By: Amy Goodman Published in: *Democracy Now* Date: June 19, 2024 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE_Y3oz-HsY *Note: * This interview is in English and the transcript is embedded in the source.
"We speak with Israeli American Jewish scholar Raz Segal about the University of Minnesota's move to rescind a job offer over his comments early in the war on Gaza, when he characterized the Israeli assault as a 'textbook case of genocide.' Segal was set to lead the university's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, but after two board members quit in opposition to Segal's selection and a smear campaign led by the pro-Israel group Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC), the school revoked the offer. Segal says he has been 'targeted because of my identity as a Jew who refuses the narrowing down of Jewish identity to Zionism' and calls the JCRC-led opposition a 'hateful campaign of lies and distortions' and 'crude political intervention.' 'This was a completely legitimate hiring process,' states Segal. He says rescission of his offer 'spells the end of this idea of free inquiry, of academic freedom, of research and teaching — and all in the service, of course, of supporting an extremely violent state.'"
