In March, I detailed Students for Justice in Palestine’s campaign against academic freedom at the University of Chicago. Since then, the situation has only deteriorated. SJP’s initial anti-Israel boycott targeted courses about Israel that “legitimize” the Jewish state through so-called propaganda. Later, SJP expanded their boycott by demanding that the...
Ignore the Sensationalism: Israel’s Press is Free
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s death while reporting on an IDF operation in Jenin is a tragedy deserving investigation. Journalistic freedom is vital to any nation that calls itself a democracy. Across our world, there are still many places without free presses and where journalists fear for their lives....
Combating Antisemitism Through Self-Defense
In the latter part of the 1930s, Bratislava was home to a large, affluent Jewish community. Overcoming many challenges as an ethnic minority, the Jewish community in Slovakia thrived. In 1938, a new wave of antisemitism gripped Bratislava. Jewish businesses were boycotted, burned, and looted, synagogues and yeshivas were burned,...
The Soviet origins of left-wing anti-Zionism
On March 27, Kennan Institute scholar Izabella Tabarovsky led a discussion at the University of Miami concerning the Soviet roots of modern anti-Zionism sponsored by CAMERA on Campus, Canes for Israel, and UM Hillel. As Tabarovsky writes in an essay for Fathom, the Soviets’ overtly antisemitic campaign “succeeded at emptying...
Anti-Zionist faculty in US colleges are responsible for hostile environments towards Jewish students
In recent years, we have seen how anti-Israel hostility has sprouted in hundreds of universities across the country. Under the disguise of academic freedom, institutions of higher learning have become fertile grounds for extremism. While Jewish studies departments and organizations such as Chabad and Hillel sustain a vibrant Jewish life...
Crimson’s BDS Embrace Pulls Reputation Into Question
In a dark return to history, Harvard has again made itself unsafe to Jewish students. The storied Harvard Crimson made the mistake of endorsing the antisemitic BDS campaign on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Over the past year, we have witnessed a troubling trend of the Harvard Crimson’s increasingly hostile bias against the State of...
Appropriating Apartheid is Social Injustice
“Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination,” reads Amnesty International’s recent report accusing Israel of enforcing “a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people.” Human Rights Watch, too, claims that Israel is guilty of the “Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.” Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s...
McGill’s student union’s Palestine policy has little to do with democracy or academic freedom, says a former student representative
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) recently made headlines after McGill threatened to sanction the association for adopting a “Palestine Solidarity Policy”—a misleadingly named, unconstitutional proposal to marginalize Jewish groups. Nevertheless, many undergraduates and staff continue to defend the manifesto as an example of student “democracy.” When McGill warned...
