Ben Eidelson

A new paper of mine, "The Etiquette of Equality," is out in Philosophy & Public Affairs. It tackles a hard set of issues about how we convey respect amid social inequality. I hope others will find it thought-provoking, maybe even clarifying or useful. doi.org/10.1111/papa.1… 1/6

For more on how Title VI works in this area: x.com/beidelson/stat…

The Trump administration's new Title VI complaint against Harvard is pervasively disingenuous in its factual allegations and exceedingly weak on the law. Fortunately the district court & court of appeals will be guided by the MIT precedent, which makes this pretty open & shut.

@CaseViewerApp, unlike its creator, is very impressed with Justice Gorsuch’s opinion in the tariffs case.

@MargieInTelAviv @USCCRgov x.com/beidelson/stat…

@beidelson @USCCRgov Judaism is also an ism

What federal law actually says about campus antisemitism — and how the government has distorted it — in 7 minutes (my opening statement at @USCCRgov hearing this week)

@ProfDBernstein I’m not sure I’m following all the twists and I might leave it here for X purposes: it seems to me that if many Jews on campus see themselves as opponents of “Zionism,” that is relevant to the likelihood that advocacy framed as against “Zionism” is cloaked antipathy toward Jews.

It would be different if there was anyone out there who said, "anyone who calls themselves and antizionist is antisemitic." But literally no one says that. And indeed, the IHRA definition which you and others don't like doesn't use the word zionism at all. Because it's not the label that's the problem, it's the often-genocidal desire to eliminate Israel. Now, tell me how many young Boston Jews favor THAT.

That's not actually true in Boston, either. If you ask Jews in Boston, "do you think Israel should continue to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people," I guarantee you will get strong affirmance. That's what "Zionist" means. And the same study shows that 80% of Jewish "anti-Zionists" think "Zionist" means "agreeing with everything the Israeli government does," which is obviously not the correct definition. So more people in Boston may *label* themselves anti-Zionist than Zionist, but if you look at their actual beliefs, as everywhere else in the Jewish world Zionists predominate.

@ProfDBernstein I responded to the version of this post here: x.com/beidelson/stat…

That's not actually true in Boston, either. If you ask Jews in Boston, "do you think Israel should continue to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people," I guarantee you will get strong affirmance. That's what "Zionist" means. And the same study shows that 80% of Jewish "anti-Zionists" think "Zionist" means "agreeing with everything the Israeli government does," which is obviously not the correct definition. So more people in Boston may *label* themselves anti-Zionist than Zionist, but if you look at their actual beliefs, as everywhere else in the Jewish world Zionists predominate.

Seeing clips of my @USCCRgov testimony on antisemitism/anti-Zionism travel far and wide, I want to underscore a few things: - I'm Jewish, but I disagree that this fact should give special weight to my analysis; it should be assessed like any other legal analysis. (1/5)

@ProfDBernstein (Also, if many younger people (Jews & others) 'wrongly' understand "Zionism" in maximalist terms, that would also bear on how their professed denunciations of "Zionism" are best understood within those linguistic communities—i.e., the inference of antisemitism is much weaker.)

@ProfDBernstein ... well defined, including being the nation-state "of" the Jewish people. I think the only honest summary apart from reporting how people label themselves is that it's all complicated, generationally stratified, and at odds with any monolithic portrayal of the Jewish community.

@OlatiJ And if you want to hear different perspectives (always a good idea!), check out the full @USCCRgov hearing, including views at odds with mine offered by @MarkGoldfeder and @c_gammill youtu.be/uJ_k0v_jmZ8?t=…

P.S. I also recommend this article on recent Title VI issues by @OlatiJ and Suzanne Goldberg: columbialawreview.org/content/campus…

@voiceofrabbis Hi, I want to make sure claims attributed to me are accurate. It looks like someone edited this video to drop the reference to Greater Boston, where this comparison is true. I don’t think it’s true nationwide (though I do believe a minority identify as “Zionist”in JFNA data).

@AdHaque110 Means a lot, thank you!

Dark days, but cool to see two of my favorite scholars bring their academic work to a general audience on an important issue.

Somehow X claims this video has been viewed 70,000 times! There are also some natural questions in the comments. If you want to learn more about the legal issues, my written testimony is at papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… and my article with @Debbie_Hellman is at harvardlawreview.org/forum/vol-139/…

@ThinkDeepAgain @USCCRgov harvardlawreview.org/forum/vol-139/…

@beidelson @USCCRgov @beidelson 1. Are religions facts determined by birth? 2. Why are religions protected classes under civil rights laws? 2. Judaism is an ‘ism’. Christianity is not an ‘ism’. Does that make them different as religions and whether determined by birth?