Princeton professor Julian Zelizer: I was blackballed by shul

Julian E. Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University and the son of a prominent Metuchen rabbi, said his invitation to speak at a Pennsylvania synagogue was revoked over the suspicion that he didn’t hold sufficiently supportive views of Israel.

In an essay published by Tablet, Zelizer explains that he offered to give a talk at the unnamed synagogue based on his areas of expertise, including current electoral politics, the Civil Rights movement, and Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society, the subject of his latest book. A professor of history and public affairs at Princeton, Zelizer has written books on the presidencies of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush.

Having agreed on dates and a fee, however, the congregation president informed Zelizer that some members of the shul committee who booked him were concerned that, having appeared on MSNBC and CNN, Zelizer might be a member of the liberal Israel advocacy group J Street. He was then asked to confirm that he wasn’t “a dues-paying member of J Street.” 

Zelizer said he informed the shul president that he was not a member of J Street, and that the question wasn’t “relevant.” Nevertheless, he writes, “the shul committee decided that I would be ‘political and divisive’ so it would not go through with having me as their speaker.” ...