October’s Brandeis Brief!

Brandeis Brief: October 2021
LDB continues to expose and respond to the endemic problem of anti-Semitism in higher education. In response to LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus’ latest essay in the Washington Post, the President of Johns Hopkins University finally acknowledged with appropriate forcefulness that JHU takes anti-Semitism seriously. Previously, in response to complaints by Jewish groups about a teaching assistant’s discriminatory and harassing threats towards Jewish students, JHU offered a vague statement condemning as anti-Semitic swastikas that had appeared on campus while failing to recognize or publicly condemn the anti-Semitism behind the TA’s tweets. Also this month, the Brandeis Center’s groundbreaking survey of openly Jewish college students reveals that large numbers of Jewish students are hiding their Jewish identity for fear of physical and verbal anti-Semitic attacks on campus. This Brief also covers the dangerous impact of the hateful ideology that lingers 20 years after the UN’s anti-Semitic World Conference Against Racism in Durban, an alarming new UN commission poised to falsely accuse Israel of apartheid, and a review of Dara Horn’s latest book by LDB’s newly minted Scholar-in-Residence.

Johns Hopkins Must Live Up to Its Ideals
Kenneth L. Marcus (The Washington Post)
Read LDB Founder and Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus’ recent essay, which prompted the president of Johns Hopkins University to finally acknowledge with appropriate forcefulness that JHU takes anti-Semitism on its campus seriously. JHU’s initial feeble response to revelations that its teaching assistant made discriminatory and harassing threats towards Jewish students reveals the gap between the ideals of combatting discrimination and the reality that combatting anti-Semitism is often ignored or even resisted. Even now, JHU must do more to live up to its ideals, as Marcus explains.

Read Marcus’ original Washington Post essay here
Read JHU President Ronald Daniels’ response to Marcus’ essay here
Read Marcus’ reply to Daniels here

Survey of Jewish Fraternity and Sorority Finds Most Respondents Experienced Antisemitism on Campus 
Ben Sales (JTA)

The groundbreaking Brandeis Center/Cohen Research Group survey of openly Jewish college students exposes the concerning rise in anti-Semitism that such students have experienced on campus. The survey reveals alarming statistics about the Jewish experience on campus: these students feel increasingly unsafe on campus and in virtual settings due to fears about physical and verbal anti-Semitic attacks, and this fear is driving them to hide their Jewish identity on campus.

Read the article here
Read the survey results here
Read LDB’s press release here
Listen to Kenneth Marcus’ interview on radio station WMAL here

Everybody Hates the Jews
Bari Weiss (Common Sense with Barri Weiss on Substack)

Journalist Barry Weiss highlights the Brandeis Center’s recent survey about anti-Semitism on campus in her discussion about the worrisome rise of anti-Semitism in America stemming from all ideological spectrums. Weiss notes the virulent anti-Semitism that is becoming further entrenched in liberal institutions and calls on community advocates to muster the courage to speak up against this scourge.

Read more here

Definition of Antisemitism Adapts to new Political Strategies
L. Rachel Lerman (Boston Herald)

In her timely article coinciding with the anniversary of the notorious Durban Declaration, Brandeis Center Vice-Chair and Senior Counsel Rachel Lerman discusses how the virulent anti-Semitism of the first Durban conference in 2001 led to the development of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Lerman explains why the IHRA definition is the only definition that properly encompasses all forms of contemporary anti-Semitism. Lerman also sits down with Dean Rea from the NightSide podcast and further discusses the lasting impact of the Durban conference and the importance of using the IHRA definition to combat the contemporary forms of anti-Semitism that manifest under the guise of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Read the article here
Listen to the podcast here
We Must Call For an End to Durbanism
Kenneth L. Marcus (JNS)

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the UN’s World Conference Against Racism, LDB Chairman Kenneth Marcus recalls how the well-intended conference descended into virulent bigotry, targeting Jews with old and new forms of anti-Semitism, and inspired contemporary anti-racism movements. While celebrating the growing number of countries that rejected the hateful ideology disseminated by the Durban conference, Marcus calls on the international community to reject “Durbanism” and lean into the fight against racism with a genuine commitment to equal opportunity This article presents an abridged form of remarks delivered at the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust’s conference on Durban IV.

Read the article here
Watch Marcus’ presentation here
Watch the entire conference, “Fight Racism, Not Jews: The United Nations and the Durban Deceit” here

UKLFI Charitable Trust Webinar: “The Accusation of Israel as an Apartheid State” 
Brandeis Blog (Ben Usha)

In response to a new UN commission poised to accuse the State of Israel of “apartheid” under an erroneous definition of the term, UKLFI Charitable Trust held a timely webinar featuring Arizona State Law Professor Orde Kittrie to debunk the apartheid claim against Israel. Professor Kittrie explains the definition of apartheid under international law, warns of the dangers of the commission’s designation of Israel as an “apartheid” nation, and recommends further action to combat the “apartheid” libel against Israel.

Read the blog here
Watch the webinar here
In the News: Jews Safety On Campus
(Jewish Broadcasting Service)

Watch Kenneth Marcus’ interview with the Jewish Broadcasting Service in which he discusses LDB’s poll examining rates of anti-Semitism among openly Jewish college students as well as other developments in the ongoing effort to combat anti-Semitism in higher education.
In the News: Jews’ Safety on Campus featuring Kenneth L. Marcus, October 4, 2021 (Jewish Broadcasting Service)

LDB Appoints Diane Kunz as First Scholar-in-Residence
Brandeis Blog (Chloe Shrager)

The Brandeis Center is pleased to announce the inaugural appointment of Diane Kunz to the newly created role of Scholar-in-Residence. Dr. Kunz’s extensive scholarly experience will be a tremendous asset to the Center’s academic and policy work as well as our legal practice. LDB extends a warm welcome to Dr. Kunz!

Read more here

Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews – A Book Review by Diane Kunz
Diane Kunz (Brandeis Blog)

LDB’s new Scholar-in-Residence, Diane Kunz, reviews Dara Horn’s latest book, People Love Dead Jews – Reports from a Haunted Present. As Kunz explains, Horn points out disturbing ironies about the world’s seeming obsession with the Holocaust and “Holocaust education,” which demonstrate her thesis that “Dead Jews are fine – live Jews not so much.” Kunz also highlights the book’s discussion of contemporary forms of anti-Semitism in the United States, including leftist Jew-hatred and anti-Zionism, which have not received the attention they deserve and reveal an uncertain future for the Jewish American community.

Read more here