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‘Free, free Palestine’ chants break out at historian conference as group passes anti-Israel resolution

One professor said ‘history’ was ‘screaming’

The American Historical Association passed a resolution condemning Israel and proceeded to break out in chants of “free, free Palestine” over the weekend.

The Sunday vote, which has several more layers to pass before being implemented, condemns “scholasticide” in Israel.

“History is screaming to the present,” University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Sherene Seikaly said, as reported by Inside Higher Ed. “The AHA has been deafeningly silent. Silence is complicity.”

The resolution detailed damage in “Gaza,” though it did not mention the war began when Hamas terrorists attacked innocent civilians on October. 7, 2023. That attack has received praise from some professors.

The United States “has supplied Israel with the weapons being used to commit this scholasticide,” according to the resolution.

The resolution further stated:

Therefore, be it resolved that the AHA, which supports the right of all peoples to freely teach and learn about their past, condemns the Israeli violence in Gaza that undermines that right;

Be it further resolved that the AHA calls for a permanent ceasefire to halt the scholasticide

The AHA convention passed the resolution 428 to 88, according to Inside Higher Ed. One opponent said the resolution would only embolden President Donald Trump’s criticism of higher education.

“Passing this resolution as the view of the AHA stands to hurt the historical profession and academia writ large,” New School Professor Natalie Petrzela said.

“She said it would only lend credibility to accusations of political bias in academe, and ‘these attacks will only intensify with the coming [Trump] administration,’” Inside Higher Ed reported.


The pro-Palestinian Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the vote.

“The far-right Israeli government’s intentional obliteration of the entire educational system in Gaza is a clear example of scholasticide,” the group stated in a news release sent to The College Fix.

“We welcome the approval of this resolution by the American Historical Association condemning Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s educational system and urge other organizations in our nation and worldwide to take similar principled stands against acts of genocide.”

Commentator Jane Coleman criticized the resolution. “Yet another once-esteemed academic association descends into antisemitic activism – with the invented ‘scholasticide’ libel against Israel,” Coleman, with Legal Insurrection, wrote on X.

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