‘The Existence of a Malady is Not in Question’: Scholars Spar Over Fate of Israel Studies in America

An academic group of Israeli and international scholars is claiming that the field of Israel Studies is faring far better than depicted in a recent report which argued that the field is under sustained ideological attack by the pro-Palestinian movement and lacks a clear vision for the future.

The Association of Israel Studies (AIS)—founded in 1985 to promote the growth of the field—claimed Tuesday that the conclusions of a report published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in June—titled “Israel Studies at American Universities: Is There a Path Forward?“—were “anecdotal” and warped by a “profound lack of appreciation” for the subject’s success in higher education.

The report, written by University of Haifa professor Sara Yael Hirschhorn, claimed that Israel studies is working through a crisis of identity caused by competing visions of its scope and mission. As an interdisciplinary field serving as a “big tent” for other disciplines relevant to the study of Israel, the report said it winds up being open to “almost everyone who wants to affiliate” even as they undertake courses of study that are “haphazardly cobbled together into what has been called a discipline, with its attendant academic conferences, publications, employment, grants, and community that often lack coherence.”

Hirschhorn called on the leaders of Israel Studies to take steps to ensure its survival, recommending uniform standards of what constitutes “an original contribution to the field,” a shared consensus of what constitutes mastery of the subject, and new, bold fundraising strategies which stress the enormity of the changes underway in higher education, America, and the world.

But such claims are speculative and lacking the explanatory power of “critical metrics,” the AIS said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

“Anecdotes are not research. Strong statements are not a substitute for rigorous analysis,” said the statement, signed by AIS president  and Fellow at the Israeli Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Smith College professor of Jewish Studies Donna Divine, former AIS president S. Ilan Troen, among others. “There are now four [Israel studies] journals publishing significant scholarship. Each has published many hundreds of scholarly articles about Israel. Many universities, including Yale, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge and Indiana continue to produce and welcome solid scholarship. The Association for Israel Studies attracts more scholars than ever. Its annual conferences are attended by hundreds of people from all over the world.”

Israel Studies needs more “support,” AIS’s statement added, taking most exception to Hirschhorn’s suggesting that Israel Studies should find homes outside of culturally progressive institutions of higher education and plant new departments in places that “might prove more hospitable” — denominational Christian colleges, for example, or policy institutes.

“The existence of a malady is not in question,” AIS continued. “Aspects of it are uniquely characteristic of the field of Israel Studies, and others are part of a broader context of ailments afflicting the academy. Based on flawed research, however, the diagnosis proposed in this report compounds the flaws, and the prescription it proposes could well cause irreparable injury to a field of great importance. More support rather than radical surgery is indicated.”

Hirschhorn acknowledged that the report contains some difficult conclusions for the field, but implored practitioners to engage rather than criticize.

“This report is an urgent intervention in the crisis at American universities today and not an obituary,” she said in an interview with The Algemeiner. “The methodology employed in researching and writing this report, which drew upon historical studies (and documents), media coverage, interviewing, data, and trend analysis, was intended to provide a full picture of the complex environment in which Israel Studies is currently situated and to balance the voices of a multiplicity of invested stakeholders, which would assure the project’s independence and integrity.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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