More than 50 scholars from 15 countries will convene March 23-27 at IU to discuss contemporary anti-Semitism and ways to combat it.
Of these scholars, one is a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and another is the first European Commission coordinator on fighting anti-Semitism.
The discussions will be from March 23-27 at the Indiana Memorial Union. The conference is organized by the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Numerous topics will be discussed such as anti-Zionism, populism and nationalism. This is the fourth conference put together by the institute.
Institute director Alvin Rosenfeld said in a press statement the convention was prompted by rising anti-Semitic sentiment. One example he cited was the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting.
“It's troubling to see the anti-Semitic threat return so energetically, especially after we saw during the Holocaust what can happen when hate like this goes unchecked,” Rosenfeld said in the statement.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, about 2,000 antisemitic hate crimes were committed in 2017 in the United States. In 2015, there were about 940 incidents.
Katharina Von Schnurbein, the conference’s keynote speaker, was the first European Commission coordinator on fighting anti-Semitism, with her entering the role December 2015. Her address will focus on how Europe is approaching the discrimination.
IU is at the forefront of contemporary anti-Semitism research, according to the press statement. Numerous lectures, articles and classes focus on the topic.
