A. Antisemitism on Campus - Generally
Alan Dershowitz and others have continued to decry anti-Israel and antisemitic misinformation campaigns on American campuses. See, e.g., HERE, and HERE.
Some articles focus on the role of the Rockefeller Foundation is funding such activities. HERE.
As to some anti-BDS successes in 2016, see HERE.
Recent studies have confirmed the connection between BDS protests and antisemitic incidents on campus. See, e.g., HERE, HERE
and HERE.
B. Academic Associations
At its annual membership meeting, the Middle East Studies Association voted 247-57 in favor of amending its bylaws by removing the word "nonpolitical." The issue now goes to a vote of the entire membership of the association. The proposed amendment is understood as a step to insulate the association from a legal claim that it acted "ultra vires" (i.e., beyond its legal authority) should it pass a pro-BDS resolution. See HERE
and HERE.
C. Specific U.S. Campuses
1. Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.:
On November 14th, Israeli LGBTQ activist Etai Pinkas, spoke at the University of Washington, in St. Louis, Mo., on the topic, "Marriage Equality and LGBTQ* Issues in Israel.”
On November 17th, Students for Justice in Palestine ("SJP") published an op-ed in the student newspaper, Student Life. That op-ed, which may be found
HERE, accuses Israel of "pinkwashing," which it describes as follows: "As Sarah Schulman writes, 'Pinkwashing is an explicit strategy taken up in recent years by the government of Israel to portray Israel as a leader in gay rights and a gay tourism destination to improve its human rights image while deflecting attention away from the extreme violence of the Israeli occupation of Palestine."
The reality, of course, is that it is the SJP that is trying to deflect, to deflect from the Hamas and Palestinian brutal suppression of LGBTQ rights (as well as the rights of others, such as women and religious minorities). Indeed, many Palestinian members of the LGBTQ community flee to Israel because their lives are threatened in Gaza and the West Bank.
By contrast, Israel has an excellent record as to LGBTQ rights. As pointed out in an article in the Algemeiner HERE, GayCities.com and American Airlines ranked Israel in 2011 as the world's most LGBTQ-friendly country. Similarly, in 2014, "the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, through its LGBT Military Index, ranked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as one of the top 10 most gay-friendly armies."
As one speaker on a LGBTQ panel at the 2016 AIPAC Conference in Washington, D.C., argued, use of the "Pinkwashing" article is falsely predicated upon the assumption that it is never appropriate to speak about any positive aspects about Israel (whether about ensuring LGBTQ rights, providing medical and humanitarian aid to Palestinian terrorists, protecting religious minorities and women, etc.). I would add that it also seems to be falsely predicated upon the assumption that it is never appropriate to hold Palestinians accountable for the evil they commit.
2. University of Michigan:
One of the hallmarks of the SJP/BDS movement is the refusal to engage in discussions or debates with people who are pro-Israel. They call such actions "normalization." Recently, BDS activists at the University of Michigan reaffirmed their anti-normalization stance. See HERE.
3. University of Texas:
Pro-Israel journalist, author and commentator Caroline Glick was scheduled to speak on the University of Texas campus. However, some of the sponsors, at least, decided that her pro-Israel message would be either nonproductive or counter-productive at influencing those who were not already pro-Israel. Consequently, they canceled the event. See HERE.
4. Jewish faculty members threatened at 2 different colleges. See HERE.
D. International Campuses
1. Israel: Concerns about possible discrimination against academics who are participating in archeological excavations in Judea and Samaria, led an Israel court to refuse a request under the Freedom of Information Act to release the academics' names. See HERE.
2. Canada: A BDS resolution was defeated at the University of Toronto. See HERE.
3. UK: Jewish students assert that Cambridge University is "hushing up" an antisemitic incident there. See HERE.
