The “Palestine Test” Revisited: Faculty, Students and Activists Talk about Their Experiences of Harassment, Intimidation and Suppression of Speech on Palestine

Abstract

This article acknowledges the prescience of MJ Nadeau and Alan Sears’ 2009 article “The Palestine Test, Countering the Silencing Campaign”. It introduces recent research with Canadian academics and activists about their experiences of suppression of speech on Palestine. These include political interventions in academic hiring, threats of violence, harassment by pro-Israel advocates and media outlets and classroom surveillance by pro-Israel campus groups, all of which are violations of academic freedom and grave impediments to the production of knowledge.