Anatomy of an Academic Failure: Is Watson Institute Searching for the Truth at Brown University?

If you run an institute that claims to promote “research, teaching and public engagement,” why would you host an event that assumes Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza?

And yet, that is what is happening on Sept. 16 at an event sponsored by The Center for Middle East Studies at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Just the title of the event— “Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?”— gives away the agenda. This won’t be a debate about whether there is a genocide happening in Gaza; rather, it will be a confirmation of that so-called “genocide.”

It’s as if Israel is such an evil country it doesn’t even deserve a debate or even a chance to defend itself against such an inflammatory accusation.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this blatant bias given that the speaker will be Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Albanese has a long history of bias against Israel. She tweeted recently that Israel “continues to destroy Gaza and the Palestinians as a people,” adding that “this is genocidal intent turned into action. Crystal clear.”

A speaker who has accused Israel of genocidal intent is giving a lecture on  the anatomy of that genocide. What kind of “research, teaching and public engagement” can the attendees of the Sept. 16 event expect from someone who already has a “crystal clear” take on the matter?

The UN watchdog UN Watch has a thick file on Albanese’s biased record. This was their response to her accusatory tweet:

“Israel is not trying to commit any ‘genocide.’ Hamas invaded Israel and launched a war on October 7th, massacring 1200 people, raping, torturing and mutilating. This is the proportional equivalent of terrorists killing 42,000 Americans in a day. When Hamas promises to repeat the massacres again, and continues to hold more than 120 Israeli hostages, Israel’s campaign against Hamas terrorists is a just war.

“The only ones trying to commit genocide is Hamas, whose founding charter openly calls to kill all Jews, and which has already killed more Jews in a single day than anyone since Adolph Hitler.”

In a detailed analysis, the American Jewish Committee laid out “5 Reasons Why the Events in Gaza Are Not Genocide.”

1. “Genocide” refers to the physical destruction of an entire group in whole or in part that has been targeted on the basis of its identity. This is not Israel’s objective in Gaza.
2. Israel is responding to a genocidal attack by Hamas.
3. Israel’s actions reflect its desire to spare Palestinian civilians from harm, not to deliberately harm them.
4. Hamas’ actions are designed to cause harm to Palestinian civilians and blame Israel.
5. The “facts” of the genocide charge don’t add up.

In other words, it’s anything but a slam dunk that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. At the very least, it deserves a vigorous debate.

The students who will attend the Sept. 16 event will not get that debate. Instead, they will hear from someone who has already made up her mind and who will share her narrow and biased view to students who deserve better.

Had the event been about a search for truth, it would have been a pro and con debate titled: “Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza? Two Takes on a Controversial Issue.” The students would then hear from both sides and make up their own minds. This is what promotes critical thinking rather than the indoctrination of agendas. This is what students should expect from a college that puts a premium on the objective pursuit of truth.

Maybe it’s not too late. There’s still time before Sept. 16 for the Watson Institute to do an anatomy of this academic failure and deliver a debate worthy of its mission statement.