Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

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Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is a Zionist organization of academics created in 2002, whose main aim is to undermine calls for an academic boycott of Israel.[1]

Orientation

SPME supports 'a world in which Israel exists as a sovereign Jewish state within secure borders'[1] - a position which privileges some Israeli citizens over others.

SPME argues that 'academic discourse is increasingly influenced by ideological distortions, politically biased scholarship, and agenda-driven speakers who demonize Israel and Zionism as bearing full responsibility for the Middle-East conflict. Such indoctrination violates academic traditions of scholarly integrity and degrades the academic enterprise. It poisons debate about the Middle East, inflames hatred of Israel, spreads anti-Semitism, incites anti-Israeli militancy, and serves to excuse or tolerate terrorist attacks and genocidal threats against Israel. Anti-Israel slanders exacerbate conflict and undermine prospects for peace.'[1]

SPME 'opposes all manifestations of anti-Semitism in academia, including calls for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions.'[1]

History

According to Edward S. Beck writing in 2005:

“Our organization is modeled after the defunct body of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East. Some of its veterans are among the more than 500 SPME members at over 200 campuses world-wide. These are mainly, but not exclusively, Jewish and non-Jewish academics from the United States. SPME has 17 chapters at institutions such as MIT, Cal Poly, Columbia University, and Louisiana State University.”[2]

Principals

Directors

Circa May 2009

Source: [3]

  • Edward S. Beck - Walden University; Co-Founder and President- Emeritus, USA (2002- Present)
  • Samuel M. Edelman - California State University-Chico; Executive Director (2009-Present) (Non-voting, ex-officio board member)
  • Judith S. Jacobson - Columbia University; Co-Founder and Vice-President for Internal Relations (2002- Present)
  • Rabbi Peter Haas - Case Western Reserve University, USA; Vice President for External Relations (2003- Present)
  • Ruth Lichtenberg-Contreras - Secretary, Austria (2002- Present)
  • Leila Beckwith - University of Southern California-Los Angeles (UCLA); Treasurer (2006-Present)
  • Philip Carl Salzman - McGill University, Canada; SPME Conference Coordinator (2003- Present)
  • Jonathan Adelman - University of Denver, USA (2005- Present)
  • Steven Albert - University of Pittsburgh, USA (2005- Present)
  • Brigitte Bailer - Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DOEW) (2007- Present)
  • John R. Cohn - Thomas Jefferson University, USA (2005- Present)
  • Stanley Dubinsky - University of South Carolina, USA (2002- Present)
  • Awi Federgruen - Columbia University (2007 - Present)
  • Rev. India E. Garnett - United Church of Christ, PA (2002- Present)
  • Efraim Karsh - Kings College, University of London, UK (2002- Present)
  • Matthias Kuentzel - Political Scientist and Author, Hamburg, Germany (2006- Present)
  • Richard Landes - Boston University, USA (2003- Present)
  • G.S. Don Morris - Wingate Institute - IL, California Polytechnic Institute-Pomona, USA (2004- Present)
  • Donna Robinson Divine - Smith College, USA (2005- Present)
  • Barry Rubin - Interdisciplinary Center and GLORIA Center (2007- Present)
  • Ernest Sternberg - University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA (2006- Present)

Former Directors, Circa May 2009

  • Phyllis Chesler - City University of New York Staten Island; Professor Emerita, USA (2005- 2007)
  • David Goldman - Amper, Mattia and Politziner, CPA's Inc., Edison NJ (2002-2003)
  • Peter Gomori - St. Francis College, NYC, USA (2002-2004)
  • Patricia Jennings - University of California- Davis; Candidate, USA (2002-2004)
  • Frederick Krantz - Concordia University Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, Canada (2003)
  • Charles Isbell - Louisiana State University, USA (2002-2003)
  • Moshe Maoz - Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2002-2003)
  • Daniel Pipes - Middle East Forum, USA (2002-2003)
  • Nidra Poller - Writer/Translator, France (2002 - 2006)
  • Yigal Levin - Bar-Ilan University, Israel (2003-2004)
  • Allan Lipton - Penn State College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, USA (2003 - 2006)
  • Ilana Rosansky - Salem State University, Temple Shalom, Salem MA, USA (2003-2004)
  • Gerald Steinberg - Bar-Ilan University, Israel (2002- 2007)
  • Laurie Zoloth - Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, USA (2003-2006) [4]

Staff

Contact, References and Resources

Contact

Website: www.spme.net

Resources

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 SPME Homepage, Revision Adopted and Approved by The SPME Board of Directors, June 5, 2008, accessed 15 September 2010
  2. ↑ https://jcpa.org/article/fighting-anti-israelism-and-anti-semitism-on-the-american-university-campus-faculty-grassroots-efforts/
  3. ↑ Directors, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, accessed May 14, 2009.
  4. ↑ Directors, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, accessed May 14, 2009.
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