On February 5, Kenneth S. Stern, author of "The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate," discussed the findings and recommendations of his recent book with Miriam Elman, Executive Director of the Academic Engagement Network, and Professor Dov Waxman, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair of Israel Studies at UCLA.

About the Event

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most contentious issues on college and university campuses in the United States and elsewhere. Student discussions about the conflict, both inside and outside the classroom, can often be heated and acrimonious. Divestment resolutions proposed by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel have generated intense controversy and bitter divisions among students, and fueled concerns that campuses are becoming hotbeds of anti-Israel sentiment and even antisemitism. In his recent book The Conflict Over the Conflict: the Israel/Palestine Campus Debate, Kenneth S. Stern examines why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become such a toxic and divisive issue on campus and what can be done about it.

Sponsored by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.

About the Speakers

	Kenneth S. Stern  is the Director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate at Bard College. An award-winning author and attorney, he was the American Jewish Committee's expert on antisemitism for twenty-five years, and also the lead drafter of the “IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism." He is the author of The Conflict Over the Conflict: the Israel/Palestine Campus Debate (New Jewish Press/University of Toronto Press, 2020).
	Miriam Elman is the Executive Director of the Academic Engagement Network, a national faculty organization devoted to opposing efforts to delegitimize Israel, and countering antisemitism when it occurs. She is currently on leave from her role as Associate Professor of Political Science in Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She is the editor and co-editor of six books and the author of over 65 journal articles, book chapters, and government reports on topics related to international and national security, religion and politics, the Middle East, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
	Dov Waxman is The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair of Israel Studies at UCLA, and the Director of the Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Previously, he was a professor of political science, international affairs, and Israel studies, and the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University. His latest book is, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2019).

DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.