The following announcement was provided by Watertown Citizens for Peace Justice & the Environment:
The Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment, Working Group for Peace & Common Security is hosting a panel discussion entitled “Concerned Jewish Faculty Speak Out On Palestine, Israel & Resistance” at the First Parish Church on Wednesday, May 28th at 7 p.m.
Jewish Faculty Speak Out on Palestine, Israel, and Resistance
Please join us as members of Concerned Jewish Faculty discuss Jewish resistance to Israel’s policies, Jewish support for Palestinian rights, and Jewish support for protest over Palestine in the U.S.
PROFESSOR MARJORIE N. FELD, Professor of History, Babson College
Author of The Threshold of Dissent (2024) which chronicles the long history of American Jewish dissent over Israel and Zionism & argues for the value of open and safe conversations and criticism to a healthy American Jewish communal life.
PROFESSOR JONATHAN FEINGOLD, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University
Expert in antidiscrimination law, affirmative action, and education law. He has analyzed the spread of discriminatory censorship laws designed to demean inclusionary values. Host of #RaceClass Podcast.
PROFESSOR MNEESHA GELLMAN, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emerson College
Author of Misrepresentation and Silence in United States History Textbooks: The Politics of Historical Oblivion. Founder & Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative and expert witness in U.S. immigration courts.
Sponsored by Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment (watertowncitizens.org) and Concerned Jewish Faculty (concernedjewishfaculty.org). Wednesday, May 28 at 7 p.m. at First Parish of Watertown, 35 Church St.
Parking is available in Church lot accessed off of Summer Street, and in CVS lot off of Church Street. Use front entrance facing Church Street.
“Criticism of Israeli policy is not, in and of itself, antisemitic,” say the Concerned Jewish Faculty at their website. Then why is so much of it? I may criticize Netanyahu sometimes, but only for not doing more to protect the people of Israel. Criticism of Israeli policy can be philosemitic, but almost never is.
“Weaponized accusations of antisemitism make Jewish people and all people less safe, not more,” CJF continues. Weaponized antisemitism itself makes Jewish people and all people a whole lot less safe than that. Jews must call antisemitism, without apology. The world can agree or disagree, pay attention or ignore. But Jews have nothing to regret in naming and shaming. The shame always—always—lies with the antisemites. They own it.