February 16, 2014 Pro-Israel Lawyers’ Groups Forming in South Africa and the Netherlands Our friends at the London-based UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have announced, in their latest bulletin, the upcoming formations of promising lawyers’ groups in South Africa and the Netherlands. UKLFI notes that the only NGO in the world that does casework similar to their own is the Louis D. Brandeis Center and that the creation of […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 16, 2014 French Courts Treat BDS as a Hate Crime The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) has an interesting article on successful French efforts to prosecute BDS activists for hate crimes. The article, appearing this weekend in Ha’aretz and elsewhere, is entitled, “BDS a hate crime? In France, legal vigilance punishes anti-Israel activists.” JTA reports that “some 20 pro-BDS activists have been convicted under the so-called Lellouche […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 13, 2014 BDS Fail at Riverside Jewish students and activists are claiming victory this morning after beating back yet another anti-Israel boycott resolution at the University of California at Riverside in the early hours of this morning. Professionals at StandWithUs, a leader in the battle against Israel boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS), report that the final vote on this divisive measure was […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 12, 2014 Anti-Semitism Around the World Last Week An organization called “Students for Israel” disseminates a useful weekly digest of anti-Semitic incidents, as well as articles about anti-Semitism, from around the world. Here is a selection of the incidents that SFI is reporting this week: Why does Facebook do such a terrible job dealing with Antisemitism on their website? Dexter Van Zile on Antisemitism […] Anti-Semitism Blog
February 11, 2014 BDS Returns to Campus — And it is Time to Fight Back BDS is back on American college campuses, especially on the West Coast — if indeed it ever left. For the last several months, public attention has been focused on successful boycott campaigns staged by anti-Israel groups at American academic associations such as the American Studies Association and the Asian American Studies Association. Now the […] Blog
February 11, 2014 Berlin Anti-Anti-Semitism Center Publishes New Research The Berlin International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (BICSA), headed by German political scientist Clemens Heni, has just issued its first newsletter. It is available on the internet, and it consists of several articles that may be of interest to Brandeis Center readers. An article by Ron Jontof-Hutter addresses the abuse of the South […] Anti-Semitism Blog
February 11, 2014 First Amendment Experts Debate Anti-BDS Bill Can Congress withhold funds from universities that adopt anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) policies? Two widely respected First Amendment experts disagree. Floyd Abrams, a leading First Amendment practitioner, argues that the new Roskam-Lapinski Bill is unconstitutional. Eugene Volokh, a leading First Amendment scholar at UCLA, disagrees. Readers of the Brandeis Center Blog will remember […] Anti-Zionism Blog
February 10, 2014 Symposium at U.K. Parliament Examines European Anti-Semitism Several important English institutions, including especially the Pears Institute at Birkbeck College London, are bringing public attention to the troubling recent findings of the major survey into antisemitism in Europe carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). These groups will conduct a symposium at the House of Commons on the afternoon of Tuesday March 18 to consider […] Anti-Semitism Blog
February 10, 2014 Jewish Prisoners’ Kosher Food Case Successfully Resolved in Florida It is good to see the successful resolution today of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s lawsuit establishing the right of Florida prison inmates to kosher food. Earlier today, Bruch Rich, an Orthodox Jewish Florida prisoner, withdrew his four-year-old complaint seeking a kosher diet, as a result of a a recent court order that requires […] Litigation
February 10, 2014 LDB Congratulates ADL’s Abraham Foxman Upon His Retirement JTA is announcing Abraham Foxman’s retirement from the Anti-Defamation League. His departure comes at a delicate time as anti-Semitism continues to surge around the world and on many American college and university campuses. LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus congratulates Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s longtime national director, upon his upcoming retirement. “Mr. Foxman has had […] Anti-Semitism Blog
February 9, 2014 Introducing BICOM and Fathom: working to provide a more supportive environment for Israel in Britain BICOM, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, is an independent British organisation dedicated to providing a more supportive environment for Israel in Britain. BICOM pursues its objectives through a range of activities, one of which is the publication of the quarterly Fathom journal under the editorship of Professor Alan Johnson. With its aim stated […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 9, 2014 British High Court Denies Ahava Boycotters’ Appeal Various news outlets are reporting that England’s high court has denied an appeal by the four anti-Israel protesters who had been convicted for trespassing inside a London branch of Ahava, the Israeli cosmetics company. The four had been convicted in 2011 of illegal trespassing for chaining themselves to a concrete block in an Ahava store in […] Blog
February 7, 2014 Roskam & Lipinski Introduce Federal Anti-Boycott Legislation Yesterday Congressmen Peter Roskam and Dan Lipinski introduced anti-boycott legislation to prevent academic boycotts against the State of Israel. This bill would supplement existing federal and state anti-boycott statutes that were passed decades ago in response to the Arab boycott of Israel. Specifically, this bill would block federal funding for universities that engage in anti-Israel boycotts. Rep. Roskam’s […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 7, 2014 Jeff Robbins on Scarlett Johansson and the Anti-Israel Crowd Boston attorney Jeffrey S. Robbins has a great new piece on Scarlett Johansson in the Boston Herald today. It begins like this: Scarlett Johansson takes on anti-Israel crowd In front of the SodaStream plant just outside Jerusalem there is a statue that contains the prophet Isaiah’s exhortation: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, […] Anti-Zionism Blog
February 6, 2014 Civil Rights Hero Irwin Cotler to Step Down from Canadian Parliament The Brandeis Center congratulates former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler for his distinguished service to Canada and the world upon the announcement that Cotler would not seek reelection to the Canadian parliament. Cotler is Honorary Chair of the Brandeis Center’s Academic Advisory Board. LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus commented, “Irwin Cotler is truly a living legend in human rights law, and […] Blog
February 5, 2014 News from London Our friends at UK Lawyers for Israel have just issued another impressive newsletter chock-full of interesting information (UKLFI Bulletin No. 62) under the leadership of Jonathan D. C. Turner. Several highlights from the current Bulletin appear below: UKLFI BULLETIN NO. 62 Hope University Liverpool allows the truth to be told Mike Fryer of Christians for […] Anti-Zionism Blog
February 5, 2014 ASMEA Research Grants Our friends at the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) have announced these research grants for academic research papers. Members of LDB law student chapters should be aware that law students are eligible for grants for research on topics such as various aspects of the law of the Middle East […] Blog
February 3, 2014 Barry Rubin, R.I.P. I was saddened this morning to learn that Barry Rubin, a brilliant and prolific scholar of Israel and Middle East Studies, had passed over the weekend. Barry had been struggling with cancer for quite some time, and his continued surge in productivity over the last year, while battling serious illness, was nothing short of heroic. […] Anti-Zionism Blog
January 31, 2014 ISGAP Announces New Lineup of Lectures on Anti-Semitism Our friends at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy have just announced this impressive lineup of upcoming events. ISGAP, as our readers may recall, is headed by LDB Academic Advisor Charles A. Small, who founded and headed the former Yale Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA). ISGAP | The Institute for […] Anti-Semitism Blog
January 16, 2014 UC Santa Barbara Agrees to Strengthen Civil Rights Protections for Jewish Students Here’s an important new success story: The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) has pledged to implement recommendations from the Brandeis Center, and in return the Center has agreed to withdraw its U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Title VI complaint asserting that the university had created a hostile environment for […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
January 16, 2014 The Misplaced Crusade to Circumcise Moby Dick—and Make “White Racism” Quintessentially Jewish Last Purim, Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind “blacked up” in an incredible display of bad taste. Jews in particular were appalled, but there’s a subgroup of Jewish professors who may have felt vindicated. Practitioners of “the whiteness school”—prominent names include the late Michael Paul Rogin, Edward L. Goldstein, Jeffrey Melnick, and Karen Brodkin—argue that for performers […] Blog