This post was written by Professor Dr. David Hirsh, at the University of London and originally published at Engage. 1. BDS singles out Israel BDS is a global campaign against Israel and only Israel. It seeks to foment sufficient emotional anger with Israel, and with only Israel, so that people around the world...
Fact Checking Omar Barghouti
Omar Barghouti did not speak at Stanford University earlier this quarter. Neither did he deliver his talk in real time over Skype. Instead, the sponsors of the event — Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace — streamed a pre-recorded, and presumably, pre-vetted, video of Barghouti...
We Can Only Be Optimistic
As the academic calendar comes to a close in the UK, the new challenges begin to open on campus. On Wednesday the 20th of April, delegates of the UK National Union of Students gathered together in Brighton to vote for their new NUS president. This elected role of president is...
‘Free speech’ is Not a Cover for the Incitement of Violence
Paul Bronfman’s principled decision to pull funding from York University must serve as a wake-up call: the university has a real and pervasive problem with anti-Semitism that it is failing to acknowledge. York administrators are far more willing to moralize in hazy abstractions of “free speech” and “inclusivity” than to...
An Open (Thank You) Letter to USG
Thank you for the many hours you spent inside and outside of the senate chambers engaging with students, researching and seeking to understand one of the most complex and controversial topics of our time: the Arab-Israeli conflict. With the media selectively determining the narrative, I can only imagine the struggles...
Hebrew U Students Join the Fight for Accuracy on Israel
For Israelis, daily life can be intense. Most of us have served in the IDF during one operation or another. When driving, we stay clear of the areas where there is a high chance of having rocks thrown at our cars. Here in Jerusalem, we avoid walking around with...
Standing Up for TICP
Earlier this week, The Israeli Cartoon Project (TICP) posted a Buzzfeed listicle of “Ten Extremely Accurate Cartoons that Depict the Hypocrisy of BDS.” The article was posted to give readers an accurate perspective of Israel’s situation, as well as publicizing TICP’s display at YNet’s Anti-BDS Conference in Jerusalem that took place on Monday. However, the post was immediately taken...
Thank You for Condemning Anti-Semitism, UC
After numerous instances of anti-Semitism on University of California campuses, the UC Board of Regents formally adopted a statement condemning such behavior. This is the first public statement of its kind, which resulted in large part due to numerous instances of students committing acts of antisemitism on campus, often under the guise...