March 3, 2014 HOLLYWOOD’S BELATED FOCUS ON SLAVERY AND HUMAN RIGHTS “12 Years a Slave,” based on Solomon Northrup’s narrative of his journey from freedom to slavery (he was kidnapped) and back to freedom, won this year’s Academy Award for “Best Picture.” According to the buzz, this fine film was sure to win because Hollywood liberals love to feel guilty—and to make amends. Certainly, America and […] Blog
February 27, 2014 LDB Law Students at UCLA Help the Divestment Vote Fail This week, yet another divestment vote took place on an American university campus, this time at UCLA. However, the divestment failed, partly thanks to efforts by members of UCLA’s law school chapter of the Louis D. Brandeis Center. Members of the LDB law student chapter at UCLA law school attended the strategy session this past […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 26, 2014 Anti-Israel Hate Week This week, on American and English university campuses, anti-Israel activists celebrate the series of hateful events variously known as “Anti-Israel Hate Week” or “Israel Apartheid Week.” These events, which often feature the use of classical anti-Semitic defamations and stereotypes, occur throughout March in other parts of the world. If the haters harass Jewish students on […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 25, 2014 10 Ways That BDS Has Changed LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus has published this article in the Jerusalem Post today: Ten ways that BDS is different now By KENNETH L. MARCUS 02/24/2014 22:33 Four academic associations have now also endorsed anti-Israel boycotts. On American university campuses, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is different in many ways and stronger than […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 21, 2014 Should Jewish Law Students Be Complacent? Recently, anti-Israel activists have become active on several American law school campuses, conducting controversial events at Columbia, Fordham, Davis, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, activists have created hostile environments for Jewish students at several universities. If you are a Jewish law student, or a non-Jewish law student who cares about justice, should you be concerned? Here are […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog Litigation
February 18, 2014 Anti-Boycott Legislation, Free Speech and Academic Freedom: A Response to Ed Beck and the International Grass Roots Faculty Committee For Academic Freedom and Integrity Yesterday, The Algemeiner published my article on “Legislating Against BDS.” In this article, I argue that Representatives Roskam and Lipinski have done creditable service in introducing legislation that would bar federal funding of universities that boycott Israel. Although their initial bill may not be perfect, it has provoked a healthy conversation about how legislatures can […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 17, 2014 Securing a Thriving Jewish Future The Jewish Faculty Roundtable (JFR) has brought to our attention an interesting set of seven online focus groups that the Government of Israel and the Jewish Agency are currently running on “Securing A Thriving Jewish Future.” Like JFR, the Brandeis Center is most interested in higher education issues, so we were drawn to the focus […] Blog
February 17, 2014 Max Blumenthal’s ‘Goliath’ and the Mainstreaming of Anti-Semitism Activists devoted to promoting boycott campaigns against Israel and maligning the Jewish state as illegitimate and uniquely evil knew already what to expect when Max Blumenthal’s book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel was published last October. As Blumenthal himself emphasized in the acknowledgements at the end of his book, sites like the Electronic […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
February 17, 2014 Legislating Against BDS LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus has just published this article in The Algemeiner: The backlash continues against the anti-Israel boycott resolution that the American Studies Association adopted last month. Over 200 university presidents have distanced themselves from it. Numerous other organizations, including the American Association of University Professors, have condemned it too. Some critics argue that […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
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