Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) 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.^[1] ISGAP's chairman is Natan Sharansky.^[2] Its managing director is Sima Vaknin-Gil, lieutenant colonel and former chief censor of the Israeli Defense Forces.^[3]

History

ISGAP was founded in 2004 by Charles Asher Small from Tel Aviv University^[4] as a non-profit organization to produce and support academic research, seminars, and conferences to study antisemitism.^[1] It also works on mapping, decoding, and combating contemporary antisemitism.^[5]

In 2006, Small and ISGAP founded the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA), the first university-based institute dedicated to the study of antisemitism in North America, at Yale University.^[6]

In August 2020, ISGAP suspended its operations for 48 hours in solidarity with African Americans during the George Floyd protests.^[2]

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.^[1]

In November 2023, ISGAP and the Network Contagion Research Institute published a study entitled "The Corruption of the American Mind". The study alleged $13 billion in undisclosed foreign funding from Qatar and other countries to over 100 American universities to a 300% increase in antisemitism on campuses.^[7][8][9]

In 2024, ISGAP met regularly with leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties to urge investigations of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in American universities.^[3] In May 2024, ISGAP produced a report^[10] about Students for Justice in Palestine, alleging that SJP was directly connected to the ideology of terrorist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[11]

In June 2024, ISGAP produced reports about funding of campus activities at Columbia and Yale universities,^[12] 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".^{[13][better source needed]} The second report^[14] alleged that Yale received $15 million from Qatar between 2012 and 2023 while reporting only $284,668.^[15]

In November 2024, ISGAP published a report alleging that the ANC was approximately $30 million in debt before bringing its case against Israel; the ANC subsequently received a sudden influx of unidentified cash after a series of meetings with Hamas, Iranian, and Qatari leaders; and ANC leaders refused to disclose the source of the funds, which provided approximately $30 million.^[16][17]

Funding

In 2019, the ISGAP received a grant of US$1.3 million, to be distributed over three years, from the Israeli government.^[1] In 2020, The Forward reported that almost 80% of the ISGAP's funding in 2018, totaling $445,000, had come from the government of Israel, income which the think tank did not divulge.^[18]

See also

• 2024 Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses
• 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations