Jewish Historian Loses Tenure at US University for Criticizing Israel

The University of Minnesota settled with historian Raz Segal for $250,000 last week, more than two years after withdrawing a June 2024 offer for him to lead its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

The university made the offer on 5 June 2024 after a rigorous search and the near-unanimous recommendation of an academic committee, one of whose members called Segal's presentation "breathtaking". Five days later, it withdrew the offer, citing "perspective" from community members. The settlement terms say the payout is not an admission of wrongdoing, and the university did not respond to a request for comment.

The reversal followed backlash over Segal's criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza, which he called "a textbook case of genocide" in an October 2023 Jewish Currents op-ed. Critics accused him of justifying Hamas crimes, an assertion Segal rejected; the article also called Hamas's attacks "mass murder" and "a war crime under international law". "I would never justify Hamas," Segal said.

Segal, a Jewish dual Israeli-US citizen and the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, is a tenured professor at Stockton University in New Jersey, where he directs a master's program in Holocaust and genocide studies. He told The Guardian that University of Minnesota leaders had "determined that I'm the wrong kind of Israeli and the wrong kind of Jew". He said the settlement should encourage scholars punished for criticizing Israel to "fight back".

The settlement followed a public records request that produced emails showing pressure on university officials from donors, legislators and pro-Israel activists, according to the documents. One donor wrote, "We cannot allow someone like Raz Segal a blatant anti Zionist to head the department of Holocaust studies [sic]," and warned that pledges could be pulled. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented Segal, said the public university retaliated against constitutionally protected speech.

Two days after the offer, University of Minnesota professors Karen Painter and Bruno Chaouat resigned from the center's advisory board in protest, accusing Segal in a letter of "justifying Hamas atrocities" and "blaming Israel" for the 7 October attacks. Painter said she had "grave concerns" about Israel's conduct in Gaza but that Segal was not an appropriate choice to lead the center.