Jewish Studies Statement on Jerusalem Declaration
We write as Jewish Studies scholars to express our dismay at the Trump administration's decision to reverse decades of bipartisan U.S. policy by declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and authorizing the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv, outside of a negotiated political framework that ends the legal state of occupation and ensures respect for the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is of immense religious and thus emotional significance to Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. It is the focus of national aspirations for both Israelis and Palestinians. We hope one day to see a world in which all inhabitants of the land enjoy equal access to the city’s cultural and material resources. Today, unfortunately, that is not the case.

As the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem* has documented, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem endure systematic inequalities, including an inequitable distribution of the city's budget and municipal services, routine denial of building permits that are granted to Jewish residents, home demolitions, and legal confiscation of property for Jewish settlement. In addition, Palestinians in the West Bank, unlike Jewish Israelis resident in that territory, require a special permit to visit Jerusalem’s holy sites.

In this context, a declaration from the United States government that appears to endorse sole Jewish proprietorship over Jerusalem adds insult to ongoing injury and is practically guaranteed to fan the flames of violence. We therefore call on the U.S. government to take immediate steps to deescalate the tensions resulting from the President’s declaration and to clarify Palestinians’ legitimate stake in the future of Jerusalem.


1. Deborah Achtenberg, University of Nevada, Reno
2. Howard Tzvi Adelman, Queen's University, Kingston, On
3. Phyllis Albert, Harvard University
4. Ari Ariel, University of Iowa
5. Beverly Bailis, Brooklyn College
6. Mark Baker, Monash University
7. Lawrence Baron, San Diego State University
8. Elissa Bemporad, Queens College and The CUNY Graduate Center
9. Mara Benjamin, Mount Holyoke College
10. Matthew Berkman, University of Pennsylvania
11. Joel Berkowitz, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
12. Lila Berman, Temple University
13. David Biale, University of California, Davis
14. Jeffrey Blutinger, California State University, Long Beach
15. Ra'anan Boustan, Princeton University
16. Zachary Braiterman, Syracuse University
17. Francesca Bregoli, Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY
18. Emma Brodeur, Syracuse University
19. Samuel Brody, University of Kansas
20. Jeremy P. Brown, University of San Francisco
21. Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, Wheaton College (MA)
22. Debra Caplan, Baruch College, CUNY
23. Marc Caplan, Tel Aviv University
24. Jessica Carr, Lafayette College
25. Flora Cassen, UNC Chapel Hill
26. Robert Chazan, New York University
27. Geoffrey Claussen, Elon University
28. Aryeh Cohen, American Jewish University
29. Mara Cohen Ioannides, Missouri State University
30. Rebecca Davis, University of Delaware
31. Hasia Diner, New York University
32. F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Princeton Theological Seminary
33. Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Vancouver School of Theology
34. Jodi Eichler-Levine, Lehigh University
35. Elik Elhanan, City College of New York / CUNY
36. Barat Ellman, Fordham University
37. Barbara Epstein, University of California, Santa Cruz
38. Robert Erlewine, Illinois Wesleyan University
39. Ayala Fader, Fordham
40. Sara Feldman, University of Illinois
41. Charlotte Fonrobert, Stanford University
42. Sandy Fox, New York University
43. Arnold Franklin, Queens College, CUNY
44. Ben Freeman, Harvard Divinity School
45. Joshua Friedman, Duke University
46. Joan Friedman, College of Wooster
47. Asia Fruman, Ukrainian Catholic University
48. Olga Gershenson, University of Massachusetts
49. Maja Gildin Zuckerman, Stanford University
50. Sander Gilman, Emory University
51. Terri Ginsberg, Formerly Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College
52. Shai Ginsburg, Duke University
53. Robert Goldenberg, SUNY Stony Brook (Emeritus)
54. Evan Goldstein, Yale University
55. Andrew Gordon, University of Florida
56. Erin Graff Zivin, University of Southern California
57. Ronnie Grinberg, University of Oklahoma
58. Atina Grossmann, Cooper Union
59. Chaya Halberstam, Western University
60. Jessica Hammerman, Central Oregon Community College
61. Rachel Havrelock, University of Illinois Chicago
62. Tim Hegedus, Wilfrid Laurier University
63. Elizabeth Heineman, University of Iowa
64. Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College
65. Jonathan Hess, UNC Chapel Hill
66. Klaus Hoedl, University of Minnesota
67. Curtis Hutt, University of Nebraska at Omaha
68. Daniel Itzkovitz, Stonehill College
69. Jack Jacobs, John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
70. Jonathan Karp, Binghamton University, SUNY
71. Claire Katz, Texas A&M
72. Ari Y Kelman, Stanford University
73. Gwynn Kessler, Swarthmore College
74. Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Purdue University
75. Michal Kofman, University of Louisville
76. Rachel Kranson, University of Pittsburgh
77. Chana Kronfeld, University of California, Berkeley
78. Jacob Labendz, Youngstown State University
79. Hartley Lachter, Lehigh University
80. Yitz Landes, Princeton University
81. Timothy Langille, Arizona State University
82. Nitzan Lebovic, Lehigh University
83. Daniil Leiderman, Texas A&M
84. Brian Leonard, Boston College High School
85. Rebecca Lesses, Ithaca College
86. Maggie Levantovskaya, Santa Clara University
87. Daniel Levine, University of Alabama
88. Laura Levitt, Temple University
89. Lital Levy, Princeton University
90. Andrea Lieber, Dickinson College
91. Ari Linden, University of Kansas
92. Joe Lockard, Arizona State University
93. Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania
94. Peter Machinist, Harvard University
95. Lindsay Macumber, Saint Mary's University
96. Shaul Magid, Indiana University
97. Nadia Malinovich, Sciences Po
98. Charles Manekin, University of Maryland
99. Barbara Mann, Jewish Theological Seminary
100. Samira Mehta, Albright College
101. Jeffrey Melnick, University of Massachusetts Boston
102. David Meola, University of South Alabama
103. Ibrahim Miari, University of Pennsylvania
104. Michael Miller, Liverpool Hope university
105. Daniel Miller, Bishop's University
106. Sarah Anne Minkin, UC Berkeley
107. Leslie Morris, University of Minnesota
108. Kenneth Moss, The Johns Hopkins University
109. Eva Mroczek, UC Davis
110. Harriet Murav, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
111. Rachel Neis, University of Michigan
112. David Nelson, Bard College
113. Judith Newman, University of Toronto
114. Louis Newman, Carleton College (Emeritus)
115. Anita Norich, University of Michigan
116. Jess Olson, Yeshiva University
117. Ranen Omer-Sherman, University of Louisville
118. Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College
119. Robin Podolsky, California State University, Long Beach
120. Hannah Pollin-Galay, Tel Aviv University
121. Riv-Ellen Prell, University of Minnesota
122. Vadim Putzu, Missouri State University
123. Shari Rabin, College of Charleston
124. Randi Rashkover, George Mason University
125. Elliot Ratzman, Lawrence University
126. Meri-Jane Rochelson, Florida International University
127. Emily Rogal, Harvard Divinity School
128. Na’ama Rokem, University of Chicago
129. Michael Rom, Yale University
130. Kate Rosenblatt, Emory University
131. Jordan Rosenblum, University of Wisconsin-Madison
132. Bruce Rosenstock, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
133. Laurence Roth, Susquehanna University
134. Michael Rothberg, UCLA
135. Adam Rovner, University of Denver
136. Nora Rubel, University of Rochester
137. Elias Sacks, University of Colorado Boulder
138. Allison Schachter, Vanderbilt University
139. Alison Schofield, University of Denver
140. Benjamin Schreier, Penn State University
141. Joshua Schwartz, New York University
142. Naomi Seidman, Graduate Theological Union
143. Sasha Senderovich, University of Washington, Seattle
144. Joshua Shanes, College of Charleston
145. Raisa Shapiro, University of Ilinois
146. Gail Sherman, Reed College
147. Nathaniel Shils, University of Pennsylvania
148. Anne Shlay, Georgia State University
149. David Shneer, University of Colorado Boulder
150. Maeera Shreiber, University of Utah
151. Noam Sienna, University of Minnesota
152. Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania
153. Lisa Silverman, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
154. Shana Sippy, Centre College
155. Andrew Sloin, Baruch College, CUNY
156. Rachel Smith, UCLA
157. Mark Smith, Princeton Theological Seminary
158. David Sorkin, Yale University
159. Daniel Soyer, Fordham University
160. Scott Spector, University of Michigan
161. Loren Spielman, Portland State University
162. Gregory Spinner, Skidmore College
163. Neta Stahl, Johns Hopkins University
164. Deborah Starr, Cornell University
165. Richard Steigmann-Gall, Kent State University
166. Mira Sucharov, Carleton University
167. David Teutsch, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
168. Ruth Tsoffar, University of Michigan
169. Irene Tucker, University of California, Irvine
170. Alana Vincent, University of Chester, UK
171. Burton Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary
172. Jason von Ehrenkrook, University of Massachusetts Boston
173. Anika Walke, Washington University in St. Louis
174. Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College
175. Mira Wasserman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
176. Dov Waxman, Northeastern University
177. Liliane Weissberg, University of Pennsylvania
178. Beth Wenger, University of Pennsylvania
179. Barry Wimpfheimer, Northwestern University
180. Diane L. Wolf, UC Davis
181. Elliot Wolfson, University of California, Santa Barbara
182. Billy Yalowitz, Temple University
183. James Young, University of Massachusetts Amherst
184. Michael Zank, Boston University
185. Saul Zaritt, Harvard University
186. Sarah Zarrow, Western Washington University

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* See http://www.btselem.org/jerusalem

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