JVP Academic Council Condemns the American Historical Association (AHA) Executive Committee’s Sabotage of Democratic Principles

Statement: JVP Academic Council Condemns the American Historical Association’s Palestine Exception

The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) condemns the American Historical Association (AHA) Executive Committee’s outrageous and unprecedented sabotage of its own democratic principles by dissuading its members from voting for the pro-Palestinian 2026 Democracy Slate endorsed by Historians for Peace and Democracy (HPAD) in the association’s June 1–July 15 elections. The JVP Academic Council stands with US Scholars Speak’s statement Confronting the AHA’s Palestine Exception, signed by more than 289 scholars at the time of this writing. 

The AHA’s shameful actions follow the Executive Committee’s decision to veto two resolutions passed overwhelmingly (with roughly 80% majorities) by its members at its annual meeting in Chicago on January 12th of this year. The two resolutions are; (i) a resolution condemning the Israeli state’s acts of scholasticide in Gaza, and (ii) a resolution standing against the ongoing surge of attacks on academic freedom in the United States, including attacks on teaching, writing, and speech addressing “the U.S.-sponsored genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.” 

Using the power of the Executive Committee of the AHA Council to veto democratically supported resolutions or to try to sway members to vote one way or another contravenes democratic principles and organizational protocols, which represents a disturbing trend of obstruction by the Executive Committee. Beyond that, AHA members are professional historians who have the right to debate and decide their own points of view. 

The Committee has failed to demonstrate that the resolution’s call to “support efforts to ensure the survival and rebuilding of Palestinian higher education” contravenes its stated core mission: “promoting historical studies and supporting and defending the rights of historians to research and teach honest, expert history.” To the contrary, its actions obstruct those rights. An Executive Committee veto required that these two resolutions violate the AHA’s Constitution’s Article II, which is actually an expansive, rather than restrictive statement of the Association’s purpose. The Committee failed to show such a violation.

Historical research has enabled historians to understand the long process that led to the severe damage to Palestinian archives and the destruction of universities to the point of scholasticide in the midst of genocide. A call to support Palestinian education is neither one-sided nor simply political. Israeli universities are thriving, whereas Palestinian ones lie in ruins. Genocide and scholasticide demand the skills and resources of knowledge creators to ensure that the survivors can study their own history and attain knowledge in all fields. History has not looked kindly on those who, in the face of massive human rights abuses, have tried to remain neutral, thereby allowing the abuses to continue. 

JVP Academic Council deplores the AHA’s double standard when it comes to taking a stand on Palestine. Against the backdrop of the AHA’s recent lawsuit to restore NEH funding and release of its Authoritarianism 101: A Global History, it continues to act in ways that serve the interests of powers attempting to dismantle higher education. Such actions illustrate how exceptional treatment of a single political issue can normalize departures from democratic governance. The Palestine exception thus functions not only as a symptom of authoritarian pressure but also as a vehicle through which authoritarian practices become institutionalized. The AHA cannot call itself a protector of academic freedom and stay silent on Palestine.

The JVP Academic Council supports the AHA Democracy Slate . We demand that the Executive Committee cease its practice of silencing dissent, interfering in elections, and disparaging candidates who support AHA action on Palestine. We demand as well that the Executive Committee cease and desist its Palestine Exception and publicly apologize to Historians for Peace and Democracy (HPAD), Historians For Palestine, and the Palestinian Historians Group for belittling their rigorous campaigns and courageous opposition to brutality. 

The JVP Academic Council continues to be inspired by these groups within the AHA and deeply grateful to the AHA members at the annual meeting who voted for the two resolutions.

The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.  We defend employment rights, academic freedom, and rights of association within higher education and confirm the core values of Jewish Voice for Peace.