Resources on antisemitism and Islamophobia

Event date: November 16, 2023
Host: The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace
Description: "This event features a discussion on how conflicts such as the current one in Israel/Palestine should be handled by campus communities, and the need for a different approach with a focus on ensuring a deeper, more educated understanding of the conflict, how to continue constructive dialogue, and build a supportive community."

Watch Academic Discourse & Dialogue: The Israel-Palestine Crisis from the Bahá'í Chair

Event date: May 16, 2022
Host: College of Arts & Humanities
Description: "ARHU has launched a new campaign to address race, equity and justice in its curriculum, scholarship, programming and community engagement. As part of the goal to increase awareness of issues of systemic racism, equity and inequality, Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill will host a yearlong colloquium and conversation series featuring ARHU faculty experts. It will also encourage dialogue centering ideas for social action and change. This colloquium features Shay Hazkani, assistant professor in the Department of History and Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies. He will discuss 'The Intra-Jewish Struggle Against Racism.'"

Watch Arts & Humanities Dean's Colloquium on Race, Equity and Justice: Featuring Shay Hazkani from ARHU

Event date: April 6, 2022
Host: Office of Diversity & Inclusion
Description: Whoopi Goldberg stirred up a great deal of controversy when she said that the Holocaust was “not about race.” In the aftermath, historians and Jewish organizations pointed out that for the Nazis, “Jewish” was a race. But Jewish people of all races and ethnicities. How can both be true? Historians and scholars of race, racism, antisemitism and Jewish identity met up for a conversation that unpacked the social construct of race as it applies to Jewish people historically and today.

Watch Constructions of Race and Jewishness: How Antisemitism Shapes and is Shaped by the Racialization of Jewish People

This event was part of ODI's Jewish Identities & Antisemitism Panel Series.

Event date: May 3, 2022
Host: Office of Diversity & Inclusion
Description: In 2018 a White Nationalist killed 11 worshippers at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh because he believed Jews were working to “replace” white Americans with Black and brown immigrants. That horrible moment is just one recent example in a constellation of anti-Black racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and conspiracy theories that is quite old. In this panel discussion, we dug into the ways that antisemitism and anti-Jewish bias have and continue to intersect with racism and other oppressions to divide marginalized communities and maintain the status quo. We also investigated solidarity as an antidote to these divisive forces, working to articulate the ways each of us can pursue solidarity and reject the biases and -isms that would tear us apart.

Watch Divided We Fall: Why Fighting White Nationalism Requires Confronting Antisemitism, Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Immigrant Bias

This event was part of ODI's Jewish Identities & Antisemitism Panel Series.

Event date: February 22, 2024
Host: the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies
Description: "In the wake of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, many European governments faced the challenge of navigating complex geopolitical dynamics, addressing domestic pressures, and supporting a long-term sustainable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This online event aims to delve into the multifaceted European response to the crisis, examining diplomatic efforts, humanitarian initiatives, and the role of regional stability in shaping policy decisions across the continent. The event will also address the Israeli perspective on Europe’s approach to this ongoing crisis."

Watch Europe and the Israel-Hamas War from the Gildenhorn Institute

Event date: November 16, 2023
Host: the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies
Description: "Combining the wisdom of more than a hundred years of scholarship on hope with insights from original data collected in conflict zones, Dr. Oded Adomi Leshem offers a novel conceptualization of hope and a standardized way to measure hope in various contexts. The talk will address the Israeli-Hamas War and evaluate the role that hope can play during times of intense violence."

Watch Hope in the Shadow of the Israel-Hamas War from the Gildenhorn Institute

Event date: March 22, 2022
Host: College of Arts & Humanities
Description: "ARHU has launched a new campaign to address race, equity and justice in its curriculum, scholarship, programming and community engagement. As part of the goal to increase awareness of issues of systemic racism, equity and inequality, Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill will host a yearlong colloquium and conversation series featuring ARHU faculty experts. It will also encourage dialogue centering ideas for social action and change. This colloquium features Sahar Khamis, associate professor in the Department of Communication, and her talk is titled 'Insights on Countering Islamophobia through Research, Activism and Media Outreach.'"

Watch Insights on Countering Islamophobia through Research, Activism and Media Outreach from the College of Arts & Humanities

Event date: October 16, 2023
Host: the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies
Description: "The special webinar that was held on October 16, 2023, brought together academics with different teaching and research backgrounds to discuss the crisis in Gaza/Israel following Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. The lineup of speakers included: Dr. Mia Bloom (Georgia State University), Dr. Scott Lasensky (University of Maryland, College Park), Dr. Marwa Maziad (University of Maryland, College Park), and Mr. Thair Abu-Ras (University of Maryland, College Park). Topics that were addressed included the military and political role of Hamas in Palestinian society, the objective of the Israeli government, the position of regional actors including Egypt and Jordan, the diplomatic approach of the American government, and the long-term implications of the conflict on Israeli society and politics, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and the (in)stability of the Middle East."

Watch Israel-Hamas War webinar from the Gildenhorn Institute

Event date: November 6, 2024
Host: College of Arts & Humanities
Description: "Arts for All and the College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU) present a collection of music and poetry by University of Maryland students, faculty and alumni. Presented on the anniversary of the first Music and Community event Arts for All and ARHU organized last year in response to the Israel-Hamas war, this year's Music and Community program uses the arts to express a wide breadth of human experience that can move us and encourage us to find hope and greater empathy as we navigate very challenging times. While ongoing global conflicts and national politics threaten to divide us, and have left many feeling at times exhausted, anxious and uncertain about the future, we acknowledge the growing importance of creating spaces and experiences that bring us together and invite us to listen to each other. We hope that you will listen and share this program with others, as well as consider the importance of both hope and home for every individual in our community."

Watch Music and Community: Reflections on Hope and Home from the College of Arts & Humanities

Event date: November 6, 2023
Host: College of Arts & Humanities
Description: "Arts for All at the University of Maryland, along with the School of Music and The Clarice, present a free concert in response to the ongoing violence in the Middle East. It was organized to provide space for reflection, mourning the lives of innocent people lost to violence and a way to support each other in community. As we acknowledge how the devastation of war is affecting countless communities, we welcome all members of the UMD community and beyond to experience the power of music as a reminder of our interconnectedness and to re-center together in empathy and compassion."

Watch Music and Community In Response to War from the College of Arts & Humanities

Event date: October 24, 2017
Host: The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace
Description: "On October 24, 2017 the Baha’i Chair for World Peace invited Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi to give a lecture to shed a new light on the connections between Muslims and the Holocaust at the University of Maryland. Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi is an associate professor of religious studies and director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College. She teaches a variety of courses on Islam, world religions, genocide studies, gender, and Arab and Israeli literature."

Watch Muslims and the Holocaust: Reconciliation and Hope from the Bahá'í Chair

Event date: March 8, 2022
Host: Office of Diversity & Inclusion
Description: From speculation about Jewish space lasers to complaints about George Soros’ influence to the Colleyville hostage-taker’s certainty that a New York rabbi could intervene on behalf of a Federal prisoner, the subtext that Jewish people have disproportionate control in the world—to the point of mastery over nature!—is common on all points of the political spectrum. Experts in the history and sociology of antisemitism participated in a panel discussion moderated by Associate Professor Maxine Grossman (ARHU/JWST), exploring the origin, history, and ongoing endurance of antisemitic tropes that continue to surface as unexamined microaggressions, intentional dogwhistles and sometimes outright violence against Jewish people and their allies. Co-sponsored by the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies and the College of Arts and Humanities.

Watch No One Controls the World: The Nefarious Origins and Dangerous Outcomes of Anti-Jewish Tropes

This event was part of ODI's Jewish Identities & Antisemitism Panel Series.

Event date: October 15, 2024
Host: the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies
Description: "Religious divides within Israel have intensified in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza. Several fundamental socio-political cleavages, long present in the country's social and political fabric, have become more pronounced as different segments of Israeli society react to the heightened sense of threat and insecurity. The Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, traditionally more insular and often less supportive of military service, face increased scrutiny and tension with secular and national-religious groups who view military service as a civic duty. The talk will define and evaluate the significance as well as the implications of these social and political divides as they are reflected in images and content used by the general and sectorial Israeli media post-October 7."

Watch Religious Divide(s) Inside Israel Post-October 7 from the Gildenhorn Institute

Event date: April 13, 2021
Host: Robert H. Smith School of Business
Description: "Host Ari Israel along with panelists Avital Kimchi '16 and Gabe Willis, MBA '20, talk about antisemitism."

Watch Smith Alumni Solidarity Series: What is Antisemitism? from the Smith School of Business

Event date: March 28, 2024
Host: the Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies
Description: "Many professors have been grappling with the difficult task of teaching their classes about Israel following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip. Amid rising tensions on campuses across the nation, navigating complex historical, political, and cultural narratives has possibly been more challenging than ever before. This special webinar features lecturers from diverse disciplines who teach in the Washington DC area and aims to shed light on how they address these pressing issues in their classrooms."

Watch Teaching About Israel in a Time of Conflict from the Gildenhorn Institute

Event date: November 1, 2022
Host: The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace
Description: "Antisemitism has extraordinary longevity and global reach, able to adhere to political positions of the Left and the Right and expand from verbal denigration to visual symbols, from physical assault to mass murder. Exploring the tenacity of antisemitism and its ability to elude destruction, the lecture will also examine the strategies of antisemitic propaganda, especially the efforts to devise antisemitic emotional appeal from medieval Christian rhetoric to Hitler’s Mein Kampf to the internet. The expansiveness of antisemitism to include Blacks, Asians, trans, LGBTQ, feminists, and leftists makes its danger relevant to all, particularly in an era of democratic fragility. How should we respond?"

Watch The Tenacity of Antisemitism: From the Global to the Emotional from the Bahá'í Chair

Event date: October 6, 2020
Host: The Bahá'í Chair for World Peace
Description: "This lecture examines the broad contours of the history of a hatred that became a form of racism not based on skin color but whose genocidal consequences flowed directly from very old beliefs, deeply embedded in Western culture of the alleged power and evil of “the Jew.” The fight against this longest hatred is central to all efforts to combat all forms of racism and intolerance."

Watch The Three Faces of Antisemitism: Professor Jeffrey Herf from the Bahá'í Chair

Event date: October 18, 2021
Host: Office of Diversity & Inclusion
Description: This panel sought to understand the multifaceted nature of Jewish identity and the range of experiences and identities among Jews.

Watch Understanding the Multiplicity of Jewish Identities

This event was part of ODI's Jewish Identities & Antisemitism Panel Series.