Photo: Rick Dikeman at English Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons When studying past dystopias in school, we assure ourselves that we would never have fallen for the same propaganda that brainwashed millions. We insist that we would have been abolitionists in America or would have protested against racism in apartheid South Africa. Legislation...
Exposing the Lies and Hate of the BDS Movement
In a conversation with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) on March 31st Omar Barghouti appears to have charged Jews as thieves, settler colonialists, racists, purveyors of apartheid, ethnic cleansers, supremacists, and murderers — or at least the 95 percent of American Jews who support Israel. Barghouti is one of the leaders of...
IHRA Resolution and Defining Antisemitism
Every year, when Jews around the world observe Purim, they finish the Megillah and celebrate that the Jews of ancient Persia were saved. The story of Purim is unique among Jewish stories because the Persian Jews’ salvation came by way of human initiative — through the relentless efforts of Mordechai...
Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: Antisemitism Is Inherent to SJP Activism
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel/Wikimedia Commons On February 26th, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Brown University hosted an event featuring speakers who discussed Palestinian activism. Unsurprisingly, it was an exercise in antisemitic rhetoric and argumentation, including hateful tropes such as, “These attacks on capital, on money are what scares them [Israelis,...
The False Comparison of Zionism and Colonialism
Anti-Zionists, especially BDS activists, have been quite successful in creating and spreading many false claims, exaggerations and misperceptions about Israel. I have been working with the campus CAMERA team on the launch of a social-media campaign called #ApartheidWeekExposed. Its goal is to shed light on how the actions of those involved...
Zooming Into Israel Apartheid Week
Photo: Cantavestrella/Wikimedia Commons On Wednesday 17th March, I attended a public Zoom event hosted by SOAS Palestine Society as part of their Israel Apartheid Week 2021 series. The discussion was chaired by Youth Against Settlements (YAS), a Palestinian activist group based in the city of Hebron, situated in the southern section of the...
The Libelous Claims on National SJP’s Panel
On February 19, 2021, the Institute for Policy Studies’ Middle East Fellow Khury Petersen-Smith and the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) organization shared their latest iteration of antisemitic libels and hypocrisy during “Freedom Intertwined: Organizing for Collective Liberation,” a virtual panel hosted by NSJP. The event framed Palestinian self-determination...
Why we Should Celebrate the Adoption of IHRA
Photo: Ewan Munro/Wikimedia Commons At the close of last term, QMUL and QMSU announced their intention to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Drafted in 2018, the definition creates a legal framework by which antisemitism can be challenged, and represents an important step in ensuring...