Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME)

SPME is an international community of scholars dedicated to promoting academic integrity in the study of the Middle East, particularly with regard to the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The organization embraces standards that have made modern universities and colleges centers of scholarship, creativity, knowledge, and academies of free and civil discourse. SPME is committed to facilitating campus discussions while striving to bring together individuals of varying views who share a good faith desire for knowledge, understanding and peace.

We hold to a standard of academic free speech, where any view that wishes to be heard must also submit to rational, empirically-grounded criticism. To that end, we combat the increasingly politicized scholarship in Middle East Studies programs and related academic areas of study which obsess over denouncing Israel, the only democracy in the region, while silencing any effort to either counter misinformation or provide context.

With our faculty network we promote the kind of research and discussion that enables all of us to develop effective solutions to modern day conflicts, and to achieve that kind of peace in which different peoples thrive together.

We consider the current phenomenon of BDS as a tragic example of the perils involved in abusing scholarship. This movement, now widespread on university campuses around the world, constitutes a threat not only to Israel, but to the very integrity of academia as a forum of free and responsible scholarly inquiry and research.