A display at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign protests the firing of Steven Salaita and limits on academic freedom. (Ali Abunimah) *

The Amcha Initiative, the Zionist organization that has repeatedly intimidated, spied on and harassed students and faculty, appears to be escalating its campaign by publishingwhat amounts to a target list of “anti-Israel” professors.

Amcha says that the list is made up of “218 professors identifying themselves as Middle East scholars, who recently called for the academic boycott of Israel in a petition.”

It links to an item at Jadaliyya titled “Over 100 Middle East Studies Scholars and Librarians Call for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.”

“Students who wish to become better educated on the Middle East without subjecting themselves to anti-Israel bias, or possibly even antisemitic rhetoric, may want to check which faculty members from their university are signatories before registering,” Amcha says.

It urges people to “Share this list with your family, friends, and associates via email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or word-of-mouth.”

“Thank you for your actions to protect Jewish students!,” Amcha’s posting concludes.

In the wake of the University of Illinois’ firing of American Indian Studies professorSteven Salaita over his opinions critical of Israel, Amcha’s move can be seen as a renewed effort at intimidation.

Amcha states that it is “troubling” that “many of these patently biased boycotters of Israel are affiliated with government-designated, taxpayer-funded National Resource Centers (NRC) on their campuses.”

It alleges that those pledging to boycott Israeli institutions complicit in Israeli crimes against Palestinians “have violated both the letter and spirit of the federal law which funds their teaching and research.”

Anti-Palestinian groups have previously tried to use the presence of public funding as a pretext to try to suppress free speech and academic freedom.

In one such effort tied to Amcha, a pro-Israel group tried repeatedly to persuade the State of California and other government bodies to prosecute California mathematics professor David Klein for supposedly “misusing” state resources by using his university-hosted personal website to criticize Israel and call for boycott.

Amcha’s claim that disseminating a list of professors calling for Israel to be held accountable can somehow “protect Jewish students” is based on the anti-Semitic stereotype that Israel represents all Jews and that all Jews identify with Israel or are collectively responsible for its actions.

This is exactly this kind of bogus association that lay behind the University of Illinois officials’ justifications for their firing of Salaita.

What is Amcha?

Amcha was founded by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a Hebrew lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Rossman-Benjamin is a notorious anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim activist with a history of litigious threats against students and faculty.

An exclusive investigation by The Electronic Intifada earlier this year revealed that Amcha had infiltrated a student trip to Palestine in 2012, confirming long-held activist suspicions that anti-Palestinian political groups are spying on student activists.

An attorney told The Electronic Intifada that such surveillance could be in violation of several laws.

Rossman-Benjamin herself has been caught on video making virulently racist statements against students involved in Palestine solidarity activism on campus.

But despite protests by students, the University of California has taken no action in response to Rossman-Benjamin’s activities.

This type of complicity by university administrations has sadly been the norm and undoubtedly emboldens groups like Amcha to escalate their attacks on academic freedom and those who practice it.

*

The ‘Targets’

Universities marked with an asterisk (*) receive federal funding to support programs in Middle East or Near East studies

Bard College

Dina A. Ramadan, Assistant Professor of Arabic

Boston University

Irene L. Gendzier, Professor Emeritus, Political Science

Brown University

Bashir Abu-Manneh, Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

Ariella Azoulay, Professor, Comparative Literature

Beshara Doumani, Joukowsky Family Professor of Modern Middle East History

Bryn Mawr College

Peter Magee, Professor, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

California Institute of Integral Studies

Sahar Driver, Anthropology and Social Change

California State University Sacramento

Ayad Al-Qazzaz, Professor of Sociology

California State University San Bernadino

Jamal Nassar, Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Central Michigan University

John Robertson, Professor of History

Clark University

Anita Fabos, Associate Professor, Department of International Development, Community, and Environment

College of New Jersey

Miriam Lowi, Professor, Departmet of Political Science

* Columbia University

Nadia Abu El-Haj, Professor of Anthropology

Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science

Gil Andijar, Professor, Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS)

Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature

Wael B. Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities

Rhoda Kanaaneh, Adjunct Associate Professor, Middle East Institute

Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Professor of History

Mahmood Mamdani, Professor, Department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies

Brinkley Messick, Professor of Anthropology

Timothy Mitchell, Professor, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

George Saliba, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Science Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures

College of the Holy Cross

Sahar Bazzaz, Associate Professor, Department of History

College of William and Mary

Mumtaz Ahmad, Professor of Political Science, Distinguished Visiting Scholar

Stephen Sheehi, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Chair of Middle East Studies

Colorado School of Mines

Hussein Amery, Associate Professor, Division of Liberal Arts and Intl. Studies

CUNY Graduate Center

Anthony Alessandrini, Associate Professor

Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology

Marilyn Hacker, Professor

Samira Haj, Professor of History

Christa Salamandra, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Dartmouth College

Lara Harb, Assistant Professor

Christopher MacEvitt, Associate Professor of Religion

Denison College

Isis Nusair, Associate Professor of International Studies and Women’s Studies

* Duke University

Miriam Cooke, Braxton Craven Professor of Arab Cultures

Frances S. Hasso, Associate Professor in Women’s Studies and Sociology

Engseng Ho, Professor, Department of Anthropology

Abdeslam Maghraoui, Associate Professor of Practice, Political Science

Evergreen State College

Sarah Eltantawi, Assistant Professor

Farleigh Dickenson University

Riad Nasser, Professor

Florida International University

Cheryl Rubenberg, Retired Professor, Political Science

Fordham University

Aseel Sawalha, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Frostburg State University

Haiyun Ma, Assistant Professor, Department of History

George Mason University

Bassam Haddad, Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs

* Georgetown University

Osama Abi-Mershed, Associate Professor, Department of History, Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies

Fida Adely, Associate Professor, School of Foreign Service

Halim Barakat, Retired Professor

Jonathan Brown, Associate Professor, School of Foreign Service

Elliott Colla, Associate Professor, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies

Rochelle Davis, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Susan Douglass, Education Outreach Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies

John L. Esposito, University Professor & Founding Director, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding

Yvonne Haddad, Professor of History of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

Michael C. Hudson, Professor Emeritus, Walsh School of Foreign Service

Laurie King, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Lama Abu Odeh, Law Professor

Judith E. Tucker, Professor of History

* George Washington University

Mona Atia, Associate Professor of Geography and International Affairs

Ilana Feldman, Associate Professor, Anthropology, History, and International Affairs

Dina Rizk Khoury, Professor of History

Shira Robinson, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History

Georgia Tech

Laura Bier, Associate Professor of History

Gettysburg College

Karen Pinto, Assistant Professor

Janet M. Powers, Professor Emerita

Hampshire College

Omar Dahi, Associate Professor of Economics

* Harvard University

Ousmane Kane, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, Harvard Divinity School

Roger Owen, A.J. Meyer Emeritus Professor of Middle East History

Hunter College (CUNY)

Alexander Elinson, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Department of Classical and Oriental Studies

Christopher Stone, Associate Professor

Illinois State University

Issam Nassar, Professor of Middle East History

Indiana State University

Glenn Perry, Professor Emeritus of Political Science

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Christine Baker, Assistant Professor

James Madison University

Manal A. Jamal , Associate Professor of Political Science

John Hopkins University

Todd Shepard, Associate Professor, History

Long Island University

Harriet Malinowitz, Professor of English

Loyola Marymount University

Najwa al-Qattan, Associate Professor

Marquette University

Louise Cainkar, Associate Professor of Sociology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sharon C. Smith, Program Head, Agha Khan Documentation Center

Michigan State University

Salah Hassan, Associate Professor

Montana State University Bozeman

Joan Hoff, Research History Professor

Montclair State University

Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Professor and Director, Women and Gender Studies

Morgan State University

Mary Ann Fay, Associate Professor of History

New School for Social Research

Ann Laura Stoler, Willy Brandt Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Historical Studies

* New York University

Bassam Abed, Clinical Professor of Social Science, McGhee Division

Sinan Antoon, Associate Professor

Tamer El-Leithy, Assistant Professor of History, Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies

Finbarr Barry Flood, Professor of Art History

Michael Gilsenan, David B. Kriser Professor in the Humanities

Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Josefina Saldaña, Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Analysis

Ella Shohat, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Professor, Art and Public Policy, Tisch School of the Arts

Helga Tawil-Souri, Associate Professor

North Carolina State University

Anne Clement, Assistant Professor of History & International Studies

Northeastern University

Ilham Khuri-Makdisi, Associate Professor of History

Northern Arizona University

Yaseen Noorani, Associate Professor, School of Middle East and North African Studies

Scott Reese, Professor of History

Northern Illinois University

Tomis Kapitan, Professor (Emeritus), Philosophy Department

Northwestern University

Katherine Hoffman, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Uri Horesh, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Middle East and North African Studies

Jessica Winegar, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Ohio University

Louis-Georges Schwartz, Associate Professor

Pennsylvania State University – Altoona College

Beth Seymour, Instructor of Anthropology, Communications, History and Women’s Studies

* Princeton University

Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus

Molly Greene, Professor

Max Weiss, Associate Professor of History and Near Eastern Studies

Queens College – CUNY

Ammiel Alcalay, Professor, Classical, Middle Eastern & Asian Languages & Cultures

Ron Hayduk, Professor, Political Science

Rutgers University – New Brunswick

Toby Jones, Associate Professor

Yasmine Khayyat, Assistant Professor, African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures

Elektra Kostopoulou, Lecturer

Jasbir Puar, Associate Professor

Samah Selim, Associate Professor, Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures

Sacramento City College

Riad Bahhur, Professor, Department of History

St. Lawrence University

John Collins, Professor of Global Studies

St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Betul Basaran, Associate Professor of Religious Studies

St. Olaf College

Linda Mokdad, Assistant Professor

San Francisco State University

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies/Race and Resistance Studies

Dina Ibrahim, Associate Professor, Media and Communication

Scripps College

Lara Deeb, Professor of Anthropology

Simmons College

Elaine Hagopian, Professor Emerita of Sociology

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Steve Tamari, Associate Professor

Stanford University

Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History

SUNY-Plattsburgh

Simona Sharoni, Professor

Swarthmore College

Farha Ghannam, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Syracuse University

Carol Fadda-Conrey, Associate Professor, Syracuse University

Amy Kallander, Associate Professor of Middle East History

Texas State University

Elizabeth Bishop, Associate Professor

Trinity College

Zayde Antrim, Associate Professor of History and International Studies

Vijay Prashad, Professor of International Studies

Tufts University

Kamran Rastegar, German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literatures

University of Arizona

Linda T. Darling, Professor of History

* University of California, Berkeley

Hatem Bazian, Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies and Ethnic Studies

Samera Esmeir, Associate Professor, Department of Rhetoric

Gretchen Head, Visiting Assistant Professor

Charles Hirschkind, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Saba Mahmood, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Laurence Michalak, Emeritus Vice Chair, Center for Middle Eastern Studies

Smadar Lavie, Scholar in Residence, Beatrice Bain Research Group

Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies

Stefania Pandolfo, Professor, Department of Anthropology

University of California, Davis

Omnia El Shakry, Associate Professor, Department of History

Sunaina Maira, Professor Suad Joseph, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies Noha Radwan, Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature

University of California, Hastings College of the Law

George Bisharat, Professor

University of California, Irvine

Mark LeVine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History

* University of California, Los Angeles

Khaled Abou El Fadl, Distinguished Professor of Islamic Law

Nouri Gana, Professor

Sondra Hale, Research Professor/Professor Emerita, Departments of Anthropology and Gender Studies

Gabriel Piterberg, Professor of Middle East History

Aamir Mufti, Associate Professor

Susan Slyomovics, Professor Anthropology

University of California, Riverside

Sherine Hafez, Associate Professor, Women’s Studies and Middle East & Islamic Studies

Jeffrey Sacks, Associate Professor

University of California, San Diego

Michael Provence, Associate Professor of History

University of California, San Francisco

Claudia Chaufan, Associate Professor, Health Policy and Sociology

University of California, Santa Barbara

Nancy Gallagher, Research Professor, Department of History

Adam Sabra, Professor of History and King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies

Sherene Seikaly, Assistant Professor, History

University of California, Santa Cruz

Jennifer Derr, Assistant Professor, Department of History

Camilo Gomez-Rivas, Assistant Professor

* University of Chicago

Fred M. Donner, Professor of Near Eastern History, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations

Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Professor of Political Science and the College

University of Colorado, Boulder

John Willis, Associate Professor

University of Connecticut

James C. Faris, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology; Director Emeritus, Program in Middle East Languages and Area Studies

University of Dayton

Ellen Fleischmann, Professor, Department of History

University of Delaware

Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor

University of Hartford

Robert Lang, Professor of Cinema

University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Ibrahim Aoude, Professor

Farideh Farhi, Lecturer and Affiliate Graduate Faculty of Political Science

University of Illinois at Chicago

Nadine Naber, Associate Professor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne

Asef Bayat, Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies and Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies

Wail S. Hassan, Professor of Comparative Literature and English

Linda Herrera, Associate Professor

Susan Koshy, Associate Professor

Faranak Miraftab, Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

University of Iowa

Yasmine Ramadan, Assistant Professor of Arabic

University of Louisville

Julie Peteet, Professor of Anthropology

University of Maryland

Charles Butterworth, Emeritus Professor

University of Mary Washington

Farhang Rouhani, Associate Professor

Ranjit Singh, Associate Professor

University of Massachusetts – Amherst

Laura Doyle, Professor of English

University of Massachusetts – Boston

Leila Farsakh, Associate Professor of Political Science

University of Miami

Christina Civantos, Associate Professor

* University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Evelyn Alsultany, Associate Professor, American Culture

Kathryn Babayan, Associate Professor of History, Director of the Center of Armenian Studies

Rima Hassouneh, Lecturer II, Near Eastern Studies

Khaled Mattawa, Associate Professor, Department of English

Anton Shammas, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature

Ronald Grigor Suny, Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History

* University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Cemil Aydin, Associate Professor of History

Juliane Hammer, Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department

Sarah Shields, Professor

Nadia Yaqub, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Asian Studies

University of North Texas

Nada Shabout, Professor of Art History

* University of Pennsylvania

Anne Norton, Professor of Political Science

University of Pittsburgh

Mohammed Bamyeh, Professor of Sociology

University of Richmond

Sheila Carapico, Professor of Political Science and International Studies

University of Southern California

Sarah Gualtieri, Associate Professor of History and American Studies

* University of Texas at Austin

Kamran Asdar Ali, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Barbara Harlow, Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor of English Literature

Univesity of the Pacific

Ahmed Kanna, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, School of International Studies

University of Wasington-Bothell

Karam Dana, Assistant Professor

* University of Washington – Seattle

Arzoo Osanloo, Associate Professor, Law, Societies, and Justice

Chandan Reddy, Associate Professor

University of Wisconsin – Madison

Samer Alatout, Associate Professor, Department of Community & Environmental Sociology

Virginia Commonwealth University

Faedah Totah, Associate Professor, Political Science Department

Wake Forest University

Michaelle Browers, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs

Charles Wilkins, Associate Professor, History Department

Wayne State University

Barbara Aswad, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, and Past President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America

May Seikaly, Associate Professor of Modern Middle East History

Wellesley College

Lamia Balafrej, Assistant Professor, Art Department

Lidwien Kapteijns, Professor of History

Sima Shakhsari, Assistant Professor

West Chester University

Lawrence Davidson, Professor of History, Department of History

Whitman College

Elyse Semerdjian, Associate Professor of History

* Yale University

Zareena Grewal, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Religious Studies, Faculty at Council on Middle East Studies

Dimitri Gutas, Professor of Arabic