American Historical Association moves forward with Israel-bashing resolution
One opponent of the resolution expressed worries that it would ‘hurt the historical profession and academia writ large.’
The resolution does not condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist massacre, and instead only denounces Israel, attacking the Jewish state for committing so-called ‘scholasticide.’
The American Historical Association (AHA) recently voted to move forward with a resolution attacking Israel for allegedly committing so-called “scholasticide.”
The AHA calls itself the “largest membership association of historians in the world.”
The AHA voted to pass the anti-Israel resolution on Sunday at its annual conference by a vote of 428-88, though it now awaits approval from the AHA’s council, Inside Higher Ed reported.
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A professor supporting the measure said: “The AHA has been deafeningly silent. Silence is complicity,” though another professor opposed it, saying that it does not condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist massacre and that it will “hurt the historical profession and academia writ large,” wrote Inside Higher Ed.
The resolution, titled “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” condemns American support for Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 massacre of Jewish civilians.
It accuses Israel of various crimes, especially so-called “scholasticide,” defined as “an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system.”
The resolution concludes by condemning “the Israeli violence in Gaza that undermines [the] right” of “all peoples to freely teach and learn about their past,” calling for a “permanent ceasefire,” and establishing the formation of “a committee to assist in rebuilding Gaza’s educational infrastructure.”
Hamas intentionally embeds itself in the civilian population of Gaza in order to use civilians as human shields, a fact that is unmentioned in the AHA’s resolution.
Accusing Israel of “scholasticide” has taken root in other sectors of higher education.
The Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at the University of Chicago, for example, called on the university to adopt a “Gaza Scholars at Risk” program, claiming it is meant to “suppory [sic] scholars devastated by the US-Israeli genocide and scholasticide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
Campus Reform has reached out to the AHA for comment. This article will be updated historically.
