NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The largest professional society for the teaching and study of American history has overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the Zionist regime’s “scholasticide” in Gaza.
The prestigious Organization of American Historians (OAH), which publishes the Journal of American History, passed the resolution on Saturday, April 8, at an OAH business meeting in Chicago.
A decisive majority of 104 members voted for the motion - with only 25 opposing it.
The Israeli military has bombed and mostly destroyed all 12 universities in Gaza and hundreds of primary and secondary schools.
More than 200 heritage sites, including mosques, churches and libraries, have been destroyed.
In October, the Ministry of Education in Gaza reported that 400 teachers and other educational professionals had been killed, alongside more than 10,000 students.
The resolution, submitted by Historians for Peace and Democracy, argues that the Zionist regime’s “scholasticide in Gaza has made it impossible to practice history and eradicated its practitioners”.
It further “condemns the Israeli violence in Gaza that has resulted in the scholasticide,” urges a permanent ceasefire and commits the OAH to forming a “volunteer committee to work with other organizations in rebuilding Gaza’s educational infrastructure”.
Maragret Power, a retired professor at Illinois Institute of Technology and co-chair of Historians for Peace and Democracy, said that “opposing the ruthless genocide Israel has waged, and the U.S. government has financed, against the people of Gaza is a moral imperative”.
“The OAH is the organization of historians that study U.S. history,” she told Middle East Eye on Sunday.
“It and the American Historical Association (AHA) are the two most important organizations of historians in the U.S. Their members include the most important historians in the U.S. as well as some globally.
“Let’s just say the Trump administration hates them both.”
In January, the AHA also passed a resolution condemning the Zionist regime’s “scholasticide” in Gaza.
But the resolution was later vetoed by the group’s executive council, which said it “lies outside the scope of the association’s mission and purpose”.
The OAH vote comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on displays of support for the Palestinians in American universities.
The State Department has cancelled visas for hundreds of people connected to campus pro-Palestine protests.
In an announcement on March 10, the Department of Education published a list of 60 universities that are “presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination”.
In March, Columbia University became the first university to lose some federal funding when the Trump administration slashed $400m in federal funds.