The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 1 No. 2
27 October 2006
Seminar Series
The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism currently runs a seminar series that is open to all.
Roya Hakakian will be our next seminar speaker on Thursday, November 2 at 4:15. Her seminar is entitled “The Case of Iranian Jews Today: The Limits of the Term Antisemitism.” She recently wrote an essay, “ Reading the Holocaust Cartoons in Tehran” in the New York Times. Roya Hakakian is a Research Fellow, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University and a founding member of Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. She is a documentary filmmaker and poet, and her book, Journey from the Land of No (2004), is a memoir about growing up Jewish in revolutionary Iranian.
On November 10, the eminent scholar Professor Milton Shain will be offering a seminar entitled, “Continuities, Discontinuities and Contingencies: Anti-Alienism, Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Twentieth-Century South Africa.”
On October 19, Jonathan Brent offered a seminar on contemporary antisemitism in Russia. His analysis included a comprehensive analysis from a historical and political framework. Please note that all of our seminars, including Jonathan Brent’s, are available on video at our seminar website.
Seminars of Related Interest at Yale Next Week
THE FRANZ ROSENZWEIG LECTURES
ARTHUR GREEN –A Jewish Mystical Theology for Today
Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Theology and Mysticism at Hebrew College and Rector of the Rabbinical School, and Professor Emeritus of Jewish Theology and Mysticism at Brandeis University
Sunday October 29, 4:00 PM “God: An Evolutionist Approach”
Monday October 30, 7:30 PM “Torah: Word Out of Silence”
Wednesday November 1, 7:30 PM “Israel? Still Wrestling with the Angels”
All lectures will take place at Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale,
80 Wall Street, New Haven. Free and Open to the Public
Mohamed ElBaradei
Tuesday, October 31, 4:00 PM
A Conversation with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Dr. ElBaradei heads the international organization responsible for ensuring that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way. The IAEA was created in 1957 in response to the deep fears and expectations resulting from the discovery of nuclear energy.
Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue
Kenneth Garden
Nov 2, 12:30-2:00 PM
“Progressive Islam” part of the Middle East Studies (CMES) ongoing series “Islam in the Modern Day.”
451 College St., 4th floor lounge
Upcoming International Conferences
Budapest, November 6-9, The 8th International Seminar for the Research of Antisemitism. “Sixty Years After–Conflicting Tendencies: Awareness and Initiatives vis-à-vis Violence and Images of Evil.” Sponsored by Tel Aviv UniversityThe Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, and MAZSIHISZ, the Jewish Communities Alliance in Hungary
Los Angeles, November 12-15, The 75th UJC General Assembly. Featured speakers Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Fareed Zakaria, and Irwin Cotler. Charles Small, Director of YIISA, will also be presenting on the condition of contemporary Antisemitism.
Berlin, November 20-21, The OSCE Germany Parliament Delegation Expert Meeting. “Best Practices in Combating Antisemitism.” This will held at the German Bundestag and is open to the public. Charles Small, Director of YIISA, will be speaking on aspects of hate crime legislation and the problems of understanding and combating Antisemitism in Europe today. Emphasis will be placed on developing effective policy.
Relevant Articles
Poll: Most US Jews support a Palestinian state, disapprove of American government’s handling of Iran’s nuclear threat; and believe antisemitism will increase worldwide in coming years. (YNET News, 10/23/06)
Iran Says It Taken Further Steps in Developing Their Nuclear Program. Report says scientists have installed a second centrifuge cascade for uranium enrichment. (BBC, 10/25/06)
Argentine Lawyer Asks to Jail Iran Officials for Jewish Center Blast in 1994. (Ha’aretz, 10/25/06)
QUOTES and Headlines of Relevance
“You should believe that this regime [Israel] cannot last and has no more benefit to you… What benefit have you got in supporting this regime, except the hatred of the nations? We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away but you are the neighbours of the nations in this region… You should know that the rage of people is boiling and is like an ocean that is welling up… Once its storm begins blowing, it will go beyond the borders of Lebanon and Palestine and it will hurt European countries.” Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, threatening Europe for supporting Israel. Speaking on Al-Quds Dayan annual protest held on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan Ahmadinejad announced that Israel could not last long after its experience this summer fighting against the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah shattered the myth that Israel is undefeatable,” he said. “Now Israel has no reason to exist.” State-run television showed tens of thousands of demonstrators around the country who carried pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the terrorist Hezbollah, and set fire to American and Israeli flags. (Ha’aretz, Oct. 20; New York Times, Oct. 21)
“[T]he lack of formal protest by the international community [over President Ahmadinejad’s recent statements] undermines stability in the region and international peace and security… Every member state must, on account of its membership in the United Nations, denounce and reject these hateful words.”–Israel’s UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, urging all UN member states to denounce and reject Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s renewed call for the destruction of the state of Israel. Gillerman, saying it was inconceivable that in the 21st century, 61 years after the Holocaust, a UN member state would openly call for the annihilation of another state, called Ahmadinejad’s latest comments a violation of the UN Charter and an incitement to genocide and racism. (International Herald Tribune, Oct. 24)
Venezuela Stops Visas for Israelis (Caracas) Venezuela has ceased issuing tourist visas to Israelis, accenting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s harsh criticism of Israel. Chavez recalled his top diplomat in Israel to protest the “genocide” and “new Holocaust” Israel committed in Lebanon during Israel’s 34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas. (AP, Jer. Post, Oct. 23)
Related Links
Engage Website
Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Coordination Forum for Combating Antisemitism
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism
US State Department – Report on Global Anti-Semitism
Vidal Sassoon International Centre for the Study of Antisemitism
Wikipedia on Antisemitism
US Commission on Civil Rights