Toward the end of the 19th century, a German publicist remarked: “One cannot today criticize Jews without being called an anti-Semite.” What is most remarkable about these words is the fact that they were uttered by none other than Wilhelm…
read moreIn the summer of 2013 an unusual gathering of students took place in an undisclosed location in upstate New York. Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) along with Jewish Voice for Peace, the “We Divest Campaign Student Leadership…
read moreThe recent Association of American Studies boycott of Israel is the latest chapter of a general campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the State of Israel. The campaign took off in 2005 with the academic boycott in the…
read moreThe vote by the 5,000-member American Studies Association to support the academic boycott of Israel, reportedly by a 2-1 margin, has evoked many responses, but none so far has identified the irony at the core of the matter. To show…
read moreTHE BOYCOTT, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel, which was recently energized by the decision of the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions, is actually making it harder for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiate a…
read moreA national education association has called for an academic boycott of Israeli universities, provoking a backlash from dozens of universities around the country. Leaders at the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, Princeton University, Lehigh University, Temple University, and Penn State…
read moreAs the shouting following the American Studies Association’s decision to boycott Israel starts waning, it may be time to settle down and ask ourselves what we’ve learned from it. There’s little else to say about the boycott itself—thankfully, many, from members…
read morePeter Beinart recently argued that the “The Real Problem with the American Studies Association’s Boycott of Israel” is neither its singling out of Israel nor the threat it poses to academic freedom, but its efforts to deny the legitimacy of a democratic Jewish…
read moreYou have to admire a group that has an ideological principle and sticks to it, come what may. The American Studies Association, an academic group representing professors of that august subject, proudly proclaimed in its resolution to boycott any academic…
read moreBrandeis University has become the second institution to withdraw from the American Studies Association, following the organization’s decision to boycott Israel. “We view the recent vote by the membership to affirm an academic boycott of Israel as a politicization of…
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