[Marxism] Middle East Scholars protest smears of "anti-Semitism"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The introductory comments are by Mark Jensen who organizes the United for
Peace of Pierce Country (UFPPC) website and educational activities.  I think
that, in addition to its broader threats to democratic rights, it is useful
to recognize such developments as also part of what I often think of as the
deepening civil war among the Jews" in the US over Israel and Zionism,  Ibe
if the major goal of the Zionist organizations in this regard is the
silencing of  substantial and even massive Jewish dissent on Israel and
Palestine.  The refusal of tenure to Finkelstein at De Paul, in addition to
being one of the most important academic freedom fights in the world, is
also an incident in this "civil war."

 

The accusations against Finkelstien of lacking "collegiality" have
significance in regard since debates between the Zionist organizations and
Jews who are critical of Israel (not all of them at all decisively
pro-Palestinian, of course) have a tendency not to stay  "collegial" for
very long.

Fred Feldman

 

 

OPEN LETTER: President of MESA warns against demonizing critics of Israel 

 

[Last week a scholarly group addressed a letter to the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights, complaining that in two recent documents "the Commission's
apparent acceptance of an overly broad and vague definition of anti-Semitism
that dangerously blurs the boundaries between actual anti-Semitic speech and
conduct, on the one hand, and criticism of Israel, Zionism, or U.S. policy
in the Middle East on the other."[1]  --

 

 "[E]fforts to demonize academic and other critics of Israel, Zionism, and
U.S. policy in the Middle East by tarring them with the brush of
anti-Semitism are clearly unacceptable," wrote Zachary Lockman.  --  On
behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, Lockman
called on the commission "to clarify its definition of anti-Semitism by more
effectively distinguishing it from criticism of Israel or of Zionism, and to
state publicly that the allegations and insinuations contained in the
briefing report and findings concerning Middle East studies programs and
faculty are unsubstantiated by evidence and do not reflect the views of the
Commission."  --  

 

Lockman is a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic
Studies at New York University and president of the Middle East Studies
Association; he is author of *Contending Visions of the Middle East: The
History and Politics of Orientalism* (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004).  --  He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation (Harvard University, 1983) on
the emergence of a working class and labor movement in Egypt from the late
nineteenth century until the Second World War.  --  Lockman has been a
target of Daniel Pipes's organization Campus
Watch.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_Watch)  --Mark] 

 

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6309/ 

 

1. 

 

LETTER REGARDING GRAVE CONCERN WITH ASPECTS BOTH OF THE BRIEFING REPORT
ENTITLED "CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM," RELEASED BY THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON
CIVIL RIGHTS IN EARLY 2007 AND OF THE "FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM,"
DATED APRIL 3, 2007 

 

Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) June 11, 2007 

 

http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/about/cafmenaletters.htm#USCCRJune11 

 

June 11, 2007 Gerald A. Reynolds Chair of the Commission United States
Commission on Civil Rights Regional Office 

624 Ninth Street, NW Washington DC 20425 

 

Dear Chairman Reynolds and Members of the Commission, 

 

I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North
America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) to express our
grave concern with aspects both of the briefing report titled "Campus
Anti-Semitism," released by the United States Commission on Civil Rights
earlier this year, and of the "Findings and Recommendations of the United
States Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Campus Anti-Semitism," dated
April 3, 2006. 

 

The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) was founded in 

1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North
Africa.  The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes
the *International Journal of Middle East Studies* and has more than 2700
members worldwide.  MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and
freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the
study of the region in North America and elsewhere. 

 

MESA rejects all forms of hate speech and discrimination, including
anti-Semitism.  It supports prompt and forceful action in response to
anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses.  MESA also endorses the
Commission's efforts to increase awareness of anti-Semitism on university
campuses. 

 

However, MESA is concerned that the briefing report and findings issued by
the Commission may actually weaken efforts to combat anti-Semitism by
expanding its definition to include an indefensibly broad range of
legitimate speech and conduct.  We are also concerned that false allegations
associating Middle East studies programs and faculty with anti-Semitism may
contribute to an already troubling environment of harassment, intimidation,
and censorship of faculty and students on college and university campuses,
thereby threatening academic freedom. 

 

Three issues are of particular concern to MESA.  First, we are deeply
troubled by the Commission's apparent acceptance of an overly broad and
vague definition of anti-Semitism that dangerously blurs the boundaries
between actual anti-Semitic speech and conduct, on the one hand, and
criticism of Israel, Zionism, or U.S. policy in the Middle East on the
other.  As a result, the briefing report and the Commission's findings seem
to accept or even endorse assertions made by panelists who submitted
statements to the Commission that entirely legitimate views and policy
positions with which they disagree should be characterized as anti-Semitic.
Such assertions are particularly distressing when they involve scholarship
and teaching by college and university faculty. Wherever anti-Semitism
surfaces, an immediate and vigorous response is necessary.  But efforts to
demonize academic and other critics of Israel, Zionism, and U.S. policy in
the Middle East by tarring them with the brush of anti-Semitism are clearly
unacceptable and merit no less urgent and vigorous a response. 

 

Second, we reject as unfounded the allegations and insinuations presented in
the briefing report that university departments of Middle East studies
promote anti-Semitism.  The briefing report presents no evidence whatsoever
that would substantiate such scurrilous claims, and none of the instances of
anti-Semitism referred to in the report involved a federally-funded Middle
East studies center.  Unfortunately, the Commission permitted members of the
briefing panel to repeat, without challenge, unfounded allegations
concerning individual faculty members specializing in the study of the
Middle East and/or Islam, all of whom have rejected the charges against them
and denied their truthfulness. Several of these faculty members have in fact
been subjected to exhaustive investigations by their universities which have
not substantiated the allegations repeated in the Commission's briefing. 

 

We also insist that it is inappropriate and inaccurate for the Commission to
have included among its findings the assertion that "many university
departments of Middle East studies provide one-sided, highly polemical
academic presentations and some may repress legitimate debate concerning
Israel." This assertion too is completely unsupported by evidence and should
be stricken from the Commission's findings. 

 

Third, we are concerned that the procedure by which the briefing report was
produced was defective; that much of its tone and contents is highly
polemical and fall far short of the standard that Americans have a right to
expect the Commission to adhere to; and that it may contribute to an
environment on university campuses that undermines academic freedom as well
as the kind of first-rate scholarly research and teaching on the Middle East
and the Muslim world which our country so desperately needs. 

 

As the briefing report notes, all of the universities invited to take part
in the briefing declined to do so.  To our knowledge, no representative of
university-based Middle East studies programs or of the academic Middle East
studies community was invited to participate.  The briefing report, and the
responses to it by several universities against which allegations were made,
make it clear that the panelists presented a very partial, highly
ideological, and narrowly partisan understanding of academic Middle East
studies in this country and sought to define anti-Semitism extremely broadly
and loosely.  We fear that their purpose in so doing was to advance their
own partisan political agenda, strengthen efforts to impose political litmus
tests on college and university faculty, subject federally-funded Middle
East studies programs to politically-motivated oversight, undermine academic
freedom, and stifle free and open discussion on public issues of critical
national importance. 

 

We also note that efforts to dilute and expand the definition of
anti-Semitism so as to encompass legitimate speech and conduct can have
damaging consequences for efforts to address and combat real anti-Semitism.
By adopting a vague and politicized definition of this insidious form of
hate speech, the Commission increases the risk that attention and resources
that are better directed toward combating real anti-Semitism will instead be
diverted to politically-motivated efforts to censor unpopular or
controversial views expressed by university faculty. We urge the Commission
not to pursue or endorse such a course, but rather to focus its efforts on
real forms and incidents of discrimination and hate speech, including
anti-Semitism. 

 

By accepting panelists' unsubstantiated allegations and insinuations about
biased and unprofessional conduct among Middle East studies programs and
faculty, and by allowing them to be publicly tainted with the brush of
anti-Semitism, the Commission has imposed a substantial burden on these
programs and individuals.  It is incumbent on the Commission to relieve this
burden.  We therefore call upon the Commission to clarify its definition of
anti-Semitism by more effectively distinguishing it from criticism of Israel
or of Zionism, and to state publicly that the allegations and insinuations
contained in the briefing report and findings concerning Middle East studies
programs and faculty are unsubstantiated by evidence and do not reflect the
views of the Commission. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Zachary Lockman President 

 

cc: Abigail Thernstrom, Vice Chair Kenneth L. Marcus, Staff Director
Jennifer C. Braceras, Commissioner Peter N. Kirsanow, Commissioner Arlan D.
Melendez, Commissioner Ashley L. Taylor, Jr., Commissioner Michael Yaki,
Commissioner

 

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