Anti-Semitism - Brandeis Center

July 21, 2016 Another Anti-BDS Lawsuit Filed

It’s been a rough year for the American Studies Association (“ASA”), legally speaking. Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed in New York State Court against the New York Metro chapter of the ASA, alleging “unlawful discrimination under the New York City and State Human Rights Laws,” in relation to the ASA’s boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In […]

July 21, 2016 Mark Bloome: Community Leader and Coalition-Builder

Mark Bloome, the Seattle-based, national and local Jewish community leader and strategist, has become an expert at coalition-building and finding innovative ways to fight the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel and its anti-Semitism on a national basis. Mark has tirelessly advocated for the Jewish community for over 35 years. For the past […]

July 19, 2016 LDB Continues to Support Milan Chatterjee

Today, LDB issued a statement (below) expressing our continued support for Milan Chatterjee, the former President of the UCLA Graduate Student Association (GSA) who has been subjected to months of harassment by supporters of the BDS movement for his neutral stance regarding BDS. This is an important time to reiterate our support for Mr. Chatterjee, as the […]

July 14, 2016 Major Party Platforms Combat BDS

In a pair of positive steps, both the Democratic and Republican parties have inserted language in their party platforms that push against the forces of BDS. The Democratic party, who last week completed their draft platform, explicitly state their opposition to BDS, “A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States because we […]

June 30, 2016 Indiana University Holds Important Conference on “Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization”

The following piece was written in collaboration with Emma Dillon and Juan Pablo Rivera Garza: In April, the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism (ISCA) organized an important International Scholars Conference at Indiana University, on the topic of “Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization.” The conference sought to explore what informs contemporary anti-Zionism […]

June 24, 2016 Upcoming Conference: The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

Our friends at The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists are holding their annual conference on September 21st through the 24th in Paris, France. This year’s theme is “Continuing the Dialogue: Combatting Antisemitism in Europe through Legal and Other Means”. The conference will feature a variety of different speakers which can be found on […]

June 22, 2016 Dutch Parliament Requests Government to End NGO Funds Used for BDS

Last week, the Dutch parliament passed a nonbinding motion calling on the government to deny funding to organizations calling for a boycott against Israel. Passed in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, the motion was co-signed on June 16 by a prominent politician of the ruling People’s Party for Freedom and […]

June 21, 2016 Students’ Society of McGill University Labels BDS “Unconstitutional”

The Judicial Board of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) recently declared in a board decision, called a “Reference,” that BDS and “similar motions” are “unconstitutional.” The Reference was created in response to an earlier petition filed in March by a “student upset over the third BDS motion proposed at the university” in 18 […]

June 15, 2016 New York’s Landmark Executive Order and the Battle Against BDS

On June 5, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law Executive Order No. 157, directing state agencies and authorities to divest public funds from supporting BDS campaigns against Israel. Governor Cuomo announced the order in a speech to an audience including local Jewish leaders and lawmakers and sent a very strong message. In his […]

June 10, 2016 AAA Boycott Fails; LDB Lawsuit Credited

The Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement against Israel took a big blow earlier this week when the American Anthropological Association (AAA) narrowly rejected a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions (2,423 against; 2,384 in favor). This BDS failure was remarkable in light of the overwhelming support that it had enjoyed just […]