wrapping is is give given what you’ve been saying that the the entire world
1:23:25
has not listened and has not yet listened and and refuses to listen to Palestinians given the overwhelming
1:23:32
mountain of evidence our question to you and and is why do you continue to write
1:23:39
why do you continue to speak and for whom wait sorry can I just sorry just no I know but just to add because it’s an
1:23:45
important question because but you just said it too I want to just say it’s not that the world is not listening the
1:23:52
world is listening I mean Aaron Bushnell last week set himself on fire outside
1:23:57
the Zionist Embassy in Washington people are protesting across the entire world
1:24:02
Ordinary People are listening and they’re doing what ordinary people can do it’s the states it’s the it’s the I
1:24:10
don’t want to use epithets here it’s the awful Western States above all you know
1:24:16
America right with it with its European entails as well but I mean so it’s not I would say it’s not the world isn’t doing
1:24:23
well n earlier I say that in response to NAD too people are responding people are
1:24:29
doing incredible things in the US and in Europe and of course across the Arab world and the third world too it’s these
1:24:36
shitty states that are not doing the right thing we have to yeah n the last
1:24:41
word is yours yeah well I I think that yes effective
1:24:47
solidarity that comes uh you know from the the streets of of London of New York
1:24:53
of Los Angeles of of India of of you know million places in in the world is
1:25:01
uh is very very very very important and this is the only way we can affect and
1:25:07
change the The Matrix of power but I continue to write AMA because this is
1:25:13
Palestine Hab this is Palestine Palestine you know I I told kids in silan the other day they kept on saying
1:25:20
everybody is dying everybody is dying and we gathered and I asked them to draw and then I and I asked mother to bake
1:25:27
something and I asked father to tell the stories and we were together and then when they said dead death and death I
1:25:33
said no no no no we’re here we’re crying we’re screaming we’re laughing we’re drawing we’re hugging we’re talking
1:25:40
we’re gathering this is life and we continue to live and I ride because it’s
1:25:45
life I speak because it’s life it’s love it’s collectivity it’s togetherness this
1:25:51
is what keeps me moving and there is so much love in Palestine with all the hardships with all the hardships this
1:25:59
and love is a practice of freedom I hope that one day we will be able uh to be
1:26:04
free and yeah what can I tell you free Palestine is what I hope to see and we
1:26:10
can I continue to write and I continue to speak because this is what I know how to do well and I believe in our strength
1:26:17
and our power and our togetherness and our our hugging and kissing and thinking
1:26:23
together and I also believe in in s in the effective solidarity around the world because that effective solidarity
1:26:31
these voices that are coming from all around the world uh whether from South Africa that is really opened my heart
1:26:39
and you know just to see the case in the icj is just amazing it’s so important
1:26:44
this is what gave us some hope and Futurity so I want to believe in this
1:26:50
hope and in US you know talking and speaking and writing and thinking together and loving
1:26:57
each other that’s what I see in Palestine so n thank you with that
1:27:02
message of love and hope uh thank you so much for your time and honestly for all your witness and for all the work that
1:27:08
you do on the ground in Palestine uh for Palestinians first and foremost but also
1:27:14
for for all of humanity in a sense so thank you so much thank you thank you so
1:27:20
much okay he guys that was an extraordinary session with nadir her testimony was extraordinary her the
1:27:27
details the The Unbelievable levels of Cruelty that she documents and yet at
1:27:33
the at the end her her extraordinary ability to maintain a sense of of
1:27:40
defiance of hope uh and as she ended with love and so what did you what did
1:27:46
two of you make of it Kim what did you think yeah I agree I thought it was her testimonies were were were unbelievable
1:27:53
I mean incredibly moving incredibly difficult to to digest I mean still it’s
1:27:59
very very difficult to digest all these kinds of stories and the ASL the body parts uh you know moving from talking
1:28:06
about uh you know babies and children and kids and unch childing and all of these these theoretical and practical
1:28:12
things that she deals with you know in individually and collectively and now
1:28:18
you know moving to this business of body parts it’s it’s really it’s incredibly moving um and I I I very much kind of
1:28:28
liked what she was talking about in in framing all of this despite all of this I was expecting her to say yeah you know
1:28:34
we’re victims and then she comes says no despite all this I hate the idea of talking about victimhood we’re not
1:28:40
victims and uh you know the idea of power and this this notion of different
1:28:46
different nuances of what power is and I had agreed with her there and I and I still I I really believe very
1:28:52
strongly that I I see the Israelis as not powerful they’re powerful militarily
1:28:57
you know with American Support politically they can blow up places they can kill people yeah sure they can do
1:29:02
all this but fundamentally they’re they’re a kind of cowardly you know group of of thugs
1:29:10
that’s how I you know so and I love the idea it’s apparatus State yeah the state
1:29:16
and apparatus and soldiers soldiers army and everybody who supports them it’s just you know and said it you know this
1:29:22
idea of of you know what she’s not afraid she goes and it reminded me of you remember in in in 2000 in May 2000
1:29:29
when when the South lebano was liberated and everybody went down and started throwing those rocks across and you know
1:29:35
here we are sitting right there throwing rocks across and the Israeli soldiers were sitting there in their bunkers you
1:29:42
know far away in their bunkers and just like you know like this and scared and and cowering behind and you just had
1:29:48
like kids and families and women and children just sitting there complet completely out there throwing stones I mean there was a the sense of of you
1:29:55
know uh it’s different ideas of power I mean and I I I love that she was able to
1:30:01
kind of parse them out even while she was talking about this incredible Nuance of and the testimonies and and I finally
1:30:08
I love the idea that she talked about love as the antidote to Zionism and the the antidote to this violence and to the
1:30:14
genocide and you know I if you remembera who also was on an earlier episode of
1:30:20
our podcast also again with all the testimony and all the the the incredibly
1:30:26
moving depressing but moving uh uh and kind of stories that he was talking
1:30:31
about and the solidarity that was being shown outside he also ended up by saying there’s the power of love and that is
1:30:37
the antidote and so I thought you know this is really incredible you know and the importance of what you called about
1:30:43
the the effective solidarity from outside being very important to kind of sustain the work in the face of this
1:30:50
inhumanity uh and and the face of of the kind of international political ineptitude nothing going on silence you
1:30:57
know although it’s not really silence the international court of justice you know has moved the South Africans have
1:31:03
moved the namibians have moved uh you know a lot a lot of people have moved it’s just the key States the Europeans
1:31:09
the Americans or at least some Europeans the Americans and uh Arab states so s on
1:31:16
that on that note I mean maybe you want to jump in here in the WAP and and speak to this point that k just raised because
1:31:22
when I was trying to conclude you interrupted me that’s okay uh we’re brothers and you said that the world is
1:31:30
not abandoning the Palestinians that the world has spoken up so do you want to say something about that I I’m thinking about I mean Kim said also obviously the
1:31:37
when we all saw the South African one of the most moving moving things about the South African presentation at the UN was
1:31:43
it it was like these are this not us talking like they the South Africans that incredible panoply of people that
1:31:50
they had you know black and white men and women from different backgrounds and so on making these incredibly powerful
1:31:57
presentations it was like suddenly the world is we we we’re we’re hearing in a
1:32:02
way the representatives of the rest of the world telling our story for us which is very very powerful and very moving
1:32:08
for the same reason Aaron Bushnell who set himself on fire and protest outside the the Zionist Embassy in Washington
1:32:15
that you know incredibly powerful so the world is listening it is these this collection of Western racist states that
1:32:23
are that are and and as you’re saying both the the Arab states sitting on their but it’s also it’s yes it’s also
1:32:29
but it’s also I mean we we should do an episode on this one day it’s not just Western it’s also the the elite sort of
1:32:35
classes of of the aaric intellectuals isn’t it don’t you think that I mean that’s it’s not just the state it’s like
1:32:41
there are a lot of people who could be saying a lot more and haven’t said anything but they never do that’s true I
1:32:47
mean they never do like the you know the major some of the major intellectuals in this country don’t they don’t say anything about anything that matters I
1:32:52
guess they talk to themselves about themselves but but but going back also
1:32:57
to what NAD was saying the other thing I was going to say briefly is just that you know her what she was saying reminds
1:33:02
us of the scale in which the Israeli regime of death and destruction operates
1:33:08
which is this it goes from the very very small and fine grain to the absolutely you know apocalyptic and everything in
1:33:14
between and there’s this there is something to their mentality that is much much closer to the 17th century in
1:33:22
all kinds of ways then to the 21st this this state project is out of it’s out of
1:33:27
place in the 21st century there’s also I mean there is a point that is it’s not it’s out of place you’re absolutely
1:33:33
right I mean there’s an anacronismo colonialism in the 21st
1:33:40
century in this form is totally anachronistic the the discourse of the Israelis the fact that they themselves
1:33:46
don’t even hide when they say these things they say things openly the the torture of Palestinian that’s open it’s
1:33:52
all videotaped it’s all it’s all recorded not vide proud proudly not
1:33:57
proudly the soldiers like know parading in women’s underwear the stripping of men naked and the vast majority of in
1:34:04
all the polls vast majority of of Jewish Israel is supporting and supporting supporting this kind it’s not just a
1:34:10
fringe group there’s enough fringe groups but this yeah this is all this anachronism of this kind of state that
1:34:15
that is built on on Colonial violence um and Western lar that’s the other thing
1:34:21
yeah but fairness to Western colonialists I mean in a way like when the British and the French and and the
1:34:26
Americans did did their thing their awful awful criminality and so forth they didn’t have somebody else helping
1:34:32
them do it they did it themselves yeah but the thing the unique thing about the Israeli state is that they they could
1:34:37
they’re endlessly coddled by the West yeah they couldn’t survive for five minutes without Western support and but
1:34:43
and yet they keep running rough shot over over America telling America to go you know to I I have to be polite in
1:34:49
this program so I won’t say what they say about America it’s just it’s sort of like it’s mockery in a way there’s
1:34:54
there’s a it’s just a weird contortionist I don’t know how to put it but some weird amalgamation of
1:35:02
the 17th century and the and the 12th century and the No but but there’s also but but there’s also there’s also this
1:35:08
point about the anachronism of the of the colonial project in Palestine in the 21st century and what we’re seeing in
1:35:14
terms of genocide on the other hand unlike previous gen genocides and unlike previous settler Colonial formations the
1:35:21
idea of of constantly insisting that they are the victims yeah that’s true this is this is never this is what I’ve
1:35:27
never this is what I’ve never been able to a py this business of they’re always the victims the victims the victims the
1:35:33
victims no matter how much they document their own brutality and I’m always reminded of Benny Morris the the the the
1:35:39
racist Israeli historian who said yes we’re oppressing the Palestinians but we are the greater potential victim here I
1:35:45
mean to me that that line that’s where btim Benny moris it’s just astonishing anyway Karim uh thank you again I know
1:35:52
you’re in beiut and uh you’re you’re as always um um with us from a distance and
1:35:58
S thank you thank you um and uh we’ll we’ll see you all soon and we’ll we’ll
1:36:04
be getting to the patreon Ken do you want to say just a word about the patreon no just to say firstly please send in any question not you guys but
1:36:10
anybody listening anybody remaining who’s listening please send in questions and uh so that we can kind of compile
1:36:17
the questions and and maybe do a session on that as part of the patreon and uh and to be sure to please sign up for
1:36:23
patreon through the website I think it’s just uh patreon.com Makdisi Street and um
1:36:33
otherwise it’s in the link below it’s in the link in the link below as well thank you guys thank you everyone
1:36:39
thanks guys bye bye

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

See new posts

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

https://www.mako.co.il/news-education/2024_q1/Article-6ad1183a0dc3e81027.htm

90 מרצים להנהלת האוניברסיטה העברית: בטלו את השעיית המרצה

בצעד יוצא דופן הודיעו באוניברסיטה העברית על השעייתה מהוראה של פרופ’ נדירה שלהוב-קיבורקיאן, שהאשימה בראיון כי “ישראל תשתמש בכל טיעון כדי להמשיך להרוג” • בעקבות ההחלטה שיגרו שורת מרצים – בהווה ובעבר, מכתב לראשי האוניברסיטה וקראו לביטולה: “אין בדברים משום עבירה על החוק” • המחאה בקמפוס והמכתב המלא

יעל אודם|N12| פורסם 14/03/24 15:36 

90 חברי סגל באוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים, רובם חברי סגל לשעבר, כתבו אתמול (רביעי) מכתב חסר תקדים בעקבות השעייתה של פרופ’ נדירה שלהוב-קיבורקיאן. במכתב קראו המרצים לביטולה של ההחלטה, שלטענתם נעשתה בניגוד להוראות תקנון המשמעת. החתומים על המכתב הדגישו את “הסתייגותם הנחרצת” מהתבטאויותיה וציינו בו בעת כי “אין בהן משום עבירה על החוק”. במקביל, היום התרחשה מהומה בקמפוס הר הצופים בעקבות הפגנות בעד ונגד המרצה.

מכתבם של המרצים נפתח בדחייה ברורה של אמירותיה של שלהוב-קיבורקיאן: “אנחנו מסתייגים נחרצות מדבריה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן בראיון שפורסם באינטרנט, וחלקנו אף היה שותף למכתב גינוי לדברים דומים שלה שנכללו בעצומה שיזמה, סמוך לתחילת המלחמה. בצד זאת, סברנו אז ואנו סבורים כיום, שהתגובה היחידה המותרת לדברים היא גינוי שלהם והסתייגות מהם”. 

“החלטת ההנהלה והדיקנים לוקה בשלושה עניינים עיקריים: ראשית, מבחינת הסמכות, החלטה על השעיה, קבועה או זמנית, של חבר/ת סגל, אפשרית רק לאחר הגשת תלונה לוועדת משמעת והיא מסורה לראש בית-הדין למשמעת סגל או לנציבת מניעת הטרדה מינית ואף זאת רק לאחר שניתנה לחבר/ת הסגל זכות טיעון ותוך כיבוד זוכות/ה לערעור. שנית, מבחינה מהותית, אנו סבורים שאין בדברים שאמרה פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן בראיון משום הסתה לאלימות, לטרור או לגזענות, ואין נשקפת מהם כל סכנה”, נכתב. “שלישית, התגובה של הנהלת האוניברסיטה צפויה לפגוע באופן חמור במעמדה של האוניברסיטה ועלולה להעצים את הקריאות לחרם אקדמי בין-לאומי עליה”. מחאת סטודנטים נגד השעייתה של פרופ’ נדירה שילהוב-קיבורקיאן

במהלך היום סטודנטים שמתנגדים להשעיה הפגינו ברחבת הפורום, מקום מרכזי בקמפוס הר הצופים, במחאה על ההשתקה לדבריהם, כשעל פיהם נייר דבק שחור. בהנהלת האוניברסיטה אמרו כי הניחו שהמלחמה תביא למצב נפיץ בקמפוס אך לא האמינו שהמתיחות תהיה מורגשת כך.

בסרטון שהועלה לרשתות והוביל להשעייתה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן, היא אמרה בין היתר כי “ישראל תשתמש בכל טיעון כדי להמשיך להרוג. זו מכונת השמדה. פושעים צריכים לשלם על המעשים שלהם. אנחנו הפסקנו להאמין להם (לישראל), אני מקווה ששאר העולם יפסיק להאמין להם”. בעקבות הדברים הודיעה האוניברסיטה בצעד תקדימי על השעייתה מהוראה “על מנת לשמור על אקלים בטוח בקמפוס לטובת הסטודנטים”.===================================================================================

https://www.makorrishon.co.il/news/746195

90 אנשי סגל תומכים במרצה שהאשימה את ישראל ברצח עם

פרופ’ נאדירה שלהוב-קיבורקיאן הושעתה מאוניברסיטה העברית בעקבות התבטאויות מקוממות, כולל האשמת צה”ל ברצח עם. אנשי הסגל: “אין בדבריה הסתה או גזענות”

מאת  ישי אלמקייס

ג׳ באדר ב׳ ה׳תשפ״ד (13/03/2024 19:44)

90 אנשי סגל וחוקרים מהאוניברסיטה העברית שלחו היום (ד’) מכתב לראשי המוסד האקדמי, בו קראו להם לבטל את השעייתה מהוראה של פרופ’ נאדירה שלהוב-קיבורקיאן, בעקבות הדברים החמורים שאמרה, בהם טענות נגד הציונות, ייחוס רצח עם לישראל והטלת ספק במעשי האונס שביצעו מחבלי חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר.

מדובר ביוזמה של פרופ’ ברק מדינה, רקטור האוניברסיטה העברית לשעבר. במכתב שנשלח לפרופ’ אשר כהן נשיא האוניברסיטה, הרקטור הנוכחי פרופ’ תמיר שפר ודיקני הפקולטה למשפטים ועבודה סוציאלית בהם לימדה שלהוב-קיבורקיאן, נאמר כי למרות שהם מגנים את דבריה, “סברנו אז ואנו סוברים כיום, שהתגובה היחידה המותרת לדברים היא גינוי שלהם והסתייגות מהם”.

לדבריהם, ההחלטה להשעות את הפרופ’ שהכחישה את מעשי הזוועה היא בעייתית בשלושה היבטים. הראשונה היא ש”אין להנהלת האוניברסיטה, ובכלל זה הנשיא והרקטור או הדיקנים, סמכות להטיל סנקציות על חברי סגל, ובכלל זה להורות על השעיה זמנית של חברת סגל”, זה כפי שמצוין בתקנון.

“שנית, מבחינה מהותית, אנו סבורים שאין בדברים שאמרה פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן בראיון משום הסתה לאלימות, לטרור או לגזענות, ואין נשקפת מהם כל סכנה”, אמרו כשלטענתם, הנהלת האוניברסיטה עצמה פרסמה בחודש נובמבר האחרון קווים מנחים לפרסום דעות, ובהם ציינה כי “האוניברסיטה, כמוסד להשכלה גבוהה המעודד שיח וביקורתיות, נוטה שלא להגביל את חופש הביטוי של חברות וחברי הקהילה”. בהתאם לכך נקבע שם כי יש להימנע רק מסוגים מסוימים של התבטאויות “כמו הבעת אהדה למעשה הטבח הנורא” והסתה לגזענות.

לעומת זאת הובהר שם כי “מותר להביע הזדהות עם סבלם של אנשים חפים מפשע שהם או יקיריהם נפגעו, ישראלים, פלסטינים או אחרים ומותר לקרוא לממשלה לצמצם ככל האפשר פגיעה בחיי אדם חפים מפשע”. לפי אותם חותמים על המכתב, “דבריה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן, שמהם אנו מסתייגים נחרצות, אינם חורגים מן המותר לפי הקווים המנחים הללו ולפי עקרונות בסיסיים של חופש אקדמי וחופש ביטוי בכלל”.

“העמדות של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן מקוממות, אך אין בהן משום עבירה על החוק, ואין בהן תמיכה, מפורשת או משתמעת, באלימות או במעשים המזוויעים של החמאס”, הוסיפו והדגישו כי, “בהתאם לכך, אנו סבורים שאין גם יסוד לקביעה של הנשיא והרקטור, במכתבם אל ח”כ השכל, כי ההשעיה נחוצה ‘על מנת לשמור על אקלים בטוח בקמפוס לטובת הסטודנטיות והסטודנטים’. דבריה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן לא נאמרו בשיעור או בקמפוס, ובראיון היא כלל אינה מוצגת כחברת סגל באוניברסיטה העברית, ודבריה לא כוונו אל סטודנטיות ואל סטודנטים באוניברסיטה. לא ידוע על תקרית כלשהי שארעה במהלך הסמסטר כולו, על מקרה אחד שבו סטודנטית או סטודנט כלשהם חשו מאוימים על-ידי פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן או לא בטוחים”.

אותם אנשי סגל של האוניברסיטה העברית טענו כי המונח “אקלים בטוח בקמפוס”, משמעותו גם כיבוד חופש הביטוי של חברי הסגל עצמם, והכרה בכך שיש בהם מגוון עמדות בנושאים הקשורים למלחמה. “שלישית, התגובה של הנהלת האוניברסיטה צפויה לפגוע באופן חמור במעמדה של האוניברסיטה. התגובה הזו לדבריה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן עלולה להעצים את הקריאות לחרם אקדמי בינלאומי על האוניברסיטה ולפגוע באקדמיה הישראלית בכללה. הנזק שעלול להיגרם לאוניברסיטה העברית ולאקדמיה הישראלית בשל הצעד הזה עולה לאין שיעור על תועלת אפשרית בשמירה על ‘אקלים בטוח’ בקמפוס”, ציינו וסיכמו כי, “לאור כל זאת, אנו קוראות וקוראים להנהלת האוניברסיטה לבטל את ההחלטה, שניתנה בחוסר סמכות, על השעייתה של פרופ’ שלהוב-קיבורקיאן מהוראה. על ההנהלה לפעול בהתאם להוראות תקנון המשמעת, אם היא סבורה שיש חשד שנעברה כאן עבירת משמעת כלשהי”.

רשימת אנשי הסגל שחתמו על המכתב


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

אקדמיה לשוויון Academia for Equality أكاديميون من أجلאקדמיה לשוויון Academia for Equality أكاديميون من أجل

 ألمساواة

13 March at 17:04A translation of Professor Yuri Pines’s letter to the leaders of Hebrew U following their decision to suspend Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian.Asher and Tamir Shalom, I was amazed to discover – unfortunately, indirectly and without a statement on your part – the despicable content of the letter you wrote to MK Sharren Haskel. I never thought that the Hebrew University was a Zionist institution: I saw it as an academic institution where Zionists, non-Zionists, and also people who oppose Zionism like myself can work. I also thought that the Hebrew University is led by people who are wise enough to understand that the issue of whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza or just “normal” war crimes belongs precisely to the area where lecturers and students can express themselves freely. I have never heard of a lecturer being suspended, whatever his/her political positions may be. And I never knew there was a political position test that we are obliged to take in order teach in the university.It seems that I was wrong in my assessments of the university and its leaders, and I must take responsibility. I hereby announce that from now on I refuse to do any work at the university that involves its representation in Israel or abroad. Therefore, I am ceasing my work as director of the Confucius Institute and will not accept any position in the future. I will inform my close colleagues of this decision. You have really disgraced the institution. I have never felt so betrayed and humiliated. Yuritranslated by

Neve Gordon

14.03.24

Editorial Note

Shai Davidai, an Israeli assistant professor at the Columbia University Business School, is being investigated by the Columbia administration. Davidai gained prominence by criticizing the failure of the university to respond to antisemitism on campus. He charged the university’s leadership for letting anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism flourish. When asked about the charges, Davidai stated that he could not comment on the details because of the university’s bylaws; he added that the University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action was carrying out the investigation. Davidai broke into the public sphere soon after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which triggered widespread anti-Israel protests on all college campuses, including Columbia. A video of his impassioned speech went viral instantly. Clearly, his advocacy for Israel and Jews made him a target. Law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres represents Davidai.

In response to allegations, Davidai said, “Nothing I have done in my advocacy in the past five months has been about any protected class… Unless they want to claim that supporting terrorism is a protected class, there’s no grounds for this investigation.” Davidai announced on social media that he has repeatedly advocated for Palestinian rights.  

Due to the surge of antisemitic incidents on campus, Columbia University is facing investigations by Congress. CNN reported that the House Education and Workforce Committee announced a hearing on April 17 featuring Columbia President Minouche Shafik and the two co-chairs of the board of trustees: Claire Shipman and David Greenwald. Last month, the House Education Committee widened its campus antisemitism investigation to include Columbia. It demanded the Ivy League school turn over a wide range of documents to aid that probe. “Some of the worst cases of antisemitic assaults, harassment, and vandalism on campus have occurred at Columbia University,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chairwoman of the committee. “Due to the severe and pervasive nature of these cases, and the Columbia administration’s failure to enforce its own policies to protect Jewish students, the Committee must hear from Columbia’s leadership in person to learn how the school is addressing antisemitism on its campus.” 

At a roundtable event held by the Committee earlier this month, Eden Yadegar, a junior at Columbia University and the president of Students Supporting Israel, described how Jewish students were attacked by people wielding sticks outside of the university library. “We have been attacked by sticks outside our library. We have been attacked by angry mobs and we have been threatened to ‘Keep f—ing running.’” Last fall, a Columbia student who was hanging posters on campus in support of Israel was assaulted. Days later, a mobile “doxxing” billboard drove outside the entrance of Columbia displaying the names and faces of students who a conservative nonprofit said were linked to a statement blaming Israel for the Hamas terror attack. 

In response, Samantha Slater, the Columbia spokesperson, told CNN that antisemitism is “antithetical” to the university’s values. “Columbia is committed to combating antisemitism and we welcome the opportunity to discuss our work to protect and support Jewish students and keep our community safe.” 

Earlier this month, the Columbia University Office of the President published a report by its Task Force on Antisemitism. According to the report, the Task Force has heard of “the isolation and pain many Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates have experienced in recent months. While mourning Hamas’s unspeakable atrocities on October 7, some Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates have been the object of racist epithets and graffiti, antisemitic tropes, and confrontational and unwelcome questions, while others have found their participation in some student groups that have nothing to do with politics to be increasingly uncomfortable. Israeli Columbia affiliates have been criticized and stereotyped for serving in the military, something most Israelis are required to do. Some Jewish students have felt isolated in supporting Israel, while others have felt isolated in criticizing Israel. While there is strong support among Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates for the right to protest, as well as widespread heartbreak about the tragic loss of civilian life in Gaza, many have heard chants at protests like ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and ‘Death to the Zionist State’ as calls for violence against them and their families.”

Allegations against Davidai appeared on the pages of the Columbia student newspaper, the Spectator, which reported in mid-February that a group of social psychology graduate students from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) sent a letter on Feb. 7 to the academic society’s executive committee calling to sanction Davidai; a member of SPSP charged that he“has intentionally targeted and put vulnerable students from multiply marginalized racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds at risk through his actions.” The letter was authored by a group, “SPSP Graduate Students Against Racism,” comprised of individuals “from racially minoritized backgrounds, pro-Palestinian, and/or themselves Palestinian” and did not feel “safe disclosing [their] identities given Davidai’s targeting of individuals—especially Palestinians and students of color—who have expressed similar views.” 

According to the Spectator, the letter cites seven incidents of Davidai’s social media activity from Oct. 13, 2023, to Jan. 20, 2024, concerning pro-Palestinian campus protests. The letter states that these posts “have violated SPSP’s Code of Conduct with respect to expected and prohibited behavior from SPSP members.” 

The Spectator brings some examples:

– Dec. 11, 2023 tweet, according to the Spectator, the letter states that Davidai called for the expulsion of Columbia students and that he “misrepresent[ed] pro-Palestinian protests as calls for genocide.” That “By calling for peaceful and non-violent student protestors to be expelled and misrepresenting their slogans as calls for genocide (e.g., equating ‘intifada’ with calls for genocide of Jews), Dr. Davidai put vulnerable students at risk of violence from bad faith actors, and encouraged serious administrative action from the university,” the letter reads. “It is important to note here that many of these student protestors have lost multiple family members in the ongoing military operation in Gaza, and are grieving.” 

– Jan. 16 tweet, according to the Spectator, in which Davidai issued “another ‘call to action’ for his followers to write to various Columbia administrators, including University President Minouche Shafik, to suspend student groups [Students for Justice in Palestine] and [Jewish Voice for Peace]. The tweet included a link to a pre-prepared email script which called for the suspension of SJP and JVP student organizations.” 

– Jan. 16 tweet, according to the Spectator, Davidai made in an email “serious and spurious allegations against an individual Muslim woman student at Columbia, putting a student from an already vulnerable group at elevated risk, and contained links to tweets which doxxed and smeared this student on social media.” Davidai said, “I have never doxxed a Columbia student, I have never named a Columbia student, I have never targeted a Columbia student.” He added that he has posted videos taken in public space about public comments in which students participated. Conservative media group Accuracy in Media deployed “doxxing trucks” to Columbia’s Morningside campus on Oct. 25, 2023, displaying the names and faces of affiliates allegedly involved in student groups who signed onto a pro-Palestinian student statement released on Oct. 12, 2023, under the words “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.” The truck recirculated on the Morningside campus several times following its initial appearance. “Most of the students in these protests are good people … [but] they have been hijacked by the organizers of SJP, JVP, and [Columbia University Apartheid Divest],” Davidai said, adding that he feels bad for the students who are uninvolved because “their entire year is being disrupted by a small radical group that doesn’t care about education… they care about revolution.”  

– Jan. 17 tweet where Davidai, according to the Spectator, described Columbia students as “pro-terror,” with the authors of the letter writing that they were “highly concerned that this … pattern of behavior will only work to endanger students at Columbia and those who wish to express their support for Palestine and Palestinians at the SPSP conference.” The authors of the letter called these violations “a threat to the safety and inclusivity of the SPSP community both within and beyond formal Society events, particularly for individuals of Muslim and Arab backgrounds, and those who advocate for Palestinian liberation, who are already experiencing heightened vulnerability.” 

Horrified by the accusations against Davidai, a group named “We Are Tov” started a petition titled “Defend Davidai: Demand that Columbia End its Persecution of Jewish Professor Shai Davidai” on March 11, 2024. The petition states, “If Shai Can’t Speak, How Can I?” The petition begins by declaring, “We, the undersigned, are deeply troubled by the baseless investigation initiated by Columbia University against Assistant Professor Shai Davidai at Columbia’s Business School. He has courageously spoken out against the hostile environment that Jewish and Israeli individuals face on Columbia’s campus. Since October 7th, Shai has been a vocal advocate for Jewish students’ safety and rights. Yet, instead of supporting him and the students he represents, Columbia’s leadership has turned a blind eye to antisemitism and failed to provide a safe environment for Jews on campus. Now, in a blatant act of retaliation, Columbia has launched an internal investigation against Shai, aiming to silence him for speaking out against systemic antisemitism and the university’s failure to address it.”

 According to the petitioners, “Over the past five months, Jewish students at Columbia have been locking themselves in their dorm rooms for fear of being assaulted. They have been spat on, attacked, bullied, and vilified. And they have been harassed by pro-terror student organizations that justify, excuse, and celebrate the massacre of Jews while chanting for their eradication ‘by any means necessary.’ These organizations – which have been suspended due to their hate-filled rhetoric – continue to hold unauthorized pro-terror rallies on campus without any fear of disciplinary action. Columbia refuses to enforce the terms of their suspension but instead pursues this baseless investigation into Shai. Shai’s commitment to holding Columbia to account for their actions has resulted in death threats.”

 According to the petition, Davidai “is relentlessly targeted on social media (including by Columbia students and faculty). He – out of fear of being assaulted – avoids spending time on campus. And now, in the ultimate act of betrayal, he is being persecuted by Columbia’s leadership, which is retaliating against him with a sham investigation based on meritless “complaints.” Shai should be applauded for his actions – not punished. His refusal to remain silent has empowered students to speak out against antisemitism on campuses everywhere. By silencing Shai, Columbia is effectively silencing Jewish students everywhere. After all, if a respected professor cannot speak out against antisemitism without facing retribution, how can a student be expected to do so?”

The petitioning group stated its demands: “Drop the Investigation: We demand that Columbia University immediately drop its internal investigation against Professor Davidai. Create a Safe Environment: Columbia’s leadership must take proactive steps to create a safer and more inclusive environment for Jewish students and faculty. This includes: Punishing and enforcing sanctions against organizations that harass and bully Jewish students. Working with law enforcement and aiding in the prosecution of individuals who commit hate crimes against Jewish individuals. Encouraging Jewish students to report harassment without fear of reprisal. Implementing increased safety and security measures for Jewish students and organizations.”

IAM will report on this case as it unfolds.

REFERENCES:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-professor-whos-slammed-campus-antisemitism-says-columbia-investigating-him

Israeli professor who’s slammed campus antisemitism says Columbia investigating him

Shai Davidai calls probe unwarranted unless ‘supporting terrorism is a protected class,’ says university ‘cannot just create some sort of Dreyfus trial in order to get rid of me’

By LUKE TRESS9 March 2024, 4:05 am

New York Jewish Week via JTA — Shai Davidai, an Israeli assistant professor at Columbia University’s business school, has gained prominence over the past five months for criticizing the university’s response to campus antisemitism. Now, he says the university has placed him under investigation.

Davidai declined to comment on the details of the investigation, but said it was being carried out by the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, which responds to allegations of harassment and discrimination on campus.

Davidai broke into public view just weeks after Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel triggered widespread anti-Israel protests on college campuses, including at Columbia, when a video of an impassioned speech he gave went viral. Since then, he has emerged as a leading voice criticizing universities for permitting anti-Israel sentiment to flourish and bleed into antisemitism.

Speaking to the New York Jewish Week on Friday, he rejected the idea that he has publicly targeted individual students and protected groups, saying his condemnations are of student organizations.

“Nothing I have done in my advocacy in the past five months has been about any protected class,” he said.

“Unless they want to claim that supporting terrorism is a protected class, there’s no grounds for this investigation.”

The New York law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres confirmed that it was representing Davidai in the case and that Columbia was investigating him. The university said it could not comment on personnel matters.

“As a general matter, if the University receives a formal complaint, it will review and consider the complaint under established processes,” a spokesperson told the New York Jewish Week.

Davidai said he intends to fully respect the investigation and cooperate with investigators. But he compared the investigation to the late 19th-century Dreyfus Affair, an infamous antisemitic incident in which a French Jewish officer was falsely accused and convicted of treason.

“I wanted to make it public,” he said. “I really do believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Columbia needs to be clear that many people are invested in this investigation, and they can’t just create some sort of Dreyfus trial in order to get rid of me.”

The investigation of one of the most outspoken critics of Columbia’s response to antisemitism comes as the university has faced blowback for its approach to activism and bigotry surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. It is one of several elite colleges to face scrutiny from students, faculty, donors and government officials over its handling of antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, when the Gaza-governing terror group slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians massacred amid brutal atrocities, and abducted 253 to Gaza — where 130 are still held.

At Columbia, an Israeli student was allegedly assaulted on campus in October, and later in the fall, the school suspended two anti-Zionist student groups for unauthorized protests. Now, the university is facing investigations by Congress and the Biden administration as well as lawsuits from Jewish students. This week, a report from the school’s antisemitism task force said that Jewish students were experiencing “isolation and pain.”

On Friday, Davidai publicly announced the investigation on social media, adding that he has repeatedly advocated for Palestinian rights in public statements.

Davidai was an early critic of Columbia’s approach to anti-Israel protests after October 7. In the October speech that went viral, Davidai condemned the university for allowing “pro-terror” student demonstrations and told parents that their children on Ivy League campuses were not safe.

“I want you to know one thing: We cannot protect your child,” he said at an outdoor vigil less than two weeks after the Hamas attack. “I’m speaking to you as a dad, and I want you to know, we cannot protect your children from pro-terror student organizations, because the president of Columbia University will not speak out against pro-terror student organizations.”

His advocacy for Jews and Israelis has made him a target on campus and beyond. Last month, a group of graduate student members of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, an academic association of which Davidai is also a member, demanded that the society sanction him.

The signatories claimed that he “intentionally targeted” vulnerable students, citing online posts in which he called for the continued suspension of the pro-Palestinian groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. In one post, above video of an unsanctioned protest, he wrote, “It’s time for expulsions.”

Davidai said he does not speak out against individual students or groups of people but against student organizations.

Davidai’s activism has taken aim at protests where student groups have chanted “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea,” slogans that Israel advocates and antisemitism watchdogs view as calls to violence. Student organizations have also condemned “Zionists” on campus. Columbia student groups have collaborated with the group Within Our Lifetime, New York’s most active and visible pro-Palestinian organization, which endorsed the October 7 attack and whose leadership has explicitly supported Hamas, an Islamist terror group avowedly seeking to destroy Israel.

He and his wife, the Israeli writer and translator Yardenne Greenspan, have also said that they’ve faced adversity because of their activism outside of Columbia. They wrote in a Tablet essay last month that they have lost friends and faced threats since October 7, even as they favor policies that would be considered squarely left-wing in Israel, including opposition of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. “For our friends, our refusal to apologize for Israel’s existence simply deemed us intolerable,” they wrote.

Davidai still does not believe the university is taking campus antisemitism seriously. He applauded the antisemitism task force for its report but said he does not think it will be effective. He feels that the body is a cover for the administration to avoid taking concrete steps to protect Jewish students and has declined to speak with it.

“I see the university as using the task force as a fig leaf for lack of action and I refuse to be that,” he said. “I refuse to make kosher the university’s lack of action.

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

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/11/business/columbia-university-congress-antisemitism-hearing/index.html
Columbia University leaders to get grilled by Congress at antisemitism hearing

Matt Egan By Matt Egan, CNN 

Updated 9:14 AM EDT, Tue March 12, 2024New YorkCNN — 

The president and board chairs of Columbia University have agreed to testify next month at a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.

The House Education and Workforce Committee announced Monday it will hold a hearing on April 17 featuring Columbia President Minouche Shafik and the two co-chairs of the board of trustees: Claire Shipman and David Greenwald.

Shafik had been invited to testify at the disastrous December hearing where the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania struggled to answer questions about whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate school policies. The Columbia president was unable to attend in December due to long-scheduled travel, according to university spokesperson Samantha Slater.

Within weeks, the leaders of both Harvard and Penn had quit amid firestorms of controversy.

Last month, the House Education Committee widened its campus antisemitism investigation to include Columbia and demanded the Ivy League school turn over a wide range of documents to aid that probe.

“Some of the worst cases of antisemitic assaults, harassment, and vandalism on campus have occurred at Columbia University,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chairwoman of the committee, in a statement. “Due to the severe and pervasive nature of these cases, and the Columbia administration’s failure to enforce its own policies to protect Jewish students, the Committee must hear from Columbia’s leadership in person to learn how the school is addressing antisemitism on its campus.”

At a roundtable event held by the committee earlier this month, Eden Yadegar, a junior at Columbia University, described how Jewish students were attacked by people wielding sticks outside of the university library.

“We have been attacked by sticks outside our library. We have been attacked by angry mobs and we have been threatened to ‘Keep f—ing running,’” said Yadegar, who is the president of Students Supporting Israel at Columbia University

Columbia has said that antisemitism is “antithetical” to the university’s values.

“Columbia is committed to combating antisemitism and we welcome the opportunity to discuss our work to protect and support Jewish students and keep our community safe,” Slater, the Columbia spokesperson, told CNN in a statement on Monday.

In November, the Department of Education launched an investigation into Columbia and other universities after getting complaints about alleged incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Last fall, a Columbia student who was hanging posters on campus in support of Israel was assaulted. Days later, a mobile “doxxing” billboard drove outside the entrance of Columbia displaying the names and faces of students who a conservative nonprofit said were linked to a statement blaming Israel for the Hamas terror attack.

Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at the Columbia Business School, called Shafik a “coward” in a fiery speech last year criticizing the university president for failing to quiet “pro-terror” voices at the school.

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

Shai Davidai

@ShaiDavidai

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

@Columbia

has opened an investigation into my advocacy for the Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff at the university.

This is a clear act of retaliation and an attempt to silence me. If you want to know more, read my statement below

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

Dear President Shafik, Senior Vice President Rosberg, and General Counsel Rosan,

I write with great concern over the looming expiration of the November 10 suspension of student groups “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) and “Jewish Voice for Peace” (JVP). These groups’ re-admission to campus should be barred because (1) they have openly violated their suspension order by continuously operating on campus during the time of their suspension through alignments with other student groups that “cover” for them and do their bidding; and (2) these groups are under the direction of two national organizations with ties to designated terrorist organizations and they therefore present an enormous danger to the Columbia community and violate the material support prohibitions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. § 2339a.

I. SJP and JVP Violated The Suspension Order and Must Not be Reinstated

In the statement suspending SJP and JVP from Columbia’s campus, Senior Vice President Gerald Rosberg conditioned the lifting of these groups’ suspension upon “demonstrating a commitment to compliance with University policies.” Not only has SJP and JVP failed to demonstrate such commitment, they have openly flaunted their ability to violate the suspension with impunity.

Before addressing SJP’s violation of the suspension, it is important to understand a little about its organizational structure. SJP is a chapter organization of a larger entity, National SJP. Both National SJP and also the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) have outreach personnel which, as described on the AMP website, ”work in broad-based coalitions and support campus activism through Students for Justice in Palestine.” AMP’s Chairman is a co-founder of SJP, and AMP’s Director of Outreach, Taher Herzallah, is tasked with coordinating and guiding SJP chapters nationwide. National SJP’s website describes itself as providing “support to about 200 SJP chapters on university and college campuses.”

On or about December 7, soon after Columbia suspended SJP and JVP, National SJP conducted a workshop where one of the speakers was a Columbia student who introduced herself as “Maryam, an organizer of Columbia SJP and Columbia University Apartheid Divest.” She listed her title as “Maryam, Columbia SJP.” In a December 19, 2023 opinion piece by Maryam Alwan in the Columbia Spectator, the author of the piece identifies herself as an “SJP organizer.”

At the National SJP workshop, speaker Maryam stated:

“The Columbia University Apartheid Divest [CUAD] Coalition became entirely inactive in 2020 and it was revitalized once SJP and JVP were recently suspended last month.” https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1732985036805161154.

“We had a protest, the first protest after the suspension of SJP and JVP, that was hosted by another organization on campus because we can’t host protests anymore.” https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1732985038663274825.

Thus, the leader of SJP explains that SJP revitalized a dormant shell organization, CUAD Coalition, to stand in the shoes of SJP and do its bidding to get around the suspension order. The National SJP workshop included a panelist teaching campus chapters to develop a coalition explicitly for the purpose of evading University suspension orders and allowing SJP chapters to continue their operations after being suspended. https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1733661122526339206?s=20. And Maryam indicates that Columbia SJP followed that teaching to the letter: she openly touts that the very first protest after SJP’s suspension was hosted by CUAD Coalition “because we can’t host protests anymore.”

While Maryam identified herself at the National SJP workshop as a leader of SJP at Columbia, she also introduced herself as a leadership figure of CUAD Coalition – CUAD Coalition being the organization to host protests after SJP’s suspension. As Maryam proceeded to explain the organizational structure of CUAD Coalition, she stopped herself and commented that “I don’t want to say too much, because I probably shouldn’t expose the current organizational structure.” https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1732985047081226315. Despite Maryam’s reticence to reveal the organizational structure, other CUAD Coalition members have been candid that the CUAD Coalition is organized with an “internal structure whereby SJP, JVP, and a committee of impacted Palestinian students are at the top.” See, Columbia Spectator, November 29, “Over 80 Student Groups Form Coalition” (stating that “CUAD Coalition was formalized after the University suspended SJP and JVP”).

With Maryam wearing one hat as the leader of Columbia SJP, and another hat as a leader of CUAD Coalition, coupled with her unwillingness to “expose” the organizational structures of each, and her colleagues’ admission that SJP and JVP run the coalition, there is but one conclusion to be reached: SJP and JVP are the master puppeteers of CUAD Coalition, which acts as a cover for SJP. As Maryam openly acknowledged, “SJP can’t host protests anymore” and this new arrangement is a mechanism for violating the suspension order with impunity. The noncompliance should not be countenanced, and reinstatement of SJP and JVP should be denied on this basis.

II. SJP and JVP Should be Suspended Because of the Ties to Designated Terror Organizations

While SJP’s failure to comply with the suspension order is disabling in and of itself, in addition to their open violation of this reinstatement condition of compliance, SJP’s open support of terrorism, and receipt of funds from terrorist organizations, is an equally compelling and more than adequate basis to continue their suspension. 

In particular, Maryam stated at the December 7 National SJP workshop that she “insist[s] on using “from the river to the sea” in our protests. This slogan was called out by the United States Congress (a month before Maryam’s remarks at the National SJP workshop) as an explicit call for the genocide of the Jewish people. Alarmingly, through Maryam, SJP continues — in the face of federal censure stemming from the use of this term and acknowledgement of it as a call for genocide – to “insist” on its use on Columbia’s campus, placing every Jewish student in danger and mortal fear. No group should be permitted on campus that, upon hearing our federal government define a slogan as a genocide call, states they insist on the entitlement to instill fear in fellow students by the open and notorious use of the phrase.

Furthermore, SJP’s benefactor organization, AMP, touts that it provides to the SJP chapters that it supports through campus activism “free materials, information, speakers, infrastructure and grants.” AMP’s Executive Director, Osama Abuirshaid, is linked to the Hamas military wing (Izz ad-Din al-Qassam) and appears on its website, and has ties to Hamas’ predecessor American support organizations, the Holy Land Foundation and the Palestine Committee, which were disbanded in the U.S. for supporting Hamas. Given these clear linkages between AMP and Hamas, this amounts to Columbia’s SJP chapter pursuing the agenda of AMP (and through AMP, pursuing the agenda of Hamas), lending material support to achieve the aims of these terrorist groups in violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. § 2339a. 

Beyond SJP’s ties to Hamas through AMP and National SJP, Maryam stated at the National SJP workshop that SJP enjoys the services of a dedicated legal team through Palestine Legal. Palestine Legal put on a joint “Law Enforcement Contact and Protesting” seminar with CUNY in mid-November. The panelists directed attendees to consult the “Know Your Rights” materials on CUNY Legal’s website, which caution attendees with guidance when considering “joining or supporting an organization or individual that the government has designated as terrorist.” That the legal advisors to Columbia SJP anticipate the need to guide club members about issues to consider when being invited to join terrorist organizations is beyond frightening.

Lastly, given the coordination role of National SJP in directing its affiliate campus chapters, it is telling that sister SJP chapters at other universities have already begun to express support for the Houthis in urging the United States to refrain from self-defense in that conflict. As the Biden administration considers redesignating the Houthis as a terrorist organization after a short de-listing, SJP’s consistent alignment with terror groups Hamas, AMP and now the Houthis, is alarming. Coupled with Columbia SJP’s ties with Hamas and AMP, suspending this terror group from campus is necessary to maintain proper safety measures and responsibly manage Columbia’s risk profile. If a terror act is committed upon a community member by an SJP-aligned actor in the face of this overwhelming collection of terror-affiliations, the University’s risk exposure would be extraordinary.

III. JVP acts in Partnership with SJP and should Similarly be Suspended

While I am unaware of specific ties among JVP and other terrorist organizations, JVP stands in partnership with SJP (see, Columbia Spectator, December 19, 2023 opinion piece by Maryam Alwan, identifying the two groups as being in a horizontal alliance). As partners answerable for one another’s actions under the law, JVP is imbued with all of the actions attributable to SVP. This, apart from JVP’s open noncompliance with the suspension order, requires JVP’s continued suspension for all of the reasons stated in Section II, above.

Summary

In summary, SJP and JVP have openly violated the November 10 suspension order and, as such, cannot be reinstated, because compliance with University policies is a precondition to reinstatement. Further, the provision of material support to AMP and Hamas places the entire community and risk and violates our country’s terrorism laws, and for this reason as well, requires suspension of these groups.

We need to know your plan for maintaining safety, and in particular safety of Jews, on campus. Please direct your response to Gerard Filitti, gerard@thelawfareproject.org before Friday, January 19.

Sincerely,

#EndJewHatred
#EndJewHatred is a non-partisan international grassroots civil rights movement that unites ordinary people, activists, and organizations from around the world who support the cause that defines the movement: to end Jew-hatred in our lifetime.

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

https://www.change.org/p/defend-davidai-demand-that-columbia-end-its-persecution-of-jewish-professor-shai-davidai

DEFEND DAVIDAI: Demand that Columbia End its Persecution of Jewish Professor Shai Davidai

Started

March 11, 2024Sign this petition

Why this petition matters

Started by We Are Tov !!!

If Shai Can’t Speak, How Can I?

We, the undersigned, are deeply troubled by the baseless investigation initiated by Columbia University against Assistant Professor Shai Davidai at Columbia’s Business School. He has courageously spoken out against the hostile environment that Jewish and Israeli individuals face on Columbia’s campus. 

Since October 7th, Shai has been a vocal advocate for Jewish students’ safety and rights. Yet, instead of supporting him and the students he represents, Columbia’s leadership has turned a blind eye to antisemitism and failed to provide a safe environment for Jews on campus. Now, in a blatant act of retaliation, Columbia has launched an internal investigation against Shai, aiming to silence him for speaking out against systemic antisemitism and the university’s failure to address it.

Over the past five months, Jewish students at Columbia have been locking themselves in their dorm rooms for fear of being assaulted. They have been spat on, attacked, bullied, and vilified. And they have been harassed by pro-terror student organizations that justify, excuse, and celebrate the massacre of Jews while chanting for their eradication “by any means necessary.” These organizations – which have been suspended due to their hate-filled rhetoric – continue to hold unauthorized pro-terror rallies on campus without any fear of disciplinary action. Columbia refuses to enforce the terms of their suspension but instead pursues this baseless investigation into Shai.

Shai’s commitment to holding Columbia to account for their actions has resulted in death threats. He is relentlessly targeted on social media (including by Columbia students and faculty). He – out of fear of being assaulted – avoids spending time on campus. And now, in the ultimate act of betrayal, he is being persecuted by Columbia’s leadership, which is retaliating against him with a sham investigation based on meritless “complaints.”

Shai should be applauded for his actions – not punished.  His refusal to remain silent has empowered students to speak out against antisemitism on campuses everywhere.

By silencing Shai, Columbia is effectively silencing Jewish students everywhere. After all, if a respected professor cannot speak out against antisemitism without facing retribution, how can a student be expected to do so?

OUR DEMANDS:

Drop the Investigation: We demand that Columbia University immediately drop its internal investigation against Professor Davidai. 

Create a Safe Environment: Columbia’s leadership must take proactive steps to create a safer and more inclusive environment for Jewish students and faculty. This includes: 

• Punishing and enforcing sanctions against organizations that harass and bully Jewish students.
• Working with law enforcement and aiding in the prosecution of individuals who commit hate crimes against Jewish individuals.
• Encouraging Jewish students to report harassment without fear of reprisal.
• Implementing increased safety and security measures for Jewish students and organizations. 

JOIN US:

We urge fellow college students, faculty, parents, alumni, and concerned community members everywhere to join us in signing this petition in support of Professor Davidai and the broader Jewish community at Columbia University. Together, we can send a powerful message that antisemitism will not be tolerated on our campuses and that the voices of Jewish students and faculty must be heard and respected – and never silenced.

Professor Davidai has issued a statement, you can read it here.

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

https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/369048/columbia-prof-shai-davidai-university-president-has-to-go/
Columbia Prof Shai Davidai: University President “Has to Go” Calls Minouche Shafik a “coward” for not denouncing pro-terrorist groups on campus. 

Aaron Bandler 

March 7, 2024

Shai Davidai, a Jewish Israeli assistant professor of management at the Columbia University Business School, told the Journal in an exclusive interview that it is time for Columbia President Minouche Shafik to leave her position over the university’s failure to adequately address antisemitism on campus.

Davidai spoke to the Journal on Saturday following the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Challenges and Opportunities” session he co-led during the StandWithUs Israel in Focus International Conference at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel. The bespectacled, lanky professor went viral on social media in October after he excoriated Shafik for being a “coward” in failing to denounce “pro-terror student organizations” on campus. Davidai, who describes himself as a “left-leaning liberal,” has since become an outspoken figure in fighting against antisemitism and terror on campus.

“Up until a few weeks ago, I was very, very optimistic or naïve that the current administration will step up and do something,” Davidai told the Journal. “They haven’t done anything for five months. They haven’t commented on two lawsuits and a congressional investigation. It’s clear they don’t want to — I thought that they can’t, they just don’t want. So, I think the president has to go. The provost is now changing, so hopefully we’ll get a better one. The entire board of trustees needs to go. I say: step up or step away.”

Since that October video went viral, “life has been very difficult,” Davidai said. “When I go into the office, almost no one speaks with me. Even if they agree with what I’m doing, it’s like a hot potato, they don’t want to touch it … it’s been very isolating.” He also accused the university of “trying to silence me”; Davidai couldn’t comment on some of the specifics, but he did say that “informally I’ve had several people from the administration come and try to dissuade me from speaking up … They see the fact that donors are pulling out money, that students don’t want to register for school, as if it’s something that has to do with me rather than the problem,” he alleged. “I keep telling them, ‘I am pointing out the problem and you are cutting off the finger rather than dealing with the problem.’”

And online, “I get a lot of hate mail,” Davidai claimed. “I get a lot of hatred remarks, people have published my address … my reputation has been dragged through the mud. And at the same time, you know you’re doing something right if people are attacking your character rather than the arguments.”

Despite these challenges, it has also “been a very meaningful time” for Davidai. “I come to events like this, and see how many Jewish and Zionist students and faculty are really suffering and dealing with all these issues,” he said. “Just being able to add one more voice to the fight has been very helpful.”

Davidai thinks his argument “is very simple”: No antisemitism on campus, no support for terror on campus, and hold administrations accountable for not taking action on these fronts. “Those are basically the things that I’ve been saying, and they are irrefutable,” the Columbia professor said.

How well has Columbia addressed antisemitism since Davidai started speaking out? “Poorly,” Davidai told the Journal. “They have not done anything of substance.” The university did launch a task force to combat antisemitism, and while Davidai respects what the task force is doing, “they haven’t created any actionable plan yet.” On Monday, the task force released a report highlighting antisemitism at Columbia — particularly during protests — and a series of recommendations to better regulate protests; Shafik said in a statement she welcomed the task force’s report. But Davidai told The Times of Israel that the report deals “with the symptom and not the root cause” and that the university isn’t enforcing its current policies.

“The university has allowed more and more of these pro-Hamas protests to happen on campus, even when they are unauthorized, even when they go against the rules of the university,” Davidai told the Journal. The university has suspended the campus Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapters, but have reportedly continued to hold protests on campus.

“They have been holding on average a protest a week, sometimes two or three protests a week,” he continued. “In those protests they use chants that incite violence, which the university has said has gone against the code of the school and the university knows exactly who the organizers are. They know the people shouting at the bullhorns. They have faculty showing up to these unauthorized protests and the university has said nothing about this. It’s just horrific, and every day the bar gets lowered.”

He mentioned a recent article that reported there is a visiting professor at the university’s Middle Eastern Institute who “identifies with Hamas.” “He has called for not just an armed resistance in Israel but armed resistance in the U.S. to, in his words, to ‘liberate the armed turtle island,’” Davidai said, explaining that “turtle island” is a reference to the U.S. and Canada. “Those are the kinds of professors that are at the university. And again, we have free speech … but that doesn’t mean that the university can’t come out and condemn.”

Davidai urged the university to call out the antisemites and those breaking the rules by name and make it clear that such people do not reflect the views of the university. “As long as the university doesn’t do that, they’re basically saying, ‘these people are speaking for our university,’” he said.

When Students Supporting Israel held a rally on campus, it was peaceful, all the rules were followed and rallygoers waved American flags in addition to Israeli flags, Davidai said. “When you look at the pro-Hamas rally, there was just Palestinian flags and Houthi flags … you get a sense of the kind of people you’re dealing with.”

Asked how Jewish students are feeling about the climate campus, Davidai replied that some “feel extremely uncomfortable walking around with their yarmulke” since “we had a student attacked for wearing a yarmulke.” Others are uncomfortable in class because their classmates will accuse them of being “genocidal” as their professors stand idly by. And some students “feel like they are not getting the education they deserve,” Davidai said. “They can’t sit in the library and study when there are people chanting antisemitic chants right outside.”

At the heart of these hostile campus climates at Columbia and elsewhere is an “anti-American sentiment,” Davidai argued. “These are students that have been radicalized by extremist professors, ideologues — they are not academics, they are ideologues — that are pushing an indoctrination of anti-American sentiment. This is why they refer to the U.S. as an ‘occupied territory.’ This is why they support the Houthis who are shooting missiles at American ships. This is why they haven’t said a word about the U.S. civilians that were held hostage by Gaza. They don’t care about these values of life and liberty.”

He added that while he’s “totally fine with the idea that people are shouting to ‘Free Palestine’ in the sense that a Palestinian state will have its own self-determination — I am in support of a Palestinian state — but that shouldn’t come at the life and liberty of the Jewish people in the Israeli state. This is why it’s an issue of life and liberty. This is why you see American flags in the pro-Israel protests. This is why you see American flags in the ‘Release the Hostages’ rallies. This is why you never see even one American flag at the pro-Hamas protest and when you see them, they’re being burned down.”

Davidai also pointed out that Columbia has also been hit with two lawsuits accusing the university of failing to address antisemitism on campus and is being investigated by Congress on the matter and they refuse to comment on any of this. “It’s as if the president of the university thinks if she says nothing, this will go away,” said Davidai. “Kind of like if my child does something wrong and tries to hide it, and my son knows that just by hiding something doesn’t make it go away and we will find out.”

Overall, Davidai thinks that antisemitism has become “endemic” and “institutionalized” at Columbia.

“We need to treat this like any other prejudice,” he said. “I won’t accept anti-Black prejudice, I won’t accept sexism or any kind of racism or homophobia, I won’t accept anti-Arab sentiment and I won’t accept Islamophobia. I also won’t accept antisemitism. It’s not that big of an ask. Decent people would have already acted.” However, Davidai does “believe in second or third chances” and in his view, the university leadership still has a chance to redeem themselves with meaningful action.

He mentioned during his StandWithUs conference session that part of the solution involves universities adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Davidai added to the Journal that the solution also involves Shafik condemning Hamas, as she hasn’t mentioned the terror organization once in a public statement. He also called for “a permanent ban” of organizations that support Hamas. “Antisemitic organizations that support terror should not have a place on campus,” he said. “Very simple. And if they keep organizing, even they’re banned or suspended, the organizers should have consequences.”

Davidai has found that when he’s discussing the issue of the Israel-Hamas war and the campus climate to Americans who may not fully understand what is going on, framing it as a life and liberty issue has been “eye-opening” for them. “You’d expect this kind of ideas to come from the right, and I’m saying no, I am a complete leftist and you don’t have to agree with me on my political views, but our values are the same and our values are that we agree on the basic fundamentals on what this country stands for, what Israel stands for, what democracy stands for,” said Davidai, “and once we realize that, yes, we have our political differences, but the values are the same and that’s what we should all be fighting for.”

He added that his message for “middle America” is that “this is not Israel’s war, this is not the Jewish war, this is America’s war …  this is the war on terror, it just showed up on U.S. campuses now.”

A university spokesperson told the Journal, “As President Shafik and the administration have consistently made clear that antisemitism is antithetical to Columbia’s values. We are using every available tool to keep our community safe and that includes protecting our Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination or harassment. Maintaining a safe, civil, inclusive and respectful campus environment is always a core priority for the university administration and never more so than at present.”

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

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/02/13/society-of-personality-and-social-psychology-students-submit-complaint-calling-to-sanction-business-school-professor-shai-davidai

Society of Personality and Social Psychology students submit complaint calling to sanction Business School professor Shai Davidai

The group of graduate students called Davidai’s actions “a blatant dereliction of duty,” which would violate the SPSP Code of Conduct & Ethics.

The letter states that Davidai, a member of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, has targeted individuals, specifically Palestinian students.BY JOSEPH ZULOAGA • FEBRUARY 14, 2024 AT 5:36 AM

A group of social psychology graduate students from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology sent a letter on Feb. 7 to the academic society’s executive committee calling to sanction Shai Davidai, assistant professor in the management division at the Business School.

The letter states that Davidai, a member of SPSP, “has intentionally targeted and put vulnerable students from multiply marginalized racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds at risk through his actions.”

The letter was authored by a group of students under the name “SPSP Graduate Students Against Racism” and submitted through a “representative,” as the group was comprised of individuals who are “from racially minoritized backgrounds, pro-Palestinian, and/or themselves Palestinian” and did not feel “safe disclosing [their] identities given Davidai’s targeting of individuals—especially Palestinians and students of color—who have expressed similar views.”

In an interview with Spectator, Davidai stated that his initial reaction was one of “sadness,” as he believes that academia is not about coming after someone’s reputation because of disagreements.

“Academia is about open exchange of ideas, even if you disagree or disagree with them, as long as we keep some boundary conditions, which is incitement for violence, targeting an entire person or people for specific things like that,” Davidai said.

A Business School spokesperson wrote in a statement to Spectator that the school “closely reviews any concerns over student safety.”

“Our administration is dedicated to upholding University rules and policies, and we work to ensure a safe and welcoming learning environment for every member of our community,” the spokesperson wrote.

The students in the letter called for the SPSP Executive Committee to “1) open a formal investigation into Dr. Davidai’s behavior; and 2) take swift and direct action to sanction Dr. Davidai for violating several tenets of the SPSP Code of Conduct & Ethics … which may include measures such as ‘restriction on attending future events, removal from membership, and forfeiture of previous awards or honors’ as outlined in SPSP’s Code of Conduct & Ethics.”

The letter cites seven incidents of Davidai’s social media activity from Oct. 13, 2023 to Jan. 20, 2024 concerning pro-Palestinian campus protests, including screenshots of Instagram posts, emails, and posts on X. The letter states that these posts “have violated SPSP’s Code of Conduct with respect to expected and prohibited behavior from SPSP members.”

Citing a Dec. 11, 2023 tweet, the letter states that Davidai called for the expulsion of Columbia students and that he “misrepresent[ed] pro-Palestinian protests as calls for genocide.”

“By calling for peaceful and non-violent student protestors to be expelled and misrepresenting their slogans as calls for genocide (e.g., equating ‘intifada’ with calls for genocide of Jews), Dr. Davidai put vulnerable students at risk of violence from bad faith actors, and encouraged serious administrative action from the university,” the letter reads. “It is important to note here that many of these student protestors have lost multiple family members in the ongoing military operation in Gaza, and are grieving.”

The letter also cites a Jan. 16 tweet, in which Davidai issued “another ‘call to action’ for his followers to write to various Columbia administrators, including University President Minouche Shafik, to suspend student groups [Students for Justice in Palestine] and [Jewish Voice for Peace]. The tweet included a link to a pre-prepared email script which called for the suspension of SJP and JVP student organizations.”

The letter states that in the same Jan. 16 tweet, Davidai made in an email “serious and spurious allegations against an individual Muslim woman student at Columbia, putting a student from an already vulnerable group at elevated risk, and contained links to tweets which doxxed and smeared this student on social media.”

“I have never doxxed a Columbia student, I have never named a Columbia student, I have never targeted a Columbia student,” Davidai said.

He added that he has posted videos taken in public space about public comments in which students participated.

Conservative media group Accuracy in Media deployed “doxxing trucks” to Columbia’s Morningside campus on Oct. 25, 2023, displaying the names and faces of affiliates allegedly involved in student groups who signed onto an pro-Palestinian student statement released on Oct. 12, 2023, under the words “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.” The truck recirculated on the Morningside campus several times following its initial appearance.

“Most of the students in these protests are good people … [but] they have been hijacked by the organizers of SJP, JVP, and [Columbia University Apartheid Divest],” Davidai said, adding that he feels bad for the students who are uninvolved because “their entire year is being disrupted by a small radical group that doesn’t care about education … they care about revolution.”

The University established a “Doxing Resource Group,” on Nov. 1 which aims to centralize resources for students who have been doxxed and provide free legal advice and privacy scrubbing services.

The letter states that in a Jan. 17 tweet, Davidai described Columbia students as “pro-terror,” with the authors of the letter writing that they were “highly concerned that this … pattern of behavior will only work to endanger students at Columbia and those who wish to express their support for Palestine and Palestinians at the SPSP conference.”

The authors of the letter called these violations “a threat to the safety and inclusivity of the SPSP community both within and beyond formal Society events, particularly for individuals of Muslim and Arab backgrounds, and those who advocate for Palestinian liberation, who are already experiencing heightened vulnerability.”

Spectator spoke to over a dozen Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students in November 2023 who reported harassment, doxxing, and receiving threats in the weeks following Oct. 7 and several protests on campus.

“We hope that the SPSP Executive Committee will demonstrate the leadership necessary in this crucial moment to protect the more vulnerable members of our Society, and hold accountable individuals whose actions render unsafe the inclusive space that SPSP strives to cultivate,” the letter states.

Staff Writer Joseph Zuloaga can be contacted at joseph.zuloaga@columbiaspectator.com.Follow him on X @josephzuloaga.

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

https://president.columbia.edu/content/report-1-task-force-antisemitism

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Office of the President

Report #1: Task Force on Antisemitism

Columbia University’s Rules on Demonstrations (1)

March 2024

(1) This report reflects the research and analysis of members of the Task Force’s rules working group: David M. Schizer (Co-Chair, Law School), who drafted the report, as well as R. Glenn Hubbard (Business School), Magda Schaler-Haynes (Mailman School of Public Health), Matthew C. Waxman (Law School), and Gil Zussman (Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science). Extensive input also was provided by the other members of the Task Force: Clémence Boulouque (Department of Religion), Peter Coleman (Affiliate Co-Chair, Teachers College), Jeremy A. Dauber (Department of Germanic Languages), Ester Fuchs (Co-Chair, SIPA), Rebecca Kobrin (Department of History), Jennifer Lee (Department of Sociology), Nicholas Lemann (Co-Chair, Journalism School), Lisa Rosen-Metsch (General Studies), Nir Uriel (Columbia University Irving Medical Center), and Deborah Valenze (Affiliate Co-Chair, Barnard College).

On November 1, 2023, Presidents Minouche Shafik (Columbia University), Laura Rosenbury (Barnard College), and Thomas Bailey (Teachers College) announced the formation of a Task Force on Antisemitism (“the Task Force”) “as part of a commitment to ensuring that our campuses are safe, welcoming, and inclusive for Jewish students, faculty, and staff, and all of us.” (2)

The Task Force is part of a broader series of campus-wide initiatives “to foster a community,” as President Shafik put it, “where debates and disagreements are rooted in academic rigor and civil discourse.” Another product of this “our community, our values” initiative is a pair of new interim policies for safe demonstrations (the “Interim Demonstration Policies”) from Columbia University (“the University”) and Barnard College, which were issued on February 19 and 20th, respectively. The Task Force was pleased to provide input on these policies and, as discussed below, we strongly endorse them.

In the course of its work, the Task Force has heard of the isolation and pain many Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates (3) have experienced in recent months. While mourning Hamas’s unspeakable atrocities on October 7, some Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates have been the object of racist epithets and graffiti, antisemitic tropes, and confrontational and unwelcome questions, while others have found their participation in some student groups that have nothing to do with politics to be increasingly uncomfortable. Israeli Columbia affiliates have been criticized and stereotyped for serving in the military, something most Israelis are required to do. Some Jewish students have felt isolated in supporting Israel, while others have felt isolated in criticizing Israel. While there is strong support among Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates for the right to protest, as well as widespread heartbreak about the tragic loss of civilian life in Gaza, many have heard chants at protests like “Globalize the Intifada” and “Death to the Zionist State” as calls for violence against them and their families.

Across Columbia University, there also have been repeated violations of the rules on protests. Although peaceful demonstrations are permitted at Columbia and Barnard–and, indeed, are an indispensable element of civic life in a free society–the University has rules to keep them from interfering with our academic mission. Unfortunately, these rules often have been violated in recent months. Protesters have disrupted classes and events, taken over spaces in academic buildings, held unauthorized demonstrations, and used ugly language to berate individuals who were filming these protests or just walking by. There also have been reports of physical harm to students, including Columbia affiliates who were protesting against Hamas and Columbia affiliates who were protesting against Israel. Needless to say, the University must guarantee the physical safety of all Columbia affiliates, and a welcoming environment for everyone is essential. 

In the coming months, the Task Force will issue a series of reports, examining various aspects of this difficult situation. We are conducting research on the experiences and views of members of the Columbia community and are analyzing a range of university policies and practices. This first report considers Columbia’s rules on demonstrations. (4) We focus on Columbia’s rules, since our work on Barnard and Teachers Colleges’ rules is still at an early stage. (5)

Even though our charge is antisemitism, we know that Jews and Israelis are not the only ones targeted in this difficult time. Heartbreak, fear, and loss are widely shared experiences both on and off campus. Although our report focuses on antisemitism, our recommendations can also bolster efforts to combat Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, and other types of bigotry. We condemn all these toxic forms of hate and look forward to working with colleagues, and partnering on initiatives, to counter it across the University. Together, we must strengthen the fabric of our University community for all.

Footnotes

(2) Announcing Task Force on Antisemitism, Nov. 1, 2023.

(3) The phrase “Columbia affiliate” in this report includes students, faculty, and staff of Columbia University (including Columbia University Medical Center), Barnard College and Teachers College.

(4) Columbia University defines “demonstrations” as “a group of people coming together in an event of public expression on campus.” See the Interim University Policy for Safe Demonstrations.

(5) Teachers College and Barnard College are affiliates of Columbia University and separate 501(c)(3) entities.

I. Executive Summary

The University’s rules on demonstrations must accomplish three critical goals: first, safeguarding every Columbia affiliate’s right to protest, regardless of their viewpoint; second, ensuring that protests do not interfere with the rights of other Columbia affiliates to speak, teach, research, and learn; and, third, combating discrimination and harassment, including antisemitic harassment.

To protect every Columbia affiliate’s right to protest, while also ensuring that protests do not interfere with the free speech rights and academic freedom of others, the University must regulate the timing and location of protests. We support a “speaker’s corner” approach that permits protests in designated areas like the Sundial, South Lawn, and Futter Field, but not in academic buildings, libraries, dining halls, or dormitories. Every Columbia affiliate should have the right to protest in these designated areas, regardless of their cause or viewpoint. This is the approach of the new Interim Demonstrations Policies, and we consider them a major step forward. We also recommend clearer limits on the use of noise amplification and banners, as well as a minimum distance between competing protests.

Although we generally agree with the language of the University’s rules, we have serious concerns about their enforcement. The University generally has not tried to stop violations as they have occurred, and instead has focused on imposing discipline after the fact. The priority during protests has been to avoid violence and escalation. In our view, avoiding violence is necessary, but not sufficient. The University also needs to keep protests from interfering with the rights of others to speak, teach, research, and learn. So the University should do more to stop unauthorized protests as they occur, using approaches that are effective but not confrontational. For example, if protesters gather in an academic building, they should be told that they are violating the rules and given the opportunity to leave within a specified period of time (e.g., ten minutes). Those who remain should be required to show IDs and given a warning, followed by discipline for subsequent violations.

In addition to doing more to stop rule violations as they occur, the University needs to be more effective at investigating and enforcing violations after the fact. We recommend a simpler process for filing complaints, more flexible deadlines for adjudicating them, more effective use of informal processes, and aggregate reporting on the results. Unlike most other universities, Columbia uses a separate disciplinary process for rules on protests, which is coordinated by the University Senate. Since this process has rarely been used, robust efforts are needed to make sure it works, including rigorous training, safeguards to ensure consistent treatment, and periodic reviews of the process.

In addition to free speech rights and free speech responsibilities, the University’s rules ban discrimination and harassment, as required under Title VI (6) and other laws. Since the University’s legal team is responsible for legal compliance, they should clarify what speech contributes to a hostile learning or working environment. Like in the gender-based misconduct rules, the University should offer “scenarios.” These clear cases should illustrate what violates our rules and what does not, so adjudicators can consider whether a particular incident, which may be harder to classify, is more like the “good” or “bad” scenarios. These scenarios should be about all protected classes, not just Israelis and Jews.

Indeed, to comply with the law, the University must be consistent in its treatment of different protected classes. For example, if members of a protected class say that particular phrases or comments interfere with their ability to learn and work, should the University defer to them? Or should the University focus instead–not on how the protected class hears these words–but on what the speakers intend in saying them? In recent years, it has become increasingly common at Columbia to defer to a protected class’s views. But when some Israeli and Jewish Columbia affiliates have complained about phrases or comments in recent months, the response has been different, defending the intentions and free speech rights of the speakers. While there are important reasons to value the perspective of both the speaker and the audience, the University must be consistent in its approach.

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that even when offensive words are permissible under the University’s rules, they may still be disappointing or even reprehensible. In discussing difficult issues, we should always strive to state our position with civility and collegially.

Part II of this report identifies key principles the rules need to uphold. Part III emphasizes the critical role of content- and viewpoint-neutral “time, place, and manner” restrictions, and recommends ways to make them more effective. Part IV focuses on antidiscrimination rules, analyzing how the University can effectively combat harassment while also protecting free speech rights.

In writing this report, the Task Force has benefited enormously from repeated consultations with the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, University Life, faculty members of the University Senate, the Kraft Center, and members of task forces at other universities, as well as deans, senior administrators, faculty members, alumni, staff, and students from across the University, including in listening sessions we have been holding across the campus. We are deeply grateful for the valuable insights so many have shared, and appreciate their staunch commitment to addressing the challenges considered in this report.

Before turning to our analysis, we should clarify its scope. This report discusses general issues of policy, not specific protests or other incidents from recent months. This focus reflects the Task Force’s charge. We were convened to perform an important but limited task: to gain a deeper understanding of the situation on campus and to make recommendations about how the University should respond. We do not have management authority, and we are not an adjudicative body. Therefore, we do not offer public comments “in real time.” For the same reason, this report addresses broad challenges, instead of particular events.

A number of rules are not analyzed in this report, including those governing the recognition and discipline of student groups, classroom conduct, off-campus activity, and social media. In future reports, we will consider some of these other rules, as well as other issues.

Footnotes

(6) As the Department of Justice has explained, “Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.” Civil Rights Division U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

II. Three Fundamental Principles

Before turning to the specifics of our rules, we begin with basic principles. Our rules must embody an unshakeable commitment to three core ideas: first, the right to free speech and academic freedom; second, the responsibility to respect the free speech rights and academic freedom of others; and, third, our communal commitment to antidiscrimination.

A. Free Speech Rights           

The mission of a great university is to expand the frontiers of knowledge and to educate future generations. This mission requires uncompromising rigor in uncovering facts and analyzing ideas. Truth is found not by seeking to justify what we want to believe, but by constantly testing, and then updating, our knowledge and understanding.

This timeless process can function effectively only if our minds remain open. There can be no orthodoxies. The fact that an idea is widely accepted should not exempt it from scrutiny. The fact that an idea is controversial, or even offensive, should not render it off limits. “The right of members of our university to share views that may be unpopular or deemed offensive,” observed the seventeen deans of our faculties and schools in a recent statement, “is protected and fundamental to an academic community that depends on the free exchange of views and ideas.” (7) In the words of Section 440 of the Senate’s Rules of University Conduct, “the University is a place for received wisdom and firmly held views to be tested, and tested again, so that members of the University community can listen, challenge each other, and be challenged in return.” This bedrock principle of academic freedom must never be compromised.

B. Free Speech Responsibilities

Just as we all have the right to speak our minds in pursuit of truth, we also have the responsibility to respect–indeed, to protect–this right for other Columbia affiliates. Needless to say, violence, threats, and intimidation also have no place at a great university. 

In addition, our right to speak must not come at the expense of the right of others to speak, teach, research, and learn. We must not use the “heckler’s veto” to shout down other speakers, tear down or deface posters, disrupt classrooms, or impede other essential functions of the University. These “rules of the road,” which are known as “time, place, and manner” restrictions, are essential to the academic enterprise. Intellectual inquiry cannot proceed without them.

These limits, which protect all of us, are not about what we say, but about where, when, and how we say it. Every Columbia affiliate has the right to explore and defend the causes they cherish. But no one has the right to drown out other voices or interfere with the University ’s teaching mission. As Section 440 of the Rules of University Conduct explains, “The right to demonstrate, for example, cannot come at the expense of the right of others to counter-demonstrate, to teach, or to engage in academic pursuits requiring uninterrupted attention.”

These limits must be applied consistently and evenhandedly. It would be unacceptable for them to be invoked selectively to silence particular voices. Rather, time, place, and manner restrictions must be content- and viewpoint-neutral. 

C. Antidiscrimination

Just as we cherish and nurture the pursuit of truth, we also are committed to treating all members of our community with respect. Every Columbia affiliate deserves to feel safe. They must know that they belong here. The University must be a welcoming home to all students, faculty, and staff, regardless of their race, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, military service, or other legally protected status. This obligation flows not only from our values, but also from Title VI, Title IX, and other federal, state, and local laws.

To discharge this obligation, the University does not guarantee that others will always agree with us. This surely will not happen and, in a place of intellectual ferment, it should not happen. Each of us will encounter ideas and perspectives we reject–indeed, even ones we find offensive. This is part of the compact we make with each other: everyone can express their views.

But harassment and discrimination cannot be tolerated. Nor should anyone be free to engage in violence or to call for violence against members of our community or groups to which they belong. This reprehensible conduct denies members of our community the experience they deserve.

Footnotes

(7) Deans’ Message on Columbia and Community, Dec. 20, 2023.

III. Enhancing the University’s Time, Place, and Manner Restrictions

To operationalize these three essential commitments–free speech rights, free speech responsibilities, and antidiscrimination–the University needs effective rules of the road. These “time, place, and manner” restrictions are an essential protection for every member of our community, so the University has to ensure that they are effective.

A. Timing & Location of Demonstrations

Every Columbia affiliate must have the right to engage in peaceful protests. But although this is a proud tradition at Columbia, it must not interfere with the rights of other Columbia affiliates to speak, teach, research, and learn. To protect this right for everyone, the University needs to specify when and where demonstrations are permitted.

In our view, demonstrations should not be allowed in academic buildings, libraries, dormitories, or dining halls, as well as too close to the entrances to these buildings. (8) Unfortunately, this has not always been the practice in recent months.

The right place for demonstrations is in outdoor spaces like the South Lawn and the Sundial in Columbia’s Morningside campus, Futter Field in Barnard’s campus, and comparable locations on other campuses. (9) The locations should be prominent. Our goal is not to consign demonstrations to remote locales where they will go unnoticed. Yet the location must ensure that demonstrations do not interfere with classroom learning and other essential functions of the University.

In this spirit, Section 443(14) of the Rules of University Conduct renders it a violation when someone “incident to a demonstration . . . disrupts a University function or renders its continuation impossible.” This is the right principle.

To operationalize this principle more effectively, we recommend focusing more explicitly on location. After all, a standard based solely on “disruption” can be ambiguous, and can require more nuanced fact-finding. For example, some participants in a demonstration in an academic building might claim that, unlike others, they were speaking in a low voice and thus were not disruptive. Sorting out these facts is not always easy. In contrast, the question of where a protest was, and whether someone actually attended it, is easier to answer. (10)

As a result, we are pleased that Columbia and Barnard’s new Interim Demonstrations Policies adopt this location-based approach, requiring demonstrations to be in “Demonstration Areas” (East South Lawn, West South Lawn, and the Sundial on Columbia’s Morningside campus and Futter Field on Barnard’s campus) at designated times, inviting members of the community to reserve these spaces, and guaranteeing access to them regardless of the views expressed in the demonstration. We consider this a major step forward in Columbia and Barnard’s efforts to protect the free speech rights and academic freedom of every member of our community.

B. Sound Enhancement

Keeping demonstrations outside academic buildings protects everyone’s rights by putting distance between demonstrations and academic work. Yet sound amplification systems and megaphones can negate this distance. As a result, “a noise that substantially hinders others in their normal academic activities” is a violation under Section 443(12) of the Rules of University Conduct, and rightly so.

More specific guidance should be offered about what sound enhancement (if any) is permitted. (11) While it can help protesters hear speakers, it also can disturb Columbia affiliates in nearby classrooms, dormitories, or libraries. For this reason, Barnard’s Interim Demonstration Policy provides that “those participating in registered Demonstrations may not use noise amplification (e.g., megaphones, bull horns, etc.) or sound machines (e.g., pots, pans, instruments, etc.) during Demonstrations.”

C. Safety, Notice, and Physical Separation

The University’s highest priority must always be physical safety. When members of our community exercise their right to protest, they must be free to do so in safety and without fear. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case in recent months, and this is not acceptable.

To be fully prepared to guarantee safety during demonstrations, the University requires notice of when they will take place. The new Interim Demonstrations Policies generally require two business days, which we think is reasonable.

The rules also must ensure a minimum distance between competing protests. While Section 443(18) of the Rules of University Conduct authorizes rules delegates to give reasonable orders to keep protests apart, we recommend also specifying a minimum distance and rigorously enforcing this rule.

D. Banners

Like the location of protests, the location of signs and banners should be subject to viewpoint- and content-neutral time, place, and manner rules. In general, holding signs and banners in authorized demonstrations should be permitted. But hanging banners on any interior or exterior surface of a building should be prohibited unless the administration of the relevant school has approved it.

E. Limiting Access to Campus

Columbia affiliates must be allowed to demonstrate on campus, as well as to invite speakers and a reasonable number of guests to participate in the demonstration. But aside from these invited guests, non-affiliates are not entitled to this privilege. Unfortunately, their participation can come at a cost, if only because they do not know the University’s rules and have less reason to abide by them. We realize that the need to present IDs can be inconvenient for Columbia affiliates and can affect the atmosphere on campus, but on balance we think the University generally should limit demonstrations to affiliates.

F. Enforcement During Demonstrations

While we generally agree with the language of the University’s rules, we have serious concerns about their enforcement. To the University’s credit, a senior team of administrators with different expertise and responsibilities has been meeting regularly to prepare for demonstrations, making daily (and at times even more frequent) judgments about staffing and other aspects of the University’s response. This degree of coordination is impressive. It signals how seriously the University takes these issues.

Nevertheless, enforcement has fallen short in two ways. First, the University has regularly failed to stop violations of rules as they occur. Second, there also have been challenges in imposing discipline after the fact. We discuss these two issues in turn.

1. “Real Time” Efforts to Prevent Protests in Academic Buildings

First, when an unauthorized demonstration is taking place, representatives of the University should intervene more proactively “in real time.” Obviously, these interventions are especially important to protect physical safety. In addition, we would prioritize interventions to prevent disruption of classes and other academic work, for instance, when there is an unauthorized demonstration in an academic building.

We recognize how challenging it can be for the University to manage and respond to demonstrations, and we truly appreciate the strenuous efforts of rules delegates and public safety officers in recent months. The volume of protests has spiked, and the campus climate is more tense than at any time in recent memory. Enforcing our rules, while also avoiding confrontation, is no easy task.

Even so, we urge these colleagues to be more ambitious. They should not be content just to “wait out” a demonstration and prevent violence. This sort of deescalatory posture is necessary, to be sure, but it is not sufficient. The University also has to prevent the disruption of classes and, more generally, to protect the academic freedom and free speech rights of the rest of the Columbia community.

2. Avoiding Physical Confrontation

To be clear, we are not recommending the forcible removal of protesters or routine reliance on the NYPD. On the contrary, the University should not repeat its overly aggressive response to protests over half a century ago in 1968. Physical interventions are appropriate only to break up fights and protect protesters and bystanders from violence. Our understanding is that this is the only circumstance in which public safety officers initiate physical contact, and we agree.

3. Better Nonconfrontational Approaches

Instead, the focus should be on developing better nonconfrontational options. We stand ready to offer input in analyzing alternatives. In that spirit, we recommend that rules delegates should tell demonstrators they are violating the rules, offer a card with the relevant rules, and ask them to disperse within a specified period of time (e.g., ten minutes). Protesters should also be told that names will have to be taken and disciplinary processes will have to be initiated for anyone who is still there after the specified time has elapsed. After this time has passed, if any protesters are still in the academic building, public safety officers should ask for their IDs. If the protesters refuse–a rule violation in and of itself–public safety officers should take their photos, a step that can help identify them even if they are masked.

Section 443(16)–(18) of the Rules of University Conduct authorize delegates of the University to regulate demonstrations in these and other ways. We understand that other universities have had some success with these sorts of steps. Fortunately, some of these steps are starting to be taken more frequently on our campus.

As long as this effort during a demonstration is paired with effective investigation and adjudication after it is over, as discussed below, we expect that most protesters will choose to comply with the rules. This should be all the more true because they can still hold demonstrations: these protests simply have to be during designated hours in authorized locations (e.g., on South Lawn or Futter Field), and not in academic buildings, libraries, dorms, and the like.

4. Expertise, Conflicts of Interest, and the Number of Rules Delegates

The steps suggested above should be assigned to professionals with the right expertise. In recent years, our rules delegates have been student affairs professionals. They are well suited to make an initial approach, gently reminding students of the rules, as well as of the prospect of discipline for protests in academic buildings. In contrast, public safety officers have a comparative advantage in the subsequent steps of asking for IDs and taking photographs.

In assigning roles, the University should consider how responsibilities at protests interact with a rules delegate’s other responsibilities. For example, student affairs professionals may be wary of confronting student protesters, worrying that a negative encounter may undercut their effectiveness in other work with these students. Unfortunately, student affairs professionals also face another risk: failure to intervene–and, indeed, the perception that they implicitly endorse rules violations–can undermine their relationship with other students.

One way to address this challenge is to staff protests with rules delegates from other schools. For example, if there is an unauthorized protest at the law school, the rules delegates assigned to it could be from the business school, and vice versa. Our understanding is that this already is the University’s practice.

Another solution is to broaden the pool of rules delegates, so they include colleagues whose other responsibilities do not create this potential tension. Another advantage of broadening the pool in this way is that rules delegates may benefit from having a wider range of expertise within their ranks.

The University should also invest more resources in this effort. Currently, the compensation for rules delegates is a modest stipend, so more may be warranted in the current climate. We also need more of them, at least in the current environment. The increased number of protests poses the risk of burnout for a small group. In addition, the more proactive approach recommended here may require a larger presence at unauthorized protests.

5. Communal Support for This Effort

While rules delegates and public safety officers play a central role in enforcing time, place, and manner restrictions, they cannot do this alone. The rest of our community must support them in this effort. Every Columbia affiliate has a stake in protecting the right to protest, while also ensuring that protests do not interfere with the free-speech rights and academic freedom of others.

Unfortunately, some faculty and administrators have failed to convey this message. When they speak at unauthorized demonstrations, or when they help shield the identity of students who are violating the University’s rules, their apparent endorsement of unauthorized protests sends a confusing signal to students. In response, we encourage deans and department chairs to communicate the importance of time, place, and manner rules, while also discouraging colleagues from undercutting these rules.

G. Enforcement After Demonstrations

In addition to intervening “in real time,” the University also must take the right steps after the fact. The University must investigate incidents, initiate disciplinary processes, and impose sanctions when warranted. Yet unfortunately, we are concerned that these efforts after an incident are falling short in four ways, which we discuss in turn. We would be pleased to work with the Administration and the Senate to explore alternatives for addressing these problems.

1. Identifying Masked Demonstrators

First, our understanding is that investigating incidents has been a challenge in part because many demonstrators have been masked. A more proactive effort is needed to identify them during demonstrations, as noted above.

2. Deadlines

Second, Columbia’s deadlines in the Rules of University Conduct are too tight. “Generally, . . . [i]nvestigation begins within five (5) business days after an incident” and is supposed to be “completed within fifteen (15) business days after the investigation begins.” (12)

We understand why the drafters of this timetable did not want unnecessary delays. Speed ensures that memories are fresh, respondents are not subjected to a protracted process, and any necessary discipline is administered promptly.

However, the general timeline in the rules is too short. For one thing, this timeline implicitly assumes that complaints will be filed almost immediately, so investigations can begin within five days. But this is not realistic. For some potential complainants, the incident they need to report was upsetting, even traumatic. They need time to process what happened, and may simply not feel ready to file a report right away. In other cases, complainants do not even know that they are supposed to file or, for that matter, how to do so.

In addition, tight deadlines also create the wrong incentives for colleagues investigating these incidents. If they wait too long, they lose the ability to bring an action. In response, they may be tempted to initiate proceedings before they have all the facts. These facts are not always easy to gather, especially when potential respondents are masked. Indeed, just figuring out who they are can take time. Pushing for an immediate judgment, which is made merely to meet the relevant deadlines, is not in anyone’s interest.

There are a number of ways to address this issue. At a minimum, the timeline in the rules should be treated as aspirational, not binding. This reading is plausible because the rules use the phrase “generally” to modify the timeline. But instead of merely relying on this interpretation, we recommend that the schedule should be adjusted. The Senate should coordinate with the Rules Administrator to determine what the new timeline should be.

We understand from members of the Senate Executive Committee that they expect reasonable extensions to be granted. While this is helpful, the process for granting extensions should be clarified. For example, the Rules Administrator should not have to wait until after the adjudication has begun. Otherwise, there is a possibility that the extension will be denied after the parties have invested significant effort to prepare. Rather, extensions should be granted (or denied) at an earlier stage. Our understanding is that this sort of process has been developed, but we think a more general (and nondiscretionary) adjustment to the deadlines would be a more transparent and administrable solution.

3. Informal Processes

While the rules provide for formal disciplinary processes, they also offer the option of informal resolutions. (13) Our understanding is that these informal processes have been by far the most common method of resolving issues over the years. 

Yet unfortunately, a number of students have not participated in informal proceedings in recent months, a choice our rules currently allow them to make. (14) This is a missed opportunity. Informal proceedings let students learn the rules and commit to follow them in the future, while avoiding lasting reputational consequences. The University also avoids the burden of a formal proceeding. Given these mutual benefits, the rules should do more to encourage informal resolutions. We recommend that respondents should be required to meet with the Rules Administrator. To be clear, we would not require them to agree to an informal resolution, but to attend an informal meeting.

In addition, the rules should clarify that even when a respondent refuses to meet, the Rules Administrator still has authority to issue a formal warning, assuming the alleged violation is simple (not serious) and is the respondent’s first violation. Otherwise, the Rules Administrator would be encouraged to proceed with formal charges even when she considers these steps unnecessary.

Likewise, the rules should clarify that even when a respondent refuses to meet, the Rules Administrator has the authority to keep records of the incident. We understand that some respondents have asserted that the Rules Administrator does not have authority to retain records in this situation. But these records are necessary: if the respondent is later involved in another incident, the Rules administrator needs to be able to take the informal resolution and the warning into account. 

4. An Untested Process

Unlike most other universities, Columbia uses a separate process, coordinated by the University Senate, when individuals are charged with violating rules governing protests. Although a version of this process has existed for many years, it has been used only a handful of times since it was significantly modified in 2015, and not at all during the Fall Semester. In contrast, the University’s other disciplinary processes are used much more regularly. (15)

            Since this process is largely untested–with all the downsides that entails– strenuous efforts are needed to ensure that it is effective. For one thing, rigorous training is essential. After all, unlike the experienced decisionmakers in the University’s other disciplinary processes, a number of the members of the Senate’s Judicial Board–a body that includes faculty, students, and administrators–presumably have relatively little experience adjudicating disputes.

Clear delineation of institutional roles is also important. For example, the Senate Rules Committee is responsible for drafting and revising rules, while the Judicial Board is responsible for adjudicating matters under the rules. It is important not to blur the lines between legislative and adjudicatory functions.

Sharing information internally also is critical. Unlike in the U.S. court system, where outcomes are publicly available, student discipline generally is confidential under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (“FERPA”). (16) Since there are no reported precedents, respondents cannot confirm that they have been treated the same way as similarly situated respondents. This must not be the case with members of the Judicial Board. They must have access to the necessary information, and we have been told that they do. This is essential, so members of the Judicial Board will know how similar incidents have been treated and treat them the same way. Indeed, consistency is not just a moral imperative, but also a legal requirement (e.g., since singling out a protected class for different treatment can violate Title VI).

As the Judicial Board gains experience, it is essential to review their decisions and address any issues that are identified. For example, we endorse the Senate Executive Committee’s commitment to conduct periodic reviews of Judicial Board decisions under Columbia’s Interim Demonstrations Policy.

H. Education About the Rules

To ensure that everyone complies with the rules, we need not just better enforcement, but also better education. A concerted effort is required to ensure that Columbia affiliates know the rules, as well as the rationale for them.

As we have emphasized, time, place, and manner restrictions are there to protect speech, not to suppress it. In a community where academic freedom and free speech are bedrock values, we should all comply with these restrictions not just to avoid discipline, but to honor our values and show respect for the rights of others.

Interim Provost Mitchell’s January message, summarizing key features of the rules governing demonstrations, was a productive step. We recommend additional efforts within every school and department to educate members of our community about the right way (and the wrong way) to exercise their free speech rights.

I. Simpler Process for Reporting

Under Columbia’s rules, filing a report is a key way to initiate investigations and disciplinary processes. Yet although Columbia affiliates are supposed to file a report when they witness a rule violation, many are not doing so. The University has already taken productive steps to address this problem, but more should still be done.

First, many Columbia affiliates do not understand the function of these reports. For example, some mistakenly assume that there is no reason to report something that administrators also witnessed. The (understandable) assumption is that if these administrators already know about a situation, there is no need to report it. But reports should be filed not just to inform those administrators, but also to initiate an investigation of (and, potentially, discipline for) the relevant incident. Administrators can ask for an investigation, and we encourage them to do so when one is warranted. But every Columbia affiliate has this power–not just administrators–and we should all use it.

Second, in addition to knowing why they should file, Columbia affiliates also need to know how to do it. This process should be simplified. At the moment, different forms are required for different types of violations. There are separate links for academic violations, discrimination by students, discrimination by faculty and staff, gender-based misconduct by students, gender-based misconduct by faculty and staff, and general concerns (including violations of the rules governing protests).

To help Columbia affiliates navigate this maze of reporting requirements, the University has put all of these links on a single webpage. They also have introduced a helpline, as well as a help desk, to guide members of our community in this process.

While these are productive steps, we recommend something more ambitious: the University should consolidate the various links and forms to a single one. After affiliates fill it out, an administrator should review it and route it to the appropriate department. This administrator will know–far more readily than a student–which rules and policies are implicated, as well as who should investigate and adjudicate it. By relieving the complainant of this obligation, the University can make filing a report easier, faster, and less daunting.

Finally, the University also should help Columbia affiliates understand what happens after they file a report, including what else may be expected of them. This process is not well understood, and there has been only limited communication after reports are filed.

J. Aggregate Reporting on Discipline

Another reason why some are not reporting violations is that they believe nothing will happen. This is problematic not only in discouraging reporting, but also in shaping perceptions of the University among important stakeholders, including current and potential students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents. Even more importantly, this perception may induce students to violate rules. As a result, the University needs to share more information about the results of disciplinary processes.

Under FERPA, the University cannot share information about specific individuals. But there is no bar on aggregate reporting. On a regular basis, the University should share information about the number of disciplinary investigations underway, the number of adjudications, and the range of consequences administered, while also ensuring that this reporting is done in a way that respects the privacy of the individuals involved. Consistent with FERPA, the University also should communicate with those who have filed complaints, reassuring them that their concerns have been taken seriously.

Footnotes

(8) The University has legal obligations to ensure that entrances to these buildings are clear. For example, the University has to ensure that Columbia affiliates with disabilities have ready access to these entrances, as well as an obligation under Title VI to ensure that protected groups have access to educational opportunities, and thus to these buildings.

(9) In choosing the right locations in the health sciences campus, the University must also account for the needs of patients.

(10) Some nondisruptive forms of expression should be permitted in an academic building, such as wearing a particular T-shirt or pin.

(11) This guidance could appear either in an updated version of the Demonstrations Policy or as an addition to Rule 443(12).

(12) Section 446, Rules of University Conduct.

(13) Rules of University Conduct, Sec. 445(a) (authorizing Rules Delegate to “organize informal settlements”); see also Sec. 447 (providing for informal resolutions).

(14) Rules of University Conduct, Sec. 446 (“A respondent may decline to participate in the investigative or adjudicative process.”).

(15) Dean’s discipline” is used for academic, behavioral, and other student misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, vandalism, discrimination, harassment, etc.). The University also has other processes for student gender-based misconduct. Misconduct, including discrimination, involving  faculty and other employees is addressed through a separate track.

(16) Department of Education, The Family Educational Rights Privacy Act.

IV. Antidiscrimination

In addition to free speech rights and free speech responsibilities, our rules also advance a third principle: our collective opposition to discrimination and harassment. Columbia University’s Non-discrimination Statement and Policy bans discrimination based on a number of protected statuses, including “citizenship status; . . .color; . . . disability; familial status; gender (sex); gender identity; . . . national origin; . . . race; religion; . . . sexual orientation; . . . veteran or active military status; or any other applicable, legally protected status.”

A. Discrimination and Harassment are Not Protected Speech

So although the University must protect speech vigorously, it does not do so absolutely. While we all pledge to tolerate speech that we consider misguided or even offensive–in a collective commitment to protect everyone’s right to speak their minds and pursue the truth–the University does not tolerate speech that constitutes discrimination or harassment against protected classes. This commitment is grounded not only in our collective values, but also in the law.

Indeed, a key function of the University’s antidiscriminaton rules is to comply with Title VI, as well as with other federal, state, and local laws. While the University has latitude to offer more protection against discrimination than the law requires, it cannot offer less.

So even as the Rules of University Conduct protect free speech rights, the Affirmative Statement in Rule 440 acknowledges that “the University may restrict expression that constitutes a genuine threat of harassment,” recognizing that harassment does “little if anything to advance the University’s truth-seeking function” and “impair[s] the ability of individuals at the University to participate in that function.”

Under federal, state, and local law, discrimination and harassment can be caused not just by conduct, but also by speech. Applying these rules, the University defines “discriminatory harassment” to include “unwelcome conduct” that is “verbal” as well as “physical”:

“Subjecting an individual to unwelcome conduct, whether verbal or physical, that creates an intimidating, hostile, or abusive working, learning or campus living environment; that alters the conditions of employment or education; or unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work or academic performance on the basis of the individual’s membership in a protected class is harassment which is a form of discrimination.” (Emphasis added.) (17)

Applying Title VI and other applicable laws, University policies include speech of various kinds in their definition of harassment:

Harassment may include, but is not limited to: verbal abuse, epithets, or slurs; negative stereotyping; threatening, intimidating, and hostile acts; denigrating jokes; insulting or obscene comments or gestures; and the display or circulation of written or graphic material (including in hard copy, by email or text; or through social media) that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group members of a protected class. (18) 

The University’s antidiscrimination rules are administered by the University’s general disciplinary processes (“dean’s discipline” for students, and human resources processes for faculty and staff under the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office or “EOAA”), not the special rules for protests (such as the Senate’s Rules of University Conduct and the new Interim Demonstrations Policy). This division of labor reflects the reality that antidiscrimination rules enforce federal, state, and local law, so the Office of the General Counsel and the Administration need to take the lead in drafting and administering them. The same is true of the University’s rules policing gender-based misconduct under Title IX. As a result, the student conduct standards expressly provide that “behavior listed in this section [including discriminatory harassment] that occurs in conjunction with” alleged violations of rules governing protests “may be adjudicated” through dean’s discipline. (19)

B. Need for Guidance On What Constitutes Discriminatory Harassment

We urge the University to provide more guidance on the meaning of “discriminatory harassment,” including antisemitic harassment. What kind of speech “creates an intimidating, hostile, or abusive working, learning or campus living environment” under Title VI?

The University’s definition of harassment states that “epithets or slurs” clearly can contribute to a hostile learning and working environment. Obviously, it violates the rules to approach a Jewish student and say, “F*** the Jews,” just as it would violate the rules to make this sort of offensive comment to a member of any protected class.

The definition of harassment also includes “negative stereotyping” and “insulting . . . comments.” So when Jewish students walk by a group that is protesting against policies of the Israeli government, the rules are violated if the protesters heckle these students by attributing Israel’s policies to them (e.g., “you bomb hospitals”).

The same is true when assumptions are made about Israeli faculty members, students, and staff, including those in joint programs with Israeli universities, just because these Columbia affiliates have served in the military. Since most Israelis are required to serve in the military, calls to exclude Israeli veterans from campus apply to nearly all Israeli Columbia affiliates. Making assumptions about Columbia affiliates based solely on their country of origin or military service can constitute discrimination based on national origin or military service under the University’s rules.

The University also has said that calls for genocide, like other incitement to violence, violate the rules:

“Calls for genocide against the Jewish community or any other group are abhorrent, inconsistent with our values and against our rules. Incitement to violence against members of our community will not be tolerated.” (20)

While we agree with this principle, the application of it should be clarified. Obviously, the chants “gas the Jews” and “Hitler was right” are calls to genocide, but fortunately no one at Columbia has been shouting these phrases (though there are reports that these chants were used at another university). (21) Rather, many of the chants at recent Columbia protests are viewed differently by different members of the Columbia community: some feel strongly that these are calls to genocide, while others feel strongly that they are not.

At some point, courts and the Department of Education are likely to offer additional guidance illuminating the Title VI implications of these chants, as well as other speech and conduct at protests. (22) This would be helpful. In the interim, the University’s legal team should provide more guidance on this issue. Since this ultimately is a matter of legal compliance, we do not offer a detailed analysis here. Instead, we emphasize a few key points.

First, the University’s commitments to ban discrimination and to protect free speech are both foundational, so managing potential tensions between these commitments is not easy. Even as the University strives to protect free speech rights, it must also ensure compliance with antidiscrimination laws.

In addition, in pursuing these critically important goals, the University should aim to make the lines it draws as clear as possible, while recognizing that perfect clarity about every conceivable circumstance is not always possible. Even so, efforts to provide greater clarity help to provide fair notice, so Columbia affiliates have more of a sense of what is permissible (even if offensive) and what is not. Clearer guidance also helps colleagues who investigate potential incidents, so they know when alleged facts violate the rules. Likewise, greater clarity helps ensure that different adjudicators treat similar conduct the same way.

Recognizing the importance of clarity, the University’s rules on gender-based misconduct include “scenarios,” which illustrate what is permitted and what is not. (23) While these scenarios cannot govern every conceivable circumstance, and focus on relatively clear cases, they still lend clarity by illustrating general principles and inviting decisionmakers to consider whether a particular incident is more like one scenario (e.g., that is permitted) than another (e.g., that is not). To ensure that members of our community are aware of these rules, the University requires periodic online training for all members of the community. We recommend a similar effort for other types of discrimination, including antisemitic harassment. In the coming weeks, we would be pleased to work with the General Counsel’s office, University Life, and other colleagues to analyze these issues in more detail.

C. Consistency in the Treatment of Protected Classes

Needless to say, Jews and Israelis are not the only groups that could experience discriminatory harassment. The rules must defend all protected classes. 

In applying the rules to different groups, the University has to make consistent judgments. Indeed, consistency is necessary as a way not just to keep faith with our values, but also to comply with Title VI and other applicable laws. In general, the University must provide the same level of protection to different protected classes. By affording vigorous protection to some, but not others, the University would violate Title VI.

As a result, speech or conduct that would constitute harassment if directed against one protected class must also be treated as harassment if directed against another protected class. This must be true not only in the way rules are written, but also in the way they are enforced.

In this spirit, the University needs to use the same methodology when deciding whether speech constitutes harassment. Should the focus be on the audience or the speaker? If members of a protected class say that particular phrases or comments cause them pain, should the University defer to them? Or should the University focus instead–not on how the protected class hears these words–but on what the speakers intend in saying them?

In recent years, it has become increasingly common at Columbia to defer to protected classes in defining which statements are considered biased or hateful, prioritizing the concerns of the audience (i.e., the protected class) over the intentions of the speaker. This approach has been evident, for instance, in discussions of policing, affirmative action, sexual assault, transgender rights, and other important issues.

But a different norm has applied to many Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates in recent months. When they have complained about phrases and statements that cause them pain, some students, faculty members, and staff have not deferred to their concerns. Instead, they have responded that the speakers actually mean something else, which is not offensive, or that the speakers have the right to speak their minds.

This is a challenging issue, since there are important reasons to value the perspective of both the speaker and the audience. But regardless of how this issue is resolved, the University needs to be consistent in its approach.

D. Consistency and Expertise in Investigation and Adjudication

The University has an office that investigates and adjudicates gender-based harassment and discrimination under Title IX (the Office of Gender-Based Misconduct), and different offices that investigate and adjudicate harassment and discrimination under Title VI (the EOAA process for faculty and staff and the dean’s discipline process for students). It is important to ensure that comparably rigorous levels of training are provided to these colleagues, and that consistent standards are used for different protected classes.

In pursuing these goals, the University should draw on its experience in administering Title IX. For example, the University can consider using a similar structure (e.g., a separate office), as well as similar training and staffing strategies. There may also be synergies in closer coordination of these efforts.

E. Values as Well as Rules

Finally, it is important to emphasize that the question of what the rules allow is not the same as the question of what members of our community actually should say and do. We all have the right to take controversial positions, and rightly so. We even have the right to say offensive things.

But with rights of free expression come responsibilities, including to consider the effects of our expression on others. We should never be indifferent to the pain and discomfort our words cause, regardless of the ideas we seek to advance. Indeed, whether we are passionate in defending the rights of Israelis, Palestinians, or anyone else, we should recognize that others have convictions that are just as heartfelt. Even as we disagree, we should still respect each other’s feelings. An institution of higher learning is an appropriate place to learn these responsibilities.

Columbia affiliates must never shy away from the great issues of the day. Our University must always strive to shed the light of reason on the defining challenges of our time. To advance our mission, we must be willing to express strong views, follow evidence and arguments where they lead, and confront painful truths. As part of this process, members of our community inevitably will disagree.

But even as we express competing views, the University is at its best when we all strive to state our position with civility and collegially. Making the case in this way shows not only skill as an advocate, but also human decency and respect for shared values. As Columbia’s seventeen deans recently said, “the grace of compassionate engagement should be extended to all members of our community in equal measure.”

Footnotes

(17) EOAA Discrimination and Harassment Policies, at 7.

(18) See id at 7.

(19) Standards & Discipline at 9 n.2. 

(20) Event Policy and Campus Resources FAQs (What is Columbia doing to address antisemitism on campus, and what is Columbia’s reaction to calls for genocide against Jews?).

(21) Reuters, NYU is sued by Jewish students who allege antisemitism on campus, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 15, 2023; see also Olivia Land, Reprehensible anti-Israel protesters chant ‘Gas the Jews’ outside Sydney Opera House: video, Oct. 10, 2023.

(22) The Department of Education has already indicated that even speech protected under the First Amendment can still create a hostile learning environment under Title VI. In these circumstances, if universities cannot stop this speech, they are expected to condemn it.

(23) Gender Based Misconduct Office, Gender-Based Misconduct and Interim Title IX Policies and Procedures for Students 23-26.

07.03.24

Editorial Note

In the last few days, a number of cyberattacks against Israeli universities and colleges were reported. 

One report revealed that the hacktivist group Ghosts of Palestine claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks on prominent educational institutions, such as the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Ben Gurion University, University of Haifa, and Bar Ilan University. The group posted on the dark web a note titled “Big Israeli University Cyber Attack,” claiming that the hack was a “response to Israel’s alleged genocidal campaign in Gaza.” The group also draws attention to the dire situation in Sudan. 

This latest cyberattack on Israeli universities, according to the report, comes amidst a surge in cyber aggression orchestrated by various hacker collectives united under the banner of “Rise Of The Leaders.” Spearheaded by the IRoX Team-Elite Hackers. This collaboration aims to mobilize Muslim cyber warriors in launching coordinated cyber assaults against Israel. Among them, Anonymous Sudan, KillNet, and Moroccan Black Cyber; these cyber adversaries have officially declared a “cyber war” on Israel, posing a significant threat to its digital sovereignty and infrastructure. 

 Another report pointed to the Iranians, who are again attacking Israel in cyberspace. In recent days, Iranian hackers broke into the IT systems of many colleges in Israel, collected a lot of data, some of it private, and boasted about it on social media. The hack was carried out through the supply chain: the hackers penetrated the IT system of Rashim, a subsidiary of Malam Team, a leading IT services group in Israel, and from there – to its customers. The hackers are members of the Nemesis Kitten group. It is sometimes designated as DEV-0270, and is a subset of the Iranian threat actor Phosphorus, known as someone who carries out malicious network operations, including extensive vulnerability scanning, with the backing and patronage of the Iranian government. In 2022, the group was revealed as having conducted several ransom-type offensive campaigns. The purpose was not to receive the ransom but to infiltrate the victims’ computer systems. In the past, researchers estimated that Nemesis Kitten operates under two public aliases – Secnerd and Lifeweb. These organizations are linked to the Najee Technology Hooshmand – an alleged “company” operating in the central province of Karaj, Iran. Recently, Nemesis Kitten members bragged about their success on Darknet and social media, posting messages and videos. One of the videos shows how they infiltrated Rashim’s management system and deleted the material on their servers. According to the hackers, they accessed Ariel University, Sapir College, Beit Berl, Daat Nissim, Gur Ashdod, the Hamdat Academic College, the Israel College, the Police College in Beit Shemesh and Sakhnin College, among others. 

In 2020, the Malam Team group acquired Rashim – Information Systems Planning and Implementation, the provider of computer solutions to academic administration for higher education institutions, as well as training and skills management. The system has over 200 thousand users – students, employees, lecturers, instructors, and administrative and management employees. The company’s clients include some of the leading academic institutions in Israel, including Ariel University, Oranim College, al-Qasemi College, the Kibbutzim Seminary, David Yellin College, Sami Shimon College in the Negev, Tel Hai College, Levinsky College, the Holon Institute of Technology and dozens of other colleges. Rashim’s solution is also used in the training bodies of the National Police College and the Airport Authority. Rashim stated in response that the company “experienced a cyber incident, which affected some of its customers. All customers, the Authority for the Protection of Privacy and the National Cyber System have been updated. We are working to handle the incident comprehensively and thoroughly through a dedicated cyber intervention team, until full activity is restored.”  

The University of Haifa reported suspicions of cyberattacks causing disruptions in online services and interruptions of lectures. It told students that “all Israeli universities suffered a Denial of Service (DDOS) attack as a result of hostile elements overloading the communication channel between Europe and MAHBA, the universities’ Internet provider. The load gradually decreased as a result of the activity carried out by GEANT (the European internet provider for the Israeli MAHBA).” 

Similarly, the Times Higher Education reported that in the UK, a group of hackers had taken responsibility for a cyberattack disrupting the internet connectivity at the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester. The group, “Anonymous Sudan,” a notorious hacktivist group that has previously caused widespread outages on X, formerly Twitter, claimed it is because of the “U.K.’s continued support for Israel.” According to the BBC’s cyber correspondent, the hackers targeted these universities specifically “because they are the biggest ones” they could find. Cambridge University reported a malicious Denial-of-Service attack, making the internet access intermittent. 

In April last year, a coordinated cyberattack by the hacker group “Anonymous Sudan” claimed responsibility for taking down the websites of major Israeli universities, including Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University, Ben-Gurion University, the Weizmann Institute, the Open University of Israel and Reichman University. “Anonymous Sudan” stated on its Telegram account that the “Israel education sector has been dropped because of what they did in Palestine.” Last year, the hacker group DarkBit attacked Israel’s Technion and demanded over $1.7 million in ransom. DarkBit has demanded 80 bitcoins ($1,729,320) as ransom. The group has also said that the amount will go up by 30% if the ransom is not received within 48 hours. “You will receive a decrypting key after the payment,” they wrote. Iran is said to be behind this attack. According to reports, the Technion refused to pay the ransom.

The cyberattacks against Israeli institutions of higher learning are part of the war against Israel and the efforts of Palestinians and pro-Palestinians to harm Israel in any possible way.  Ironically, the attacks on Sakhnin and al-Qasemi colleges show that the Palestinian and pro-Palestinian hackers make no distinction between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

REFERENCES:

https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/700

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

FIREWALL DAILYHACKER CLAIMS

Ghosts of Palestine Launches Cyberattack on Israeli Universities in Protest

The hacktivist group Ghosts of Palestine has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Israeli universities targeting prominent educational institutions.

The list of targets includes the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Ben Gurion University, University of Haifa, and Bar Ilan University.

The group made its declaration about the cyberattack on Israeli universities via a post on the dark web titled “BIG ISRAELI UNIVERSITY CYBER ATTACK,” asserting their actions as a response to Israel’s alleged genocidal campaign in Gaza and drawing attention to the dire situation in Sudan.

In-detail: Cyberattack on Israeli Universities 

In a message posted on the dark web, the Ghosts of Palestine asserted their cyberattack as a protest against Israel’s perceived genocidal campaign on Gaza and drew attention to the dire situation in Sudan. Signed off as “Anonymous Sudan,” the group claimed responsibility for any damage inflicted on Israeli universities, citing collateral damage in their pursuit of drawing global attention to their cause.

Source: Twitter

The extent of the cyberattack on Israeli universities and any compromised data remains undisclosed by the hacktivist group, leaving Israeli authorities and educational institutions grappling with the aftermath of the breach if happened.

Previous Cyberattack on Israel

This latest cyberattack on Israeli universities comes amidst a surge in cyber aggression orchestrated by various hacker collectives, united under the banner of “Rise Of The Leaders.” Spearheaded by the IRoX Team-Elite Hackers, this collaboration aims to mobilize Muslim cyber warriors in launching coordinated cyber assaults against Israel.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that the Israeli government has become a prime target in the crosshairs of multiple hacking groups,including Anonymous Sudan, KillNet, and Moroccan Black Cyber. These cyber adversaries have officially declared a “cyber war” on Israel, posing a significant threat to its digital sovereignty and infrastructure

Amidst the cyber onslaught, the conflict between Hamas and Israel has extended into cyberspace, with pro-Hamas hacker groups launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting Israeli government and private websites.

While these cyberattacks on Israel have caused temporary disruptions, they have not had a lasting impact on Israel’s digital defenses. However, the escalation of cyber warfare highlights the severity of geopolitical tensions in the region, with cyberattacks serving as a weapon of choice for both state and non-state actors.

In response to the ongoing conflict, diplomatic efforts led by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt aim to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. Meanwhile, Ireland and Spain have called for the European Commission to assess Israel’s human rights compliance in Gaza, highlighting the international ramifications of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

As the cyber battlefield continues to evolve, the Israeli government and cybersecurity agencies remain vigilant in defending against cyber threats, emphasizing the importance of cybersecurity measures in safeguarding national security and digital infrastructure.

Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only, and users bear full responsibility for their reliance on it. The Cyber Express assumes no liability for the accuracy or consequences of using this information

Samiksha Jain

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

Cyber Warfare Surges as Over 35 Hacktivist Groups Join Israel-Palestine Conflict

The cyber assaults, predominantly distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, have been orchestrated against critical Israeli infrastructure.

byAshish Khaitan

October 11, 2023

Amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, a surge of hacktivists and ransomware groups has entered the arena, declaring a relentless wave of cyberattacks targeting both governmental and private entities with alarming frequency.

This development comes in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, during which Palestinian militant factions, under the leadership of Hamas, launched a broad-scale offensive from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Breaking through the heavily fortified Gaza-Israel barrier, they infiltrated nearby Israeli settlements and military bases. This aggressive move has exacerbated the Israel-Palestine war, intensifying hostilities between the two sides. 

Israel-Palestine Conflict: The Digital Battlefield

Source: Twitter

Simultaneously, a wave of cyber warfare has unfolded, adding a new dimension to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Over 35 pro-Palestine hacking groups have commenced a series of attacks on diverse targets within Israel, reported threat intelligence service Falconfeedsio.

These groups, while advocating for Palestinian interests, remain shrouded in mystery, their exact numbers and identities are yet to be verified. 

The cyber assaults, predominantly distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, have been orchestrated against critical Israeli infrastructure.

Groups like ‘Ghosts of Palestine’ have successfully incapacitated the websites of Israel’s Education Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rendering them unresponsive. Source: TwitterSource: Twitter

Additionally, the ‘Sylhet Gang-SG’ attempted to DDoS Ukrainian websites as a response to Ukraine’s support for Israel.Source: Twitter

The Israel-Palestine war have only increased the number of victims worldwide with many nations reporting cyber attacks and data breaches.

The hacker groups involved in the Israel-Palestine war are as follows: 

The ripple effects of the Israel-Palestine war

The ripple effect of this cyber conflict extends beyond Israel’s borders. Approximately 70 incidents have been recorded involving hacktivist groups from Asia, targeting nations aligned with the U.S., including Israel, India, and France. 

The Russian-backed ‘Killnet’ and ‘Usersec’ have set their sights on Israel’s banking and power sectors, while the ‘Indian Cyber Force’ directs its efforts towards Hamas’s official portal and several Indian governmental sites.

Among the 39 active hacker groups engaged in this Israel-Palestine war, a majority align with the Palestinian cause. Their targets encompass government, semi-government, and private entities in Israel, as well as governments and organizations supporting Israel globally.

The involvement of both pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine activist groups further complicates the Israel-Palestine conflict. ‘Usersec’, a pro-Russian hacktivist collective, joins forces with ‘Killnet‘ in targeting Israel, specializing in website defacements. The situation grows increasingly complex as Israel’s military amasses around 100,000 reserve troops near Gaza.

On the ground, the Israel-Palestine war continues to escalate. Fierce confrontations between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces persist in southern Israel, including areas like Karmia, Ashkelon, and Sderot. The current death toll stands at 413 Palestinians, according to health officials, and over 700 Israelis, according to media reports. 

“The Israeli website ynet reported that at least 700 Israelis had been killed, over 2000 injured and dozens more captured in Hamas’s offensive on southern and central Israel. Haaretz reported 413 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, 78 of whom are children”, reported The Wire.

Hamas’s surprise attack follows a period of heightened tensions triggered by Israeli settlers’ actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. These incidents, coupled with a surge in Palestinian casualties at the hands of Israeli forces in recent months, form the backdrop of this tragic conflict.

The Israel-Palestine war has taken a perilous turn with the Gaza offensive and the cyber warfare that has followed. As both physical and digital battlefields evolve, it is still left to see what would be the outcome of this conflict between the two nations.

The Cyber Express is closely monitoring developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict and will promptly provide any latest updates on the matter.

Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only, and users bear full responsibility for their reliance on it. The Cyber Express assumes no liability for the accuracy or consequences of using this information.

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

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/2024/02/22/uk-universities-targeted-cyberattack-supporting-israel

February 22, 2024

U.K. Universities Targeted by Cyberattack

Hackers known as Anonymous Sudan reportedly took responsibility and cited the “U.K.’s continued support for Israel” as the reason for their actions.

By  Patrick Jack for Times Higher Education

A group of hackers has taken responsibility for a cyberattack that disrupted internet connectivity at the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester, reportedly citing the “U.K.’s continued support for Israel.”

Systems were affected at the University of Cambridge and the University of Manchester, with internet access impacted and email systems delayed.

The disruption is the latest reported attack by Anonymous Sudan, a notorious hacktivist group that has previously caused widespread outages on X, formerly Twitter.

It disrupted internet connectivity at U.K. universities “because of the U.K.’s continued support of Israel” in the Gaza conflict, according to Joe Tidy, the BBC’s cyber correspondent.

In a post on X, he said the hackers targeted these universities specifically “because they are the biggest ones” they could find.

Cambridge reported a malicious denial-of-service attack that made internet access intermittent.

The Clinical School Computing Service, which provides IT services to staff and researchers in the university’s clinical school and beyond, said the disruption was largely over by Feb. 20 but some systems were still affected.

According to the university’s student newspaper, Varsity, Stuart Rankin, the head of user services at the university’s research computing services center, revealed that the incident was a distributed denial of service attack.

In an email, Rankin described it as a “deliberate flood of data generated by a large number of compromised machines on the internet.”

Manchester said the IT department was made aware of network connectivity problems on Feb. 19, which it later learned were caused by a cyberincident affecting both the university and its network provider.

With the availability of remote internet access affected, staff and students were initially advised to travel to campus to access university systems.

But in a post on X, the university said internet connectivity had stabilized overnight and off-campus access had been restored.

“We continue to work closely with our partners, including [the digital agency] Jisc, to continue to resolve any outstanding issues as quickly as possible and are continuing to monitor the situation today,” it said.

Despite its name, Anonymous Sudan is believed by experts to be unrelated to either the global hacking organization Anonymous or the country of Sudan. Instead, it has been linked to pro-Russian hacktivist collectives, with suggestions that it is funded by the Kremlin.

A Cambridge spokesman said, “The intermittent network access issues experienced by some users at the University of Cambridge in the last 24 hours have been resolved, and normal service should now be restored for centrally managed IT services.”

A spokesperson for Jisc, the U.K.’s higher education IT consortium, said that while disruption has been largely contained, the scale of the attack might also have impacted other institutions.

“Our dedicated cybersecurity incident response team is working directly with all affected organizations to mitigate the impact and protect against further disruption,” they added.

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

https://www.maariv.co.il/business/tech/Article-1080217שיבושים בשירותים מקוונים וניתוקי הרצאות: חשד למתקפות סייבר על האוניברסיטאותאוניברסיטאות בישראל מדווחות על חשד למתקפות סייבר הגורמות לשיבושים בשירותים מקוונים וניתוקי הרצאות

 ד”ר איתי גל

19:21 29/02/2024

אוניברסיטאות בישראל מדווחות הערב (חמישי) על חשד לתקיפות סייבר הגורמות לשיבושים בשירותים מקוונים וניתוקי הרצאות. כך לדוגמא, באוניברסיטת חיפה מסרו לסטודנטים כי “כל האוניברסיטאות ישראליות התקפת מניעת שירות (DDOS) כתוצאה מהעמסה של גורמים עוינים את ערוץ התקשורת בין אירופה לבין מחב”א, ספקית האינטרנט של האוניברסיטאות. העומס ירד בהדרגה כתוצאה מפעילות שבוצעה על ידי GEANT (המחב”א האירופאית שמהווה ספקית האינטרנט למחב”א)”.

רק לאחרונה זוהה גל של מתקפות חדשות העושות שימוש בנוזקת BiBi זוהה בימים האחרונים בישראל. מדובר בארבעה ואריאנטים חדשים של הנוזקה שאינם מזוהים ונתפסים על-ידי מנועי אנטי וירוס, לפי פלטפורמת VirusTotal.נוזקת ביבי היא נוזקה מסוג Wiper שנועדה למחוק ולהשחית נתונים במערכות המותקפות. בניגוד לסוגים אחרים של נוזקות, שמטרתן לגנוב או לרגל אחר נתונים, נוזקות מסוג Wiper נוצרות במיוחד כדי לגרום נזק, וקשה מאוד לשחזר את הנתונים שנפגעו בעיקבות התקיפה. נוזקת BiBi פותחה על ידי קבוצת האקרים המזוהים כפרו-חמאס עם פתיחת המלחמה באוקטובר, מתוך כוונה להביע תמיכה עם ארגון חמאס, והתקיפות התמקדו בחברות ישראליות במטרה לגרום להן לנזק רב ככל האפשר על-ידי מחיקת והשחתת נתוני קבצים ומידע ושיבוש מערכות הפעלה של חברות ישראליות ללא בקשת כופר.על הגילוי הראשון שכוון למערכות לינוקס כבר בתחילת המלחמה חתומה חברת הסייבר סקיוריטי ג’ו. בהמשך, פותחה גרסה של הנוזקה גם למערכות Windows.

לדברי עידן מליחי, חוקר אבטחה בחברת הסייבר CyFox, המתמחה באספקת פתרונות אבטחת מידע מבוססי בינה מלאכותית, “על רקע התמשכות המלחמה, הנוזקות החדשות שהתגלו, מכוונות לארגונים ישראלים קטנים עד גדולים, מתוך כוונה להרוס את מירב המידע והתוכן שיש בתשתיות החברה”. נכון לעכשיו, הוא אומר, טרם התגלו שמות של ארגונים אשר נתקפו על-ידי הוריאנטים החדשים של BiBi Wiper, אבל זה לא אומר שאין חברות כאלו.

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

https://www.ice.co.il/digital-140/news/article/1002812

חשד למתקפת סייבר על אוניברסיטאות בישראל: זו ההודעה החריגה

מספר אוניברסיטאות בישראל, בהן אוניברסיטת חיפה, דיווחו על  חשד לתקיפות סייבר הגורמות לשיבושים בשירותים מקוונים וניתוקי הרצאות

מערכת ice | 29/2/202421:45

על רקע מלחמת “חרבות ברזל”, מתקפות הסייבר בישראל עולות מדרגה והערב (חמישי), מספר אוניברסיטאות בישראל, בהן אוניברסיטת חיפה, דיווחו על  חשד לתקיפות סייבר הגורמות לשיבושים בשירותים מקוונים וניתוקי הרצאות. כך פורסם ב”מעריב”.

על פי הדיווח, באוניברסיטת חיפה מסרו לסטודנטים כי “כל האוניברסיטאות ישראליות התקפת מניעת שירות (DDOS) כתוצאה מהעמסה של גורמים עוינים את ערוץ התקשורת בין אירופה לבין מחב”א, ספקית האינטרנט של האוניברסיטאות. העומס ירד בהדרגה כתוצאה מפעילות שבוצעה על ידי GEANT (המחב”א האירופאית שמהווה ספקית האינטרנט למחב”א)”.

עוד ב- 

מתקפת סייבר על ישראל: גוגל חשפה קבוצת האקרים איראנית

לכתבה המלאה

כזכור, רק אתמול פרסמנו כי במסגרת מחקר שביצעה חברת מנדיאנט (Mandiant) השייכת לגוגל, זוהתה פעילות ריגול חמורה מצד קבוצת סייבר החשודה כאיראנית, הפועלת לכל הפחות מאז חודש יוני 2022 ותוקפת את מגזרי התעופה, החלל והביטחון במדינות במזרח התיכון, בפרט ישראל ואיחוד האמירויות, וייתכן שגם את טורקיה, הודו ואלבניה.

לפי הדו”ח, פעילות הסייבר משויכת לקבוצה איראנית הנקראת UNC1549 וקשורה לקבוצת Tortoiseshell שזוהתה בעבר עם משמרות המהפכה. הקשר למשמרות המהפכה האיראניות משמעותי בפרט על רקע מלחמת חרבות ברזל ולאור המתיחות בין ישראל ואיראן.

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

https://www.pc.co.il/news/%D7%90%D7%91%D7%98%D7%97%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%93%D7%A2-%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%99%D7%91%D7%A8/404508

האקרים מאיראן פרצו למכללות בישראל – גנבו ומחקו נתונים רבים

הפריצה אירעה דרך שרשרת האספקה, בעקבות חדירה לראשים – חברה בת של מלם תים ● לפי ההאקרים, בסיסי הנתונים שאליהם הם הצליחו להשיג גישה כוללים את מכללת אריאל, מכללת ספיר, בית ברל ועוד

יוסי הטוני 03/03/2024 14:50

האיראנים שוב תוקפים את ישראל בסייבר.צילום: ShutterStock

האקרים איראניים פרצו בימים האחרונים למערכות ה-IT של מכללות רבות בישראל, קצרו נתונים רבים, חלקם פרטיים, והתפארו בכך במדיה החברתית – כך נודע לאנשים ומחשבים. הפריצה התבצעה במתכונת פריצה לשרשרת האספקה: ההאקרים חדרו למערך ה-IT של ראשים, חברה בת של מלם תים, ומשם – ללקוחות שלה.

ההאקרים הם חברי קבוצת חתלתול נמסיס (Nemesis Kitten). היא מסומנת לעתים כ-DEV-0270, ומהווה תת קבוצה של שחקן האיומים האיראני זרחן (Phosphorus). בעבר היא התפרסמה כמי שמבצעת פעולות רשת זדוניות, כולל סריקת פגיעויות נרחבת, בגיבוי ובחסות ממשלת איראן. ב-2022 נחשפה הקבוצה כמי שערכה כמה מסעות מתקפות מסוג כופרה, שמטרתן הייתה לא קבלת דמי כופר, אלא חדירה למערכי המחשוב של הקורבנות.

גופים שנפרצו על ידי ההאקרים צילום: צילום מסך

בעבר העריכו חוקרים שחתלתול נמסיס מופעל על ידי חברה שפועלת תחת שני כינויים ציבוריים – Secnerd ו-Lifeweb. ארגונים אלה קשורים ל-Najee Technology Hooshmand – “חברה” לכאורה, שפועלת במחוז מרכז, קראג’, שבאיראן.

אילו גופים נפרצו?

בסוף השבוע, חברי חתלתול נמסיס התרברבו בהצלחתם בדארקנט ובמדיה החברתית, ופרסמו הודעות וסרטונים. אחד הסרטונים מראה כיצד הם חדרו למערכת ניהול של ראשים, ומחקו את החומר שעל השרתים שלהם.

לפי ההאקרים, בסיסי הנתונים שאליהם הם הצליחו להשיג גישה כוללים, בין השאר, את מכללת אריאל, מכללת ספיר, בית ברל, דעת נסים, גור אשדוד, המכללה האקדמית חמדת, הקולג’ הישראלי, מכללת המשטרה בבית שמש ומכללת סח’נין.

מיהי ראשים?

ב-2020 רכשה קבוצת מלם תים את ראשים – תכנון וביצוע מערכות מידע, שעוסקת במתן פתרונות מחשוב בתחום המינהל האקדמי למוסדות להשכלה גבוהה, וניהול הדרכה וכשירויות בארגונים. ראשים הוקמה ב-1998 ונותנת פתרונות לארגוני אקדמיה, השכלה והדרכה. למערכת שפיתחה יש יותר מ-200 אלף משתמשים – סטודנטים, עובדים, מרצים, מדריכים, וכן עובדי מינהל והנהלה. על לקוחות החברה נמנים גופי אקדמיה מהמובילים בישראל, בהם אוניברסיטת אריאל, מכללת אורנים, מכללת אל קאסמי, סמינר הקיבוצים, מכללת דוד ילין, מכללת סמי שמעון בנגב, מכללת תל חי, מכללת לוינסקי, המכון הטכנולוגי חולון (HIT) ועשרות מכללות נוספות. הפתרון של ראשים מיושם גם בגופי ההדרכה הגדולים של המכללה הלאומית לשוטרים ושל רשות שדות התעופה.

מראשים נמסר בתגובה כי החברה “חוותה אירוע סייבר, שהשפיע על חלק מלקוחותיה. כלל הלקוחות, הרשות להגנת הפרטיות ומערך הסייבר הלאומי עודכנו. אנחנו פועלים לטיפול מקיף ויסודי באירוע באמצעות צוות התערבות סייבר ייעודי, עד להחזרת הפעילות המלאה”.

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

https://www.ynet.co.il/digital/technews/article/hkzps8t112

האקרים תקפו את אתרי האוניברסיטאות: “בגלל מה שהם עשו בפלסטין”

אתרי האוניברסיטאות הגדולות נפלו לאחר שהותקפו על ידי קבוצת האקרים המכנה את עצמה “אנונימוס סודן”. “סקטור החינוך בישראל קרס בגלל מה שהם עשו בפלסטין”, כתבו ההאקרים בערוץ הטלגרם שלהם. מערך הסייבר הזהיר אתמול מהתגברות המתקפות במסגרת הקמפיין האנטי-ישראלי #OPIsrael

רפאל קאהאן|עודכן:04.04.23 | 14:30

מתקפת האקרים משולבת נגד מוסדות ההשכלה הגבוהה בישראל: אתרי האוניברסיטאות בישראל קרסו הבוקר (יום ג’) לאחר שהותקפו על ידי קבוצת האקרים המכנה את עצמה “אנונימוס סודן”. מדובר ככל הנראה במתקפת מניעת שירות (DDoS) שגורמת לאתרים לקרוס באמצעות הצפת השרתים שלהם בפקודות. נכון לשעות הצהריים, האתרים פועלים כשורה.

4 צפייה בגלריה

מתקפת סייבר נגד האוניברסיטאות

ההאקרים כתבו בערוץ הטלגרם שלהם כי “סקטור החינוך בישראל קרס בגלל מה שהם עשו בפלסטין”. לפי הרשימה שפרסמו ההאקרים, הם תקפו את כל האוניברסיטאות שפועלות בישראל: העברית, מכון ויצמן, בר אילן, חיפה, בן גוריון, הטכניון, הפתוחה, אריאל, רייכמן ותל אביב.

המתקפה מהווה חלק מקמפיין #OPIsrael שמתקיים מדי שנה בתחילת חודש אפריל ובמסגרתו האקטיביסטים – כלומר האקרים פוליטיים – מנסים לתקוף מטרות באינטרנט הישראלי. בימים האחרונים תקפו האקרים מסודן ומבנגלדש שורה של אתרים ישראליים, אך לא הצליחו לגרום נזק משמעותי. גם הפעם נראה שהנזק הוא בעיקר תודעתי, וכי לא נגנב מידע מהאוניברסיטאות.

Ad

Unmute

אתר האוניברסיטה הפתוחה, הבוקר

“האתר סגור”. האתר של אוניברסיטת בר-אילן

רשימת האוניברסיטאות שפורסמה על ידי ההאקרים

ההאקרים מאיימים בערוץ הטלגרם שלהם כי יתקפו את ישראל “בעוצמה” ב-7 אפריל – יום שישי הקרוב. בחברת אבטחת המידע צ’ק פוינט אומרים כי “מדובר בקבוצת תקיפה חדשה יחסית שהחלה לפעול בתחילת 2023, בעיקר נגד מטרות ישראליות ובשם האיסלאם. היא חלק מקבוצות תקיפה אידיאולוגיות שמרכזות מאמץ בימים האחרונים כדי להפיל אתרים של חברות וארגונים בישראל במסגרת מבצעי #OPIsrael – מבצע שנתי של תקיפות סייבר סביב מועדים משמעותיים. התקיפות הן תקיפות מניעות שירות (DDoS) – כאלה שרק מפילות אתרים ולא גונבות מידע – וניתן להתאושש מהן יחסית בקלות. אולם יש להניח שהקבוצות הללו מנסות לייצר מתקפות משמעותיות יותר, כולל מתקפות כופר וגניבת מידע”. רון מירן, ראש תחום מודיעין סייבר בחברת אבטחת המידע רדוור, מסר: “אנו צופים תקיפות נוספות על גופים המזוהים עם ישראל על ידי ‘אנונימוס סודן’ ו’מיסטריוס בנגלדש’ ואליהן יצטרפו קבוצות נוספות ב-7 באפריל. מדובר בהתקפות מניעת שירות שמרבית הארגונים המותקפים אינם מצליחים להתמודד עמן ובהתאם האתרים שלהם משותקים. ראינו כבר גופים אלו בפעילות נגד אתרים ברחבי העולם, למשל בדנמרק ושבדיה. המטרה המרכזית שלהם היא תודעתית: להצהיר כי הצליחו לשתק אתרים ישראליים במחאה על הפגיעה בפלסטינים”. ליאור פרנקל, יו”ר פורום הסייבר באיגוד ההייטק הישראלי ומנכ”ל חברת ווטרפול סקיוריטי, מסר: “ההתקפות הן חלק ממערכה אשר מתרחשת בכל שנה בתקופת יום העצמאות. לרוב המטרה היא הפלת אתרי אינטרנט, אך לעיתים ההתקפות מכוונות גם לפגיעה בפעילות עסקית ולשיבוש תהליכי ייצור. פורום הסייבר באיגוד ההיי-טק הישראלי קיבל מספר פניות בימים האחרונים לגבי תקיפות סייבר על חברות יצרניות, ואת חלקן ניתן לייחס לתקופה הזו בשנה”.

האם האוניברסיטאות נערכו כראוי?

המתקפה נגד האוניברסיטאות מגיעה יום לאחר שמערך הסייבר הלאומי התריע מפני התגברות המאמצים לתקוף מטרות בישראל סביב חודש הרמדאן ו”יום ירושלים האיראני” שיצוין ב-14 באפריל. במערך הזהירו באופן ספציפי מפני השחתת אתרים ומתקפות מניעת שירות, ולפיכך נשאלת השאלה אם באוניברסיטאות לא נערכו כראוי כדי להגן על אתרי האינטרנט שלהן. התאוששות ממתקפת מניעת שירות נחשבת כאמור לקלה יחסית, אולם המתקפה המשולבת נגד האוניברסיטאות מעלה חשש שיש כאן אולי גם מהלך של שחקן מדיני. עד כה משתתפי OPIsrael נחשבו כחובבנים לא מיומנים, אך הורדה משולבת של אתרי של כל המוסדות להשכלה גבוהה נראית מתוחכמת יותר ממה שהיה עד כה.

פורסם לראשונה: 11:16, 04.04.23

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

https://www.jns.org/cyberattack-crashes-israeli-universities-websites/
Cyberattack crashes websites of several Israeli universitiesThe “Anonymous Sudan” hacker group says the attack was executed “because of what they did in Palestine.”

(April 4, 2023 / JNS)

A coordinated cyberattack took down the websites of major Israeli universities on Tuesday.

A hacker group calling itself “Anonymous Sudan” claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram account, stating that the “Israel education sector has been dropped because of what they did in Palestine.”

Institutions impacted by the attack include Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the Open University of Israel and Reichman University in Herzliya.

“These are service-disrupting attacks—those that only bring down websites and do not steal information—and can be recovered from relatively easily. However, it can be assumed that these groups are trying to produce more significant attacks, including ransom attacks and data theft,” Check Point, an Israeli cyber-security firm, said in a statement.

On its Telegram account, the hacker group has claimed previous cyberattacks on Israeli government ministries and hospitals, and attacks on Denmark and Australia “because of the burning of the Quran again.”

The hacker group also warned that on April 7, it “will attack Israel with big power,” saying that would be the main attack day. Following Tuesday’s attack on the educational sector, the group thanked “all the Arabs who support us.”

The attacks are part of the #OPIsrael campaign that takes place every spring around April 7. The date was chosen in 2013, when the first #OpIsrael took place. Initially, the attackers wanted to attack ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which that year fell on April 8. Attacks in subsequent years stuck to the April 7 date.

Hackers from Sudan and Bangladesh attempted cyberattacks in recent days but failed to cause significant damage.

Israel’s cyber-defense authorities repelled more than 1,000 attempted attacks in 2022.

29.02.24

Editorial Note

Norwegian academics have joined Palestinian efforts to boycott Israeli academic institutions. Four Norwegian universities recently announced they would stop exchange programs with Israeli universities.  

One of the key activists is Professor Hege Hermansen from the Oslo Metropolitan University Center for the Study of Professions, specializing in knowledge work in the professions, juridification of higher education, etc.

She wrote on her LinkedIn page, “Together with Astrid Helene Olsen and 106 other colleagues, I have asked the University of Oslo for a more thorough treatment of the academic boycott of Israel. OsloMet, USN and Nord University have stopped cooperation with Israeli universities, and professional communities at three other institutions (UiB, BAS and NTNU) have canceled specific cooperation agreements. Now it is time for the University of Oslo Svein Stølen Åse Gornitzka to also take up the debate, and take it seriously.”

The University of Southeast Norway (USN) terminated its cooperation agreements with two Israeli universities, the University of Haifa, Nursing program, and Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, Optometry. The USN Rector, Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson, stated, “The USN leadership is shaken by Israel’s attack on Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure, and the catastrophic humanitarian situation that now prevails in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have chosen to ignore the International People’s Court’s statements, and have not met the requirements to improve the humanitarian situation… the warfare that the state of Israel is now carrying out in Gaza is unacceptable, and undermines the democratic foundation on which all universities must build… That is the reason why we no longer wish to have cooperation agreements with universities in Israel.” 

The Rector emphasizes that “this does not imply an academic boycott, and that students and staff can freely choose who they want to work with, regardless of institutional agreements.” The Rector continues, “Academic freedom is a core value for us, and cooperation across national borders is important to maintain dialogue also in conflict areas, which is why we do not want a boycott.”

Likewise, another university, the Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), also put the exchange agreement on hold. The University Board decided on February 13 that OsloMet will not enter into new cooperation agreements with Israeli universities.

The University Board stated, “The University Board condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza. The Board supports the university management’s measures and practices to: expand the Scholars at Risk scheme; work to terminate purchasing agreements with suppliers who have a direct connection with the Israeli military or who operate in the occupied Palestinian territories; establish measures that promote dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli academics about peace and cooperation; maintain the university’s independent role in society, academic freedom, and safeguard the important role of knowledge in relation to countries and regions in war, conflict, and crisis.” 

The University of Bergen (UiB) decided on 11 December 2023 to terminate the agreement with the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. The agreement included exchanges on the study programs in art and design at the bachelor’s and master’s levels at the Faculty of Art, Music and Design (KMD) at UiB. The faculty Dean, Frode Thorsen, wrote in an email that the triggering factor for the dismissal was that KMD received information that Bezalel made its premises available to repair clothing and equipment for the Israeli army. 

When questioned about the boycott, Thorsen replied that the university has not defined it as such, “I do not want to comment on how artists, art institutions and artists’ organizations should approach the boycott movement.” Rector Margareth Hagen stated that she opposed using an academic boycott as a means of action. “My position is that if institutional sanctions are to be implemented against individual countries, then it must be on the basis of the Norwegian authorities’ decisions, as is the case with Russia,” she said in October.

Bergen University of Architecture (BAS) has also terminated its agreement with Bezalel because, according to the Times of Israel, after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Bezalel took in volunteers to help sew uniforms for military personnel fighting in Gaza. 

Dr. Einar Braathen, a member of the OsloMet board who proposed suspending the exchange program, is a longtime pro-Palestinian activist. In 2014, he co-authored a report titled “Review of Norwegian democracy support via political parties.” The authors interviewed Raed Debiy (national board member and international leader of the Palestinian Fateh Youth Movement. According to the report, the Norwegian political party, Labor Youth/The Workers’ Youth League (AUF) has, since the mid-1990s, developed contacts with political youth organizations in the Middle East, mainly with the Fateh Youth Movement (FYM), the youth organization of the largest political party in Palestine.

Interestingly, the report stated “The partners challenge three weaknesses in political organizations in this part of the world: first, the tradition of few female leaders; second, organizationally weak local branches; third, politically weak youth organizations in their relationships with parent parties. These aspects have been dealt with in a series of seminars and courses. “This may lead to the strengthening of progressive, secular and democratic forces in the region.” The perseverance of wars and armed conflicts in the region have increasing imprints on political work and campaigning – how to cope with this is also a challenge… Since January 2014 the design has changed. The partnership involves three types of joint activities for Lebanese, Palestinian and Norwegian. “AUF spends substantial parts of its own resources on international democracy support.”

An earlier report published in 2010, titled “Evaluation of the Norwegian Center for Democracy Support 2002-2009,” was carried out by the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR). Einar Braathen was the team leader. The project in Palestine was organized by the Norwegian Labor Party Women (APK) in cooperation with the Fateh party and by the Women’s Committee of Socialist Left Party of Norway in cooperation with the Palestinian Federation of Women Action. The focus of the APK-Fateh project was on the training of trainers in the empowerment tool “Women can do it”. The “evaluation found that individual women who had received training considered that they had gained self-confidence, but that the ‘Women can do it’ model had not been replicated in the Fateh organization as intended. In this regard, the evaluation points to inadequate follow up from the Norwegian trainers, and a lack of democratic structures in the Fateh organization.”

A 1999 newsletter published by the International Social Science Council, titled “Comparative Research Program On Poverty” (CROP), reported that Dr. Einar Braathen, CROP Program Officer, traveled to Birzeit University in Palestine, where they met with the President of the University, Dr. Hanna Nasir, and several Palestinian colleagues working in poverty research. 

This round of BDS-related resolutions on the Norwegian campuses, not to mention scores of others in the West, is a triumph for the propaganda machine in Iran. The regime, the largest purveyor of antisemitic and anti-Israeli content in the world (translated into thirty-one languages) has been an early supporter of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) that Omar Barghouti founded in 2005. Press TV, Iran’s English language channel, has carried a report on the Norwegian boycott, as it routinely does on other anti-Israeli activities in the West.  

More than ever, the current wave of BDS activities exposes the moral bankruptcy of the academy. Surely, the well-educated Norwegian professors are aware that the war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s horrific attack on the Jewish communities along the border, the largest of its kind since the Holocaust. Using a combination of Nazi and ISIS tactics, the terrorists slaughter innocent civilians. 

They are also aware that under international law, Israel has a right to self-defense in the face of an unprovoked attack. Hamas tried to complicate the IDF’s response by hiding in hundreds of miles of tunnels and public spaces such as hospitals, schools, and mosques, effectively turning its population into human shields. Embedding among non-combatants and using them as human shields is outlawed under the Geneva Conventions. 

There is only one reason for the silence on these two issues. The left-leaning social sciences in the academy have adopted a stand best described as “the Israelis cannot do anything right, and the Palestinians cannot do anything wrong.” To admit that Hamas violated all international standards by butchering the Jews and causing the death of Palestinian human shields would undermine this tenet. 

REFERENCES:

https://no.linkedin.com/posts/hegehermansen_debatt-universitetet-i-oslo-fortjener-en-activity-7168194162222120961-Df30

Translated by Google

Hege Hermansen Researcher & Educator 1d

Together with Astrid Helene Olsen and 106 other colleagues, I have asked the University of Oslo for a more thorough treatment of the academic boycott of Israel.

OsloMet, USN and Nord University have stopped cooperation with Israeli universities, and professional communities at three other institutions (UiB, BAS and NTNU) have canceled specific cooperation agreements.

Now it is time for the University of Oslo Svein Stølen Åse Gornitzka to also take up the debate, and take it seriously.

• Hege HermansenResearcher & Educator 1dSammen med Astrid Helene Olsen og 106 andre kolleger har jeg bedt Universitetet i Oslo om en grundigere behandling av akademisk boikott av Israel. OsloMet, USN og Nord universitetet har stoppet samarbeid med israelske universiteter og fagmiljøer ved tre andre institusjoner (UiB, BAS og NTNU) har avbrutt konkrete samarbeidsavtaler. Nå er det på tide at Universitetet i Oslo Svein Stølen Åse Gornitzka også tar debatten, og tar den på alvor. Astrid Helene OlsenRådgiver studieadministrasjon, Universitetet i Oslo1dJeg og 107 kollegaer ved Universitetet i Oslo har underskrevet en kronikk om at Universitetet i Oslo fortjener en grundigere behandling av akademisk boikott i universitetsstyret. Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) Hege Hermansen Sanam Bhatti Vera Raudberget Fiveland Hannah Løke Kjos Gry Luke Muggerud Turi Lindalen Solveig Blomstrøm Nordbø Lærke Ajaaja Madsen Otzen https://lnkd.in/duUAg8kj DEBATT: Universitetet i Oslo fortjener en grundigere behandling av akademisk boikott i universitetsstyret – Uniforumuniforum.uio.no

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

https://www.usn.no/nyhetsarkiv/avslutter-samarbeid-med-universiteter-i-israelEnds cooperation with universities in IsraelUSN terminates its cooperation agreements with two Israeli universities.

AUTHOR: REIDUN MANGRUD 

PUBLICATION DATE: 19/02/2024

– The USN leadership is shaken by Israel’s attack on Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure, and the catastrophic humanitarian situation that now prevails in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have chosen to ignore the International People’s Court’s statements, and have not met the requirements to improve the humanitarian situation. That is the reason why we no longer wish to have cooperation agreements with universities in Israel, says rector Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson.  

Nursing and optometry

It is the agreements with Haifa University and Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem that are now being terminated. The collaboration with Haifa concerns an exchange for nursing students. The agreement with Hadassah includes professional collaboration and the exchange of staff and students associated with USN’s national Center for Vision, Optics and Eye Health. This agreement has had great professional value for the optometry community at Kongsberg.

The change has no direct consequences for the students now, since the exchange with Israel has already been stopped for security reasons.

– We want to give a clear message that the warfare that the state of Israel is now carrying out in Gaza is unacceptable, and undermines the democratic foundation on which all universities must build.

Not an academic boycott

Bing-Jonsson emphasizes that this does not imply an academic boycott, and that students and staff can freely choose who they want to work with, regardless of institutional agreements. It is USN as an institution that terminates its agreements.

– Academic freedom is a core value for us, and cooperation across national borders is important to maintain dialogue also in conflict areas, which is why we do not want a boycott, says the rector.

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

Termination of two Israel agreements. Not an academic boycott, says the rector

The University of Southeast Norway ends its agreements with the University of Haifa and Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem.

Text:Mats Arnesenmats.arnesen@khrono.no

Published Monday 19/02/2024 – 16:18 Updated Wednesday 21/02/2024 – 15:40

The University of South-East Norway (USN) has had an exchange agreement for nursing students with the University of Haifa and an agreement on academic cooperation and exchange of staff and students at the Center for Vision, Optics and Eye Health with Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem.

Both agreements have now been terminated, according to a press release from USN . 

Due to the security situation in the country, there have been no students or staff on exchange to Israel recently, and the agreements have therefore not been active.

Nevertheless, principal Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson believes that it is important to send a clear signal. 

– We have emphasized the serious situation in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have chosen to ignore the international court’s statements, and have not met the requirements to improve the humanitarian situation. After pressure from students, staff and the media, we have chosen to reassess the situation, and have chosen to end the collaboration with Israel at an institutional level, she tells Khrono.

ACADEMIC BOYCOTT

This is how Norwegian and Israeli universities and colleges collaborate

Not an academic boycott

On October 7, the long-running conflict between Palestine and Israel escalated, when the military wing of Hamas attacked a number of targets in Israel. The attack triggered a response from Israel, which entered Gaza.

Since then, the Israeli warfare has been strongly criticized, and the war has triggered a new discussion in Norway about academic boycott.

Bing-Jonsson is clear that their decision to terminate the agreements is not the same as an academic boycott. 

— It is connected with the academic freedom that each employee and student has. Although the collaborative relationship between USN and the Israeli universities ends now, each individual employee and student can choose freely who they want to collaborate with, says the USN rector. 

Does not break with the Kongsberg group

The students in the Palestine Committee at USN have also demanded in a debate post  that USN end its collaboration with Kongsberg Gruppen and Nammo. The university has a collaboration agreement with the former, but not the latter, but USN is involved in some projects where Nammo is also a party.

“Weapons and military material are produced here which turn out to end up in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Is it a problem for the university?” wrote Heming Olaussen, head of the Palestine Committee in Vestfold in Gjengangeren. 

The agreement with the Kongsberg Group has also been reviewed now, says Bing-Jonsson, but the USN management has settled on the fact that it is natural to distinguish between the agreements they have with Israeli universities and other cooperation agreements with Norwegian actors. 

— The Kongsberg Group is an important player in our region, and a major employer where many of our students want to work. It is again about academic freedom where it is up to each individual if someone wants to collaborate with them. We emphasize that our partners follow Norwegian legislation with regard to the export control regulations, she says.

STUDENT STRIKE

Several hundred students on strike against cooperation with Israel

— A step in the right direction

Head of the Palestine Committee, Line Khateeb, praises the USN for taking action and ending the agreements with the Israeli partner universities. 

— It is a step in the right direction, and it is actually quite important that they take a stand and express it. We see that there is a lot of involvement in academia among staff and students, who put pressure on the boards and management to go ahead with an academic boycott.

Palestine Committee head Line Khateeb praises the USN for taking action and breaking two agreements with Israeli universities. Here she is pictured during a demonstration at Jernbanetorget in Oslo in October.Beate Oma Dahle/NTB

But she is puzzled by USN’s interpretation of academic boycott, and believes there must be a misunderstanding about what it is.

– It is precisely about ending institutional cooperation with Israeli institutions, but not about boycotting individuals. For example, some Israeli academics have lost their jobs because they have spoken out critically about Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is important to support individuals who take a stand against occupation and apartheid, and that we distinguish between contact with individuals and the institutional agreements, which help to legitimize Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

Khateeb is disappointed by the decision not to break with Kongsberg Gruppen. 

— I understand that it is about finances, but this shows that we have a way to go. Both Kongsberg Gruppen and Nammo have large state ownership, and here the Norwegian authorities must do more to ensure that Norwegian weapons technology is not used by Israel. 

OsloMet decision

USN is not the only university that has canceled its agreements with Israeli universities. OsloMet recently decided in a board meeting to freeze its exchange agreement with the University of Haifa. They also decided that no new collaboration agreements will be entered into with Israeli educational institutions. 

The decision was made by 9 to 2 votes after a discussion that lasted 4 hours and a quarter, partly with high temperatures and strong emotions, only interrupted by parliamentarianism in the back room for two rounds.

OSLO

Freezes a deal, but doesn’t want to boycott

FACTS

Norwegian University Ends Israel Agreements

• The University of Southeast Norway (USN) has terminated its exchange agreement with the University of Haifa and a collaboration with Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, citing the grave situation in Gaza and Israel’s disregard for international court statements.
• USN rector emphasizes the decision is not an academic boycott, allowing individual freedom for staff and students to choose their collaborations. Despite pressure, USN maintains its partnership with Kongsberg Gruppen, differentiating it from the Israeli institutional agreements.

The summary is generated by Labrador AI, but read through by a journalist.

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

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hegehermansen_we-ask-you-again-to-stand-with-your-palestinian-activity-7124168371536805888-TvZZ?trk=public_profile_like_view

Hege Hermansen

Researcher & Educator 4mo

To all my fellow academics: Our Palestinian partners are requesting your urgent solidarity.

Iyad Abualrub

Adviser to University of Oslo Centre for Learning, Innovation and Academic Development 4mo

From our partners in Palestine, please share their message.

We ask you, again, to stand with your Palestinian colleagues

khrono.no

32

• Hege HermansenResearcher & Educator6dTakk til Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson og University of South-Eastern Norway for en prinsipiell, tydelig og viktig avgjørelse, som forhåpentligvis kan vise vei for resten av sektoren. Jeg hadde et håp om at mine egne to institusjoner, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University og Universitetet i Oslo ville gå foran – men da får jeg heller håpe at de lærer fra USN. Tror imidlertid USN har misforstått litt hva en akademisk boikott er. Siden oppropet kom for 20 år siden (2004), så har akademisk boikott alltid vært rettet mot institusjonelt samarbeid og aldri mot samhandling med enkeltindivider. I det nasjonale oppropet spesifiseres det eksplisitt at “vi avviser alle former for boikott av enkeltindivider basert på deres identitet eller institusjonelle tilhørighet”. Ønsker du å støtte det nasjonale oppropet for akademisk boikott av Israel? Signer oppropet her: https://lnkd.in/gAvwS_65 https://lnkd.in/dFkXbmvy

Thank you to Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson and the University of South-Eastern Norway for a principled, clear and important decision, which can hopefully show the way for the rest of the sector. I had hoped that my own two institutions, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University and the University of Oslo, would take the lead – but then I’d rather hope that they learn from USN. However, I think USN has misunderstood what an academic boycott is. Since the call came 20 years ago (2004), academic boycotts have always been aimed at institutional cooperation and never at interaction with individuals. In the national appeal, it is explicitly specified that “we reject all forms of boycott of individuals based on their identity or institutional affiliation”. Do you want to support the national call for an academic boycott of Israel? Sign the petition here: https://lnkd.in/gAvwS_65https://lnkd.in/dFkXbmvy

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

https://www.khrono.no/we-ask-you-again-to-stand-with-your-palestinian-colleagues/821257

We ask you, again, to stand with your Palestinian colleagues

Due to the ongoing military aggression by the Israeli occupation forces, activity at university campuses in Palestine are severely disrupted. We would like to share with Norwegian academics how we are affected by the situation.

We call, once again, on our Norwegian and international colleagues in the higher education sector to stand in solidarity with Palestinian academics.

Palestine Polytechnic University, Hebron, PalestineMohammedTamimi

University College of Applied Sciences, Gaza, PalestineOlaAzam

LINK Center, University of OsloIyadAbualrub

LINK Center, University of OsloHegeHermansen

Publisert Fredag 27.10.2023 – 15:39 Oppdatert Fredag 27.10.2023 – 16:01

A bit more than two years ago, we wrote an opinion piece in Khrono that called on the international academic community to stand alongside their Palestinian colleagues. Unfortunately, the Palestinian higher education sector is worse off today than two years ago.

Through Norad’s NORHEDII-programme, we lead a six-year research and development project aimed at strengthening technology-enhanced teaching and learning in the Palestinian higher education sector. The project is a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) in Hebron, the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) in Gaza and Oslo Metropolitan University. Due to the ongoing military aggression by the Israeli occupation forces, all our project activities are currently on hold. We would like to share with Norwegian academics how we are affected by the situation:

DEBATT ● HEGE HERMANSEN

Når skal palestinske akademikere få oppleve et liv uten okkupasjon?

At the time of writing, the UN reports (26 October) 7028 deaths and 18482 wounded Palestinians in Gaza since 7 October.  The actual numbers are likely to be much higher, as more than a thousand people remain buried under the rubble of bombed buildings. In the West Bank, 102 Palestinians have been killed, 1889 wounded and thousands have been arrested. In Gaza, more than 1.4 million Palestinians are internally displaced. Israel has bombed health facilities, schools, universities, churches, mosques, bakeries, and media houses. About 45% of all housing units in Gaza have been completely or partially damaged. Gaza is running out of water and food and Palestinians are forced to drink contaminated water.

At the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS), located in the southern part of Gaza City, all academic activities have been completely suspended. The combination of violent bombing by warplanes and the cutting off of water, food, electricity and internet has led to the displacement of large numbers of UCAS staff and their families. Many lack food and water and are unable to communicate with the outside world. Due to the loss of communication channels, it is impossible to keep track of staff and students. As a preliminary count, six UCAS staff members (Wael Al-Zard, Ziad Al-Maghari, Mariam Al-Asali, Ibrahim Al-Dahshan, Samah Al-Dalou, Heba Al-Madamon, Musab Zino) have been brutally killed and two academic staff members have lost their first-degree relatives.

DEBATT ● MAGNUS BARKA HJELLE, RAGHAD ABU SHAKER OG KIRSTI AARSETH

Hva må til for at norske institusjoner kutter samarbeid med Israel?

The UCAS university buildings were partially damaged a week after the initial attack. This has been followed by several bombs hitting the UCAS surroundings, which have led to the destruction of large parts of the college. We do not know the exact level of destruction, as the surrounding area was completely evacuated because of the continued bombing. It is also difficult to reach the campus because of the destruction of the infrastructure around it, including many roads. 

As Khrono has reported, the same situation applies to other higher education institutions in Gaza, who have had staff and students killed in Israeli bomb attacks and university buildings destroyed.

MIDTØSTEN

USN-ansatte i sorg etter bombing i Gaza. — Så drøyt, så drøyt

At the Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, academic activities are also gravely affected. The university had to close its doors to students and staff and most scheduled activities have been cancelled. All roads to Hebron are blocked by the Israeli military, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the city. This makes it impossible for students and teachers that live outside Hebron to reach campus. PPU has attempted to switch to online learning, but this approach largely failed due to the escalation of killings in Gaza and the West Bank.

PPU has also received a bomb threat against the campus from a group of Israeli settlers. One PPU student in his third year of an architecture degree, Mohammed Hammad, has been killed by Israeli forces. Six family members of the former head of our Civil Engineering Department have been killed in an airstrike in Gaza, and at least 30 students have been arrested by Israeli forces since 7 October. Several students have also been injured by the Israeli military when they participated in demonstrations against the ongoing bombing of Gaza.

We call, once again, on our Norwegian and international colleagues in the higher education sector to stand in solidarity with Palestinian academics. We ask that you demand:

• An immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an end to the ongoing violence by Israeli settlers and occupation forces in the West Bank.
  
• That sufficient humanitarian aid is admitted to Gaza immediately and that all access to water, food, medical supplies, electricity, and fuel is restored.
  
• That the 16 year-long blockade of Gaza is permanently lifted.
  
• An end to the occupation of Palestine.

MIDTØSTEN

Norsk student kalt inn på teppet i Polen på grunn av plakat med davidsstjerne

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

Opprop for akademisk boikott av Israel

07.02.2024: Vi samler fortsatt underskrifter!

Opprop for akademisk boikott av Israel

Vi er akademikere og administrativt ansatte som ber ledelsen ved alle høyere utdanningsinstitusjoner i Norge om å iverksette en umiddelbar akademisk boikott av israelske universiteter og høyskoler. Det er et akutt behov for tiltak som kan bidra til å stoppe Israels brutale okkupasjon og krigføring mot palestinerne. Mange akademikere og fageksperter omtaler det som nå skjer i Gaza som et folkemord.

Samtidig ber vi alle våre israelske kolleger om å vise motstand mot Israels brutale krigshandlinger og okkupasjon av palestinere. Vi kommer med dette oppropet i solidaritet med alle som har uttalt seg mot israelsk apartheid og de pågående forbrytelsene mot menneskeheten i Gaza. 

Formålet med akademisk boikott er å støtte opp om frihet og rettferdighet for studenter og akademikere i Palestina og Israel. Hensikten med en akademisk boikott er dermed å utvide – ikke å begrense – akademisk frihet. 

Hvorfor akademisk boikott?

1.     For å protestere mot de enorme ødeleggelsene av den palestinske høyere utdanningssektoren i Gaza som følge av de pågående israelske angrepene, og for å protestere mot den kontinuerlige undertrykkelsen av høyere utdanningssektoren på den okkuperte Vestbredden og i Øst-Jerusalem.

2.     For å protestere mot at palestinske og israelske akademikere og studenter frarøves sin akademiske frihet. 

a.  Palestinske akademikere har, som resten av den palestinske befolkningen, levd under okkupasjon i mange tiår. Studenter og ansatte er blitt drept eller fordrevet av bombingen i Gaza. Samtlige høyere utdanningsinstitusjoner i Gaza er ødelagt av israelske bomber. Studentene har blitt frarøvet sitt utdanningstilbud i over en måned. På Vestbredden har israelske militærstyrker iverksatt veisperringer (“check points”) og portforbud som forhindrer akademikere og studenter fra å nå lærestedene. Palestinske studenter blir jevnlig utsatt for vilkårlige arrestasjoner og lærestedene blir invadert og ødelagt av israelske militærstyrker.

b. Institusjonell autonomi og akademisk frihet i den palestinske høyere utdanningssektoren blir sterkt begrenset av Israel gjennom den såkalte  ‘Procedure for entry and residence of foreigners in the Judea and Samaria area’ (Israels betegnelse for den okkuperte Vestbredden). Siden mai 2022 har det israelske militæret hatt fullmakt til å bestemme hvilke utenlandske akademikere og studenter som får lov til å besøke, arbeide eller studere ved universiteter og høgskoler på den okkuperte Vestbredden. De bestemmer også hvilke temaer akademikere får lov til å forelese over.

c.  Israelske akademikere og studenter har fått sin egen ytringsfrihet og akademiske frihet begrenset gjennom the Israeli Boycott Law of 2011. Ifølge denne loven kan israelske akademikere og studenter bli frarøvet rettigheter, for eksempel muligheter til å søke forskningsmidler og stipender, dersom de uttrykker støtte for boikott av Israel. Israelske akademikere møter også restriksjoner gjennom the Entry into Israel Law. Denne loven forbyr utenlandske kolleger innreise til Israel dersom de har uttrykt støtte for boikott av Israel.

3.     Det er godt dokumentert at israelske akademiske institusjoner har bidratt til utvikling av våpen og teknologi som brukes i okkupasjon og drap av palestinere, og til å legitimere krigføringen mot et okkupert folk. Israelske universiteter har infrastruktur på okkuperte områder. Ingen israelske universiteter har offentlig fordømt de systematiske overgrepene mot den palestinske høyere utdanningssektoren.

4.   For å utøve reelt og symbolsk press på israelske universiteter og høgskoler for at de skal aktivt arbeide for en slutt på okkupasjonen og innføring av like rettigheter for israelere og palestinere. En akademisk boikott av israelske institusjoner bør være aktiv frem til disse betingelsene er møtt.

Hva innebærer en akademisk boikott?

Norske akademikere bør ikke samarbeide med israelske institusjoner som aktivt støtter opp om okkupasjon, apartheid og krigsforbrytelser, og som er med på å frarøve våre palestinske kolleger sin akademiske frihet.

Akademisk boikott av Israel omfatter ikke enkeltindivider i israelsk akademia. Vi avviser alle former for boikott av enkeltindivider basert på deres identitet eller institusjonelle tilhørighet. Imidlertid gjelder boikott for individer med formelle representasjonsroller (eksempelvis en rektor, universitetsdirektør eller offentlig talsperson).

Vi krever:

• At norske universiteter og høgskoler umiddelbart kutter alt institusjonelt samarbeid med høyere utdanningsinstitusjoner i Israel, inkludert formelt forskningssamarbeid og utvekslingsavtaler.
• At norske universiteter og høgskoler gjennomgår alle innkjøpsrutiner, for å unngå alle innkjøpsavtaler med leverandører som har forbindelser med det israelske militæret eller opererer i de okkuperte palestinske områdene.
• At norske universiteter og høgskoler aktivt støtter opp om den palestinske høyere utdanningssektoren, og særlig universiteter og høgskoler i Gaza.
• At norske universiteter og høgskoler aktivt støtter utsatte palestinske akademikere, slik man tidligere har støttet ukrainske akademikere gjennom Ukrainian scholars at risk.

Vi oppfordrer alle akademikere i Norge

• om å bidra til at deres institusjoner uttrykker et tydelig krav om en umiddelbar våpenhvile i hele Palestina.
• til å unngå konferanser og andre akademiske arrangementer der israelske høyere utdanningsinstitusjoner har en offisiell rolle som arrangør eller sponsor.
• om å opprette samarbeid med palestinske akademikere og høyere utdanningsinstitusjoner.
• som har relasjoner med israelsk akademia om å jobbe aktivt for å fremme akademisk frihet, ytringsfrihet og rettferdighet for palestinske og israelske studenter og akademikere.
• om å aktivt engasjere seg i egne fagorganisasjoner og akademiske nettverk for å fremme akademisk frihet, ytringssfrihet og rettferdighet for palestinske og israelske studenter og akademikere.  

See full list of signatories here. 

See the call in English here. 

Akademisk boikott: et kunnskapsgrunnlag. 

For questions about signing the call, please contact:
Maja van der Velden –  majava at ifi.uio.no

For media inquiries, please contact: 
Hege Hermansen – hege.hermansen at oslomet.no 

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

Call for an academic boycott of Israel 

We are academics and administrative employees who call upon the leadership of all higher educational institutions in Norway to immediately implement a boycott of Israeli universities and colleges. There is an urgent need for measures that can contribute to ending Israel’s brutal occupation and warfare against the Palestinians. Many academics and experts call what happens now in Gaza genocide. 

At the same time we call on our Israeli counterparts to oppose Israel’s ruthless acts of war and occupation of the Palestinians. We make this call in solidarity with all those who oppose Israeli  apartheid and the ongoing crimes against humanity in Gaza.  

The goal of this academic boycott is to support freedom and justice for the students and academics in Palestine and Israel. The purpose of the boycott is to extend – not restrict – academic freedom. 

Why an academic boycott? 

1. To protest the destruction of Palestinian universities and colleges in the ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza and the oppression of Palestinian universities and colleges in the West  Bank and East-Jerusalem. 

2. To protest the denial of academic freedom of Palestinian and Israeli scholars and  students 

a. Palestinian academics have, like the rest of the Palestinian population, lived under occupation for many decades. Students and faculty have been killed or displaced during the bombing in Gaza. Palestinian universities and colleges have been destroyed by Israeli bombs. Students have now been denied education for  more than a month. On the West Bank, Israeli military forces have implemented roadblocks and curfews, preventing academics and students from reaching their university campuses. Palestinian students are regularly exposed to random arrest  and their institutions are invaded and destroyed by Israeli forces. 

b. The institutional autonomy and academic freedom in the Palestinian higher education sector is restricted by the Israeli ‘Procedure for entry and residence of foreigners in the Judea and Samaria area’ (Israel’s name for the occupied West  Bank). Since May 2022, the Israeli military has the power to control which foreign academics and students visit, work at or study at a university or college in the occupied West Bank. They also decide what themes they can lecture on. 

c. Israeli academics and students have their academic freedom and freedom of expression restricted through the Israeli Boycott Law of 2011. This law stipulates that Israeli academics and students supporting an academic boycott can be excluded from state benefits, such as research funding and scholarships.  Israeli academics are also restricted through the Entry into Israel Law. This law bans their foreign colleagues, who support the boycott of Israel, entry into the country.

3. It is well-documented that Israeli academic institutions have contributed to the development of weapons and technologies that are used in the occupation and murder of Palestinians, and to justify the war against an occupied, civilian population. Israeli universities have infrastructures in the occupied territories. No Israeli institutions for higher education have publicly condemned the systemic abuse of the Palestinian higher  education sector. 

4. To put real and symbolic pressure on Israeli universities and other educational institutions  to take an active role in ending the Israeli occupation and in extending equal rights to  Palestinians. We call for a boycott to be in effect until these conditions are met.  

What does boycott of Israeli academic institutions entail? 

Norwegian academics should not collaborate with Israeli institutions that actively contribute to  occupation, apartheid, and war crimes, and who contribute to depriving our Palestinian colleagues of their academic freedom. 

The academic boycott of Israel does not target individuals in Israeli academia. We reject all forms of boycott of individuals based on their identity or institutional affiliation, except from representatives of complicit Israeli institutions, such as a university president, university director or official spokesperson. 

We demand: 

● that Norwegian universities and university colleges immediately cut all institutional cooperation with higher educational institutions. 

● that Norwegian universities and colleges review their procurement routines in order to prevent contracts with suppliers who have connections with the Israeli military or who  operate in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

● that Norwegian universities and colleges actively support the Palestinian higher education sector, especially the universities and colleges in Gaza. 

● that Norwegian universities and colleges provide support for Palestinian scholars at risk, similar to the support provided to Ukrainian scholars at risk. 

We call on all academics in Norway: 

● to work within their institutions to contribute to the demand for an immediate ceasefire throughout Israel and Palestine. 

● not to participate in conferences or academic events officially organised or sponsored by Israeli universities. 

● to actively seek research partnerships with Palestinian academics and institutions for higher education. 

● who have relationships with Israeli academia to promote academic freedom, freedom of expression, and rights at work for Palestinian and Israeli students and academics.

● to work within their unions and academic networks to promote academic freedom, freedom of expression, and rights at work for Palestinian and Israeli academics and students. 

~ ~ ~

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

DEBATE ● HEGE HERMANSEN

When will Palestinian academics get to experience a life without occupation?

Once again I am trying to find out if my colleagues in Gaza are alive, or if they have been bombed to pieces. Institutions of higher education in Palestine have always operated under occupation — it is high time that this changed.

Published Wednesday 11.10.2023 – 10:27 Updated Sunday 15.10.2023 – 21:18

LINK Center for learning and developmentHege Hermansen

University of OsloThis text is a debate post. The content of the text expresses the author’s own opinion.

It’s that time of year again. Once again I am trying to find out if my colleagues in Gaza are alive, or if they have been bombed to pieces. If they lie mutilated under a pile of concrete. At the time of writing, the Israeli authorities have closed all access to power, water and electricity in the Gaza Strip and they have also bombed infrastructure for the mobile network. It is therefore very difficult to get updates on how they are doing. I know that Gaza is being carpet bombed, and I know that two of my colleagues in particular live in particularly vulnerable areas. I also know that there is not a single place in Gaza that is not exposed.

One of the things I am most afraid of is that they will lie under a pile of concrete that is impossible to move, but still be alive and conscious. Then death comes more slowly and with even more suffering than it would otherwise have done. If they survive, it is also unclear what kind of job they have to return to. 

Once again I am trying to find out if my colleagues in Gaza are alive, or if they have been bombed to pieces. If they lie mutilated under a pile of concrete.

Hege Hermansen

Reports from Gaza say two higher education institutions have been bombed so far. How do you restore a “learning environment” when hundreds of people have been bombed to death, thousands are injured and maimed, when more than 100,000 are internally displaced, and when your surroundings look like a battlefield? How do you restore a “learning environment” in the awareness that the whole world has just observed, and partly supported, that you have been carpet bombed?

Unfortunately, the problem is not new. When I myself taught in the Palestinian higher education sector in the mid-2000s, it was not unusual for colleagues and students not to get to university because roads or entire villages were closed down by Israeli occupation soldiers. Several times we started the lesson with a minute’s silence for Palestinians who had been killed in Israeli attacks. Once one of my students came into the classroom crying because he had seen a close friend shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers the night before. Our students were regularly arrested (there are currently more than 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli captivity). 

When I traveled around to primary and secondary schools as part of a continuing education initiative for English teachers, I sat and observed children being taught to the sound of bombs. As a foreigner, I couldn’t tell the difference between real bombs and sound bombs. The ten-year-olds knew the difference well.

DEBATE ● FROM THE ARCHIVE

Stølen and Stensaker: Universities in war and conflict zones – need for more knowledge and long-term cooperation

During the first intifada, Palestinian universities were periodically closed by the Israeli occupying power. The entire higher education sector went underground. My husband, who was a student at the time, was taught in churches, mosques, community centers and private homes. Gabi Baramke, who is one of the founders of BirZeit University in Palestine, has documented this period in detail in her book Peaceful Resistance: Building a Palestinian University Under Occupation — a book recommended for anyone interested in how to run higher education under occupation looks like.

On behalf of UiO, I am currently leading a six-year research and development project funded by Norad’s competence development program for higher education (NORHEDII). Almost NOK 20 million of Norway’s tax money goes to this project, and the vast majority of the money goes to our two Palestinian partners, Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron and the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza. In isolation, our project has been professionally worked out and we have a great team with us in Palestine. I believe that with these funds we will accomplish important things. 

The Palestinian higher education sector has, quite literally, never operated in the absence of occupation.

Hege Hermansen

But if I were to assess this from a socio-economic point of view, the Palestinians would have gained much more from the fact that Norway used resources to actually hold Israel responsible for its illegal occupation and repeated human rights violations. In the absence of real political support, aid funds can appear almost mocking, like an offer of a small plaster on a large, infected, bleeding and life-threatening wound. Norwegian politicians are willing to give Palestinians money for selected development projects and to pay the salaries that are channeled through the Palestinian “self-governing authorities”. But they have so far been unwilling to hold the Israeli authorities accountable in a way that has actual consequences for their ongoing occupation of Palestinians.

The Palestinian higher education sector has, quite literally, never operated in the absence of occupation. It is long overdue for this situation to change, and it is time that both Norwegian academics and politicians actively contribute to this happening.

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

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/global/europe/oslo-university-severs-ties-with-haifa-university-over-oct-7-war-with-gaza/2024/02/19/
Oslo University Severs Ties with Haifa University Over Oct. 7 War with Gaza

By Hana Levi Julian – 11 Adar I 5784 – February 19, 2024

A Norwegian university has decided to boycott its Israeli counterparts in the shadow of the October 7 war against Israel launched by Gaza’s Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization.

The board of Oslo Metropolitan University announced last Wednesday a decision to suspend its student exchange program with the University of Haifa, and “not to enter into new general cooperation agreements with Israeli universities and colleges,” the university announced.

The members of the university board voted 9-2 to approve the boycott advanced by board member Einar Braathen during its meeting on February 13, the university said.

The decision “clearly expresses the university’s stance on Israel’s military actions in Gaza and OsloMet’s practice in this situation, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of safeguarding academic freedom and the role of knowledge in society,” read a statement on the decision posted on the university’s website.

The board added that the decision does not cover research collaboration between researchers and professional environments at OsloMet and Israeli universities.

‘Israel Attacked Gaza’
“The university board condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza,” the board wrote in its decision, completely ignoring the October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel and the promise by Hamas to repeat the massacre “over and over again” that ignited the war.

Hamas Official: Prepared to Repeat October 7 Operation ‘Until Israel is Annihilated’

“The board stands behind the university management’s measures and practices to:
* expand the Scholars at risk scheme
* work for the termination of procurement agreements with suppliers who have direct links with the Israeli military or who operate in the occupied Palestinian territories
* establish measures that promote dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli academics on peace and cooperation
* safeguard the university’s independent role in society, academic freedom, and protect the important role of knowledge in relation to countries and regions in war, conflict and crisis.

“In addition, the board decides that OsloMet suspends the exchange agreement with the University of Haifa and does not enter into any new general cooperation agreements on institutional cooperation with Israeli universities and colleges.”

U Haifa: ‘Only Harming Themselves’
University of Haifa President Professor Ron Rubin condemned the decision.

“Oslo Metropolitan University’s decision to end the student exchange program with the University of Haifa is no different from the decision to impose an academic boycott, and we strongly condemn it,” Prof. Rubin said in a swift response to the announcement.

“Academic institutions that choose to boycott and cancel other institutions, that involve politics and science, are sinning against the academic truth and will end up only harming themselves.

“I am convinced that this will happen in this case as well and I call on the members of the board to withdraw – in their own interest – from their delusional decision.

“Perhaps the reason for the great concern of the university directors over sending young students here is that when they get here they will discover a common life, Jews and Arabs living together, studying together, researching together — so far from the lies of “apartheid” that can only be told by those who know nothing about Haifa University and the State of Israel.”\

“Perhaps they fear that the students’ studies here with us will open up a more complex position to reality, and maybe even sympathy or empathy for the Israeli narrative as well.”

Rubin said the University of Haifa “will continue to create the Israeli narrative and continue to reach out to academic institutions around the world — at least, to those who place the values of truth and science at the forefront of their minds.”

***

Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.

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

OsloMet puts exchange agreement on hold

The University Board at OsloMet has decided not to enter into new general cooperation agreements with Israeli universities. The exchange agreement with the University of Haifa is put on hold.

Published 14.02.2024 Updated 20.02.2024

After a discussion at the board meeting on February 13 about OsloMet’s academic activities in relation to Israel and Palestine, the university board adopted an adjusted version of the decision proposed by board member Einar Braathen at the meeting.

The decision clearly expresses the university’s attitude towards Israel’s war actions in Gaza and OsloMet’s practice in this situation, while also emphasizing the importance of safeguarding academic freedom and the role of knowledge in society.

The decision does not include research collaboration between researchers and academic environments at OsloMet and Israeli universities.

The wording of the decision by the University Board:

“The University Board condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza.

The Board supports the university management’s measures and practices to:

• expand the Scholars at Risk scheme
• work to terminate purchasing agreements with suppliers who have a direct connection with the Israeli military or who operate in the occupied Palestinian territories
• establish measures that promote dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli academics about peace and cooperation
• maintain the university’s independent role in society, academic freedom, and safeguard the important role of knowledge in relation to countries and regions in war, conflict, and crisis

In addition, the Board decides that OsloMet puts the exchange agreement with the University of Haifa on hold and does not enter into any new general cooperation agreements on institutional cooperation with Israeli universities and colleges.”

Voted on adjusted proposals

Through the board’s discussion, several views and proposals for decisions emerged. In the end, there were revised proposals for decisions from both Einar Braathen and the Rector, which differed on the issue of whether the University Board should decide to put the exchange agreement with the University of Haifa on hold and that OsloMet does not enter into new general cooperation agreements with universities in Israel.

Braathen’s proposal was adopted with nine to two votes.

(The article has been translated into English using AI).

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

https://kunstavisen.no/artikkel/2024/uib-avslutter-avtale-med-israelsk-kunstakademi
UiB terminates agreement with Israeli Academy of ArtsThe University of Bergen ends its collaboration with the art academy Bezalel, which has worked for the Israeli Defense Forces. Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen, Frode Thorsen, does not call it an academic boycott. 

NEWS MANAGERTIRIL FLOM

Published Jan 17 2024 – 12:00

The University of Bergen (UiB) decided on 11 December 2023 to terminate the agreement with the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. There is basically a notice period of six months, but as students must apply for the semester ahead of a stay, it will no longer be possible to apply for it in practice. The agreement has included exchanges on the study programs in art and design at bachelor’s and master’s level at the Faculty of Art, Music and Design (KMD) at UiB.  

The faculty’s dean Frode Thorsen says in an email to Kunstavisen that the agreement was last used in 2019.  

– The triggering factor for the dismissal was that KMD received information that the academy made its premises available for the repair of clothing and equipment for the Israeli army, he says.

Bergen University of Architecture (BAS) has also terminated a similar agreement they had with Bezalel. After the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, the art academy took in volunteers to help sew clothes for military personnel fighting on the front line in Gaza, according to the Times of Israel .  

On the question of boycott, Thorsen replies that the university has not currently defined or referred to the dismissal as such.  

– I do not want to comment on how artists, art institutions and artists’ organizations should approach the boycott movement, he says.  

As for the University of Bergen, he refers to a statement by rector Margareth Hagen in Khrono in the autumn where she is, in principle, opposed to using an academic boycott as a means of action.  

“My position is that if institutional sanctions are to be implemented against individual countries, then it must be on the basis of the Norwegian authorities’ decisions, as is the case with Russia,” she told the online newspaper in October.

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

THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
Not applicable with academic boycott
OsloMet, the University of Bergen, the University of Southeast Norway and the University of Oslo all maintain cooperation with Israeli and Palestinian institutions.

Text: Joar Hystad joar.hystad@khrono.no

Text: Jørgen Svarstad jorgen.svarstad@khrono.no

Text: Espen Halvorsen Bjørgan espen.bjorgan@khrono.no

Published Sunday 29.10.2023 – 12:46

OsloMet has partners both in Gaza and in the West Bank in Palestine and in Israel. Principal Christen Krogh informs Khrono that it is not appropriate to introduce an academic boycott as a result of the situation in the Middle East.

— As a university, we are concerned with academic freedom, and having a culture of openness and tolerance, and promoting diversity among students and staff. That international cooperation in education and research is important is a fundamental principle for us, he says.

He believes that in times of crisis it is important to maintain contact with professional communities across national borders.

Krogh would not characterize OsloMet’s cooperation with universities in Palestine and Israel as very extensive. To a large extent, it concerns some exchange agreements and collaborative projects.

Request from partner university

But not everyone at OsloMet agrees with Krogh’s position. The group Friends of Palestine at OsloMet believes it is important that Norwegian universities and colleges put pressure on their Israeli partners.

“It is important that we now put pressure on the universities we work with, so they can again put pressure on their government,” says Palle Michael Nielsen, spokesperson for the group.

He emphasizes that it is at institutional level that they believe the boycott should take place, not at the cooperation of individual individuals.

“Firstly, we have received an invitation from Birzeit University in Bethlehem, a university OsloMet collaborates with, and when your friends ask for help, you pitch in,” says Nielsen.

In the open letter, the University of Birzeit asks all international academic institutions to take action to stop what they refer to as genocide of Palestinians and Israeli settler colonialism.

– In addition, we see that some of the universities in Israel are involved in writing the legal justifications for the occupation, and we see that some of them are involved in developing weapons. I think that must be good enough reason for an academic boycott, says Nielsen.

“Does it take another genocide?”

Does it take a genocide for Norwegian institutions to cut academic cooperation with Israeli universities?

That is the question asked by the leader of Students for Palestine Trondheim, Magnus Barka Hjelle, leader of Students for Palestine Oslo, Raghad Abu Shaker, and leader of AKULBI, Kirsti Aarseth, in a debate post in Khrono.

On its website, AKULBI describes itself as the Coordinating Committee for Academic and Cultural Boycott of the State of Israel, and this is precisely the main message of the three post authors.

— Several Norwegian universities and colleges engage in research collaboration and exchange with Israeli universities. This helps both to whitewash Israel’s occupation and war crimes, and it helps the occupying power to develop the oil and gas industry which is used to finance the bombs that are being dropped on the population of Gaza now, write Hjelle, Shaker and Aarseth.

The post authors also convey that the organizations they represent, together with the international movement BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), demand that Norwegian higher education institutions freeze all research cooperation and exchange agreements they have with Israeli institutions.

No academic boycott 

The rector at the University of Bergen, Margareth Hagen, writes in an e-mail to Khrono that, in principle, she believes that academic boycotts should not be used as a means of action.

– My position is that if institutional sanctions are to be implemented against individual countries, then it must be on the basis of Norwegian authorities’ decisions, as is the case with Russia, writes Hagen.

— Our position is not an academic boycott, says Rector Petter Aasen at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), and refers to  the university’s rector’s blog . 

There he states, among other things, that USN has cooperation with both Israeli and Palestinian educational institutions.

– We are shocked by the atrocities and violence inflicted on the Israeli and Palestinian people, colleagues and students. In this difficult time, we want to show our solidarity with our Israeli and Palestinian friends and all those who fall victim to the violence, he writes.

Khrono wrote earlier this week that  USN employees were in mourning  after a key employee in a collaborative project in Gaza was killed in a bomb attack

“We have condemned the attack from Hamas, and also the disproportionate reprisals from Israel that affect the civilian population, children, hospitals and schools, and now also academic institutions,” Aasen said then.

The rector at the University of Oslo (UiO), Svein Stølen, replies that they work to safeguard academic freedom in everything they do when asked why an academic boycott is not relevant.

– In general, we do not place restrictions on academic collaboration and the independence of the individual researcher, he says and adds:

— Then the question is how we can best get involved as an institution in conflict areas. There are many indications that maintaining dialogue through collaborative projects with academic institutions located in such areas is most effective.FACTS

Cooperation between Norwegian and Israeli academic institutions

• NTNU has an exchange with the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem
• UiB has exchanges with Bezalel art academy and Tel Aviv University
• Bergen School of Architecture has an exchange with the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem
• USN has exchanges with the University of Haifa and Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem
• OsloMet has an exchange with the University of Haifa
• Nord University has an exchange with the University of Haifa
• VID University of Science has an exchange with the University of Haifa

Several other institutions, including UiO, report that some of their researchers collaborate with both Palestinian and Israeli researchers.

Source:   Students for Palestine Trondheim, Students for Palestine Oslo, AKULBI

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

https://bdsmovement.net/news/four-norwegian-universities-cut-ties-with-israel-over-gaza-genocide
Four Norwegian Universities Cut Ties With Israel Over Gaza Genocide 

February 21, 2024 / By Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) /

OsloMet, the University of South Eastern Norway, the University of Bergen, and the Bergen School of Architecture have all suspended agreements with complicit Israeli universities.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel welcomes the news that four Norwegian universities have suspended ties with complicit Israeli universities over Israel’s #GazaGenocide.

This is what Palestinians, including universities and faculty unions, are calling for as the most effective means of solidarity.

OsloMet ended ties with Haifa University, pledged not to enter into any new agreements with complicit Israeli universities, and will work to end procurement contracts with suppliers linked to Israel’s military or illegal settlements.

“The university board condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza.”

The University of South Eastern Norway ended ties with Haifa University and Hadassah Academic College.

“We want to give a clear message that the warfare that…Israel is now carrying out in Gaza is unacceptable, and undermines the democratic foundation on which all universities must build.”

The University of Bergen ended its cooperation agreements with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design after it created a workshop on campus to design and sew uniforms and gear for the Israeli military.

The Bergen School of Architecture also ended its cooperation agreements with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design over its work with the Israeli military.

15 major Palestinian universities have stated that Israeli universities “should face international isolation” over their complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, which now include genocide.

The ICJ ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide requires international universities to cut ties with Israeli institutions and corporations that are complicit in genocide and apartheid.

We thank the students and academics in Norway, including 1200+ calling for Norwegian universities to cut ties with complicit Israeli universities, who have worked to raise awareness and compel their universities to act on their moral obligations.

All Israeli universities are complicit in Israel’s regime of settler colonialism, occupation and apartheid.

We urge scholars & students worldwide to work to end ties with genocidal Israel, including via universities, depts, programs, unions and societies.

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

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/24/720718/Norwegian-universities-cut-ties-with-IsraelFour Norwegian universities cut ties with Israeli institutions over Gaza genocide 

Saturday, 24 February 2024 5:11 PM

Four Norwegian universities have decided to suspend ties with Israeli universities they deem complicit in the occupying regime’s genocidal war in Gaza.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) welcomed the decisions, hailing them as a crucial step in supporting the Palestinian struggle.

The move aligns with the campaign’s call for international academic and cultural institutions to sever ties with Israeli counterparts involved in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Among the universities taking action, OsloMet has announced the termination of its ties with Haifa University and vowed not to engage in any new agreements with Israeli universities complicit in the war.  

Additionally, OsloMet has committed to discontinuing procurement contracts with suppliers linked to the Israeli military or illegal settlements.

The University of South Eastern Norway has followed suit, cutting off relations with Haifa University and Hadassah Academic College.

Similarly, the University of Bergen has severed cooperation agreements with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, citing the academy’s involvement in providing uniforms and gear for the Israeli military.

The Bergen School of Architecture has also joined in this action, ending its collaboration with Bezalel Academy over its ties with the Israeli military.

This move echoes the sentiments expressed by 15 Palestinian universities, which have called for Israeli universities to face international isolation for their complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Norway’s pension fund, with some US$95 billion worth of assets, announced that it was divesting from their entire Israel Bond holdings over their links with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

22.02.24

Editorial Note

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) announced that Israeli Apartheid Week 2024, which is titled “March for Palestine: Stop the Genocide, End Apartheid,” is scheduled for March 1-31, 2024. An entire month would be devoted to “action and BDS mobilizations to end complicity in genocide, build grassroots power towards liberation and the dismantling of Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid regime.” 

The organizers promise that “This year’s Israeli Apartheid Week will be the most important since IAW was launched 20 years ago! With the ongoing Nakba at its height, Israel is carrying out the world’s first ever live-streamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza while it continues to entrench its 75-year-old settler-colonial apartheid regime against all Indigenous Palestinians. Over the past few months, people around the world have carried out inspiring actions building people power to end state, corporate and institutional complicity in Israel’s #GazaGenocide and contribute to the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. With the failure of the international system, under US and Western hegemony.” 

According to the BNC announcement, IAW this year comes weeks after the “International Court of Justice (ICJ) dealt apartheid Israel a historic defeat by finding that Israel is plausibly perpetrating genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. This decision triggers legal responsibilities for all states to end all complicity and to prevent genocide. Though the World Court has ordered Israel to stop all genocidal acts, including the killing and harming of Palestinians, apartheid Israel continues to massacre Palestinian civilians, destroy infrastructure, including the last functioning hospitals, and aggravate the encroaching famine and the spread of infectious diseases among Palestinians in Gaza, openly defying the Court’s orders.” 

The BNC announcement claims, “Israel’s allies in the colonial West are collectively punishing the entire Palestinian refugee community by cutting funding for UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees. This will effectively prevent life-saving aid from reaching Gaza at a time of mass starvation as a result of Israel’s genocidal siege, thus constituting another form of Western complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide.”

As for the Israeli “apartheid” and “genocide” of Palestinians, according to the announcement, “Neither can continue without the complicity of states, corporations and institutions, particularly in the colonial West. While Palestinians remain steadfast in the face of this genocide and persist with our liberation struggle, we take hope and strength from global solidarity expressed in mass demonstrations from Jakarta to Washington, Cape Town to London, and Rabat to Baghdad; trade union actions to stop arms shipments to Israel in Belgium, Italy, Greece, Turkey and elsewhere; hundreds of creative civil disobedience actions (sit-ins, peaceful occupations, walk-outs, strikes, etc.) worldwide; fast-growing grassroots BDS campaigns and calls for military embargo; strong declarations of solidarity by racial, Indigenous, climate, gender and social justice movements; high-profile statements by prominent artists, writers, academics, international experts in genocide, as well as by progressive Jewish groups, human rights and civil rights organizations; and a million local, grassroots solidarity actions and creative initiatives worldwide. Not only Israeli apartheid is on trial at the World Court. All states, corporations and institutions that have aided and abetted its system of oppression that has culminated in the current genocide are also on trial.” 

The BNC announcement cites South Africa’s opening statement at the International Court of Justice on January 2024, “South Africa has recognized the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through Israel’s colonization since 1948, which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced, and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them their internationally recognized, inalienable right to self-determination, and their internationally recognized right of return as refugees to their towns and villages, in what is now the State of Israel.”

The announcement promises, “we can build people power to end this genocide and dismantle its root causes – Israel’s regime of settler colonialism and apartheid.” 

However, those who are familiar would know that the BDS activities run throughout the year. In the last few days, the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) hosted a vote on a student-led referendum. The referendum questions Pomona College’s investments in Israel and whether Pomona should disclose their holdings and sell their holdings from “the apartheid system in the state of Israel.”

An informational sheet on the referendum reads, “Divest Claremont Colleges has requested this referendum to provide an outlet for students to formally express their opinions regarding the institution’s relationship with the apartheid system within the state of Israel.” The student organizers held a teach-in to explain why they believe it is necessary to bolster the BDS movement on campus. They began their presentation by requesting that “All civilians who are killed by the Israeli Defense Forces are considered martyred because ‘murdered’ does not capture the full political context of their deaths.” 

Pomona President Gabrielle Starr responded in an email to the Pomona community. She condemned the referendum’s focus on Israel and suggested it had antisemitic implications. “For many years now, the only nation on which ASPC has focused its activity is the world’s only Jewish state… This singling out of Israel raises grave concerns about the referendum’s impact on members of our community. For this reason, and even though I know our students do not intend this, the referendum raises the specter of antisemitism… To exclude anyone from the pursuit of knowledge on the basis of the country in which they live is contrary to our mission… American and global institutions, should, far from participating in academic boycotts of other institutions, be seeking to engage deeply with Israeli and Palestinian universities in the coming days and years.”

Interestingly, the students wish to stay anonymous, as seen from a safety sheet handed out to the protestors. “Once the demonstration starts, keep your mask on and do not give your name or personal information to anyone.” It also urged protestors not to engage with campus security, administration, Zionists, or media. It suggested safety measures such as traveling in groups, not providing identification to campus security, and not telling anyone that they took part in the rally.” 

In another instance, pro-Palestinian protestors demanded that Pitzer College suspend its study abroad program with the University of Haifa. In response, Pitzer College issued a statement, “It should be noted that the Student Senate does not speak for the College, nor does it represent the views of all Pitzer students.”

In their zeal to tarnish Israel, these and other student groups do not mention Hamas’s brutal attack on the Jewish settlements bordering the Gaza Strip, the largest since the Holocaust. Surely, the students must have heard reports of the brutal violence and abuse of the unfortunate victims: men, women, children, and older people. Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of Hamas’s atrocity, a core element of the International Laws of War, was turned into a blood libel of “genocide” against the Palestinians.

There is a reason for this radically unbalanced view of the Gaza War. For decades now, liberal arts on campuses have been hijacked by academic activists who indoctrinate rather than teach their students. According to the dominant paradigm, a mixture of neo-Marxism and critical, postmodern scholarship, Israel is inherently evil, and the Palestinians are inherently good.  

To mention Hamas’s unimaginable barbarism, easily comparable to the worst Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust, would punch holes in this paradigm. The same paradigm is also inherently anti US and Western “hegemony,” where the West is seen as the root of all problems and the non-West, however broadly defined, as the depository of good and virtue. To wit, the Russian unprovoked assault on Ukraine had not elicited any campus protest.  

Higher education needs to be more balanced by the principles of reasoned discussion and moral clarity. The ideological indoctrination masquerading as academic education has caused significant damage to these tenets, endangering the legitimacy of the universities.

REFERENCES:

https://bdsmovement.net/news/save-date-israel-apartheid-week-2024

January 16, 2024 / By Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)  /March for Palestine: Stop the Genocide, End Apartheid. SAVE THE DATE – March 1 – 31 – Israel Apartheid Week 2024 – the most important since IAW began 20 years ago!

This year’s Israeli Apartheid Week will be the most important since IAW was launched 20 years ago! With the ongoing Nakba at its height, Israel is carrying out the world’s first ever live-streamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza while it continues to entrench its 75-year-old settler-colonial apartheid regime against all Indigenous Palestinians. 

Over the past few months, people around the world have carried out inspiring actions building people power to end state, corporate and institutional complicity in Israel’s #GazaGenocide and contribute to the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. With the failure of the international system, under US and Western hegemony, on full display, we will organize IAW throughout the month of March to bring justice from below. 

Save the date – March 1st – March 30th; an entire month of action and BDS mobilizations to end complicity in genocide, build grassroots power towards liberation and the dismantling of Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid regime. Let’s make this year’s IAW our most impactful ever!

More information will follow in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

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

https://bdsmovement.net/IAW2024-March-For-Palestine

UPDATE IAW 2024: March for Palestine

January 31, 2024 / By Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)  Stop Genocide; Dismantle Apartheid, join us between March 1st – 31st.

This year, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) comes weeks after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dealt apartheid Israel a historic defeat by finding that Israel is plausibly perpetrating genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. This decision triggers legal responsibilities for all states to end all complicity and to prevent genocide. Though the World Court has ordered Israel to stop all genocidal acts, including the killing and harming of Palestinians, apartheid Israel continues to massacre Palestinian civilians, destroy infrastructure, including the last functioning hospitals, and aggravate the encroaching famine and the spread of infectious diseases among Palestinians in Gaza, openly defying the Court’s orders.

Meanwhile, Israel’s allies in the colonial West are collectively punishing the entire Palestinian refugee community by cutting funding for UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees. This will effectively prevent life-saving aid from reaching Gaza at a time of mass starvation as a result of Israel’s genocidal siege, thus constituting another form of Western complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide. 

As the South African delegation has presented to the ICJ, Israel’s genocide must be seen in the context of its root causes: Israel’s 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid. IAW has, since its inception in 2005, mobilized international education about and action against Israeli apartheid, and is therefore needed this year more than ever to grow global pressure to end the genocide and dismantle apartheid. Neither can continue without the complicity of states, corporations and institutions, particularly in the colonial West.

While Palestinians remain steadfast in the face of this genocide and persist with our liberation struggle, we take hope and strength from global solidarity expressed in mass demonstrations from Jakarta to Washington, Cape Town to London, and Rabat to Baghdad; trade union actions to stop arms shipments to Israel in Belgium, Italy, Greece, Turkey and elsewhere; hundreds of creative civil disobedience actions (sit-ins, peaceful occupations, walk-outs, strikes, etc.) worldwide; fast-growing grassroots BDS campaigns and calls for military embargo; strong declarations of solidarity by racial, Indigenous, climate, gender and social justice movements; high-profile statements by prominent artists, writers, academics, international experts in genocide, as well as by progressive Jewish groups, human rights and civil rights organizations; and a million local, grassroots solidarity actions and creative initiatives worldwide.

Not only Israeli apartheid is on trial at the World Court. All states, corporations and institutions that have aided and abetted its system of oppression that has culminated in the current genocide are also on trial. But international law mechanisms are only effective if we exercise our collective agency to make international law serve our struggle for justice. 

South Africa has recognized the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through Israel’s colonization since 1948, which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced, and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them their internationally recognized, inalienable right to self-determination, and their internationally recognized right of return as refugees to their towns and villages, in what is now the State of Israel.

– South Africa’s opening statement at the International Court of Justice, January 2024

With effective grassroots campaigning, we can build people power to end this genocide and dismantle its root causes – Israel’s regime of settler colonialism and apartheid. 

Join us by building campaign milestones or mobilizing for new campaigns! This IAW let’s not just educate about Israeli apartheid! Let’s escalate BDS campaigning in all fields and take meaningful steps towards supporting the ongoing Palestinian struggle to dismantle it.

This March, march for justice, freedom and equality, march for ending genocide and apartheid. 

Register your actions here.

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

The Student Life

February 19, 2024 12:55 am

Pomona students to vote on divestment from the ‘apartheid system within the state of Israel’ via ASPC referendum

By Kahani Malhotra and Sage Harper

Between Monday, Feb. 19 and Wednesday, Feb. 21, the ASPC will host a vote on a student-led referendum regarding Pomona College’s investments in Israel and whether Pomona should disclose their holdings and divest — sell their holdings — from “the apartheid system in the state of Israel.” The referendum, which was proposed by Divest Claremont Colleges and endorsed by 34 other on-campus student organizations, will be held via a confidential ballot system sent to students’ email addresses.

The referendum was created for the purpose of gathering the opinions of the student body. It contains five distinct questions and seeks to offer insight into student views on divestment, disclosure and academic boycott.

“Divest Claremont Colleges has requested this referendum to provide an outlet for students to formally express their opinions regarding the institution’s relationship with the apartheid system within the state of Israel,” an informational sheet on the referendum reads.

This is not the first time Pomona has seen student action backing calls for divestment. The college has had two major student divestment initiatives in the past: one called for divestment from South African apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, while the other called for divestment from fossil fuels in spring 2022. Neither resulted in Pomona’s withdrawal of investments, but they did result in protests, student activism and, in the case of fossil fuels, a referendum which revealed that 88 percent of students voted in favor of a resolution to divest.

On Thursday, Feb. 15, student organizers held a teach-in at Walker Beach to educate community members about the referendum’s purpose and to explain why they believe it is necessary to bolster the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on campus. Approximately 45 students gathered at the event while organizers distributed blankets, masks and “Vote yes for divest” pins.

At the teach-in, organizers gave a presentation that explained what the BDS movement is, discussed the history of referendums at Pomona and outlined the topics that the new referendum will cover.

They began this presentation with a request that people use certain language when discussing those who have died as a result of Israel’s attacks in Gaza.

“All civilians who are killed by the Israeli Defense Forces are considered martyred because ‘murdered’ does not capture the full political context of their deaths,” the presenting organizer said.

The organizers then went over several recent news stories to provide attendees with context and, with what they explained as, a “political grounding for what is at stake [with this referendum].”

At one point during the teach-in, organizers called attention to the Pomona College Investments Office’s mission statement, which states that “Pomona’s endowment exists to support the College’s mission to enable students to identify and address their intellectual passions.”

One organizer argued that, by investing in Israeli companies, the college has failed to do this.

“Our intellectual passions aren’t located in investing with the escalating apartheid system, so we understand that Pomona needs to stop prioritizing profit,” the organizer said.

Pomona Chief Communications Officer Mark Kendall, however, suggested that Pomona’s endowment serves to benefit the student body by supporting a wider range of students.

“Pomona’s endowment exists to fund the college’s mission and makes it possible for Pomona to recruit and enroll students from all backgrounds and provide excellent financial aid,” he wrote in an email to TSL.

On Feb. 16, the day after the teach-in, President Gabrielle Starr emailed the Pomona community criticizing the referendum, noting that her concerns about it were “deep.” She specifically condemned the referendum’s focus on Israel, suggesting it had antisemitic implications. 

“For many years now, the only nation on which ASPC has focused its activity is the world’s only Jewish state,” Starr wrote. “This singling out of Israel raises grave concerns about the referendum’s impact on members of our community. For this reason, and even though I know our students do not intend this, the referendum raises the specter of antisemitism.”

Starr instead suggested that, rather than cutting ties with the state of Israel, the College should work to connect more deeply with Israeli and Palestinian universities.

“To exclude anyone from the pursuit of knowledge on the basis of the country in which they live is contrary to our mission,” she wrote. “American and global institutions, should, far from participating in academic boycotts of other institutions, be seeking to engage deeply with Israeli and Palestinian universities in the coming days and years.”

According to Starr’s email, she had recently been in contact with the elected members of ASPC and had both listened to them and expressed her concerns. However, several of these members, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, later suggested in an interview with TSL that their conversations with Starr had been relatively one-sided.

“[The referendum] is purely symbolic and useless in [Starr’s] eyes because she just doesn’t think we’ll ever divest,” one ASPC member said. “She wasn’t listening to us; we were listening to her.”

One leader of Divest Claremont Colleges, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, expressed a similar frustration. They explained that their numerous attempts to meet with Starr in the past had been met with either no response or with unproductive staff interactions. They also described feeling ostracized by Starr’s emails, especially with her claim that the referendum incites ideas of antisemitism. 

“President Starr [wrote] about how she cares so deeply about fostering dialogue,” they said. “When you are villainizing organizers, you are absolutely not fostering a space to have open dialogue where we feel safe to engage.”

The leader of Divest Claremont Colleges said that Starr’s criticisms of the referendum’s definitions — which were provided on the informational sheet for terms such as “divestment” and “apartheid” — similarly prevented community members from having open dialogue.

In Starr’s email, she had argued that the referendum’s definitions were not truly neutral and that they consequently prevented people from having productive discussions.

“The referendum provides no path for informed debate or discussion while offering as settled ‘definitions’ a set of highly debatable and hotly contested propositions, and thus ignores the principles of good governance and the educational mission of our community,” Starr wrote.

In contradiction to Starr’s suggestion, the Divest Claremont Colleges leader explained that the definitions used in the referendum came from neutral sources. The definition of  “apartheid,” for instance, was taken directly from the United Nations.

“[Starr] is attempting to characterize the referendum as this extremely one-sided game that is pushing students into a certain direction,” they said. “Really, we were extremely careful to use … very specific language just based on what major human rights organizations have said about what’s happening in Palestine.”

Some community members also criticized Starr’s call for students to engage with Israeli and Palestinian universities.

“We cannot ‘engage’ with our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza if literally nothing remains of Gaza’s basic infrastructure and educational landscape,” the Claremont Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) wrote in a response to Starr’s email, which they shared with TSL.

FJP also commented on Starr’s concerns about unintentional prejudice and the “specter of antisemitism” in ASPC’s hosting of the referendum.

“The BDS movement is explicit in its rejection of all forms of racism and antisemitism,” FJP wrote. “President Starr’s insinuation that this referendum singles out Israel and is therefore antisemitic is a tired tactic used to silence critics of Israel, smear boycott supporters and deflect attention from Israel’s current violent assault against Palestinians in Gaza.”

Similarly, a Feb. 18 email from the Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles (JVP-LA) addressing Starr criticized her portrayal of ASPC and the Pomona student body as antisemitic by engaging with Divest Claremont Colleges’ referendum.

“ASPC’s focus on the Israeli state is a response to that state’s Jewish supremacism, which is to say, its existence as an ethno-supremacist state,” they wrote. “This social justice focus is fundamentally no different than that of activists who opposed the earlier apartheid state in South Africa. The most heinous thing here is that your false charges of antisemitism attack and undermine criticism of the Israeli state at a moment when that state is engaged in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. We all should be united in working to stop, rather than shield, that genocide.”

They criticized not only Starr’s charges of antisemitism, but also her failure to recognize the experiences of anti-Zionist Jewish, Palestinian and Arab students.

“Put simply, you present yourself as caring about Jewish students and their safety, but you render invisible and thus harm your many anti-Zionist Jewish students, as well as your [Palestinian] and Arab students,” they wrote.

Despite the backlash that Starr is currently facing for her email, Kendall suggested that the college would not change its stance.

“Whatever the results of this symbolic move, our values won’t change,” Kendall wrote in an email to TSL. “We will continue to pursue thoughtful dialogue and mutual respect. We will continue to welcome scholars and students from around the world, including Israel. We will continue to open doors and seek common ground.”

Still, student leaders emphasized the importance of voting on this referendum.

“I know that with actions like President Starr sending emails like these, it can be kind of demoralizing and it feels like we can’t accomplish anything with this administration,” the Divest Claremont Colleges leader said. “But at the end of the day, the power is with the students.”

The ASPC members agreed, explaining that the referendum was widely supported by students and that their votes mattered.

“The fact that [Starr] is even emailing means that she is scared, which means that we do have power,” the first ASPC member said. “Don’t let anyone make you feel like your vote is insignificant.”

They also emphasized that voting would be a safeguarded process.

“Votes are truly 100 percent confidential,” the first ASPC member said. “Your name is not involved. The only reason you have to log-in on the ASPC website is to prove that you are a Pomona student. It is truly confidential and on top of that, protected.”

Voting opens on Monday, Feb. 19 via a digital ballot that will be sent to all Pomona students via their school emails. There will be five yes-no questions related to Pomona’s current investments and whether the college should divest from stocks backing Israel. Voting closes on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

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

Claremont Colleges students hold ‘5C walk out for Palestine’

February 19th, 2024

By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

About 100 mask-wearing Claremont Colleges students weathered steady rainfall Monday to take part in “5C walk out for Palestine” at Pomona College’s Marston Quad.

The 1:30 p.m. protest, organized by Pomona Divest Apartheid, focused on the college’s endowment investments and included students banging on pots with plastic cutlery and chants such as, “Israel bombs, Pomona pays, how many kids did you kill today?”

According to posts on Pomona Divest Apartheid’s Instagram page, the group’s list of demands are that Pomona College, “divest completely from all weapons manufacturers and all institutions that aid in the ongoing occupation of Palestine”; “adhere to the USACBI academic boycott”; “publicly call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza”; “publicly condemn Israel’s apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and dehumanization of Palestinians”; and “institute anti-discrimination policies explicitly for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, SWANA, Black, Brown, and Indigenous students.”

On Monday, demonstrators formed a circle around organizers, who took turns reading statements from Pomona College students who say they faced punishment for participating in demonstrations over the past several weeks.

Organizers then urged protestors to complete the boycott, divest and sanctions movement referendum emailed by Associated Students of Pomona College, at which point nearly all of the students took out their phones and complied. The survey, “regarding Pomona’s investments in Israel and whether Pomona should disclose their holdings and divest — sell their holdings — from ‘the apartheid system in the state of Israel,’” is active through Wednesday, according to reporting from The Student Life.

The referendum was proposed by Divest Claremont Colleges, an organization made up of Claremont Colleges students pushing the schools to “divest their endowments from fossil fuels and push for a more socially just world.” Organizers denied the Courier’s request to access the survey, but according to The Student Life it was “created for the purpose of gathering the opinions of the student body,” and includes five questions that seek to “offer insight into student views on divestment, disclosure and academic boycott.”

The demonstration closed with organizers handing out pamphlets with information about Pomona College’s endowment — $2.8 billion as of December, 2023. The pamphlet did not list “companies that cause harm to students and their communities” by name, but asserted that the college has refused to divest from such institutions.

None of the demonstrators or organizers of the protest would speak to the Courier.

According to a safety sheet handed out to student protestors on Monday, “Once the demonstration starts, keep your mask on and do not give your name or personal information to anyone.” It also urged protestors not to engage with campus security, administration, Zionists, or media. It also suggested safety measures including traveling in groups, not providing identification to campus security, and not telling anyone that they took part in the rally.

Monday’s demonstration follows a February 9 action outside Alexander Hall that saw protestors demand Pitzer College suspend its study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel. On February 12, Pitzer President Strom Thacker noted he had attended a meeting where Pitzer’s Student Senate passed such resolution, and the college subsequently issued this statement:

“Pitzer College is aware of the resolution passed by the Student Senate and respects the right of that elected body to act within our shared governance structure. It should be noted that the Student Senate does not speak for the College, nor does it represent the views of all Pitzer students.”

Another gathering, a BDS referendum teach-in, took place February 15.

15.02.24

Editorial Note

Last month, pro-Palestinian scholars launched multiple campaigns circulating on the internet. One was titled “Scholars’ Call Launches International Campaign for Ceasefire in Palestine.” The campaigners announced that in Palestine, the New Year’s and Christmas festivities were canceled this year. A large group of International scholars signed another statement, “All I want for the holidays is a ceasefire,” endorsed by high-profile intellectuals and scientists. The statement gathered almost 3,500 academic signatures within 48 hours. 

The calls cited several renowned scholars, including Palestinian Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University, who declared, “All people of conscience should demand an immediate halt to this genocidal war.” Anti-Israel Israeli historian Avi Shlaim of Oxford University stated, “Israel is committing multiple war crimes on a daily basis. It needs to be stopped immediately.” The Palestinian Karma Nabulsi, Oxford University’s prominent laws of war theorist, also signed the petition. Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor at UC Berkeley, stated, “The time is now to end this violence and to demand freedom and justice for Palestine.”

The petition “All I want for the holidays is a ceasefire,” was organized by Scholars Against the War in Palestine (SAWP). This campaign coordinated cross-disciplinary transnational actions and education, bringing together Indigenous, African American, Jewish, Arab, and other scholars. Endorsed by leading figures in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, STEM, and Medicine from the US, Canada, Britain, and South Africa, SAWP is the largest of its kind to date. The group states that it was inspired by Palestinian civil rights organizations and higher educational institutions and urged academics to take action to stop the war. 

SAWP makes the following demands: “- Immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire; – End the siege of Gaza;- Defend the Palestinian right to education; – End the military occupation of all Palestinian lands; – Dismantle the apartheid system; – Implement the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the rights of self determination and return.” 

The McGill Daily, an independent student newspaper at McGill University, Canada, took the accusations even further. Titled “Scholasticide in Gaza,” the article introduced the term “scholasticide” to the readers. It said, “in the wake of Israel’s recent bombing of Gaza’s last standing university.” According to the article, the concept of “scholasticide” first appeared in 2009 in The Guardian and The New York Times where it said, “A new word emerged from the carnage in Gaza this week: ‘scholasticide’ – the systematic destruction by Israeli forces of centers of education dear to Palestinian society, as the ministry of education was bombed, the infrastructure of teaching destroyed, and schools across the Gaza strip targeted for attack by the air, sea and ground offensives.”

The McGill Daily claims that “Palestinian scholars and global educators alike witnessed the destruction of the last standing university in Gaza as Al-Israa University was blown up by Israeli forces. Over the last couple of months, Israeli soldiers occupied the university campus and turned it into a military base camp. Alongside the buildings affected by the blast, over 3000 rare artifacts were destroyed in a national museum established by the university.” Birzeit University, located in the West Bank, reaffirmed, “It’s all a part of the Israeli occupation’s goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip.”  

According to McGill Daily, for decades, “schools in Gaza have been targeted by Israeli attacks, in addition to cultural institutions elsewhere such as the 1982 looting of the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut and the accompanying destruction of historical archives. Furthermore, centers of education replacing previously destroyed institutions have also been targeted, such as attacks in 2009 on the UN-established school in the Jabaliya refugee camp. In light of Israel’s recent assault on Gaza,” 

Academics across the world and prompted the petition by SAWP. Where scholars from institutes across Israel, such as Anat Matar, an Israeli philosopher and activist, have also joined.

Another petition, “Scholars for Palestine UK: Urgent Call to End the War on Palestine,” was organized by Arab and Palestinian scholars in British universities. “we issue this call in support of colleagues under attack in Palestine and the recent Unified Call for Justice and Freedom issued by Palestinian Higher Education institutions.” They endorse and welcome the launch of the SAWP, and the call for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire. “We urge all academics in British universities to join us in opposing the targeted destruction of Palestinian universities in Gaza and the relentless assault on the wider Palestinian academic community.”

They stated, “We stand opposed to Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian human rights and academic freedom, including the ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.” British institutions and university pension funds invest millions of pounds in companies implicated in Israel’s military occupation, colonialism, and apartheid. This financial entanglement and the collaboration with arms companies that profit from the very onslaught against the Palestinian people raises critical questions about the role of our higher education institutions in perpetuating systems of oppression. In the face of this complicity, staff and students have organized ‘walk outs’, teach-ins, and protests, whilst students’ unions and staff trade unions have expressed their solidarity with Palestinians both locally and nationally. This activism within our academic communities illustrates a commitment to ethical conduct and a refusal to be passive enablers of injustice. We must continue and escalate these actions.” 

The Arab and Palestinian academics call on all academics in Britain to join their campaign. They put forward a long list of demands, urging scholars to “Step up the pressure to end the war on Gaza and join the international movement calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire. End complicity in the arms trade: Work to uncover if your university has investments, contracts or cooperation agreements with weapons companies supplying Israel and organize to cancel them. Support the call for the USS and other university pension funds to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. Stand up for the Palestinian right to education: Speak out against the destruction of the educational sector and restrictions on academic freedom in Palestine. Organize your institutions to take a stand. Demand an end to limitations on travel, research, and expression for Palestinian scholars and students. Advocate for the removal of barriers, such as checkpoints and travel restrictions, that impede academics’ and students’ ability to attend classes, participate in research, and engage in academic activities. Support the right of international scholars to visit and collaborate with colleagues in Palestine. Build academic links with Palestinian universities and academics: Establish initiatives to foster collaborative research initiatives to combat the international isolation of Palestinian higher education. Promote exchanges, joint projects, scholarship programs, and partnerships that contribute positively to the Palestinian educational sector. Don’t cross the Palestinian picket line: Support and adhere to academic boycotts aimed at institutions complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. Refrain from participating in collaborations, conferences, or partnerships with institutions that support or contribute to the occupation. Defend freedom of expression: Resist any attempts to stigmatize or silence staff and students at British universities engaged in research, speech, and actions on Palestine.”

The pro-Palestinian activists conveniently forget to mention the background of the war in Gaza. Hamas, a brutal terror group, took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 when it 

murdered more than a hundred PLO officials and expelled the rest of the representatives of the Palestinian Authority. Having become the sole ruler of Gaza, Hamas created a harsh dictatorship and stole untold millions of dollars from international donations. At the same time, it imposed an onerous system of taxes and fees on the impoverished population. Both streams of revenue were used to build some 500 km of underground tunnels under public buildings, including hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, and even private buildings. By embedding in populated areas, Hamas turned civilians into human shields, a tactic that the Geneva Conventions condemn. 

The rest of the money was diverted to support the lavish lifestyle of Hamas leaders in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, the “Beverly Hills” of Gaza, and abroad. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau Hamas, is a billionaire, and there are more than 70 millionaires among the leadership.  

All along, Hamas engaged in terror attacks against Israel, kidnappings, killings of soldiers and civilians, and periodic missile attacks that paralyzed civilian life in Israel. Unwilling to cause civilian casualties in Gaza, the IDF responded with targeted bombing when civilians were warned ahead of time to leave the targeted Hamas sites. Encouraged by the Israeli restraint, Hamas launched a bloody attack on October 7, 2023, the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust. The Nukhba Force, the elite unit of the terror group, had also borrowed the Nazi methods of decapitation, burning of civilians, including babies, and mass rape, among others. 

The various petitions quoted above did not mention, let alone condemn, the Hamas atrocities. By refraining from doing so, the scholars are essentially condoning and even supporting terrorism against Israelis. 

REFERENCES

https://spectrejournal.com/scholars-against-the-war-on-palestine

Scholars Against the War on Palestine

A CALL FOR A CEASEFIRE

SCHOLARS AGAINST THE WAR ON PALESTINE

January 19, 2024

This call is issued by Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP), a transnational cross-disciplinary coalition of scholars, working to advance the Palestinian call “to take urgent action to stop Israel’s current war and genocide in Gaza.”

Permanent Ceasefire Now!

Christmas and holiday festivities in Palestine were canceled this year in solidarity with Gaza. Heads of Churches in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the city synonymous with the birthplace of Jesus, canceled all festive celebrations as Palestinians collectively mourn the loss of thousands of lives–the result of Israel’s genocidal war.

In the first ten weeks of war, Israel dropped in excess of 25,000 bombs–the equivalent of two nuclear bombs–on 2.2. million besieged Palestinians in Gaza. It has done so with unwavering support from the United States and other western nations. The bombardment has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, including more than 8,000 children, and millions are facing starvation and dehydration as food, electricity, and water has been cut off. More than 1.1 million people have been forcefully displaced internally, and much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been carpet-bombed, destroying hospitals, schools, universities, residential units, bakeries, religious sites, archives, and government buildings and facilities.

Permanent Ceasefire Now!

Israel has waged a full scale war on Palestinian educational institutions. In Gaza, eleven out of fourteen universities are completely destroyed including the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), Al-Azhar University, and the North Gaza branch of Al-Quds Open University. Israeli airstrikes targeted and killed renowned Palestinian intellectuals including, Sufyan Tayeh, world-leading scientist and President of IUG, and the prominent poet and English literature professor Refaat Alareer of IUG. Israeli bombs have destroyed over 239 government schools and 50 United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) schools. Thousands of students, staff, and educators have been killed and more than 88,000 students in Gaza have been deprived at their right to education.

This holiday season, we stand with Palestinians everywhere in calling for
(1) an immediate and permanent ceasefire;
(2) the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza;
(3) ending Israel’s siege on Gaza;
(4) ending attacks on educational and health institutions in Palestine.

Please use the following link to sign our latest statement: https://scholarsagainstwar.org/statement/holidayceasefire/

SCHOLARS AGAINST THE WAR ON PALESTINE

Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP) is a transnational coalition which brings together faculty, researchers, and graduate students to end the war on Palestine. SAWP aims to unite the academic sector by heeding the Palestinian call from higher education institutions and PACBI urging academics across the world to take action to stop the current Israeli war on Palestinians in Gaza

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

Scholasticide in Gaza

An introduction to the term “scholasticide” in the wake of Israel’s recent bombing of Gaza’s last standing university

• by Ainslie Yang
• February 12, 2024

On January 17, Palestinian scholars and global educators alike witnessed the destruction of the last standing university in Gaza as Al-Israa University was blown up by Israeli forces. Over the last couple of months, Israeli soldiers occupied the university campus and turned it into a military base camp. Alongside the buildings affected by the blast, over 3000 rare artifacts were destroyed in a national museum established by the university. The incident, captured on drone footage, joins the ongoing list of public buildings destroyed over the last three months of conflict in Gaza.

Birzeit University, located in the West Bank, has publicly replied to the bombing, saying the institution “reaffirms the fact that this crime is part of the Israeli occupation’s onslaught against the Palestinians. It’s all a part of the Israeli occupation’s goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip.”

The toll of educational institutes in Gaza either destroyed or severely damaged by Israeli attacks has reached over 350 schools and numerous public libraries. This latest attack on the educational and cultural institutes of Gaza has reinvigorated discussions surrounding the term “scholasticide.”

The concept of scholasticide first appeared in 2009, in response to attacks by the Israeli military against the Ministry of Education and multiple schools in Gaza. The Guardian has defined scholasticide as “the systematic destruction by Israeli forces of centres of education dear to Palestinian society.” For decades, schools in Gaza have been targeted by Israeli attacks, in addition to cultural institutions elsewhere such as the 1982 looting of the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut and the accompanying destruction of historical archives. Furthermore, centres of education replacing previously destroyed institutions have also been targeted, such as attacks in 2009 on the UN-established school in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

In light of Israel’s recent assault on Gaza, the idea of scholasticide has been supported by academics by three of Israel’s actions: the devastation of educational infrastructure, the continuous military assault on universities and schools, and the persecution of Palestinian scholars and dissenting scholars at Israeli universities. The first and second actions have spoken for themselves over the course of the war since October, with the sheer amount of destruction across Gaza and the future of education remaining bleak for Palestinian children. Furthermore, many prominent Palestinian scholars were recently killed by Israeli strikes or offensives. The scientist, researcher and president of the Islamic University of Gaza, Sufyan Tayeh, specializing in theoretical physics and applied mathematics, was murdered along with his family in December. Similarly, the renowned professor, writer, and poet Refaat Alareer was killed in air strikes in Gaza in the same month. Alareer was well known for writing about his Gazan experience, leaving behind the emotional poem “If I Die,” shortly before the airstrike that killed him and six members of his family. Their deaths, alongside the combined efforts to reduce educational infrastructure in Gaza to rubble, have outraged academics across the world and prompted the petition Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP). Scholars from institutes across Israel, such as Anat Matar, an Israeli philosopher and activist, have joined the petition, along with a wide range of signatories from Stanford to the University of Amsterdam.

One such signatory of both the SAWP petition and the open letter “Support SSMU and the Palestine Solidarity Policy” published by the Daily in April 2022 is Michelle Hartman. A professor of Arabic literature at the McGill Institute of Islamic Studies, Professor Hartman, has been deeply involved in the Palestinian cause for over a decade.

“If the concept of scholasticide works to stop what is happening in Palestine, then I am all for it. We at universities around the world must respond to the systematic destruction of Palestinian education as loudly and forcefully as possible,” she stated in an email to the Daily. “This is a comprehensive project to completely decimate physical infrastructure — bombarding schools and universities in Gaza — while deliberately targeting Palestinian professors and students for harassment, detention, and murder.”

The final element supporting the idea of scholasticide is the importance of academia in Palestinian culture and society. In 2009, TheGuardian wrote that “Palestinians are among the most thoroughly educated people in the world…[and have] put a singular emphasis on learning.” In the same article, Dr. Karma Nabulsi, a Professor of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, stated that for many Palestinians, “education is the most important thing – it is part of the family life, part of your identity, and part of the rebellion.” The resilience of Palestinian culture and education is showcased by the country’s extremely high literacy rates. With a literacy rate of 97.7 per cent, Palestine ranks above countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Turkey. This achievement is a testament to the Palestinian commitment to education regardless of ongoing conflict and humanitarian crises. Prof. Hartman continues along this vein.

“As scholars and as students, we must remind the world that the lives, thoughts, and work of our Palestinian peers are as worthy as our own. This is not because academia is more important than other spheres or academics are more important than other people. But education is a central value in Palestinian society and the attack on education is meant to destroy not only buildings but the aspirations, hope, and spirit of a people,” she wrote. “In an iconic poem, Mahmoud Darwish asks the colonizer, “Why not memorize a little poetry to stop the slaughter?” We must listen to him, and other Palestinians, and defend their right to exist and thrive—the future poets, alongside everyone else.”

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

  Scholars’ Call Launches International Campaign for Ceasefire in Palestine 

January 4, 2024 

While New Year’s and Christmas festivities were cancelled in Palestine this year, thousands of scholars around the world spoke out by signing the “All I want for the holidays is a ceasefire” statement. Issued on the Saturday before Christmas and endorsed by high-profile intellectuals and scientists, the statement gathered more than 3,400 academic signatures within 48 hours. The call for signatures is closed today. 

“All people of conscience should demand an immediate halt to this genocidal war,” declares Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University). “Israel is committing multiple war crimes on a daily basis. It needs to be stopped immediately,” states eminent Israeli historian Avi Shlaim (Oxford). 

Signatories to the statement include esteemed philosopher Cornel R. West, Fields Medalist mathematician David Mumford, acclaimed writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, prominent laws of war theorist Karma Nabulsi, and distinguished theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli. 

“Solidarity, including on the part of medical scholars and other academics, is essential for saving lives and charting a pathway for freedom,” says renowned surgeon Prof. Ghassan Abu-Sittah. 

“All I want for the holidays is a ceasefire” is organized by Scholars Against the War in Palestine (SAWP). The campaign coordinates cross-disciplinary transnational actions and education, bringing together Indigenous, African American, Jewish, Arab and other scholars. It is endorsed by leading figures in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, STEM, and Medicine from the US, Canada, Britain, and South Africa. 

“Scholars Against the War on Palestine’s approach is exactly what is needed now,” says Nancy Fraser, Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research. SAWP is the largest global outcry from scholars to date, inspired by calls from Palestinian civil rights organizations and higher educational institutions for academics to take action to stop the war. 

SAWP makes the following demands: 

– Immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire; 

– End the siege of Gaza; – Defend the Palestinian right to education; 

– End the military occupation of all Palestinian lands; 

– Dismantle the apartheid system; 

– Implement the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the rights of self determination and return. 

Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor at UC Berkeley states, “The time is now to end this violence and to demand freedom and justice for Palestine.” 

To see the international statement go to: scholarsagainstwar.org/statement/

For further information contact: Sue Ferguson (Canada): 713-581-0147; David McNally (US): 832-617-3702; and/or email us at: info@scholarsagainstwar.org

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

https://www.scholarsforpalestine.org

Scholars for Palestine UK: Urgent Call to End the War on Palestine

As Arab and Palestinian scholars in British universities, we issue this call in support of colleagues under attack in Palestine and the recent Unified Call for Justice and Freedom issued by Palestinian Higher Education institutions. We endorse and welcome the launch of the Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP), and the call for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire. 

We urge all academics in British universities to join us in opposing the targeted destruction of Palestinian universities in Gaza and the relentless assault on the wider Palestinian academic community. We stand opposed to Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian human rights and academic freedom, including the ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza; military raids, armed attacks, and arbitrary arrest and detention of Palestinian students and staff at West Bank universities; and threats of suspension, expulsion, personal attacks and violence against Palestinians in Israeli universities. 

The systematic assault on the educational sector in Palestine is one dimension of Israel’s campaign against Palestinian civic and social infrastructure. It is part of an historic and ongoing project of ethnic cleansing and fragmentation that denies the Palestinian people their inalienable rights, including millions of Palestinians who are prevented from returning to their homeland. Israel’s attack on Palestinian education  contributes to a system of displacement and dispossession by attacking the cultural and intellectual life of the Palestinian people, by preventing them from living, thriving, studying, and teaching on their ancestral lands and excluding them from free and equal participation in the international academic community. As scholars, we vehemently oppose these actions, recognising that education is not only a fundamental human right but a crucial pillar for the preservation of identity, heritage, and civic life.  

British universities are directly complicit in the active destruction of Palestinian universities and the ongoing obstruction of access to education. British institutions and university pension funds invest millions of pounds in companies implicated in Israel’s military occupation, colonialism, and apartheid. This financial entanglement and the collaboration with arms companies that profit from the very onslaught against the Palestinian people raises critical questions about the role of our higher education institutions in perpetuating systems of oppression.

In the face of this complicity, staff and students have organised ‘walk outs’, teach-ins, and protests, whilst students’ unions and staff trade unions have expressed their solidarity with Palestinians both locally and nationally. This activism within our academic communities illustrates a commitment to ethical conduct and a refusal to be passive enablers of injustice. We must continue and escalate these actions. 

We draw inspiration from the long tradition of international solidarity in British higher education institutions, exemplified by the scholars, students and staff who campaigned against Apartheid in South Africa, championed the fight against racism in Britain, and took the ethical stand against war, from Vietnam to Iraq. This legacy fuels our conviction that as scholars, we must heed the call for action issued by our Palestinian colleagues. At this critical moment, we urge our colleagues in Britain to join us in responding to this call, and collectively affirm our commitment to realising our shared universal principles of justice and the unwavering pursuit of a world free from oppression and violence.

An active stance by British academics against these ongoing attacks is all the more urgent given Britain’s historic colonial and continuing material and political complicity in the dispossession of the Palestinian people. As such, we call on all academics in Britain to join our campaign and:

Step up the pressure to end the war on Gaza and join the international movement calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire. 

End complicity in the arms trade: Work to uncover if your university has investments, contracts or cooperation agreements with weapons companies supplying Israel and organise to cancel them. Support the call for the USS and other university pension funds to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

Stand up for the Palestinian right to education : Speak out against the destruction of the educational sector and restrictions on academic freedom in Palestine. Organise your institutions to take a stand. Demand an end to limitations on travel, research, and expression for Palestinian scholars and students. Advocate for the removal of barriers, such as checkpoints and travel restrictions, that impede academics’ and students’ ability to attend classes, participate in research, and engage in academic activities. Support the right of international scholars to visit and collaborate with colleagues in Palestine.

Build academic links with Palestinian universities and academics: Establish initiatives to foster collaborative research initiatives to combat the international isolation of Palestinian higher education. Promote exchanges, joint projects, scholarship programmes and partnerships that contribute positively to the Palestinian educational sector. 

Don’t cross the Palestinian picket line: Support and adhere to academic boycotts aimed at institutions complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. Refrain from participating in collaborations, conferences, or partnerships with institutions that support or contribute to the occupation.

Defend freedom of expression: Resist any attempts to stigmatise or silence staff and students at British universities engaged in research, speech, and actions on Palestine. 

E-mail: Scholarsforpal@proton.me

08.02.24

Editorial Note

On January 15, 2024, educator and researcher Manolo De Los Santos spoke at The People’s Forum in NYC and said, “When we finally deal that final blow to destroy Israel. When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism.”

De Los Santos is a “popular educator” from the Caribbean, committed to “radical transformation of the world at the hands of the poor and oppressed. Versed in the histories of struggle and methodologies of education, Manolo seeks to engage a new generation of visionaries and fighters.” He is working toward “building international networks of people’s movements and organizations. In 2018, he became the founding director of the People’s Forum in New York City, a movement incubator for working-class communities to build unity across historic lines of division at home and abroad. He is also a researcher with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.”

The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research is headed by the prominent American-Indian Marxist Vijay Prashad. In a talk at the People’s Forum NYC in 2021, Prashad said, “I’m a Marxist. I’m a Communist. I believe in women’s emancipation. I believe in gay rights. I believe in everything good, decent, and sensitive in the world.” Between 1996 and 2017, he served as a professor of international relations at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. During this period, Prashad became a leading activist in the BDS movement. He is also a member of the advisory board of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

De Los Santos and Prashad follow the writings of the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, who urged intellectuals and academics to become “organic” or “new” intellectuals, that are close to the experience of the working classes: “Gramsci notes, [the new intellectual] is the person who is devoted to working to alleviate the grievances of the people, elaborate popular consciousness, push the suffocating narrowness of thought outwards, and make more and more space for popular struggles to sustain themselves and win. Our intellectual production aspires to meet Gramsci’s standard.”

To pursue “Gramsci’s standards,” these activists are “archiving and analyzing the histories of national liberation and elaborating and promoting the advances made by the range of theories of national liberation Marxism.” It means that the “popular consciousness” now includes an aggressive focus on the victims of colonialism, as well as capitalism. In the eyes of the neo-Marxists, the Palestinians are the ultimate victim of colonialism, capitalism and other assorted Western transgressions against Third World populations. Their alleged victimhood gives them a place of prominence in planning “global transformative change.” For instance, De Los Santos pushed this theme as part of the “Mapping Visions for Transformative Change,” of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois, Chicago. 

It is well known that claiming that Israel is a product of a conspiracy of colonialists, capitalists, and imperialists is antisemitic because it denies Jewish rights to their ancestral land. The BDS, a global effort to destroy Israel through sanctions, is equally antisemitic. However, the story of Prashad and De Los Santos illustrates how difficult it is to fight the insidious academic antisemitism that masquerades as free speech. De Los Santos openly talks about destroying Israel and Parshad was hired by Trinity College despite his BDS activist background. 

The irony is that the founders of the BDS movement originate from Muslim and Arab countries, where Marxist ideals such as rights for laborers, women, and LGBTQ are not respected. 

Antisemitic and anti-Israel ideas are propagated on Western campuses, often dressed in fancy Marxist or neo-Marxist jargon. Those are disseminated into the community and media using the Gramsci protocols. Without a proper challenge, anti-Israeli sentiments that have been growing exponentially after October 7 would not be vanquished. 

REFERENCES

“When we finally deal that final blow to destroy Israel. When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism.” 

 -Manolo De Los Santos speaking at The People’s Forum in NYC.

Last edited 4:53 PM · Jan 15, 2024 6.7M Views

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

Mapping Visions for Transformative Change 

The Social Justice Portal Project is a project of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Participants

Manolo de los Santos, Founding Director, The People’s Forum:
Manolo is a popular educator and organizer from the Caribbean. He is committed to the radical transformation of the world at the hands of the poor and oppressed. Versed in the histories of struggle and methodologies of education, Manolo seeks to engage a new generation of visionaries and fighters.For 10 years, he worked in the organization of solidarity and education programs to challenge the United States’ regime of illegal sanctions and blockades. Based out of Cuba for many years, Manolo has worked toward building international networks of people’s movements and organizations. In 2018, he became the founding director of the People’s Forum in New York City, a movement incubator for working-class communities to build unity across historic lines of division at home and abroad. He also collaborates as a researcher with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

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

https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/icj-palestine-mural/
The Only Right That Palestinians Have Not Been Denied Is the Right to Dream: The Fifth Newsletter (2024) 

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Malak Mattar (Palestine), Gaza, 2024.

Dear friends,

Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

On 26 January, the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that it is ‘plausible’ that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The ICJ called upon Israel to ‘take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts’ that violate the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). Although the ICJ did not call explicitly for a ceasefire (as it did in 2022 when it ordered Russia to ‘suspend [its] military operation’ in Ukraine), even a casual reading of this order shows that to comply with the court’s ruling, Israel must end its assault on Gaza. As part of its ‘provisional measures’, the ICJ called upon Israel to respond to the court within a month and outline how it has implemented the order.

Though Israel has already rejected the ICJ’s findings, international pressure on Tel Aviv is mounting. Algeria has asked the UN Security Council to enforce the ICJ’s order while Indonesia and Slovenia have initiated separate proceedings at the ICJ that will begin on 19 February to seek an advisory opinion on Israel’s control of and policies on occupied Palestinian territories, pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2022. In addition, Chile and Mexico have called upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate crimes committed in Gaza.

Israel’s reaction to the ICJ’s order was characteristically dismissive. The country’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, called the ICJ an ‘antisemitic court’ and claimed that it ‘does not seek justice, but rather the persecution of Jewish people’. Strangely, Ben Gvir accused the ICJ of being ‘silent during the Holocaust’. The Holocaust conducted by the Nazi German regime and its allies against European Jews, the Romani, homosexuals, and communists took place between late 1941 and May 1945, when the Soviet Red Army liberated prisoners from Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen, and Stutthof. However, the ICJ was established in June 1945, one month after the Holocaust ended, and began its work in April 1946. Israel’s attempt to delegitimise the ICJ by saying that it remained ‘silent during the Holocaust’ when it was, in fact, not yet in existence, and then to use that false statement to call the ICJ an ‘antisemitic court’ shows that Israel has no answer to the merits of the ICJ order.

Malak Mattar (Palestine), Gaza (detail), 2024.

Meanwhile, the bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza continues. My friend Na’eem Jeenah, director of the Afro-Middle East Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been reviewing the data from various government ministries in Gaza as well as media reports to circulate a daily information card on the situation. The card from 26 January, the date of the ICJ order and the 112th day of the genocide, details that over 26,000 Palestinians, at least 11,000 of them children, have been killed since 7 October; 8,000 are missing; close to 69,000 have been injured; and almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. The numbers are bewildering. During this period, Israel has damaged 394 schools and colleges, destroying 99 of them as well as 30 hospitals and killing at least 337 medical personnel. This is the reality that occasioned the genocide case at the ICJ and the court’s provisional measures, with one judge, Dalveer Bhandari of India, going further to say plainly that ‘all fighting and hostilities [must] come to an immediate halt’.

Amongst the dead are many of Palestine’s painters, poets, writers, and sculptors. One of the striking features of Palestinian life over the past 76 years since the Nakba (‘Catastrophe’) of 1948 has been the ongoing richness of Palestinian cultural production. A brisk walk down any of the streets of Jenin or Gaza City reveals the ubiquity of studios and galleries, places where Palestinians insist upon their right to dream. In late 1974, the South African militant and artist Barry Vincent Feinberg published an article in the Afro-Asian journal Lotus that opens with an interaction in London between Feinberg and a ‘young Palestinian poet’. Feinberg was curious why, in Lotus, ‘an unusually large number of poems stem from Palestinian poets’. The young poet, amused by Feinberg’s observation, replied: ‘The only thing my people have never been denied is the right to dream’.

Malak Mattar (Palestine), Gaza (detail), 2024.

Malak Mattar, born in December 1999, is a young Palestinian artist who refuses to stop dreaming. Malak was fourteen when Israel conducted its Operation Protective Edge (2014) in Gaza, killing over two thousand Palestinian civilians in just over one month – a ghastly toll that built upon the bombardment of the Occupied Palestinian Territory that has been ongoing for more than a generation. Malak’s mother urged her to paint as an antidote to the trauma of the occupation. Malak’s parents are both refugees: her father is from al-Jorah (now called Ashkelon) and her mother is from al-Batani al-Sharqi, one of the Palestinian villages along the edge of what is now called the Gaza Strip. On 25 November 1948, the newly formed Israeli government passed Order Number 40, which authorised Israeli troops to expel Palestinians from villages such as al-Batani al-Sharqi. ‘Your role is to expel the Arab refugees from these villages and prevent their return by destroying the villages… Burn the villages and demolish the stone houses’, wrote the Israeli commanders.

Malak’s parents carry these memories, but despite the ongoing occupation and war, they try to endow their children with dreams and hope. Malak picked up a paint brush and began to envision a luminous world of bright colours and Palestinian imagery, including the symbol of sumud (‘steadfastness’): the olive tree. Since she was a teenager, Malak has painted young girls and women, often with babies and doves, though, as she told the writer Indlieb Farazi Saber, the women’s heads are often titled to the side. That is because, she said, ‘If you stand straight, upright, it shows you are stable, but with a head tilted to one side, it evokes a feeling of being broken, a weakness. We are humans, living through wars, through brutal moments… the endurance sometimes slips’.

Malak Mattar (Palestine), Two Gazan Girls Dreaming of Peace, 2020.

Malak and I have corresponded throughout this violence, her fears manifest, her strength remarkable. In January, she wrote, ‘I’m working on a massive painting depicting many aspects of the genocide’. On a five-metre canvas, Malak created a work of art that began to resemble Pablo Picasso’s celebrated Guernica (1937), which he painted to commemorate a massacre by fascist Spain against a town in the Basque region. In 2022, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) published a profile on Malak, calling her ‘Palestine’s Picasso’. In the article, Malak said, ‘I was so inspired by Picasso that, in the beginning of my art journey, I tried to paint like him’. This new painting by Malak reflects the heartbreak and steadfastness of the Palestinian people. It is an indictment of Israel’s genocide and an affirmation of Palestinians’ right to dream. If you look at it closely, you will see the victims of the genocide: the medical workers, the journalists, and the poets; the mosques and the churches; the unburied bodies, the naked prisoners, and the corpses of small children; the bombed cars and the fleeing refugees. There is a kite flying in the sky, a symbol from Refaat Alareer’s poem ‘If I Must Die’ (‘you must live to tell my story… so that a child, somewhere in Gaza while looking heaven in the eye… sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above and thinks there is an angel there bringing back love’).

Zulfa al-Sa’di (Palestine), King Faysal I of Iraq, 1931.

Malak’s work is rooted in Palestinian traditions of painting, inspired by a history that dates back to Arab Christian iconography (a tradition that was developed by Yusuf al-Halabi of Aleppo in the seventeenth century). That ‘Aleppo Style’, as the art critic Kamal Boullata wrote in Istihdar al-Makan, developed into the ‘Jerusalem Style’, which brightened the iconography by introducing flora and fauna from Islamic miniatures and embroidery. When I first saw Malak’s work, I thought of how fitting it was that she had redeemed the life of Zulfa al-Sa’di (1905–1988), one of the most important painters of her time, who painted Palestinian political and cultural heroes. Al-Sa’di stopped painting after she was forced to flee Jerusalem during the 1948 Nakba; her only paintings that remain are those that she carried with her on horseback. Sa’di spent the rest of her life teaching art to Palestinian children at an UNRWA school in Damascus. It was in one such UNRWA school that Malak learned to paint. Malak seemed to pick up al-Sa’di’s brushes and paint for her.

It is no surprise that Israel has targeted UNRWA, successfully encouraging several key Global North governments to stop funding the agency, which was established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 in 1949 to ‘carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees’. In any given year, half a million Palestinian children like Malak study at UNRWA schools. Raja Khalidi, director-general of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), says of this funding suspension: ‘Given the long-standing precarious nature of UNRWA’s finances… and in light of its essential role in providing vital services to Palestine refugees and some 1.8 million displaced persons in Gaza, cutting its funding at such a moment heightens the threat to life against Palestinians already at risk of genocide’.

I encourage you to circulate Malak’s mural, to recreate it on walls and public spaces across the world. Let it penetrate into the souls of those who refuse to see the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

Warmly,

Vijay

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

About Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

Mission

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research is an international institute guided by popular movements and organisations. We seek to bridge academic production and political and social movements in order to promote critical thinking and stimulate debates and research with an emancipatory perspective that serves the people’s aspirations.

What We Do

At Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, our work is about building knowledge from the experience of social and cultural transformations wrought by popular struggles. The main epistemological basis for such an approach to knowledge is derived from Karl Marx’s ‘11th Thesis on Feuerbach’: ‘philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it’. Our understanding of this axiom is that those who are trying to change the world have a sharp assessment of its contradictions, vulnerabilities, and possibilities. The movements and struggles for social transformation teach immense lessons about the character of power, privilege, and property and about the possibility of building a different kind of world.

One of our key concepts, derived from Antonio Gramsci, is that of the ‘new intellectual’, which refers to organic intellectuals of working people who observe the conditions of their class, interpret them against the ruling ideas, and produce a radical understanding of the world. Their views emerge but might dissipate unless they are rooted in a social or political movement, preferably in a political party of some kind. Gramsci calls these intellectuals the new intellectuals: those who throw themselves into ‘active participation in practical life, as constructor, organiser, “permanent persuader”’. The ‘permanent persuader’, or new intellectual, Gramsci notes, is the person who is devoted to working to alleviate the grievances of the people, elaborate popular consciousness, push the suffocating narrowness of thought outwards, and make more and more space for popular struggles to sustain themselves and win. Our intellectual production aspires to meet Gramsci’s standard.

Two phrases capture the essence of our work: to bridge gaps and to amplify voices. We struggle to bridge the gaps between movements and intellectual institutions and to bridge the gaps between movements spread out across the planet. We amplify the voices of the new intellectuals who lead these movements and work to elaborate the movements’ theories. As part of the work of amplifying voices, we seek to reclaim our histories of socialism and national liberation.

Publications

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research produces a weekly newsletter, monthly dossier, and various studies and other periodic publications.

Our work is rooted in the principle of hope: we believe that we do not have the right to be pessimistic. Our work is rooted in both a theory of exploitation and the reality of class struggle, in the experience of suffering but also in the insistence of struggle. To that end, our research is rooted in the dialectics of the human experience.

Our texts are collectively produced. We accompany social and political movements to conduct our research and analysis, and then we write, edit, translate, and design our materials as a team. We strive to produce accurate, credible, and accessible materials. In our texts, we do not distinguish between form and content; we build them with a firm belief in the importance of style and aesthetics, illuminating our pages with art and design that provides a sense of the hope inherent in human struggle. Our aesthetic practice is rooted in three concepts:

1. That the working class, peasantry, and impoverished millions enduring wage-less life (the labampofu, or ‘the poor’, as the South Africans put it) exist as historical actors.
2. That our readers must be able to breathe with joy as they read our texts.
3. That our readers leave our texts with hope from both the analysis in the texts but also in the range of human emotions conveyed by the art.

Our Research Agenda

Our work is focused on three main axes:

1. Contemporary Capitalism
   Much of our work closely studies developments in the contemporary capitalist economy, with a special focus on the unproductive growth of the financial sector, the rise of rentier forms of near monopoly firms, the expansion of a precarious working class, and the social effects of capitalism’s structural imbalances.
2. Monsters
   Our work develops a theory that the wretchedness of contemporary capitalism has been produced by proponents of both right-wing free market conservatives and liberals and of social democracy.
3. Futures
   The future will be shaped out of what we do now. That’s the slogan with which we operate, which means we must track the various forms of socialism that are being developed in our time.

As our work has developed, it has become clear that we must illuminate and defend our past heritage. This includes two aspects, also represented by our publishing agenda: archiving and analysing the histories of national liberation and elaborating and promoting the advances made by the range of theories of national liberation Marxism.

Institutes

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research is a network of research institutes in the Global South. We have institutes in Argentina, Brazil, India, and South Africa, as well as an inter-regional office with members in many parts of the world. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research is part of an international process of creating a network of dozens of research institutes, whose first fruit is A Plan to Save the Planet. We are also part of the International Union of Left Publishers, made up of more forty publishers from over twenty countries to advance left ideas, produce collective books, and initiate the annual Red Books Day.

We are a partner organisation of the International Peoples’ Assembly, a growing network of more than 200 political and social organisations from around the world.

The Inspiration behind Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

The name of our institute draws upon two sources: the Tricontinental Conference held in Cuba in January 1966 and the Institute for Social Research set up in Frankfurt in 1923.

The Tricontinental Conference brought together a range of revolutionary movements from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They brought with them the orientation of national liberation, non-alignment, and socialism. It is this tradition – national liberation Marxism – which anchors the work of our institute.

The Institute for Social Research, also known as the Frankfurt School, developed during the Weimar Republic in Germany to understand the European working class’s failure to take advantage of the revolutionary situation on the continent at the time. The institute’s scholars studied the crisis of capitalism, the limitations of working-class struggle and ideology, and the rise of fascism.

We seek to further their legacy.

01.02.24

Editorial Note

On January 24, the International Day of Education is observed annually to honor education. The United Nations General Assembly voted on it on December 3, 2018. The aim is to celebrate the role of education in bringing global peace and sustainable development. The first celebration on January 24, 2019, included a message showcasing the occasion and promising results in the “betterment of an educated individual that constitute a cultured society, which is supported with optimism and opportunities.”

According to the UN website, “Learning for peace must be a transformative process, enabling learners to gain essential knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, and behaviors, thereby empowering them to serve as catalysts for peace in their communities. The foundation of more peaceful, just, and sustainable societies is laid through education, a force that permeates every facet of our daily lives and overall prospects. In the face of escalating climate change, democratic erosion, persistent inequalities, growing discrimination, hate speech, violence, and conflict on a global scale, education emerges as a powerful tool to both address and prevent these challenges in the future. Moreover, when effectively shaped and implemented, education becomes a long-term investment with increasing returns. An active commitment to peace is more urgent today than ever: Education is central to this endeavor.”

On the current International Day of Education, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) published a letter addressing the academic community. It stated that as part of its Gaza Genocide, “Israel is targeting Palestinian education. Israeli universities are complicit.” That the Palestinian call to boycott complicit Israeli universities is more urgent than ever because “Israel has deliberately targeted and killed 94 Palestinian scholars in air raids on their homes, including Islamic University president Prof. Sufyan Tayeh and Prof. Refaat Alareer, poet and founder of We Are Not Numbers, in addition to 231 teachers and 4,327 students, with more among the missing. Israel has destroyed ALL Palestinian universities in Gaza, including by placing explosives in empty campuses meant to flatten them, and after some had been occupied and used as military bases and detention centers. It has completely or partially destroyed 346 schools. Israel’s attacks on Palestinian education as part of its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza.”

According to PACBI, fifteen major Palestinian universities stated that “Israeli universities, complicit in human rights violations, should face international isolation” and called the international academic community to urge for a ceasefire and work to “dismantle Israel’s settler colonial and apartheid system.” Israeli universities have a “long history of actively supporting Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid. They are now supporting genocide.” 

For PACBI, Tel Aviv University is complicit in genocide because it has instituted a hasbara (propaganda) course on Israel’s Gaza Genocide; It “bragged about having helped ‘make’ Israel’s propaganda-ridden case before the International Court of Justice; and it “crowdfunded for ‘care’ packages for soldiers committing genocide in Gaza.” 

The Hebrew University is complicit in genocide because it provides “diverse logistics equipment to several military units.” It instituted an “Enhanced Financial Package” for student soldiers committing the “Gaza Genocide,” in addition to academic benefits. 

The Technion is complicit in genocide, according to PACBI, because it created an AI-driven “army of robots to massively increase the impact of pro-Israel efforts on social media,” pushing “Israeli propaganda whitewashing its genocide and repressing speech on Palestinian rights.” 

PACBI states “We urge universities, scholars, unions, departments, and associations to call for #CeasefireNow and an end to Israel’s #GazaGenocide, and to work to end institutional ties with complicit Israeli universities.”

To advance its goals, PACBI recruits non-Palestinians who help spread its messages. Dr. Nicola Perugini wrote in an article, “On International Education Day, we must urge our universities to break their silence by rescinding institutional collaborations with Israeli schools.” Perugini’s article begins by explaining that “On October 11, the Israeli Air Force proudly released a video of its attack against the Islamic University of Gaza, the area’s oldest higher education institution, created in 1978. The Bombardment resulted in the destruction of four of the buildings on campus and extensive damage to university equipment, laboratories and furniture. The message was clear from the beginning of Israel’s attack on Gaza: Palestinian education institutions must be destroyed. On this International Education Day, we should think about tangible measures and actions we must take to counter Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian education system–an aggression without precedent in the history of the region. At the beginning of November, air attacks targeted Al Azhar University, the second largest university in Gaza, followed by the destruction of Al Quds University later that month. Israel Justified these attacks by saying they were in response to the alleged use of civilian infrastructures by Palestinian armed groups to shield ‘military training camps.’ This is an excuse it has used without supporting evidence… But since the beginning of December, the shielding lie about the education sector was further exposed. In fact, Israeli ground troops started occupying and using Palestinian university buildings as military positions, before filling them with hundreds of mines and carrying out controlled detonations of the universities in front of cameras. There was no military threat emerging from the buildings, thus the army’s intent was pure elimination for the sake of elimination.” 

He then repeats his call for an academic boycott of Israel. “At the individual and academic institutional level, we should honor the call of our Palestinian colleagues for a full academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions by intensifying existing boycott efforts.”

Perugini is teaching International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. 

Interestingly, the University of Edinburgh student organization Middle East and North Africa Society (MENA) officially announced on August 21, 2023, a sponsorship agreement with the Qatar Embassy in London. This alliance “stands as an emblem of mutual commitment to enhance understanding and respect for the multifaceted cultures, histories, and dynamics of the MENA region. Expanding Horizons: With the generous platinum sponsorship from the Embassy, MENA is poised to upscale its initiatives, ranging from larger events, and diverse community engagements, to deeper academic outreach… As MENA Society progresses, its primary focus will be on intensifying efforts to spotlight Arab Heritage.” As IAM noted before, such student groups often run anti-Israel activities.

As can be seen, Perugini ignores Hamas’ atrocities and the tunnels under Gaza. His scholarship is based mainly on writing against Israel, as his research interest reveals: “He is the co-author of The Human Right to Dominate (Oxford University Press 2015), Morbid Symptoms (Sharjah Biennial 13, 2017), and Human Shields. A History of People in the Line of Fire (University of California Press 2020). Perugini has published articles on war and the ethics of violence; the politics of human rights, humanitarianism, and international law; humanitarianism’s visual cultures; war and embedded anthropology; refugees and asylum seekers; law, space and colonialism; settler-colonialism. Nicola is currently working on three research projects. The first, ‘Decolonizing the Civilian,’ examines decolonization and national liberation wars, international law, and the status of civilians in armed conflicts. The second is an exploration of the global history of the University of Edinburgh during the mandate of one of his imperial chancellors, Arthur James Balfour… He has taught at the American University of Rome, the Al Quds Bard College in Jerusalem where he also directed the Human Rights Program, Brown University, and the University of Bologna. He has served as consultant for UNESCO and UN Women. His opinion pieces have appeared in Al Jazeera English, London Review of Books, Newsweek, Internazionale, The Nation, the Huffington Post, The Conversation, Just Security, Open Democracy, Counterpunch, The Herald, The National, Jadaliyya, +972 Magazine, e-flux.” 

The propaganda unleashed on the UN-sponsored International Day of Education should not be surprising. It is one more example of how pro-Palestinian networks penetrated international organizations, including human rights, women, and education groups. Of course, universities, where the neo-Marxist critical paradigm dominates the social sciences, have been at the forefront of this process. Instead of providing a forum for airing multiple points of view, they resemble a religion where only the official dogma is permitted. And, as IAM repeatedly pointed out, according to this dogma, Israel is cast as an oppressor and the Palestinians as the eternal victims of the Jewish state. According to this narrative, Israel cannot do anything right, and the Palestinians cannot do anything wrong. The power of the dogma is so strong that none of the detractors of Israel could find enough decency to condemn the most horrific attack on the Jews since the Holocaust. They could not even criticize Hamas for its brutal control over the Palestinian population that turned them into human shields. As widely known, the Fourth Geneva Convention makes it illegal for militants to embed among the civilian population.  

The International Day of Education, as inaugurated by the UN, should not be used by anti-Israel groups to spread antisemitic and anti-Israel tropes.  

REFERENCES:

https://bdsmovement.net/news/killing-learning-israels-attacks-palestinian-education

“The Killing Learning.” Israel’s Attacks on Palestinian Education.

January 24, 2024

 / By

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

Today, on International Education Day, we remind the academic community that as part of its #GazaGenocide, Israel is targeting Palestinian education.

Israeli universities are complicit.

The Palestinian call to boycott complicit Israeli universities is more urgent than ever. 

Israel has deliberately targeted and killed 94 Palestinian scholars in air raids on their homes, including Islamic University president Prof. Sufyan Tayeh and Prof. Refaat Alareer, poet and founder of We Are Not Numbers, in addition to 231 teachers and 4,327 students, with more among the missing.

Israel has destroyed ALL Palestinian universities in Gaza, including by placing explosives in empty campuses meant to flatten them, and after some had been occupied and used as military bases and detention centers.

It has completely or partially destroyed 346 schools.

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian education as part of its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza has been defined as the crime of “educaricide,” or “killing of learning,” by UN Special Rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal.

15 major Palestinian universities stated that “Israeli universities, complicit in human rights violations, should face international isolation,” calling on the international academic community to urge #CeasefireNow and work to dismantle Israel’s settler colonial and apartheid system.

Israeli universities have a long history of actively supporting Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid.

They are now supporting genocide.

Tel Aviv University has:

• instituted a hasbara (propaganda) course on Israel’s #GazaGenocide;
• bragged about having helped “make” Israel’s propaganda-ridden case before the International Court of Justice;
• crowdfunded for “care” packages for soldiers committing genocide in Gaza.

Hebrew University boasts of providing “diverse logistics equipment to several military units.”

As most Israeli universities, Hebrew University also immediately instituted an “Enhanced Financial Package” for student soldiers committing Israel’s #GazaGenocide, in addition to academic benefits.

Technion boasts of a student who enlisted professors and alumni to create an AI-driven “army of robots to massively increase the impact of pro-Israel efforts on social media,” pushing Israeli propaganda whitewashing its genocide and repressing speech on Palestinian rights.

The time for the global academic community to act is now.

We urge universities, scholars, unions, departments, and associations to call for #CeasefireNow and an end to Israel’s #GazaGenocide, and to work to end institutional ties with complicit Israeli universities.

If not now, when?

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

https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/gazas-education-system-is-suffering-impose-an-academic-boycott-on-israel-16766561

Gaza’s education system is suffering. Impose an academic boycott on Israel

On International Education Day, we must urge our universities to break their silence by rescinding institutional collaborations with Israeli schools, argues one academic.

NICOLA PERUGINI

24.01.2024

On October 11, the Israeli Air Force proudly released a video of its attack against the Islamic University of Gaza, the area’s oldest higher education institution, created in 1978. 

The bombardment resulted in the destruction of four of the buildings on campus and extensive damage to university equipment, laboratories and furniture. The message was clear from the beginning of Israel’s attack on Gaza: Palestinian education institutions must be destroyed.

On this International Education Day, we should think about tangible measures and actions we must take to counter Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian education system–an aggression without precedent in the history of the region. 

At the beginning of November, air attacks targeted Al Azhar University, the second largest university in Gaza, followed by the destruction of Al Quds University later that month. 

Israel justified these attacks by saying they were in response to the alleged use of civilian infrastructures by Palestinian armed groups to shield “military training camps.” This is an excuse it has used without supporting evidence to also legitimise the devastation of hospitals, schools, civilian buildings, and other infrastructure in Gaza.

But since the beginning of December, theshielding lie about the education sector was further exposed. In fact, Israeli ground troops started occupying and using Palestinian university buildings as military positions, before filling them with hundreds of mines and carrying out controlled detonations of the universities in front of cameras. 

There was no military threat emerging from the buildings, thus the army’s intent was pure elimination for the sake of elimination.

Israeli soldiers would then share the videos of themselves committing these crimes and pulverising Palestinian higher education infrastructures online. 

For example, the case of the Faculty of Medicine at the Islamic University in December, and more recently the destruction of Israa University in Gaza City. The building of Israa, which also hosted 3,000 rare artefacts that were looted by Israeli soldiers, was used as an interrogation and sniping centre to target civilians in the adjacent areas, before being blown up. 

The systematic destruction of Palestinian education centres (a process Palestinian scholar Karma Nabulsi has called “scholasticide“) and the attacks on Palestinian spaces of knowledge and culture production and circulation (what scholars call “epistemicide”) is a structural feature of Israel’s regime of settler colonial dispossession. 

In the occupied West Bank, Israel has been repressing Palestinian education and attacking students, educational personnel, schools and universities for decades. Schools, universities, students and personnel in Gaza have also been subjected to the same treatment until the 2005 “disengagement,” to be then bombarded in all the rounds of Israeli aggression which followed the beginning of the siege of Gaza in 2007.

However, these most recent attacks have passed the threshold of imagination. Thefigures are horrifying. According to Euro Med Human Rights Monitor and the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education, 94 academics, 4,327 students, 231 teachers and administrators have been killed since Oct. 7. 

All university buildings in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed. Some 281-run public schools and 65 United Nations schools have been completely destroyed or damaged. In other words, the Palestinian space of education in Gaza has been obliterated, to such an extent that when the genocide will be over, there will not be an education system to return to.

In an open call, Palestinian academics haveinvited their colleagues abroad to take action against the genocide and the destruction of education institutions. 

,,

Since October, Israeli academic institutions have suppressed academic freedom and freedom of speech by suspending, investigating and expelling students for expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

But how has Israeli academia responded to the extermination of their colleagues and the unprecedented destruction of education infrastructures? So far, we have not heard any institutional condemnation of Palestinian scholasticide and epistemicide. 

On the contrary, this deafening silence has been accompanied by systematic attackswithin Israeli academic institutions, mainly against Palestinian students and staff, but also against internal Jewish Israeli dissenters, for their solidarity with Gaza.

The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) has reported how since the beginning of the attacks in October, Israeli academic institutions have suppressed academic freedom and freedom of speech by suspending, investigating and expelling students for expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

In addition, Hebrew University has issued a public letter potentially inciting verbal and physical violence against Nadera Shalhoub-Kovorkian, a Palestinian professor who signed a petition in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Meanwhile, the David Yellin Academic College suspended Nurit Peled Elhanan, a Jewish professor and Sakharov Prize laureate, for criticising a comparison between Hamas and the Nazis in a colleagues’ Whatsapp chat. 

This picture is part of a historical trend of complicity of Israeli academic institutions with the repression and dispossession of Palestinians, both within Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Universities in Israel collaborate on the development of weapons, military doctrines and ideological discourses which facilitate and normalise the settler colonial ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. 

Just to mention a recent example closely related to ongoing events in Gaza, Joel Roskin, a geographer at the Hebrew University and a “geolocation expert” who works with the Israeli military, penned an opinion article in the Jerusalem Post advocating for the depopulation of Gaza and the expulsion of Palestinians to Sinai as a “humanitarian solution.” 

One of his colleagues, Meir Masri, who according to his Twitter bio teaches politics and international relations at Hebrew University, recently posted that Gaza must be destroyed and “razed to the ground.”

This is really an unprecedented situation in which we have to understand that the epistemicide and scholasticide in Gaza are not a metaphor. They are part of the destruction of Palestinian collective life and they are ultimately genocidal acts which require our immediate action and mobilisation. 

So what can be done?

At the international institutional level, UNESCO should honour this International Education Day by taking concrete measures to protect the human right to education of Palestinian students and staff, and more broadly the existence of the Palestinian education sector which is under existential threat in Gaza. 

It should also immediately exclude Israel from its member states. This step was indeed taken by UNESCO’s regional groups in 1974, in the same year in which the organisation issued the “Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,” a key document that inspirestoday’s celebrations. However, it was rescinded a few years later.

At the individual and academic institutional level, we should honour the call of our Palestinian colleagues for a full academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions by intensifying existing boycott efforts.

,,

We have to act immediately as responsible colleagues who care for those who are being eliminated with their education system, in Israel’s settler colonial effort to erase the conditions of possibility of transmission of Palestinian culture, memory and presence in Gaza.

This is the only concrete tool we have to act immediately as responsible colleagues who care for those who are being eliminated with their education system, in Israel’s settler colonial effort to erase the conditions of possibility of transmission of Palestinian culture, memory and presence in Gaza. 

We should ask our universities to break the silence and terminate all forms of complicity with what is going on in Gaza by rescinding their institutional collaborations with Israeli universities and their investments in companies complicit with Israel’s regime of dispossession. 

We should organise and ask our academic associations, societies and unions to vote for a boycott and join the many national and international associations and societies which have decided to suspend their relationship with Israel’s universities. The boycott is institutional and is not directed towards individuals, and signifies a concrete commitment to anti-racism, anticolonialism and the human rights of our Palestinian colleagues.

******

Nicola Perugini is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. He is also the co-author of The Human Right to Dominate (2015) and Human Shields. A History of People in the Line of Fire (2020).

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

https://www.iloveqatar.net/news/general/sponsorship-agreement-sealed-university-edinburgh-mena-society-embassy-qatar-london

Posted On: 29 August 2023 07:17 pm

Updated On: 30 August 2023 01:50 pm

Sponsorship agreement signed between The University of Edinburgh MENA Society & The Embassy of the State of Qatar

Rikhia Basu

The University of Edinburgh Middle East and North Africa Society (MENA), a leading student organization has officially announced a sponsorship agreement with the Embassy of the State of Qatar in London.

This historic partnership, officiated on 21 August 2023, is a testament to the efforts of H.E Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, and the MENA Society’s President, Hamad Essa Al-Tamimi. The Embassy of the State of Qatar will now be recognized as a platinum sponsor from 1 September 2023 to 1 June 2024.

Sponsorship Highlights:

Joint Endeavour: This alliance stands as an emblem of mutual commitment to enhance understanding and respect for the multifaceted cultures, histories, and dynamics of the MENA region.

Expanding Horizons: With the generous platinum sponsorship from the Embassy, MENA is poised to upscale its initiatives, ranging from larger events, and diverse community engagements, to deeper academic outreach.

The Road Ahead: As MENA Society progresses, its primary focus will be on intensifying efforts to spotlight Arab Heritage. Beyond the parameters of this sponsorship, the society is committed to undertaking pragmatic steps: hosting educational programs, partnering with local community leaders, and curating events.

“Collaborating with the Embassy of the State of Qatar, especially under the guidance of H.E Ambassador Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, has been an illuminating experience. This partnership amplifies our society’s commitment to, it gifts MENA communities a prominent spotlight—a much-deserved platform that allows them to truly showcase who we are. The importance of sharing culture and heritage cannot be understated; it’s the bridge that connects generations and binds communities. In this grand tapestry of traditions and narratives, the MENA Society proudly positions itself as the ‘House of Culture’—an epicentre where the essence of the MENA region thrives and resonates.”