Archaeology and Academia: Tools of Occupation

Today on Speaking Out of Place, we talk with Maya Wind about her book, Towers of Ivory and Steel, How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom, published by Verso.  Through meticulous research into the archives of Israeli universities and hundreds of other documents, Wind furnishes proof of just how deeply and completely Israeli universities are essential actors in Israel’s efforts to suppress Palestinian freedom. 

We originally taped this show in June 2023, as Maya came off a long book tour in Europe.  We decided to wait into the beginning of this new academic year to release this episode.  Since then, of course, we have seen that US universities have spent the summer creating new draconian measures to curtail and make illegal protests against Israel’s war on Palestine, which has now increased in violence and volume not only in the West Bank, but now also spread into Lebanon, killing civilians with impunity.  Whereas the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to censure Israel, the US remains committed to feeding the Israeli war machine no matter what. This makes today’s show even more urgent.

Shining a bright light on Israeli universities complicity in Israel's ethnic cleansing of its Palestinian population, the book is an indispensable resource in the fight to boycott Israeli universities and divest from firms doing business with Israel.