Schools Cut Ties With MESA Over BDS
In last week’s newsletter I mentioned that the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) had passed a resolution endorsing BDS. To recap, the group’s members voted between January 31-March 22 and the results were 768-167. An overwhelming victory.
“Our members have cast a clear vote to answer the call for solidarity from Palestinian scholars and students experiencing violations of their right to education and other human rights,” said MESA President Eve Troutt Powell in a statement.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the move has ignited some backlash. This week Brandeis University announced that it’s disassociating itself from MESA. “The Middle Eastern Studies Association’s (MESA) announced on March 23, 2022, that a majority of its members voted in favor of a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions,” reads its statement. “Brandeis University condemns MESA’s boycott of institutions of higher education in Israel. The resolution attacks the fundamental principles of academic freedom and association to which MESA specifically refers in its mission statement, and to which Brandeis is committed. As a matter of principle, Brandeis University opposes academic boycotts of universities in any country. In light of this vote and the boycott, Brandeis dissociates from MESA and reaffirms our support for academic freedom.”
Brandeis is not the first school to sever its ties with MESA over BDS. Last winter, when the BDS resolution advanced to a vote, Florida State University chose not to renew its annual membership with the group. The University of Arizona’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies also let their membership expire.
NYU President Andrew Hamilton has also put out a statement condemning the vote:
NYU rejects and is deeply disappointed by the Middle East Studies Association’s (MESA) recently passed resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel. NYU’s opposition to academic boycotts is longstanding (for example: here, here, here) and is grounded in the belief that academic boycotts are at odds with the principles of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas.
NYU thinks it is deeply unfortunate for a scholarly organization to take this position. For the sake of academic freedom, we urge MESA to reconsider its ill-advised resolution.
Israel Factoring into Pennsylvania House Race
Jerry Dickinson is running to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th district in the House, a vacancy generated by the retirement of Rep. Mike Doyle (D). There’s a lot of progressive overlap between Dickinson and fellow Democrat Summer Lee, who is also running for the spot and endorsed by politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Dickinson, who is a former Fulbright scholar, has broached the topic of Palestine a bit thus far. Last year he tweeted, “Congress is abdicating responsibility by providing unrestricted military aid to any nation, including Israel, where such aid risks being used in a manner that violates human rights and international law. As a human rights activist, I cannot support such unchecked assistance.”
During the forced evictions in Sheikh Jarrah last spring, Dickinson posted this on his Facebook page:
I am deeply concerned by the use of force inflicted upon Palestinians at the Al Aqsa mosque, the evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during Ramadan, and the attacks by Hamas and other militant groups. These are not acts of peace, but acts of aggression that infringe on human rights and civil rights.
The United States must intervene to broker a ceasefire and de-escalate the situation before it worsens. The United States must foster peace and ensure that we continue to move closer to a two-state solution. This means the United States must employ an even-handed approach to the crisis and address the underlying causes of the crisis, including occupation and annexation of Palestinian areas and eviction of families in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
It’s long past time for the United States to take a bold stance against any and all forms of human rights violations. We must play a role to bring an end to the violence. The situation in East Jerusalem calls for bold leadership and decisive action to broker a ceasefire and de-escalate the situation immediately.
However, at a recent event sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council the candidate smeared the BDS movement. “The idea of delegitimizing the state of Israel is extremely problematic and dangerous,” said Dickinson. “It gives rise, I believe, to other forms of antisemitic behavior and actions.”
In response to Dickinson’s comments, the Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee have written him an open letter, which you can read below:
In a March 24 interview with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Pittsburgh, you claim without evidence, that the “type of rhetoric” employed by certain “wings” of BDS is dangerous as it “furthers anti-Semitic behaviors and actions.” You aren’t sure if BDS is an “organization, or movement, or whatever you want to call it,” but you seem to know that there are “elements” within it that are “truly problematic.”
Soon after you make your inflammatory comments and while still referencing BDS, you talk about the importance of freedom of speech and expression, and then launch into an explanation of how “fighting words, violence, creating violence, and spurring violent activity and behavior” are elements of BDS. Again “truly problematic.” When asked whether you think that BDS is a legitimate form of resistance and protest, as do other members of Congress, you choose not to answer. And yet, you call yourself a progressive. Truly problematic for the Palestinian people are Progressives Except Palestine (PEPs) – people like you. Since you claim not to know what BDS is, we’ll explain. Boycott movements, rooted in labor and Black civil rights tradition, have a rich history of nonviolent resistance to oppression. The Palestinian-led BDS movement for freedom, justice, and equality is modeled after earlier movements such as our own civil rights movement and the South African BDS movement against apartheid. Inspired by the South Africans, the Palestinian-led BDS movement works to end international support of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Our goal is to pressure Israel into complying with international law. We simply believe that Palestinians are entitled to the same inalienable rights as Israelis and all of humanity.
When you talk about violent and hateful rhetoric, do consider the many examples of BDS supporters who have been subjected to hateful and dangerous tactics that have cost them their careers. For example, check out the CAIR-organized legal campaign on behalf of Philadelphia resident, Natalie Abulhawa who was denied her job because she was active in a Palestine solidarity student group. Also the case of Emily Wilder, a young Jewish journalist who lost her job with the Associated Press because she tweeted support to Palestinians when she was a college student. You see, Jerry, a great deal of state-sanctioned hate and threats are directed at us.
At a time when state legislatures are passing laws against BDS, when professors, students, journalists and others are targeted, threatened and fired for their advocacy of Palestinian rights, you join the chorus of those who attempt to intimidate us into silence. However, the BDS movement and advocates for Palestine liberation will not be silenced by opportunistic whitewashing.
We should add that we’re happy that you once spoke out against the racial inequalities of South Africa’s apartheid cities and called Pittsburgh an “American Apartheid city,” but you might want to mention the important role BDS played in bringing down the apartheid system in South Africa. That same sort of movement is exactly what we are organizing to bring down–the apartheid system in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).Ironically, you made your recent comments during Israeli Apartheid Week (Mar. 21- Mar. 27), an international week of action in its sixteenth year. In fact, last week, a United Nations human rights expert joined Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization, in affirming that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. This is why we need an international BDS movement.
Jerry, to be progressive-except-Palestine is not all that progressive, and you should know that calling Israel out for human rights abuses is not anti-Semitic. Desmond Tutu did it. In fact, Rev. Tutu said that what happens to Palestinians is often worse than what the South African Black population faced. You will find the ever-growing list of international BDS supporters below. Furthermore, as a congressional candidate and expert on the First Amendment, we encourage you to condemn legislation that threatens those who advocate for BDS as a violation of our First Amendment rights to speech and assembly. Perhaps you will join other international human rights attorneys and organizations and condemn the more than 65 racist Israeli Jim Crow laws that discriminate against non-Jews, especially Palestinian Christians and Muslims. In closing, we have a few questions for you and your campaign.
How can Israel be both “democratic and Jewish?” While you say that Israel has the right to exist and defend itself, do you think the Palestinians have those same rights? You also state that there has to be two sides willing to negotiate for peace but that “you can’t get there if one side is engaging in conduct and rhetoric that is violent or problematic.” So true. Since overwhelmingly, the killings, all of the home demolitions, denial of water rights, land theft, and the extension of the colonial-settler project that’s created a 440 mile-long apartheid wall separating Palestinians from their ancestral farm land, yes, all of this as a result of Israel’s ethnic cleansing policies — how do you see Israel as a partner for peace? Wouldn’t you agree that dismantling Israeli apartheid is a good start to negotiating peace? When Israel illegally jails more than 4,500 Palestinians and designates leading Palestinian human rights groups, including Al-Haq and Adameer, as “terrorist organizations,” how does this show Israel as a willing negotiator for peace?
Anything less than standing firmly for human and civil rights for all people, including Palestinians, only further reinforces the chilling effect that seeks to silence legitimate criticism of Israel’s apartheid policies and practices. Fortunately, we will not be silenced.
During Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza last year Summer Lee tweeted, “When I hear American pols use the refrain ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ in response to undeniable atrocities on a marginalized population, I can’t help but think of how the west has always justified indiscriminate and disproportionate force and power on weakened and marginalized people..The US has never shown leadership in safeguarding human rights of folks its othered But as we fight against injustice here in the movement for black lives we must stand against injustice everywhere. Inhumanities against the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated or justified.”
Lee’s tweet was criticized by Pittsburgh attorney Steve Irwin, who is also running for the seat. “Israel is not perfect, but Israel is a democracy,” he declared in an interview. “The views that some of these people share mirror concerns that people in Israel may have. But Israel has a right to self-determination. I think it’s going to take my reaching out to develop a relationship to understand the way they feel and why they feel that way, to provide facts, to speak out, when necessary. Antisemitism is not acceptable, and threats to Israel’s existence and security and America’s support of Israel is just not acceptable.”
Odds & Ends
?? Birzeit University publicly rejected the “Procedure for Entry and Residency of Foreigners in Judea and Samaria Region” recently. Here’s their call to action explaining the Israeli measure:
The new directive invests the Israeli military the absolute right to select which international faculty, academic researchers and students may be present at Palestinian universities, including academics and students of Palestinian origin but without residence documents, living and working in Palestine. The Israeli military will impose their own arbitrary criteria on which fields of study are permissible and what qualifications are acceptable. It requires each applicant to submit to interrogation at an Israeli diplomatic mission in the country of origin, while imposing stiff monetary bonds on those selected for entry. Further, the directive sets a low ceiling on the number of foreign teachers and students (100 and 150 per year, respectively), and limits the duration of employment to five non-consecutive years, thereby denying sustainable hiring and promotion of faculty. Consequently, some current faculty and students who do not hold residency permits may be forced to leave and academic programs face the inability to recruit new hires and undertake collaborative scholarly research and exchanges. Plainly put, the directive puts Palestinian Universities under siege and divests them of basic control over their academic decisions.
Now that call to action has been endorsed by the Council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA):
The Council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association call on Israel to abide by international law, which requires it to both protect and facilitate the functioning of Palestinian civil institutions, including higher education. In support of Palestinian educational access and academic freedom, we join our Palestinian colleagues in asserting the right to education and self-determination. Furthermore, we call on the state of Israel to; rescind the new “Procedure for Entry and Residency of Foreigners”; end its entry restrictions based on political speech and Palestinian heritage; and adopt policies that authorize the granting of visas for exchanges and work permits to Palestinian universities on a fully equal basis, as it does with Israeli universities.
? I spoke to some activists about the ADL’s leaked memo. “We’re in conversation with educators and communities of color across the country and they’re naming the ADL as a primary force in attacking and undermining their ethnic studies work. You also have their recent efforts to suppress Amnesty International’s very moderate report condemning Israeli human rights violations,” Executive Director of Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) Lara Kiswani told me. “I think the ADL can continue to talk a good game, but I would encourage people to think about what the ADL is actually doing and saying. For people on the ground doing the work and trying to advance a progressive agenda, they are the ones on the receiving end of the attacks on social justice issues.”
? President Biden is making a $813 billion military budget request for fiscal year 2023, $31 billion more than the current cost. The United States government already spends more on the military than the next 11 countries combined.
☕ On the site Nada Elia writes about how Seattle rejected a plan to end police trainings in Israel in response to ADL lobbying.
?? A Saudi airstrike killed 8 Yemeni civilians, all members of the same family. 7 of them were women or children. Earlier this month the Biden administration fulfilled an urgent request from Saudi Arabia and transferred Patriot missiles to the country. “We will continue to work with our Saudi partners to strengthen their defenses while also working to advance a durable resolution that ends the conflict in Yemen, improves Yemeni lives, and creates a space for Yemenis to collectively determine their own future,” said the White House last week.
?? Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), and 9 other House Republicans, highlighted the Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s (JINSA) Gaza Conflict 2021 Assessment to the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Gaza Conflict. That’s interesting because she called for the UN committee to be defunded just a few months ago. Josh Ruebner on Twitter: “Apparently congressional hypocrisy knows no bounds. Here’s Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who co-led a letter to try to defund a UN probe into Israeli war crimes, submitting material to this same commission that she wants to defund.”
I guess the commission is fine as long as it’s wielded against Palestine.
?️ Steven Salaita gave an address to the Graduate and Professional Student Senate Annual Research Symposium at Virginia Tech. You can read the text at his website:
Palestinians face punishment at an extraordinary rate in academe, from undergrads to tenured professors. It’s the open secret of today’s debates about free speech and cancel culture. Those debates largely fail because they refuse to account for the most conspicuous instances of political repression today. Within academe, Zionist recrimination is still a niche issue or, worse, a topic of disrepute. That’s why it’s so brutally effective: you get punished merely for recognizing the punishment.
?️ On our podcast I spoke to Zoha Khalili, a staff attorney at Palestine Legal, about the organization’s 2021 year-in-review report. Please subscribe and review on your preferred platform.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
