The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom
Amid Gaza War, College Campuses Become Free Speech “Testing Ground” [Intercepted]
The conflict in Gaza has galvanized a new generation of young anti-war activists, in the same way that opposition to the Vietnam War and apartheid South Africa did in decades past. A backlash is now building in the United States, led by right-wing activist and pro-Israel groups aimed at eliminating any public dissent over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
As the death toll of Palestinians rises, a new authoritarian climate is sweeping across the U.S. — particularly on college campuses, which have transformed into laboratories for censorship… Continue reading “Amid Gaza War, College Campuses Become Free Speech “Testing Ground” [Intercepted]”
Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Palestine [Cornell]
Sahar Aziz, Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers University Law School, examines the erroneous zero-sum discursive frames, most acutely in foreign policy debates, that pits Muslims and Jews as competitors, rather than allies, in defending civil and human rights.
This talk was the third in the series “Antisemitism and Islamophobia Examined” that brought four leading academics to Cornell University in the Spring 2024 semester to explore the history of these forms of prejudice, examine the impact on Jews and Muslims in America today, and map… Continue reading “Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Palestine [Cornell]”
Defending Palestinian Rights Attracts Defamatory Attacks [Counterpunch Radio]
Professor Sahar Aziz and Mitchell Plitnick, co-authors of “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse,” discussed a critical new report published by Rutgers University Law School’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights. The conversation explores the political and social context for this report, as well as the timing of its release, published as it was against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The discussion broadens beyond the report to explore various aspects of the Palestine issue and its continued central importance for the US and… Continue reading “Defending Palestinian Rights Attracts Defamatory Attacks [Counterpunch Radio]”
How Israel’s Supporters Use Islamophobia to Silence Critics [Marc Steiner Show]
By now, the false equivalency between anti-Zionism and antisemitism—which Israel’s supporters use to give rhetorical cover for Zionism—is a well-worn topic on the left. What’s less discussed is the role of Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism in Zionists’ attempts to smear their critics, particularly Arab and Muslim ones, as antisemitic.
A new report, Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse from Rutgers University Law School’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR), maps the use of Islamophobic tropes in the discourse on Israel-Palestine, noting that the racist association between… Continue reading “How Israel’s Supporters Use Islamophobia to Silence Critics [Marc Steiner Show]”
Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in Palestine-Israel Discourse [Insurgents]
Professor Sahar Aziz, Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers Law and author of The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom, joined Jordan Uhl and Rob Rosseau on the Insurgents Podcast to discuss her recent report “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes In The Palestine-Israel Discourse.”
The interview explores the ways Islamophobia spreads in the media and shifts the balance of conversation of coverage, resulting in a dehumanizing effect for Muslims, and how—especially in this moment—some genuinely pro-Palestinian advocacy is inaccurately framed as anti-Semitic.… Continue reading “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in Palestine-Israel Discourse [Insurgents]”
How Warmongers are Weaponizing Antisemitism to Deflect From Israel’s Assault on Gaza [Status Coup]
The International Court of Justice has found Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2023 and 2024 to constitute a plausible case of genocide. Pro-Israeli groups and politicians in support of the numerous war crimes against over 2 million Palestinian civilians are weaponizing antisemitism to censor opposition and distract from the humanitarian crisis. Professor Sahar Aziz joins Tina-Desiree Berg on the Status Coup Podcast to discus the groundbreaking report “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse“
Watch the conversation here or below.… Continue reading “How Warmongers are Weaponizing Antisemitism to Deflect From Israel’s Assault on Gaza [Status Coup]”
Amid Gaza Protests, Universities are Cracking Down on a Celebrated Protest Tactic: Sit-Ins [The Intercept]
On October 25, hundreds of people participated in a sit-in at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, calling on school administrators to cut ties with weapons manufacturers involved in Israel’s occupation of Palestine. It was part of a wave of activism around Israel’s siege of Gaza on university campuses around the country, and it ended in increasingly typical fashion: Campus police arrested 57 of the demonstrators for trespassing because they remained in the university’s Whitmore Administration Building after it had closed at 6 p.m.
The incident at Amherst is reflective of… Continue reading “Amid Gaza Protests, Universities are Cracking Down on a Celebrated Protest Tactic: Sit-Ins [The Intercept]”
Unconditional Supporters of Israel Know the Facts Are Not on Their Side [Jacobin]
On Saturday, November 4, some three hundred thousand people marched in Washington, DC, in solidarity with Palestinians. It was the largest pro-Palestine march in US history, a heartening sign that the McCarthyite backlash to solidarity with Palestinians in the face of Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip has not accomplished its aims. Rather than cowing critics of Israel, which has killed more than twenty-two thousand Palestinians in Gaza, domestic repression has fueled commitment, a determination among many not to sit idly by as an entire people are slaughtered.… Continue reading “Unconditional Supporters of Israel Know the Facts Are Not on Their Side [Jacobin]”
How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics [The Nation]
The chorus of criticism of Israel’s indiscriminate bombings and denial of food, water, and other humanitarian aid to 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza has only grown louder as the Palestinian death toll has skyrocketed beyond an estimated 22,000, nearly half of whom are children.
Too often, however, supporters of continued military action by Israel respond not by debating the merits of a cease-fire but through McCarthyistic campaigns to silence human rights advocacy in public and on college campuses. Among the most effective strategies of censorship is a politically… Continue reading “How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics [The Nation]”
Threats to Free Speech on College Campuses [Katie Halper Show]
Universities across the United States have been targets of censorship campaigns by external special interest groups seeking to quash debate about Palestinian human rights, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and international law violations by the state of Israel. Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students and faculty are most frequently targeted as political speech is mislabeled as antisemitism.
Professor Sahar Aziz joined Mitchell Plitnick to discuss this troubling anti-American trend as well as their groundbreaking report “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine Israel Discourse” on the Katie … Continue reading “Threats to Free Speech on College Campuses [Katie Halper Show]”
