With a concerning increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic acts around the country, and unfortunately, on the Cornell campus as well, the College of Arts & Sciences has partnered with the Office of the Provost and departments and programs across the university to bring four leading academics to campus in 2024 to explore the history of these forms of prejudice, examine the impact on Jews and Muslims in America today, and map the legal landscape for addressing these issues. These cross-disciplinary talks will also reflect on the relationship between the history of Israel/Palestine, as well as the outbreak of the current conflict, and contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
All events will also be live streamed and recorded via eCornell.
Sponsored by: Office of the Provost; College of Arts & Sciences; Department of Near Eastern Studies; Jewish Studies Program; Religious Studies Program; Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures; Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East at the Cornell Law School; Comparative Muslim Societies; Critical Ottoman + Post-Ottoman Studies; Einhorn Center for Community Engagement; Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies; Society for the Humanities
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please email Lori Sonken at ljs269@cornell.edu.
“Antisemitism, the Israel-Hamas War, and Distorting the Law of Genocide: A Perfect Storm”
Feb. 12, 5 p.m.
401 Warren Hall
Click here to watch the recorded event
Menachem Rosensaft
Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell University and
General Counsel Emeritus, World Jewish Congress
Born in 1948 in the Displaced Persons camp of Bergen-Belsen in Germany, the son of two survivors of the Nazi death and concentration camps of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Menachem Z. Rosensaft is also general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress, and a past president of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City. He has taught about the law of genocide at Cornell Law School since 2008 and at Columbia Law School since 2011; beginning this semester, he is teaching separate courses on antisemitism in the courts and in jurisprudence to Cornell law students and to undergraduates. He is the author of "Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen" (Kelsay Books, 2021) and editor of "God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors" (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2015).
References and Resources
- Menachem Rosensaft, “Finding Light in the Darkness: A Meditation on Remembrance,” Just Security, January 27, 2024
- Menachem Rosensaft, “Keeping Sight of Our Moral Compass as the Israel-Hamas War Rages,” Just Security, December 20, 2023
- Menachem Rosensaft, “Hamas Terrorists Have Genocide In Their Hearts. They Say So Themselves,” Newsweek, October 12, 2023
- Menachem Rosensaft, “Coming Soon to a Fascist Get-Together Near You,” Just Security, January 25, 2023
- Menachem Rosensaft, “The Long and Tortured History of Genocide,” Tablet Magazine, April 29, 2019
- Mark Weitzman, Robert J. Williams, James Wald, eds., The Routledge History of Antisemitism, 2023
- Steven Katz, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism, May 2022
- Deborah E. Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now, January 29, 2019
- David Nirenberg, Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, 2014
“Out of Time: On the Rise and Resilience of Anti-Muslim Bigotry Today”
March 18, 5 p.m.
401 Warren Hall
Click here to watch the recorded event
Moustafa Bayoumi
Journalist and Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of “How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America” and “This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror.” He is a columnist for The Guardian as well as a regular contributor to The Nation, and his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, CNN, The London Review of Books, The National, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Progressive.
References and Resources
- Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. NYU Press, 2012.
- Bayoumi, Moustafa. How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America. Penguin Press, 2008.
- Bayoumi, Moustafa. This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. NYU Press, 2015.
- Cabral, Lyric and Sutcliffe, David Felix. (T)error. Documentary. 2015.
- Cainkar, Louise, Vinson, Pauline Homsi, and Jarmakani, Amira. Sajjilu Arab American: A Reader in SWANA Studies. Syracuse University Press, 2022.
- Chan-Malik, Sylvia. Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam. NYU Press, 2018.
- Dadabhoy, Nausheen. An Act of Worship. Documentary. 2022.
- Diouf, Sylviane. Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. NYU Press, 1998.
- GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz. A History of Islam in America: From the New World to the New World Order. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Howell, Sally. Old Islam in Detroit: Rediscovering the Muslim Past. Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Kazi, Nazia. Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
- Kundnani, Arun. The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror. Verso, 2015.
- Lalami, Laila. Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America. Vintage, 2021.
- Mamdani, Mahmood. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, the Roots of Terror. Doubleday, 2005.
- Pickens, Therí A. New Body Politics: Narrating Arab and Black Identity in the Contemporary United States. Routledge. 2014.
- Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage, 1979.
“Racializing Religion: Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Palestine”
March 28, 5 p.m.
Room G10, Biotech Building
Click here to watch the recorded event
Sahar Aziz
Distinguished Professor of Law, Middle East Legal Studies Scholar and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers University Law School
Sahar Aziz is also the founding director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights. Her book “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom” examines how national security laws and policies impact the civil rights of racial, religious, and ethnic minorities in the U.S.
References and Resources
- Sahar Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom (University of California 2022)
- Rebecca Ruth Gould, Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom (Verso 2023)
- Sherene Razack, Nothing Has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy through Anti-Muslim Racism (University of Minnesota 2022)
- Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: 20 years after 9/11 (Verso 2021)
- Khaled Beydoun, American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear (University of California Press 2019)
- Jewish Voice for Peace, On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice, (Haymarket Books 2017)
- Bibliography of Books About Islam in America (1965-2022)
- Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse, Center for Security, Race and Rights (2023)
- Understanding Antisemitism at its Nexus with Israel and Zionism, Center for the Study of Hate (2022)
- The Palestine Exception to Free Speech, Palestine Legal (2015).
- Palestine Digital Action Toolkit, Palestine Feminist Collective (2023)
- Resource Guide on Palestine, Center for Security, Race and Rights (2023)
- The Demonization of Islam through Social Media: A Case Study of #StopIslam in Instagram, Publications, Sabina Civila, Luis M. Romero-Rodriguez, and Amparo Civila (2020).
- The Muslim Ban: Discriminatory Impacts and Lack of Accountability, Center for Constitutional Rights (2019).
- Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America. Center for American Progress (2011)
- Antisemitism and Islamophobia in the US Political Discourse on Israel/Palestine, Middle East in Focus Podcast (2024)
- The Muslim Vibe Podcast, TMV (2019).
- Unpacking Islamophobia Podcast, Georgetown University Bridge Initiative (2023).
- Faiza Syed, They capitalize on our Muslim identity. Then they abandon us in our time of need, Analyst News (2023)
- Jonathan Hafetz and Sahar Aziz, How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism is Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics, The Nation (Dec. 27, 2023)
- Anthony O’Rourke and Wadie Said, Terrorism Investigations on Campus and the New McCarthyism, Dissent (2023)
- Israel-Gaza: Does Islamophobia play a part in US foreign policy? Al Jazeera. (2023) (interviewing Sahar Aziz).
- Palestine Teach Ins, Center for Security, Race and Rights (2023).
- A Town Called Victoria. PBS (2023).
- The Feeling of Being Watched, Assia Boundaoui (2018).
- Islamophobia, Inc. Al Jazeera (2017).
“Beyond Sympathy and Antisemitism: The International Community and the Creation of the State of Israel, 1947-1949”
September 24, 5 p.m.
Room G10, Biotech Building
Derek Penslar
William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Department of History, Harvard University
Derek Penslar’s research has engaged with a variety of approaches and methods, including the history of science and technology, economic history, military history, biography, post-colonial theory and the history of emotions. His most recent book is “Zionism: An Emotional State,” and he is currently writing a book about worldwide reactions to the 1948 Palestine War.
NOTE: This event, originally scheduled for Apil 8, has been rescheduled due to a scheduling conflict.
References and Resources
- Derek Penslar, “Rebels Without a Patron State. How Israel Financed the 1948 War,” in Purchasing Power: The Economic Dimensions of Modern Jewish Life, eds. Rebecca Kobrin and Adam Teller (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), 171-92.
- Idem, “Solidarity As an Emotion: American Jewry and the 1948 Palestine War,” Modern American History 5, No. 1 (2022), 27-52.
- Idem, “Hannah Arendt, Imperialism, and Zionism,” Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung 32 (2023), 155-66
- Irene Gendzier, "Dying to Forget: Oil, Power, Palestine, and the Foundations of U.S. Policy in the Middle East" (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016)
- Jeffrey Herf, "Israel’s Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949" (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022).