Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
and The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies of the University of Miami
“Fifty Years of the Special US-Israel Relationship (1962-2012) in Perspective”
January 16-18, 2011
The Conrad Miami Hotel
1395 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131
Tel. (305) 503-6500
PROGRAM
This conference has been made possible through the generous support of the Klarman Family Foundation, the UJA-Federation of New York’s Solelim Fund and American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
Sunday, January 16
9:00 am – Noon: Conference Registration
Location: 3rd Floor
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch
Welcoming Greetings and Remarks
Samuel Edelman, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Executive Director
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard University
William S. Green, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Univ. of Miami
Peter Haas, Case Western University, President SPME
Eric Lankin, JNF to present Life Time Achievement Award to Ed Beck
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
1:30 pm–2:45 pm:Plenary Keynote Address
Ofer Bavly, Israel Consul General for Florida and Puerto Rico
Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Michael Oren. Introduced by Haim Shaked, University of Miami
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
2:45 – 4:15 pm: Plenary Panel
Conversation on U.S.-Israel Relationship in its Middle Eastern Context
Chair: Haim Shaked, University of Miami
Barry Rubin, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, IDC
Kenneth Stein, Emory University
Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
4:15 – 4:30 pm: Coffee Break
4:30 – 6:00 pm:Plenary Panel
Conversation on the Jewish Community and the US-Israel Special Relationship
Chair: Donna Robinson Divine, Smith College
Martin Raffel, JCPA
Eric Lankin, JNF
Steven Bayme, AJC
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
6:00 -7:00 pm:Plenary Keynote Address
Conversation with Ambassador Samuel Lewis. Introduced by Haim Shaked. Moderated by Kenneth Stein, Emory University
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
7:00 -7:45 pm: Cocktails and SPME award presentations to Kenneth Marcus, Haim Shaked
Location: The Room, 25th Floor
7:45 pm: Dinner Meeting open only to SPME Board, Chapter Chair and Taskforce Members
See Board and Chapter Chair Agenda
Location: Porto, 3rd Floor
Monday, January 17
7:00 am: Conference Registration
Location: 3rd Floor
7-00 – 8:00 am: SPME Board and Chapter Meeting. Closed Meeting.
Location: Lisbon A, 3rd Floor
7:00 – 8:00 am: Breakfast Buffet for Participants
Location: Conrad Ballroom Foyer, 3rd Floor
8:00 -9:15 am:
Panel A – Journalism and Advocacy
Moderator: John Cohn, Thomas Jefferson University
Abe Aamidor, Journalist – My War, Your War: The Battle to Frame the Middle East Conflict and Its Relationship to Charges of Bias in Media Coverage
Rebekah Israel, Florida International University
John Cohn, Thomas Jefferson University – Advocacy for Israel and Academic Integrity
Location: Estoril, 3rd Floor
Panel B – Security Issues and the Special Relationship
Moderator: Philip Carl Salzman, McGill University
Abraham Wagner, Columbia University – US-Israeli Strategic Relations: Myths and Realities
Daniel Grossman, former Director of the American Jewish Congress, Israel – The Special Relationship and the US and Israeli Military
Ofira Seliktar, Gratz College – The Anti-Israel Lobby: The Military and Intelligence Community
Location: Porto, 3rd Floor
Panel C – Hispanic/Latin America Issues and Concerns
Moderator: Ruth Contreras, University of Vienna
Luis Fleischman, Florida Atlantic University
Ruth Contreras, University of Vienna – Establishing SPME Chapters in Spain and Latin America
Daniel Ajzen, Latin American Democracy Defense Organization
Juan Dircie, American Jewish Committee, Miami
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
9:30 -10:45 am:Keynote Plenary Panel on Iran, Oil and the Arab and Islamic Lobbies and NGO’s
Chair: Eugene Rothman, University of Miami
Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor and Bar Ilan University
Raphael Israeli, Hebrew University
Edwin Black, Journalist and Author, Washington DC
David Menashri, Tel Aviv University
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
10:45 -11:00 am: Coffee Break
11:00 am -12:15 pm:
Panel A – International Perspectives on Anti-Israelism
Moderator and Presenter: Jonathan Adelman, University of Denver
Tatiana Karasova, Russian Academy of Sciences, Israel Department
Ralf Schumann, Charite Medical School, Berlin
Diethard Pallaschke, the University of Karlsruhe
Ruth Contreras, University of Vienna – European Perspectives on Anti-Israelism
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
Panel B – Advocacy and Branding
Moderator: Edward Beck, Walden University
Eric Lankin, JNF
Richard Cravatts, Boston University
Eytan Gilboa, Bar Ilan University
Location: Porto, 3rd Floor
Panel C- Demographics, Data, the Media and the Special Relationship
Moderator: Leila Beckwith, University of California, Los Angeles
Ira Sheskin, University of Miami – The Impact of Jewish Geography and Demography on the Jewish Vote and Levels of Attachment of American Jews to Israel
Terri Fine, University of Central Florida – The U.S.-Israel Relationship as a Tool for Jewish Voter Mobilization
Location: Estoril, 3rd Floor
12:15- 1:00 pm: Lunch
Location: Lisbon, 3rd Floor
1:00 – 2:10 pm:Keynote Plenary Panel. Anti-semitism and Walt/Mearsheimer
Chair: Judith Jacobson
Steve Jacobs, University of Alabama
Marc Weitzman, Simon Wiesenthal Center, New York
Jonathan Kessler, AIPAC
Clemens Heni, Germany – Post 9/11 Germany, Nazi Germany and the German Edition of Walt/Mearsheimer’s “Israel Lobby“
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
2:15 – 3:30 pm:
Panel A – Boycott, Divestment Sanctions and Delegitimization
Moderator: Stanley Dubinsky, University of South Carolina
Edward Beck, Walden University – SPME: A Successful Model for Faculty Mobilization to Counter Academic Boycotts Against Israel Since 2005
Robert Friedmann, Georgia State University – Free Speech and Incitement, Blurred Boundaries
Fred Taub, Boycott Watch “Boycotting Peace”
Dan Meyerstein, President, Ariel University Center
Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
Panel B – International Relations and Law
Moderator: Kenneth Marcus, Institute for Jewish and Community Research
Ed Morgan, University of Toronto – Law and Politics of U.S.-Israel Free Trade
Kenneth Lasson, University of Baltimore – The Jonathan Pollard Case
Moshe Fox, Hebrew University – Dealing with the Myth of “Jewish Influence”: The Case of the Eisenhower Administration
Location: Lisbon Room A, 3rd Floor
Panel C – Rhetoric Used in Opposition to the Special Relationship
Moderator: Edward Newman, Temple University
A. Jay Cristol, Author – The Liberty Incident
Josef Olmert, American University – The US- Israel relationships: The Polls and beyond
Richard Landes, Boston University
Joel Fishman, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions; BDS against Apartheid and the “Occupation of Palestine”
Location: Vila Real, 2nd Floor
Panel D – Iran and the US-Israel Special Relationship
Moderator and Respondent: Ernest Sternberg, State University of New York at Buffalo
David Menashri, Tel Aviv University
Joseph Cerami, Texas A & M University
Philip Carl Salzman, McGill University
Location: Lisbon Room B, 3rd Floor
3:30 – 3:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:45 – 5:00 pm:
Panel A – Anti-semitism, the Campus and the Future of the Special Relationship
Kenneth Marcus, Institute for Jewish and Community Research – Promising Enforcement:
Promises and Pitfalls of the New OCR Anti-Semitism Policy
Leila Beckwith, University of California, Los Angeles, Anti-Semitism at the University of California
Tammi Benjamin, University of California, Santa Cruz – Responding to Campus Anti-Semitism at the University of California
Location: Lisbon Room A, 3rd Floor
Panel B – SPME/JNF Media Watch: Faculty Fellowship to Israel
Rene Reinhard, Jewish National Fund
Abe Aamidor, Joe Cerami, and Marian Barchilon, participants in the 2010 Faculty Forum Israel
Location: Estoril, 3rd Floor
Panel C – Post-Modern Reflections and the Special Relationship
Moderator: Stephen Albert, University of Pittsburgh
Ernest Sternberg, State University of New York at Buffalo -The New Anti-Capitalism: The Politics of Scapegoating at the US and World Social Forums
Samuel Edelman, Exec. Director SPME – Reframing the Narrative, the Failure of Post-Modernism
Steve Baum, Editor, Journal of Anti-Semitism – The Social Transmission of Antisemitism and the War on Words
Location: Lisbon Room B, 3rd Floor
5:15 – 6:30 pm:Plenary Keynote. Honorable Irwin Cotler (MP Canada). Introduced by Peter Haas Location: Conrad Ballroom, 3rd Floor
6:30 -7:15 pm: Cocktail Reception
Location: The Room, 25th Floor
Adjournment
7:15 pm: Dinner open only to SPME Board Members. Porto, 3rd Floor.
See Board and Chapter Chair Agenda
Tuesday, January 18
SPME Board Business Meetings. See Board and Chapter Chair Agenda.
