Featuring Elite Experts Combating Antisemitism

Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey Herf Affiliation: Department of History, University of Maryland Title: "At War with Israel: Some Recent Findings on East Germany and the West German Radical Left from the 1960s to 1989" Location: Fordham University, New York Date: November 15, 2012 Description: Dr. Jeffery Herf examines the attitudes of the East German government and West German radical leftist organizations to the State of Israel and its adversaries. He provides new insights into the West German radicals who collaborated with Palestinian terrorist groups, and claims that East Germany, along with others in the Soviet Bloc, had a much greater impact on the Middle East conflict than generally presumed. He goes on to focus on the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and draws the conclusion that the East German government was approaching a state of war with the State of Israel.

Speaker: Dr. Harry Goulbourne Affiliation: Honorary Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University; Visiting Professor of Sociology, University of Leeds Title: "Religion: Enemy of 'The Open Society' in Post Imperial Britain" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: October 4, 2012 Description: Professor Harry Goulbourne speaks about race relations and multiculturalism in Britain. He discuses the many challenges, such as religion, faced by post-imperial British society and how to grapple with these issues in the context of the post-imperial condition.

Speaker: Dr. Orde Kittrie Affiliation: Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University; Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Title: International Law, Lawfare, and the Challenge of Iran Location: Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA Date: November 14, 2012 Description: Dr. Orde Kittrie speaks about international law, lawfare and the global challenges posed by the Iranian regime. He provides an overview of Iran's genocidal antisemitism, as well as the regime's many violations of international law and what we can expect from a nuclear-armed Iran. He then goes on to discuss lawfare, a strategy using law as a substitute for traditional military means to help achieve operational objectives.

Speaker: Haras Rafiq Affiliation: Director of CENTRI (Counter Extremism Consultancy, Training, Research and Interventions) Title: "Pathways to Islamist Radicalization" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: November 8, 2012 Description: Haras Rafiq speaks about Islam and why various individuals and groups are radicalizing the religion. He compares traditional Islam to Islamism and the extremism that has taken root in various sectors of the religion, fueled by a virulent antisemitism. He goes on to discuss Islamic theology, as well as policy mistakes made by the United States within recent years to combat this growing extremism.

Speakers: Edwin Black, Award-winning, New York Times bestselling international investigative author; Dr. Haim Shaked, Professor of International Studies at the University of Miami Title: "Roots of an Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust and its Lasting Effects" Location: Fordham University, New York Date: January 31, 2013 Description: Edwin Black speaks about how the Mufti of Jerusalem forged a far-ranging alliance with Adolph Hitler, resulting in the June 1941 Farhud, a Nazi-style pogrom in Baghdad that set the stage for the expulsion of the Iraqi Jewish community and approximately a million Jews across the Arab world. He asserts that the Farhud was the beginning of what became a broad Nazi-Arab alliance during the Holocaust.

Speaker: Thomas Hochmann Affiliation: Associate Professor of Public Law, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne; Associate Member, Perelman Centre for Legal Philosophy (Brussels) Title: "Holocaust Denial and Freedom of Speech after United States v. Alvarez" Convener: Ruth Wisse, Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University Location: Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA Date: October 31, 2012 Description: Thomas Hochmann examines Holocaust denial and freedom of speech following the Supreme Court case of United States v. Alvarez.

Speaker: Dr. Dovid Katz Affiliation: Editor, DefendingHistory.com Title: “Holocaust Obfuscation: The 21st Century Version of Denial” Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: December 13, 2012 Description: Dr. Dovid Katz speaks about antisemitism and the problematic situation of Lithuanian and European Holocaust history revisionism.

Speaker: David Matas Affiliation: Senior Legal Counsel of B'nai Brith Canada; Canadian human rights and immigration lawyer Title: "Antisemitism and Middle East Peace" Location: McGill University, Montreal, Canada Date: February 12, 2013 Description: David Matas maintains that there is a link between antisemitism (and combating antisemitism) and peace in the Middle East. He states that while the majority of commentators focus on the list of issues dividing the Israelis and Palestinians, he asserts that if we combat antisemitism, the other issues will be resolved. Modern antisemitism has taken the form of the assault on the Jewish state and notions of Jewish peoplehood. In order to achieve peace in the Middle East, he says, it is essential to combat the antisemitism of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Israel's other adversaries.

Speaker: Dr. Meir Litvak Affiliation: Department of Middle Eastern History and Director of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University Title: “Radical Islam and the Arab Spring” Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Hoover Institution, Stanford University Date: February 8, 2012 Description: Dr. Meir Litvak argues that there are various misperceptions regarding the "Arab Spring" and notes that, as opposed to the popular belief, the "Arab Spring" was started by Islamists, not westernized, democratic young people.

Speaker: Dr. Neil Kressel Affiliation: Department of Psychology, William Paterson University Title: "Muslim Antisemitism: A Litmus Test for the West (Part 1)" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: February 14, 2013 Description: Neil Kressel documents the dangerous and growing epidemic of anti-Jewish bigotry in many parts of the Muslim world. Kressel argues that scholars, human rights organizations, religious leaders, and politicians have largely ignored, misunderstood, or downplayed this hatred. He traces such reactions to a complex mix of apathy, ignorance, confusion, bigotry, ideology, purported pragmatism, and misguided multiculturalism.

Speaker: Dr. David Menashri Affiliation: Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University; Senior Research Fellow, Alliance Center for Iranian Studies and the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University Title: "Iran, Israel and the Middle East after the War in Gaza" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: November 29, 2012 Description: Dr. David Menashri speaks about Iran, Israel, and the Middle East following the 2012 Gaza War. Menashri highlights the need to understand the intricacies and various aspects of Iranian society in order to begin to understand the Middle East conflict and relations between the countries.

Speaker: Yigal Carmon Affiliation: Founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Title: "The Impact of the Arab Spring on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in the Arab and Muslim World" Location: McGill University, Montreal, Canada Date: March 12, 2013 Description: Yigal Carmon discusses Arab antisemitism and notes that Arab leaders frequently demonize the Jewish people, deny and distort the facts of the Holocaust, and urge their people “to complete the job”.

Speaker: Dr. Bassam Tibi Affiliation: Professor Emeritus of International Relations, University of Goettingen Title: "The Islamist Challenge to America, anti-Americanism, and Antisemitism" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: April 1, 2009 Description: Dr. Bassam Tibi speaks about the difference between Islam and Islamism, as well as the challenge of Islam to America and Islamism's lethal and rising antisemitic tendencies.

Speaker: Corinna Guttstadt Affiliation: Research Fellow, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC Title: "Shifting Faces of Antisemitism in Turkey" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: March 31, 2009 Description: Corinna Guttstadt speaks about the shifting faces of antisemitism in Turkey.

Speaker: Yossi Klein Halevi Affiliation: Israeli author and journalist Title: “Jewish Theological Implications of the New Antisemitism” Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: April 2, 2009 Description: Yossi Klein Halevi explains that there are two forms of antisemitism. The first, he says, is unremarkable and is the fear or dislike of the "other." The second form of antisemitism is the antisemitism of symbols, which is unique and potentially lethal. The antisemitism of symbols singles out the Jew as the representative of whatever a given society defines as its most detested quality or trait or moral offense. Halevi continues to focus on the "new antisemitism" and the assault on the State of Israel. This "new antisemitism" sets the Jewish state as the world's worst offender and violator of our society's highest value: human rights. This, he notes, is the reincarn

Speaker: Dr. Phyllis Chesler Affiliation: Writer, psychotherapist, and Professor Emerita of Psychology at City University of New York Title: "The New Anti-Semitism: Reflections After A Decade on the Front Lines" Location: Fordham University, New York Date: February 28, 2013 Description: Dr. Phyllis Chesler discusses her personal struggle to promote awareness of global antisemitism within Western academia.

Speaker: Esther Webman Affiliation: Acting Director, The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism & Racism, Tel Aviv University Title: "Continuity and Change in the Arab Holocaust Discourse" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: April 23, 2009 Description: Esther Webman speaks about continuity and change in the Arab Holocaust discourse.

Speaker: Dr. Steven Smith Affiliation: Department of Political Science, Yale University Title: "Leo Strauss as a Jewish Thinker" Convener: Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: February 28, 2008 Description: Dr. Steven Smith speaks about Leo Strauss as a Jewish thinker and examines Strauss’s views on religion as well as his thought on philosophical and political issues.

Speaker: Dr. Neil Kressel Affiliation: Department of Psychology, William Paterson University Title: "Muslim Antisemitism: A Litmus Test for the West (Part 2)" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Fordham University, New York Date: February 14, 2013 Description: Neil Kressel documents the dangerous and growing epidemic of anti-Jewish bigotry in many parts of the Muslim world. Kressel argues that scholars, human rights organizations, religious leaders, and politicians have largely ignored, misunderstood, or downplayed this hatred. He traces such reactions to a complex mix of apathy, ignorance, confusion, bigotry, ideology, purported pragmatism, and misguided multiculturalism.

Speaker: Dr. Richard Landes Affiliation: Department of History, Boston University Title: "The Naked Emperor and the First Blood Libel of the 21st Century: The Al Durah Affair and the Dysfunctions of the Mainstream Media" Convener: Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT Date: September 25, 2008 Description: Professor Richard Landes speaks about the Al Durah Affair as being the first blood libel of the 21st century. He further examines the dysfunctions of the mainstream media and its contribution to the delegitimization campaign against Israel in the international arena.