With a concerning increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic acts around the country, the College of Arts & Sciences 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 reflected 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 were 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
“Beyond Sympathy and Antisemitism: The International Community and the Creation of the State of Israel, 1947-1949”
September 24, 2024
Click here to watch the recorded event.
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.
“Racializing Religion: Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Palestine”
March 28, 2024
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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.
“Out of Time: On the Rise and Resilience of Anti-Muslim Bigotry Today”
March 18, 2024
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.
“Antisemitism, the Israel-Hamas War, and Distorting the Law of Genocide: A Perfect Storm”
Feb. 12, 2024
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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.