Scholars Stand Against Terror
and For Moral Clarity
We, the undersigned, write to express our profound disappointment that a group of Scholars have recently endorsed an incendiary statement regarding the Israel-Hamas war. When recipients of prestigious academic and service awards band together to castigate Israel for “indiscriminate bombing” and “genocide” without even a mention of Hamas terror or the unconscionable barbarism of its October 7th massacre in southern Israel, it is time to raise the alarm regarding the assault on common sense and our shared humanity.
The statement recently signed by hundreds of past Fulbright Scholars absurdly claims, for example, that “Gaza has been under the complete control of the Israeli regime for 16 years—one of many consequences of decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine.” In fact, Hamas has brutally ruled Gaza for the past 16 years following Israel’s complete withdrawal in 2005. Without cease, the Iranian-backed Hamas has used all its resources to fulfill the call of its founding charter to eradicate Israel and murder Jews. Scholars must not lose sight of the right of all states to defend their citizens against terror. Uniquely denying Israel this right dehumanizes its citizens.
The statement further sweeps under the rug any and all evidence that would counter the hypothesis that Israel must be condemned. This is a collective violation of the scientific method spurred by something older and darker—the tendency to scapegoat and to singularly find fault with the Jews. By its manifest omissions, the statement grants a pass to the perpetrators of the October 7th massacre during which women were raped, babies were beheaded and burned, and teenagers and young adults attending a music festival slaughtered, and people of all ages were kidnapped. Excusing and rationalizing Hamas’s crimes against humanity can only serve to prolong this tragic conflict.
Fulbright Scholar Shoshan Haran in Ethiopia
We are also dismayed that neither the U.S. Fulbright Program nor the Fulbright Association have spoken out to condemn the October 7th massacre. Neither did they call for the release of Israeli scholar Shoshan Haran who was abducted by Hamas. Haran did her Fulbright at Rutgers University before founding Fair Planet and developing seeds suitable for specific soils in Africa. Her work over the last decade has enabled tens of thousands of impoverished farmers in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda to earn a good living and reliably provide food for one million others. Haran and five of her family members were released on November 25, but her husband, sister, and brother-in-law were murdered and her son-in-law remains captive in Gaza. We call on the U.S. Fulbright Program and the Fulbright Association to abandon their selective empathy and to stand against murder and kidnapping as a tactic for intimidating opposition and dehumanizing its victims. Only then will terror lose its allure.
While we are deeply concerned for the plight of the hostages in Hamas captivity, we also have profound compassion for the people of Gaza, who have suffered long enough under Hamas’s cruel rule. We are anguished by their mistreatment at the hands of Hamas, which has once again placed them in harm’s way, cynically using them as pawns to inflame international opinion against Israel. Only when Hamas is defeated will Palestinians be able to create a life based on their own interests rather than on hatred of Israel. We condemn Hamas’s despotic rule and the despicable October 7th massacre, and mourn the loss of civilian lives on both sides of this terrible conflict.
We are saddened by the willingness of some academics and professionals in the United States to serve as human shields for Hamas. We yearn for a conclusion to this conflict that will not set the stage for yet another conflagration and will give peace a chance.
Stand for Moral Clarity and Against Terror.
We invite U.S. Fulbright Scholars, other named Fellows and Scholars, and members of national academies, to sign this statement.
Signatories
Robert Aumann, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, 2005
Mark Berbheim, Fulbright Research, Grenoble France, 1971, Fulbright Teaching Exchange, Dijon France, 1978, Fulbright Teaching, Vienna, 1988, Fulbright Group Consultancy, Czechoslovakia, 1991, Fulbright Specialist, Slovenia, 2017, Fulbright Specialist, Bamberg Germany, 2022
Percy Deift, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences
Azriel Genack, Fulbright Scholar, 1999
Steven Greenbaum, Fulbright Scholar, Weizmann Institute, 1990-91, Jefferson Science Fellow, U.S. State Department, 2014-15
Fred Naider, Fulbright Research Scholar, Weizmann Institute of Science, 1989-1990
Mark S. Rosenbaum, Fulbright Scholar, Cambodia, 2009, Senior Fulbright, Nepal, 2015, Fulbright Specialist, Uzbekistan, 2019
Judea Pearl, Chancellor's Professor, UCLA, Turing Laurate 2011, National Academy of Sciences 2014
Barry Simon, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 2019; Simons Foundation Fellowship in Mathematics, 2013; American Math Society, Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement, 2016; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005; Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1990; Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1972-76; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1988
Ramesh Ramakrishnan, Fulbright Scholar, 1986
Brian S. Englander, MD, Eisenhower Fellow, 2018
Etan Orgel, Society for Pediatric Research, 2016
Vanessa Schwartz, Fulbright France, 1990-1
Susan Weinger, Fulbright Scholar, 2003-2004
Dr. Ziv Ben-Zion, Fulbright Scholar 2021
Zvi Galil, Fulbright Scholar 1972, National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Steven G. Kellman, Fulbright Distinguished Chair, Bulgaria, 2000; Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Georgia, 1980
Ofer Zeitouni, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Israel Academy of Sciences
Shulamith Lala Straussner, Fulbright Scholar, 2002 Israel; 2006, Ukraine; Fulbright Distinguish Chair, Czech Republic2013002, 2006,
Sharon Silverman, Fulbright Scholar 2000
Kenneth Prager, MD, Ethics, Professionalism, Human Rights Committee of American College of Physicians
Robert Abzug, Guggenheim Fellow, 2000
Steven M. Albert, Fulbright Scholar, 2021-22
Katherine Barbieri, Fulbright Research Scholar, 2000
Spencer Eth, Rhodes Scholar, 1973
Donna Robinson Divine, Fulbright Scholar, Israel, 1967-1968
Geoffrey E. Braswell, Fulbright Fellow, 1992; Fulbright Senior Scholar, 1996
Ellen W. Kaplan, Professor, Fulbright Scholar
Morton Denn, Fulbright Lecturer, Technion, 1979; National Academy of Engineering, 1986; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2001
Norma Landau, National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow 1990
David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, UT-Dallas
Riva Berleant, Fulbright Summer Scholar, 1993
Jeffry V. Mallow, Fulbright Scholar 1991
Laura Kalmanowiecki, SSRC-MacArthur scholar 2001
Morton D. Paley, Senior Fulbright Lecturer, University of Heidelberg, March-July 1984
Jeff Cheeger, National Academy of Sciences, 1997, Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences, 2021
Jane S. Gerber, NEH Fellow, CUNY
R. Paul Maiden, Fulbright Scholar, 2005
Michalle Mor Barak, Fulbright Scholar 1982
Mikhail Shifman, Distinguished Fulbright Scholar, 2012; National Academy of Sciences, 2018
Michael Weingrad, Fulbright Scholar, 1994-95
Amihood Amir, Rothschild fellow, 1983
Moshe Vardi, Fullbright Scholar, 1981
Saeed Niku Fulbright Specialist, 2014, India
Allan Havis, Guggenheim Fellow 1987
Jeffrey Blutinger, Fulbright Research, Jerusalem, Israel, 1998-99
Cary Federman, Fulbright Lecturer, 1999-2000; 2005-2006
Michael Granof, Fulbright Scholar, Israel 1978-7979
Jeffrey H. Cohen, Fulbright Scholar 2006, Fulbright Specialist, 2022-2024
Anna Krylov; Member, American Academy of Sciences and Letters; International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science; Academia Europaea.
Gil Ribak, Fulbright Fellow (2000-2002)
David Caplan, Belgium 2004, 2012
Vanya Green Assuied, Fulbright Scholar 2005-6
Jonathan Katz, ACM Fellow
Gary D. Grossman, Fellow, The Linnean Society of London, Fellow, American Fisheries Society
Evan D. Morris, Fulbright Scholar 2015, Hadassah Hospital
Nancy Koppelman, Faculty Fellow, Brandeis University, 2019-2022, and Speakers Bureau, Humanities Washington, 2015-17, 2021-25
Daniel Prober, Fulbright Fellow, 1985 and 1993
Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn, Fulbright-Hays DDRA, 2008-2009
R. Amy Elman, Fulbright Researcher, Stockholm Sweden, 1989-1990; Fulbright Scholar, Haifa Israel, 2017-2018; National Endowment for the Humanities, 2004
KC Johnson, Fulbright Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, 2007-8
Saeed Niku, Fulbright specialist, 2014
Alison Gardy, Fulbright Fellow, 1988-1989
David Bensimon, Fulbright Scholar 1982
David Cohen, Distinguished Tocqueville-Fulbright Chair, France 2012
Dr. Holli Levitsky, Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Literature in Poland, 2001-2
Edward C. Halper, Fulbright Scholar, Germany, 2002
Naomi Sokoloff, Fulbright Scholar, 1989
Jeffrey Marc Rockland, Chancellor's Fellow at UC Irvine, 1990-1992
Abigail Thompson, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society
Daniel Markewitz, Fulbright Scholar, Brazil, 1999, 2002
Uzi Vishkin, Fulbright Fellow, 1980. ACM Fellow
Jeffrey Herf, Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Universitat Freiburg, 1994
Annie Rosenschein-Bars, Fulbright Teacher Exchange, 1992-93
Hanna Reisler, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Jerry Coyne, Guggenheim Fellow 1989
Michael Frenklach, Humboldt Research Fellow, 1985 – 1986
Pamela S. Katz, Fulbright Scholar, 2012-13 and 2021
Peter B. Shalen, Sloan Fellow, 1977
David Steigmann, Professor at UC Berkeley
Jack M Berger MS, MD, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Clinical Anesthesiology
Gilead Sher, author of Reflections on Conflict Resolution, 2022
Joseph Kushick, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
David Graizbord, Curson Professor of Judaic Studies
Itzhak Bars
Terri Bacow
William S. Comanor
Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
David Brodsky
Carole Cox
Philip Barnett
Ellen Greenstein Millender
Alan Lelchuk
Reuven Kimelman, Lady David at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hagit Arieli Chai
Stephen G. Gerzof, MD FACR
Russel Lemmons
Jerry M. Mendel
Roger Nagel
Naomi Tor
Marc Mangel
Adi Wyner
Svetlana Jitomirskaya
Alex Kamenev
Michelle Zeidler, MD, MS
Shelley Salamensky
Stacey B. Plichta, ScD, CPH