Investigation by NCCI has uncovered plans by Duke University Press (DUP) to create a publication entitled “Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Palestine.” Our findings were published in the Algemeiner 12/29. – click here to view article
DUP has a history of publishing blood libel against Israel and Jews, with its “Right to Maim” by Jasbir Puar in 2017. This is no surprise given it’s Jewish Voice for Peace staff. Despite a letter of protest from Duke faculty, Duke President Vincent Price demonstrated no concern and said the book should be “judged as appropriate in the court of public opinion.”
This has given DUP free rein to push their anti-Israel agenda. Now they plan to create propaganda tours that would portray Muslim Arabs calling themselves “Palestinians” as victims of colonization, code word for Jews. The authors are calling for “cartographies, satiric postcards, artwork, literary prose, redrawn maps, poetry, etc, in order to invent a culture that never existed. There is no mention of Jews or Jewish presence in their call for contributors.
Duke leadership continues to show apathy and disregard for Jewish students, and for academic integrity. When Students Supporting Israel (SSI) stood up against the “settler colonial” antisemitic trope, it was SSI that was punished and de-platformed. Once again, President Price has simply shrugged in the face of discrimination against Jewish students at Duke.
From the Article: More Antisemitism at Duke”
DUP is planning a publication that erases Jewish lives and indigenous presence in Israel. Extremist editors are now calling for contributions to DUP’s “Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Palestine.” They will deny and lie about the historic Jewish connection to Israel. The editors are looking for “anti-colonial forms of rethinking and redistributing space in Palestine” including “redrawn maps.”
This effort to erase Jews and Israel is intentional, and was explicitly explained to students at Duke’s Israeli Apartheid week in 2019. Students for Justice in Palestine speakers said they would only use the word “Palestine” while pointing to a map of Israel. One spoke with reverence about his stay with a terrorist leader.
Of course, this environment produces uninformed students who spout anti-Israel/antisemitic propaganda. These students are in control of the Duke Student Government, so it’s no surprise they eagerly de-platform strong pro-Israel groups like SSI.
Instead of protecting Jewish students from antisemitism and Jew hatred, Duke University is complicit in promoting it. President Price continues to spout empty words. To redeem itself, Duke must reinstate SSI, and dedicate itself to honest scholarly literature as promised.
