Gaza, Genocide, and Academic Freedom

This is an unusual book in several ways. It is written by a professor but is not long (about 100 pages of text), not dense with footnotes, and not hard to read. Indeed, it is eloquently and smoothly written—a page-turner among academic books. Short as it is, the book can be considered two books. The first argues that continued Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza should be recognized as a genocide. The second argues that efforts to suppress talk of genocide in Gaza, often by accusations of antisemitism, are violations of academic freedom and First Amendment rights…. Moshman is not the first to charge Israel with genocide…, but no one has previously put so much work into tracking examples, on campus and off, of efforts to silence talk of genocide in Gaza.

--Clark McCauley, Research Professor of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, in the Review of General Psychology

I found Gaza, Genocide, and Academic Freedom to be remarkable in its clarity, nuance and scope. It should prove to be an extremely useful teaching tool which I, for one, will be happy to recommend widely.

--Nancy Murray, retired Education Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts and co-founder of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation

Happily for his readers—who with his new book, Gaza, Genocide, and Academic Freedom, should be legion—David Moshman’s clarity of writing matches the breadth of his learning and the depth of his insight. And his intellectual candor is matched by his moral courage. The publication of this book is a major intervention in the public discourse about the crisis in Palestine/Israel. Moshman’s dispassionate analysis will leave few readers unmoved, whether in sympathy or outrage. Gaza, Genocide, and Academic Freedomsets a high scholarly standardandwill be the go-to book for years to come.

--Roger Bergman, professor emeritus at Creighton University, founder and long-time director of its Justice & Peace Studies program, and author of Preventing Unjust War

Gaza, Genocide, and Academic Freedom has taught me much about genocide, including the simple notion that a central feature of genocide is denial that there is indeed a genocide. In a lifetime of work, David links individual cognition and psychology to the larger civic and political world, promoting “collaborative dialogue” as a centerpiece of democracy that is so needed now to confront not only this genocide but all the issues of our day.…We haven’t stopped the madness of the genocide, even as it manifests differently from month to month. But this book helps us to keep working at it by speaking out, teaching about it, and resisting censorship.

--from the foreword by Mary Beth Tinker, plaintiff in Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and lifelong advocate for student freedom of expression