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Immediate Protection for Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

The Honorable Antony Blinken

Secretary of State
Washington, D.C. 20520

 

Immediate Protection for Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

 

 

Dear Mr. Secretary,

 

Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a world-renowned scholar, distinguished Palestinian feminist theorist, esteemed Jerusalem grassroots community activist, and a dual US/Israel citizen, was detained and interrogated by Israeli police on April 18, 2024. She was held overnight until a court ordered her release on April 19th. Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian was held on meritless grounds based on an egregious distortion of statements she made in her scholarly articles and on a podcast hosted by respected university professors in the U.S. Subjected to state intimidation geared towards undermining her freedom of speech, she was inappropriately questioned about academic concepts and theoretical frameworks she uses in her research, details of case studies in her peer-reviewed academic articles, as well her positions on international law and colonialism.

Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian was strip searched in a humiliating and invasive way and she was handcuffed and legcuffed for a long time. The cuffs were placed very tightly, affecting her blood circulation and leaving wounds on her body. Israeli Police officers denied her drinking water, and they moreover refused to allow her to take hypertension medication even though it was readily available in her bag. This led to an increase in her blood pressure, which caused ear bleeding and put her at risk of a heart attack or a stroke. She was only allowed to take her medication shortly before she was released. Throughout her detention, Israeli police officers addressed her in a very demeaning and dehumanizing way and hurled sexualized insults at her. Moreover, she was kept in a cold prison cell infested with insects. To stay warm she was given nothing more than a urine- soaked blanket.

We, the undersigned scholars, professionals, and concerned citizens, condemn in the strongest possible terms the detention, ill treatment, and continuing targeting of Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian. We are extremely worried for her safety, not the least because she has been personally targeted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was previously convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting racism. This came on the heels of a smear campaign launched by the administration of the Hebrew University, designed to silence intellectuals, like Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian, objecting to the ongoing Gaza Genocide.

We demand that the US State Department take the following urgent steps to protect this US citizen:

1. Put immediate pressure on the Israeli Government to close the politically motivated and baseless criminal investigation against Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian.

2. Condemn in the strongest possible terms the detention of Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian.

3. Demand an urgent investigation into the circumstances that led to the decision to open the investigation, including interference by the Minister of National Security.

4. Demand a prompt investigation into, and an apology for, the abysmal detention conditions to which Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was subjected.

**Institutional affiliation for purpose of identification only

 

 Sincerely,

Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley

Cornel West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy & Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary 

Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study

Nancy Fraser, Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics, New School for Social Research 

Duncan Kennedy, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence, Emeritus, Harvard Law School

Robin DG Kelly, Nash Professor of American History at the University of California, Los Angeles

Samuel Moyn, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History, Yale University 

Dirk Moses, Spitzer Professor of International Relations, City College of New York, CUNY

Joan W. Scott, Professor Emerita, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University

Janet Halley, Eli Goldston Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford 

Gyan Prakash, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Princeton University 

Fredric Jameson, Knut Schmidt Nielsen Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, Duke University

Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law, Princeton University

Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell, Jr. Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of History Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan

Slavoj Žižek, Co-Director, International Center for Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London

Aziz Rana, Professor and Provost’s Distinguished Fellow, Boston College Law School

Sherene Razack, Distinguished Professor, Gender Studies, University of California Los Angeles

Wendy Pearlman, Professor of Political Science and Interim Director, Middle East and North Africa Program, Northwestern University

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Distinguished  Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University

G. Daniel Cohen, Associate Professor of History, Rice University 

Partha Chatterjee, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Columbia University

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University

Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University

Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton University

Leslie M. Alexander, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History, Rutgers University

Frances Hasso, Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, Duke University

Juan Cole, Richard P Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan

Ussama Makdisi, Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair, University of California, Berkeley

David McNally, Distinguished Professor & NEH-Cullen Chair in History and Business, University of Houston

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Silvia Federici, Professor Emerita of New College, Hofstra University 

Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate Professor and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies, Rice University

Amia Srinivasan, Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, University of Oxford

Rebecca Karl, Professor of History, New York University 

Karuna Mantena, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University 

Saree Makdisi, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California Los Angeles

Paul Gilroy, Professor of The Humanities, Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL

Nadim Rouhana, Professor of International Affairs and Conflict Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Jasbir Puar, Distinguished Faculty of Arts Professor, The Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia

Istifan Sheehi, the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies and Professor of Arab Studies, College of William and Mary

Maureen Katz MD Child and Adult Psychoanalyst, APSaA, member Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis, Faculty San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, associate clinical faculty University of California San Francisco 

Michael Hardt, Professor of Literature, Duke University

Minoo Moallem, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Eyal Rozmarin, Ph.D, Co-Editor, Relational Perspectives in Psychoanalysis Book Series

Jade McGleughlin, LICSW Past president, Faculty, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis Cambridge, MA

Ann Pellegrini, Professor of Performance Studies, and Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University

Ali Mirsepassi, Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University 

Paola Bacchetta, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

Carol Browner, Distinguished Research Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Anthropology, and Gender Studies, UCLA

Bishnupriya Ghosh, Professor of English and Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Sahar Aziz, Distinguished Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers University

Emily Marker, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University

Elizabeth Berger MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine

Omid Safi, Professor of Iranian Studies, Duke University

Afshin Matin-asgari, Professor of History, California State University, Los Angeles

Sherene Seikaly, Associate Professor of History, UC Santa Barbara

Naveed Mansoori, Associate Research Scholar, Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, Princeton University

Max Weiss, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University

Lara Sheehi, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology

Amahl Bishara, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Tufts University 

Avgi Saketopoulou, Faculty, NYU Postdoctoral Program for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

Darryl Li, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate Member of the Law School

University of Chicago

 Doris Brothers. Ph.D. Co-Director, The Wilhelm Reich Center for the Study of Embodiment .

Marilyn Charles, PhD, Past President the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association

Sarah Ihmoud, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, the College of the Holy Cross

Lynne Segal, Professor Emerita, Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London

Zillah Eisenstein, Professor Emerita of Political Theory, Ithaca College 

Lynne Layton PhD, Former President, Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility, Section 9 of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology

Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut and Frantz Fanon Foundation 

Rachel Kabasakalian-McKay, PhD, Co-Director, Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia

Toby C. Jones, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Lynne Zeavin, Associate Editor, The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association Training & Supervising Analyst, Chair of Curriculum, The New York Psychoanalytic  Society and Institute (NYPSI), Founding Member, The Psychosocial Foundation

Jay Frankel, Clinical Consultant, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York University. 

Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Political Science, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Devin Atallah, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston

 Nancy Caro Hollander, Professor Emerita, California State University Faculty, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California

 Carter J. Carter, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts & Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania

 Janice Haaken, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Portland State University

Solmaz Sharif, Assistant Professor of English, Shirley Shenker Chair of the Arts and Humanities, University of California, Berkeley

Fatemeh Shams, Associate Professor of Persian Literature and Gender Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Ofra Bloch, LCSW – Psychoanalyst and documentary filmmaker. NYC

Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor,  Department of Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, New York University

Golnar Nikpour, Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth College

Jamil Dakwar, Adjunct Professor, New York University 

Gabriel Winant, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago 

Shirin Saeidi, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies, University of Arkansas

Arash Davari, Assistant Professor of Political Theory, Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Daniel A. Segal, Jean M. Pitzer Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Professor Emeritus of History, Pitzer College

Kamala Visweswaran, Professor of Anthropology, T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Transnational South Asian Studies, Rice University

Rabab Abdulhadi, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, Arab & Muslim Ethnicities & Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University

John Chalcraft, Professor of Middle East History and Politics, LSE, University of London

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies, SOAS, University of London

Salim Vally, Director for the Center for Education Rights and Transformation and Chair in Community, Adult and Worker Education, University of Johannesburg

Laleh Khalili, Al-Qasimi Professor of Gulf Studies, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter 

Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations, SOAS, University of London

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Associate Professor in Modern History of the Middle East, University of York

Nimer Sultany, Reader in Public Law, SOAS, University of London 

Gwyn Daniel, Consultant Family Psychotherapist and Author

Mazen Masri, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, City, University of London

Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Development, Institute of Arab and Islamic studies, University of Exeter

Neve Gordon, Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Queen Mary University of London

Shahrzad Mojab, Professor, OISE & Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto

Jacqueline Rose, Professor of Humanities, Co-Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birbeck, University of London

Shahnaaz Suffla, Professor, Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa

Umesh Bawa, Director of International Relations, University of the Western Cape

Sanjay Seth, Professor of Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London

William Dalrymple, author and historian, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Mohamed Seedat, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa

Rajyashree Pandey, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London

Sara Salem, Associate Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science

Chandni Desai, Assistant Professor, Critical Studies of Equity and Solidarity, University of Toronto

Hossein Kamaly, Imam Ali Chair in Shia Studies and Professor of Interreligious Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace

Shirin Vossoughi, Associate Professor of Learning Sciences, Northwestern University

Leanne Betasamoksake Simpson, Michi Saagiig Nishaabeg Scholar, Writer and Artist

Jeanne Morefield, Associate Professor in Political Theory, University of Oxford 

Mohammad Fadel, Professor of Law, University of Toronto 

Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, Professorial Research Associate, SOAS, University of London 

Shahram Khosravi, Professor of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University 

Manijeh Moradian, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Barnard College

Susan Ferguson, Associate Professor Emerita, Wilfred Laurier University 

Dina Al-Kassim, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of British Columbia

Siavash Saffari, Associate Professor of West Asian Studies, Seoul National University

A.J. Yumi Lee, Assistant Professor of English, Villanova University

Alina Sajed, Associate Professor, Political Science, McMaster University 

Nathaniel George, Assistant Professor in Politics of the Middle East, SOAS, University of London

Jennifer Pitts, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago 

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