ISGAP Flashpoint

In line with our commitment to academic freedom, ISGAP Flashpoint features articles designed to foster public debate about critical issues related to developments in global antisemitism, with a focus on the contemporary context.

Kindly note that the opinions expressed by the authors of ISGAP Flashpoint are their own and do not necessarily reflect or receive endorsement from ISGAP. ISGAP believes in providing a platform for diverse perspectives to encourage open dialogue on these important matters.

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Political Leadership in The Age of Scoundrels – Reflections in advance of the UK’s December Election

If the second quarter of the twentieth century was “The age of the dictators” then the current period is bidding to be “The age of the scoundrels”. Certainly, few would claim that many of today’s national leaders display high levels of personal integrity. Perhaps it was ‘ever so’ but surely, not, in democracies, displayed in […]

Poisonous Pedagogy: Israel Hatred and the Collapse of Liberal Education

Professor William Kolbrener reflects on the corrupting and ideologised pedagogy in higher education that is creating ‘a moral cosmos as rigid as any to be found in conventional theologies’ and which not only demonises Israel but erodes the very basis of the liberal university. He calls for those committed to democracy to make clear that […]

The Small Matter of Malice: Meditations on “the Pattern” of Antisemitism

I have just spent the week at Oxford (St. John’s College) at the annual ISGAP conference on antisemitism, which brings together a wide range of people, from scholars to graduate students, to learn about antisemitism and build curricula for teaching it. We were 86 scholars-in-residence: a really impressive group of people at all levels, the scholars, […]

Commemorating the 1952 Murder of Jewish Intellectuals in the Soviet Union

Professor Kiril Feferman examines the execution of Jewish intellectuals in the Soviet Union, which took place on August 12-13, 1952, marking one of the final acts of persecution by Joseph Stalin against the Jewish people. On August 12-13, 1952, thirteen members of the Jewish elite in the Soviet Union were executed, following the trial and […]

The Appropriation of Apartheid

As reactionary forces, some of whom portray themselves as “progressive”, use the Apartheid charge to delegitimise Israel and the Jewish people, Vuyolwethu Mkhuseli Xulu’s article is timely and provides insight to a true South African perspective, in criticising those who appropriate the history of struggle of the indigenous peoples of South Africa against the ruthless […]

The University of Cape Town should uphold itself as a Beacon of Freedom and Vote against a Boycott of Israel

On April 2, 2019, I had the privilege of giving a lecture at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The topic was “The Prospects for African Solidarity and Pan-Africanism,” where I discussed the unique challenges that Africans in the diaspora and Africans in the continent face in our struggle for collective progress and full self-realization. […]

A Straightforward and Practical Resource for Understanding Labour’s Antisemitism Problem

This web page, and the many links contained within it, is a resource for political people who will increasingly find that they need to understand contemporary antisemitism. Please bookmark it and come back to it when you need it. And I’m sorry to tell you that you will need it. Antisemitism always positions its own […]

We Find Ourselves in a New Kind of Egypt – How do we Leave it?

The Jews and Israel are surrounded by verbal, written and violently genocidal enemies. Who is our Moses, our Aaron, our Miriam?  Who has God appointed to lead us to safety?   We find ourselves in a new kind of Egypt—one in which the Jews and Israel are surrounded and inundated 24/7 by thousands of accusations, […]

Gilets jaunes : je ne peux pas les voir en peinture

Un choc peut être salutaire à condition de ne pas l’épouser. Or, tel n’est pas le cas avec le choc frontal giletjaunesque qui secoue la France depuis plus de deux mois. Une poignée de putschistes se saisit d’une pétition consensuelle contre la hausse du prix de carburant et entraîne la société dans un tête à […]

The Secret Jewish Plot Against Turkey

For Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling elite, there’s a hidden, pernicious and conspiring hand that works tirelessly against the Republic of Turkey. Were it not for the connivance of this clandestine network, Turkey would be a global power and leader of nations. Who are these sinister conspirators who plot within the murky shadows of […]