The Trump administration’s recent investigation of 60 schools for “antisemitic discrimination” appeared to target campus protests. But, a closer look shows it was driven by pro-Israel groups’ use of civil rights law to push a broad right-wing agenda.
The pro-Israel group StandWithUs accused GWU professor Lara Sheehi of antisemitism. A third-party investigation found the accusations were “inaccurate or taken out of context and misrepresented.”
Harvard reversed its Ken Roth decisions, but the academic careers of Israel critics are still being consistently threatened. The latest case is Dr. Lara Sheehi at George Washington University.
A controversy at the University of Washington over donor efforts to stifle scholarly work critical of Israel raises serious questions about the role of money and academia.
California has become the first state in the country to adopt an ethnic studies curriculum for its high schools, but the history of Palestine has been scrubbed from the educational program following pressure from pro-Israel groups.
An Israeli spokesman says the state paid about $57,000 towards Demi Lovato’s trip in exchange for positive p.r., but a confidentiality agreement may be hiding the private donors who covered the rest.
Demi Lovato implied she was given a free trip to Israel in exchange for social media posts. The singer recently hired a manager who has been honored by an anti-BDS organization.
Just eight days after an administrator offered public high school teachers in Skokie, Illinois, the opportunity to take a summer professional development course called “Teaching Palestine” as part of “Equity” training, the school district retracted the offer in a statement from top administrators apologizing for for the hurtful, “one-sided nature of this course.” Pro-Israel groups had pressured the school district to remove the “propaganda” course.
Former President Barak Obama, who is getting paid $400,000 for a speech on health care to a Wall Street firm, is the latest politician who has completely departed from a stated commitment to progressive causes to champion neo-liberal and hawkish policies. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, who will receive an Israel advocacy award from StandWithUs on May 7th, is another such example.
Earlier this week, I revealed that StandWithUs, a right-wing Israel advocacy group with ties to…