California has passed a draconian law which effectively outlaws criticism of Israel. Human rights advocates must fight back. 2 Jan. 2026 California’s New Law Outlawing Criticism of Israel Quashes Academic Freedom, Criminalizes Teachers California’s New Law Outlawing Criticism of Israel Quashes Academic Freedom, Criminalizes Teachers Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – A California…
In yet another attack on the academic freedom of pro-Palestinians in America, Berkeley, University of California has suspended a lecturer for supporting Palestinian rights. The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom have taken up the case. 2 Jan. 2026 Rebuking UC Berkeley over Suspension of Lecturer for…
In yet another attack on the academic freedom of pro-Palestinians in America, the University of Arkansas has removed a professor as director of an academic centre. The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom have taken up the case 2 Jan. 2026 Protesting the U of Arkansas for…
17 December 2025 Harvard management put on a show of defiance against the Trump administration’s demands earlier this year, but since then it has systematically suppressed the Palestinian voice on campus. The latest instance is the dismissal of the director of a Center for Health and Human Rights which maintained a partnership with Birzeit University….
14 December 2025 As this Drop Site News report describes, makeshift schools and classrooms are enabling some young people in Gaza to attend in-person classes for the first time in two years. Yet Israel continues its bombing and killing, and blocking supplies of even the most basic teaching supplies from entering the blockaded territory. Gaza’s…
Over the decades, Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, has moved from being an Israeli nationalist to a Palestinian rights supporter. This article by Raymond Deane in Jacobin discusses his latest work on the Gaza genocide. 9 December 2025 Avi Shlaim Is Taking a Stand Against Israel’s Gaza Genocide…
4 December 2025 This excellent account in Jewish Currents provides a vivid picture of the ways pro-Israel activists and propagandists succeeded in turning the UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles) administration and public against peaceful pro-Palestinian protestors, which in turn led to gratuitous violence, the victimisation of students demonstrating for human rights, the suppression…
3 December 2025 In an effort to explain to Israeli faculty and students their responsibility for the genocide in Gaza, Perter Beinart accepted an invitation to speak at an Israeli university. His motive was unexceptionable, but he now regrets his decision. Here’s why. @PeterBeinart By speaking earlier this week at Tel Aviv University, I made…
3 December 2025 Here’s a question all our regular readers can by now answer instantly: “What sort of international conference might a public university choose to cancel at the last minute?” The answer is of course: “A conference on Palestine (or Gaza or the Occupied West Bank or settler colonialism and resistance, etc.)” But why…
27 November 2025 The award of an honorary doctorate enables a university to become associated with a prominent artist, scientist, scholar or statesperson or public figure and thus enhance its reputation. But it is humiliated when a prominent recipient decides to throw back the award in its face, and deeply humiliated when not one but…