Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy is an American non-profit organization that produces academic research, seminars, and conferences to study antisemitism. In recent years, its research has focused specifically on antisemitism on university campuses.
Harvard professors Alan Dershowitz and Ruth Wisse were co-chairs of ISGAP's international board. The executive committee of its International Academic Board of Advisors included former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler and historian Irving Abella. ISGAP's chairman is Natan Sharansky. Its managing director is Sima Vaknin-Gil, lieutenant colonel and former chief censor of the Israeli Defense Forces.
History
ISGAP was founded in 2004 by Charles Asher Small from Tel Aviv University as a non-profit organization to produce and support academic research, seminars, and conferences to study antisemitism. It also works on mapping, decoding, and combating contemporary antisemitism.In 2006, Small and ISGAP founded the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, the first university-based institute dedicated to the study of antisemitism in North America, at Yale University. ISGAP expanded into Canada in 2019.
In August 2020, ISGAP suspended its operations for 48 hours in solidarity with African Americans during the George Floyd protests.
The organization's advisors in 2019 included Harvard professors Alan Dershowitz and Ruth Wisse, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, and historian Irving Abella
Activities
ISGAP's flagship program is a two-week conference of more than 80 scholars of antisemitism, approximately 80% of whom are not Jewish. In 2019, the conference was held at Oxford University.In 2024, ISGAP met regularly with leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties to urge investigations of Gaza war protests at universities. In May 2024, an ISGAP report about Students for Justice in Palestine, alleged that Students for Justice in Palestine was directly connected to the ideology of terrorist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Qatari funding of US higher education
In November 2023, ISGAP and the Network Contagion Research Institute published a study entitled "'The Corruption of the American Mind" that linked $13 billion in undisclosed foreign funding from Qatar and other countries to over 100 American universities to a 300% increase in antisemitism on campuses. The United States House [Committee on Education and Workforce] advanced legislation to lower the reporting thresholds for foreign donations to universities.In June 2024, ISGAP produced reports about funding of campus activities at Columbia and Yale universities, alleging that anti-Zionist faculty had promulgated antisemitic rhetoric and activities on campus. The first report noted that over 100 Columbia faculty members endorsed Students for Justice in Palestine. The report quoted one Columbia professor who described the October 7 attacks as "awesome" and "astounding". The second report alleged that Yale received $15 million from Qatar between 2012 and 2023 while reporting only $284,668. According to ISGAP chair Natan Sharansky, the organization's reports were instrumental in the 2023 [United States Congress hearing on antisemitism|December 2023 congressional hearings] that led Harvard president Claudine Gay to resign.
In 2023, ISGAP published a report alleging Qatari involvement in nuclear research at Texas A&M University’s Qatar campus. A&M President Mark Welsh labeled the claim as “false and irresponsible”. In February 2024, Texas A&M System Board of Regents voted to authorize Welsh to end the contract between A&M and the Qatar Foundation, and to announce the closure of the university’s Qatar campus by 2028. The Qatar faculty member Al-Hishimi called ISGAP’s report baseless and misleading. Small and his firm also demanded an investigation and transparency from the A&M authorities.