January 2, 2015 The Brandeis Center Holds Second Annual National Law Student Leadership Conference The Brandeis Center hosted its second National Law Student Leadership Conference in Washington, DC on December 29-30. This event took place as part of the Center’s recent law student and public outreach initiatives. Many of the students in attendance were members of their universities’ chapters of the Brandeis Center. Our law student chapter program fills […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog Litigation
December 21, 2014 “Trans-Tolerance,” Israeli-Style? In the 1950s in the volume, “The Radical Right,” Peter Viereck coined the concept of “trans-tolerance” not to praise but to put down American Christians and Jews who crossed sectarian lines and abstained from religious prejudice in order to raise a common banner for—not against—Senator Joe McCarthy. In other words, you did not have to […] Anti-Zionism
December 21, 2014 Federalism for the Holy Land? The NYT is ending 2014 with an editorial—“The Embattled Dream for Palestine” (December 19)—rehearsing the nightmarish political impasse and putting all the blame, as per usual, on Israel. This time the fall guys are Israeli “one state” rightwingers who want to extinguish the dream of Palestinian peoplehood. No mention that Palestinian “one staters” like Hamas […] Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 Global Double Standards It’s unacceptable for Sony Studios to allow audiences to see a comedy making fun of North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, but de rigeur for the Taliban to force Pakistani students to see their teacher burned alive. It’s bad taste for ISIS to behead innocents in Iraq and Syria, but not “terrorist” for Hamas to murder […] Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 Brandeis Center Castigates Harvard Boycott of SodaStream The Brandeis Center strongly condemns Harvard University’s suspension of SodaStream, the do-it-yourself soda and water machine, from campus dining services. It is no more than a clever ploy by supporters of the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement to hurt the Israeli economy, and in no way furthers the proclaimed human rights concerns of the […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 Another Double (or Triple) Standard Pressured by the authorities, Chabad in Australia has snuffed out its 30-year tradition of lighting a 33-foot Menorah in downtown Sydney. Santa Claus may also be put under wraps, but there are no plans to ban the erection of two large Christmas trees. One wonders whether Muslims in Australia will face any such restrictions come […] Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 UC’s Moment of Truth The University of California—once home of the legendary Free Speech Movement—has an academic freedom problem. Earlier this year, we witnessed Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor of UC-Berkeley, co-opt the anniversary of Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement to emphasize the limits that “civility” might, in his view, properly impose on freedom of speech. Now comes a new threat to […] Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 Groups Question University of California Over Union BDS Resolution Several groups, including the Louis D. Brandeis Center, have just sent this letter to the University of California seeking answers about the recent vote of the UAW 2865 in favor of participating in the BDS movement. Kudos to the AMCHA Initiative for coordinating this work: Dear Chancellors Block, Blumenthal, Dirks, Gillman, Katehi, Khosla, Leland, Wilcox and […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
December 18, 2014 Human Rights and Inhuman Interrogation Methods I consider torture—including waterboarding—not only morally but aesthetically revolting. But unlike Jews who miraculously always find their liberal preferences enshrined in biblical and rabbinic precedent, I find nothing in those traditions that directly bears on the question of torture except the Talmudic dictum, “ain adam mesim atsmo,” against self-incrimination. I’ve been more influenced by great […] Blog