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Israel Studies Can Redeem Academia

JL;DR SUMMARY The keynote address for the launch of Stanford University's Israel studies program critiques certain prevalent academic and media narratives about Israel, arguing that many of these critiques are "not even wrong" due to their fundamental departures from logic, fact, and context. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

GenocideAnti ZionismAcademiaAcademic IntegrityHigher EducationSettler ColonialismIdeological BiasLogical Fallacies

Places mentioned

Israel
"It is not even wrong to describe Israel as a settler-colonial state."
Stanford, California, United States
"What follows is the text of the inaugural keynote address for the launch of the Israel studies program at Stanford University, November 17, 2025."
Argentina
"The United States is a settler-colonial state. So is Argentina."
Australia
"So is Argentina. And Australia."
Brazil
"And Australia. And Brazil."
Canada
"And Brazil. And Canada."
Iraq
"or that at least 80 members of IAGS hailed from Iraq, not a country previously known for scrupulous genocide scholarship."
Paris, France
"It is not anti-Zionism, but antisemitism, for pro-Palestinian protesters to lay siege to a Paris synagogue."
New York, United States
"but antisemitism, when the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum of Art has her home spray-painted with pro-Hamas graffiti."
Sudan
"speed in Sudan; and when Tucker Carlson decides to make his distaste for Israel known by inviting Nick Fuentes to discuss the subject on his podcast; and when university administrators shut down political conversations deemed offensive to some minorities but raise the banner of free speech when it comes to speech that appalls and frightens most Jews."
Peking, Beijing, China
"from Heidelberg in the 1930s to Peking in the 1960s."
Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
"from Heidelberg in the 1930s to Peking in the 1960s."
Denmark
"The modern State of Israel is not a state like, say, Denmark"
Russian Federation
"Nor is it like Russia, grimly asserting its distinctiveness but with increasingly little to contribute beyond itself."
Pakistan
"Nor is it like Pakistan, defined largely by what it is not."

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Cairo Item ID 76186
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Retrieved 2026-02-25 05:31:47 UTC
Curated 2026-02-25 08:32:13 UTC