September 8, 1:00 PM EDT - in person 24 Beacon St.
Boston, MA
Massachusetts Antisemitism Commission meeting
Coming up - Thu, Sep 25th: Second public comment session
The next Antisemitism Commission meeting will be Sep 8th at 1pm. TIM encourages in-person attendance to support CJFS speakers (live stream option available. link below)
International Association of Genocide Scholars statement on Gaza: implications for K-12 and higher education
Federal judge ruling on Harvard funding freeze and allegations of antisemitism
Link to Commission Meeting Details
Commission Meeting September 8th
The 11th meeting of the Antisemitism Commission will be held on Mon, Sep 8th at 1pm in the MA State House, Room A-2 (1st floor) and will be live streamed at this link. This will be the Commission's second meeting to discuss higher education.
We appreciate the Commission's inclusion of a panel from Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff (CJFS) at Monday's meeting. CJFS submitted this thorough compilation of resources related to the IHRA definition, genocide, diversity of Jewish identity, authoritarianism to inform the Commission's deliberations and recommendations.
Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff will be represented by a panel of scholars and experts (articles by the speakers and other members of CJFS):
Christopher Macdonald-Dennis - Ed.D., DEI and Student Affairs Professional
Frances Tanzer - Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture, Clark University
Jeremy Menchik - Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science; Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University
Hilary Lustick -Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, UMass Lowell
Jonathan Feingold - Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Other speakers on the agenda:
Dr. Mark Poznansky, Harvard Medical School who published an op-ed praising Harvard’s adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Lindsay Gabow, Harvard Law School (HLS) student, member of the Federalist Society and HLS's Alliance for Israel
Douglas Hauer, former part-time lecturer at Boston University School of Law Miriam Berkowitz Blue, Executive Director - Hillel Council of New England
Sara Coodin, Director of Academic Affairs, American Jewish Committee, who is responsible for advocating for AJC priorities in college campuses nationally.
Link to Commission Meeting Details
Genocide Scholars statement on Gaza: Implications for K-12 and higher education
Last week, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The statement also declared the Hamas-led attack of Oct 7th constitutes international crimes. This comes one month after two Israeli human rights organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, declared Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
However, according to the Commission’s K-12 education recommendations, if any of these topics are discussed in class, the school risks a civil rights complaint, an educator risks being reported to the state, or a student risks being reported to local and state police.
Every member of the Antisemitism Commission, with the exception of Newton Mayor Fuller, endorsed the adoption of the IHRA definition in all educational settings. While the Commission’s K-12 education recommendations claimed that the IHRA definition allows harsh criticism of Israel, many Commission members made it clear that certain criticism would fall under the antisemitism definition - for example discussing the topics of colonialism, apartheid system of government, or genocide in reference to Israel.
Such a misdefinition of antisemitism was the basis of the multi-pronged campaign targeting Massachusetts’ largest teachers union as antisemitic - first for calling for a ceasefire in 2023 and most recently for providing educators resources on Israel/Palestine. At the February 2025 Commission meeting, Commissioners cherry-picked resources claiming the MTA resources were “one-sided” and “anti-Israel” claiming that data visualization, literature, and history resources that challenge a narrow view of Israel or share Palestinian perspectives is antisemitic.
Even a cursory review of the resources reveals that they include multiple perspectives (including ADL & Facing History and Ourselves) alongside Palestinian, Israeli and well-respected educational organizations. The Commission instead chose to pull examples outside the MTA resources or just implied that they are antisemitic because they presented a Palestinian perspective (ex. Khalidi's “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” and Visualizing Palestine).