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ICC Investigation of Biden Administration Officials for Aiding Israeli War Crimes [RaceandRights Podcast]

In January of 2025, the human rights organization, Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) made a formal request with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate former U.S. officials President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for their accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. With the support of ICC-registered lawyers and other war crimes experts, the submission details a pattern of deliberate and purposeful decisions by these… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Israel/Palestine in the Context of Current Attacks on Academic and Political Freedom [UCDavis]

Current attacks on academic and political freedom at universities are justified by claims to combat antisemitism at the same time that such attacks disproportionately target Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab students and faculty. Professor Sahar Aziz joined Professor David Myers in conversation examining how these issues are influencing public debate, academic spaces, and political expression at universities across the United States. The event was co-sponsored by the University of California-Davis Department Religious Studies, Department of Jewish Studies, and Department of Middle East and South Asia Studies.… Continue reading

Trump Unlawfully Deports Kilmar Abrego Garcia [Al Jazeera]

The Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in direct contravention of an immigration court order that he has a well founded fear of persecution from gangs in El Salvador. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s order for the government to facilitate the immediate return of Abrego, there has been no effort made by the administration to follow the Court’s order. Professor Sahar Aziz provides her analysis of the legal and political consequences on the rule of law and separation of powers.… Continue reading

Silencing Dissent: The Islamophobia Industry’s Assault on Academic Freedom [Rutgers]

Anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli Zionist special interest groups are orchestrating hate campaigns against Muslim faculty and academic centers focused on studying Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. Falsely claiming to combat antisemitism, these hate groups lobby Congress and state legislatures to violate free speech laws and academic freedom principles with the objective to deny Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab faculty and students equal rights to engage in open intellectual inquiry as their Jewish, Christian, and White peers. Professor Sahar Aziz joins other experts to discuss the origins and harms arising from the Islamophobia industry’s… Continue reading

How Trump’s attacks on DEI and Palestine activists are connected [Mondoweiss]

The national crackdown against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was inevitable. After racial progress, there is often retrenchment. DEI programs were the institutionalized response to the Black Lives Matter movement. They reshaped conversations around representation, missing perspectives, and ultimately who belongs, whether in universities, boardrooms, or other institutions of power. So when President Donald Trump terminated these programs in the public and private sectors with a stroke of his pen through executive orders, it was a stark reminder that the past is a prologue in the struggle for racial equality.… Continue reading

Activists urge lawmakers to help reduce anti-Muslim incidents [NJ Spotlight]

At a time when bias incidents are on the rise, advocates gathered outside the Statehouse on Monday to commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. . . . Several speakers also urged the Legislature to reject a bill that would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance or IHRA, definition of antisemitism. “The IHRA definition of antisemitism is a tool to silence criticism about Israel, not protect Jews,” said Raz Segal, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies for Stockton University. “Everyone in the U.S. has a first Amendment right to free… Continue reading

Assaults on Free Speech of Palestinians [Al Jazeera]

Professor Sahar Aziz provides her analysis on the arrest of Palestinian graduate student and permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil for his participation in nonviolent protests and dissident speech as a graduate student at Columbia University. The U.S. government’s reliance on an obscure immigration statute has grave long-term adverse implications for free speech rights. Watch her full interview below.… Continue reading

A Dangerous Moment [Al Jazeera]

Civil liberties organisations and academics have raised alarm at the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, calling it a serious breach of free-speech rights under the administration of President Donald Trump. . . . Others also worry that Trump’s crackdown on protesters will not remain limited to supporters of Palestine. He previously stated he would look to impose serious punishments on all “illegal protests”, without defining what that entails. “It’s important to note that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims who are active in the fight for… Continue reading

Right to Protest and Resistance: Campus and the Workplace [Wayne State Law]

The Wayne State Journal of Law in Society hosted a symposium exploring how crackdowns on campus speech across the country tested universities’ stated commitments to free speech and academic freedom. Professor Aziz was invited to address the various forms of pressure by anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic special interest groups and elected officials put on university administrators to censor, discipline, and expel anti-war college activists. The responses prompt numerous legal and policy questions on the fragility of free speech rights, especially as they apply to racial minorities.… Continue reading

Past as Prologue: The Struggle for Racial Equality and Free Speech in an Age of Authoritarianism [TCNJ]

In celebration of Black History Month, Professor Sahar Aziz delivered a keynote address at The College of New Jersey entitled Past as Prologue: The Struggle for Racial Equality and Free Speech in an Era of Authoritarianism. In her remarks, Professor Aziz drew parallels between the current crackdowns on Palestinian, Muslim and Arab American anti-war student activists and the experiences of Black civil rights leaders and students in the 1950s and 1960s.… Continue reading

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