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NEW YORK – This was the year that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement moved to the center of the American Jewish community’s agenda. While BDS efforts began more than a decade ago and have not reached the level…
read moreSteven Salaita, the professor whose University of Illinois job offer was rescinded earlier this year over his inflammatory comments about Israel, is now on a road show, talking about how people like him are not allowed to talk. So far,…
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Jewish students at Texas A&M (courtesy) The day before Rosh Hashanah, students at universities across America will have the opportunity to ring in the Jewish new year en masse. Instead of sounding the shofar, however, participants are much more likely to…
read moreApart from the Steven Salaita affair (best analyzed by Northwestern law professor Steven Lubet) and the occasional, if typical, borderline anti-Semitic comment from a member of Columbia’s Middle Eastern studies department, the summer has been surprisingly quiet, given events in the region,…
read moreWhen Israel declared its statehood 65 years ago, there was little ripple effect at American universities. At the time, “campus anti-Semitism” referred to the Jewish quotas applied to student and faculty applicants to certain institutions of higher learning. But those…
read moreIt was an exceptionally busy academic year for pro-Palestinian student activism on campus. The American Studies Association’s December resolution to endorse the academic boycott of Israel got an extraordinary amount of ink, but arguably it was the students, not their professors, who…
read moreMay saw the deployment of new campus BDS techniques, which were temporarily thwarted by rapid responses by community and university leaders. These pushed BDS closer toward lawfare –legal and administrative means to attack Israel and its supporters. They also indicate…
read moreThere was a time when people looking for intellectual debate turned away from politics to the university. Political backrooms bred slogans and bagmen; universities fostered educated discussion. But when students in the 1960s began occupying university property like the thugs…
read moreThe “Fight BDS” app is a 21st-century PR tool. In the battle to win hearts and minds for the Jewish state, it is designed to revamp Zionism, build a worldwide online activism network and empower lovers of Israel with the…
read moreApril saw the focus of BDS activities pivot back to academia. It is no coincidence that Passover and Easter were celebrated in April; indeed, the timing of BDS resolutions in student government settings has long centered around holidays when attention,…
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