American Historical Association defeats two anti-Israel resolutions

Members of the AHA who were concerned with the anti-Israel bias within the conference rallied together to advocate for the dismissal of these two resolutions.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A COMPLEX region presents many challenges for Israel. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A COMPLEX region presents many challenges for Israel.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The American Historical Association (AHA), a society of historians and professors of history in the United States, defeated two anti-Israel resolutions at their annual meeting in New York on Sunday, deeming the resolutions unfair or disproportionate to the reality of the conflict - the fourth time the group has done so.
The two resolutions, nominated by Historians for Peace and Democracy and supported by 104 signatories, focused on accusing the Israeli government of violating the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the mistreatment of Palestinian students and teachers “seeking to promote educational development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
“When the earlier resolution passed, there was some applause, but I think here people were much more demonstrative, signalling publicly which side they were on,” Jim Wald, a professor of history at Hampshire College in Massachusetts told The Algemeiner.
“Content aside and politics aside, a lot of people just feel that it’s not our business to be taking a stance on these things, either because it’s outside our professional domain and the traditions of the organization, or people just don’t know enough to make intelligent judgments anyway,” he said.
Of the 12,000 members AHA, those concerned with the anti-Israel bias within the resolutions rallied together to advocate for their dismissal - the only ones over the course of the conference that focused on a foreign country.
“Accuracy and truth telling are vital components of academia,” said Andrea Schneider, professor of law at Marquette University and board member of the Israel Action Network. "Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to history, so it was heartening to see AHA members stand up against this deceptive campaign."