Israel Studies Editors Issue Apology for “Word Crimes” Issue

Dear Colleagues,

As you may have heard, the editors of the journal Israel Studies have now issued an apology for the “Word Crimes” Issue of the journal against which we, collectively, protested. We are writing to update you on these developments, and, far more importantly, to thank you for your support and solidarity. Our collective expressions of protest influenced this outcome.

….scholars in the field correctly understood “Word Crimes” as an abandonment of the norms of academic research and publication in favor of advocacy publishing

The protest letters to the Israel Studies editorial board and the Association for Israel Studies (AIS) sent in early May, 2019, attracted nearly 200 signatures, including key historians of Zionism, sociologists of Israeli society, professors of literature and other disciplines. Around the same time, a considerable number of the journal’s editorial board resigned and published a strongly-worded letter of dissent. These public statements illustrated that a wide spectrum of scholars in the field correctly understood “Word Crimes” as an abandonment of the norms of academic research and publication in favor of advocacy publishing. The controversy attracted much attention and was covered in the Israeli daily Haaretz, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Algemeiner and more.

The apology is a welcome development, and it signals a triumph for the principles that we enumerated in the letters of protest sent last spring. The collective action of a scholarly community, and in particular, its emphasis on the importance of maintaining basic norms and process of academic scholarship and governance yielded results. It also offers lessons for the future.

…there seems to be a connection between the “Word Crimes” affair and other recent assaults on academic norms

We hope that the latest developments might help to restore legitimacy to Israel Studies as an academic field of expertise. It is too early to determine whether the kinds of issues raised by this controversy have been resolved — for Israel Studies, the AIS, and the field more broadly. In addition, as Karin Loevy has noted, there seems to be a connection between the “Word Crimes” affair and other recent assaults on academic norms. This means that the concerns all of us raised will continue to require defense in future, both within the field of Israel Studies and beyond it. We remain vigilant and cautious, and hope that future attacks against academic freedom will be met with decisive renunciations from the scholarly community, as was the case here. For the time being, we should take a great deal of pride in the fact that collective action has — and can — work to effect necessary change in this context.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Arie Dubnov, GWU, USA

Daniel Bertrand Monk, Colgate University, USA

Yair Wallach, SOAS London