The Modern Language Association (MLA) is on its way to out-politicizing the field of Middle East studies by embracing BDS and other anti-Israel activism. Former MLA member and MEF Shillman Ginsburg Fellow A.J.Caschetta’s report for Campus Watch is posted at the Daily Caller:
The Modern Language Association (MLA) historically is no friend of Israel. It has flirted with the BDS movement but postponed an official BDS vote until 2017. Some MLA members can’t wait. Taking seriously the cliché of professors learning from their students, in 2014 an unknown number of MLA members formed their own faculty-version of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the leading student BDS advocate. They call themselves the MLA Members for Justice in Palestine and use the awkward initials “MLAMJP” – apparently unable to produce a clever acronym.
The MLAMJP devotes itself to advocating BDS, depicting Israel as an Apartheid state, defending its positions against charges of anti-Semitism, promoting Al Jazeera documentaries, and writing lots of open letters.