An event at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on Thursday will link the Israel Defense Forces to U.S. immigration and law enforcement agencies, framing them as racist and colonialist, according to organizers.
The “Connecting Histories” panel, hosted by the law school’s International Law Society, will feature Ayesha Bell Hardaway, a law professor at the university and director of the school’s Social Justice Law Center and Social Justice Institute, and Shareen Naser, an associate professor of psychology at Cleveland State University.
The event flier states the discussion will explore “the deep historical roots of contemporary state power” and examine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IDF and modern policing “as part of a longer trajectory of racialized surveillance, containment and control,” situating these institutions within the legacy of fugitive slave patrols, colonial enforcement and carceral governance.
A spokesperson for the private Ohio university told JNS that the event will be “on campus, but not university-sponsored” and that it is “being presented by law student groups.”
In addition to the International Law Society, the event is officially sponsored by the Refugee Outreach Collective, the university’s Black Law Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine.
In response to questions about antisemitism and anti-Zionism, as well as a request for materials from the panelists, the university told JNS that “Case Western Reserve University is committed to upholding academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas, and is dedicated to and responsible for the safety and well-being of the entire campus community.”
The university emphasized that it “supports the rights of all campus community members to engage in expressive activities” that comply with CWRU policies on freedom of expression and discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and retaliation.
Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism condemned the panel.
“The latest antisemitic blood libel going around? The IDF trains with ICE,” the group wrote. “A complete lie, used solely to demonize the Jewish people and nation. Why is this anti-Jewish propaganda being allowed on your campus, CWRU Law?”
