David Barak-Gorodetsky (left) with Ayal Feinberg, Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz College and David Hirsh (right) Academic Director and CEO of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, at the 2026 Contemporary Antisemitism Studies Conference in Haifa earlier this summer (Photo credit: Yaniv Kopel)

Please tell us about your leadership of the University of Haifa’s Elizabeth and Tony Comper Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism. 

I took on the leadership of the Comper Center in June 2023, after a few years in which it had been dormant. I thought it would be supplementary to the other roles I have at the university, but especially after October 7, it has become the main focus of my work.

How has the Center helped shape the global discourse on contemporary antisemitism?

My story is not unique. Many scholars feel they need to re-evaluate their work after October 7 and also want to respond to the real crisis out there. We first and foremost want to understand the re-emergence of antisemitism in political and public discourse. But we also want to provide the academic expertise to support real-world interventions – in education, technology, and policy.

Looking ahead, what is your vision for the Comper Center over the next five years?

My vision is to see the Comper Center as one of the main hubs worldwide for the research and understanding of contemporary antisemitism. I want it to be a place for robust engagement across disciplines, and in the interaction of academia with the world outside its walls. For us, changing the discourse on antisemitism is a form of social responsibility. There is a real-world problem out there, and we want to be part of the solution. For that to happen we need to be agile, and work across various platforms and outputs. There is a huge demand for this – and we have many scholars who want to take part in what we are doing.  

The recent launch of the Contemporary Antisemitism Studies Association (CASA) marks an important step in building a global academic community. How has the response been since the launch, and what was the reaction from conference participants?

The Contemporary Antisemitism Studies Association (CASA) is a collaboration of the Comper Center together with two leading institutions in the research of contemporary antisemitism, the London Center, and Gratz College. The response has been astonishing: we now have several academic partners and more than 200 scholars on board, with leading figures like Deborah Lipstadt, Irwin Cotler and Dina Porat on our advisory committee.

There is a real hunger for belonging felt by many scholars of contemporary antisemitism. In many universities and departments, they are isolated and lonely. It was also great to see so many young scholars at our recent conference held in July in Haifa, with more than 300 speakers from more than 20 countries, covering all aspects of contemporary antisemitism, from theory, media, academia and AI, to healthcare, arts and sport. 

As a member of its Founding Executive Leadership, what makes this moment so significant, and what role do you hope CASA will play in advancing research, collaboration, and public understanding in the years ahead?

CASA is a field-building initiative – we want to build and organize the field of contemporary antisemitism studies. We are looking to develop research networks, publication opportunities through a new open-access high capacity academic journal, and a pipeline for scholar training, development and eventually also job placement. 

Just to show the scope of our planning and activity – our next CASA conference in 2027 will be held in Philadelphia, and Haifa is scheduled to be hosting again in 2030. Hope to be seeing you all there! 

Ben Freeman is joining the University of Haifa. Why is his appointment important for the University’s work on antisemitism?

In addition to our academic scholars, postdoctoral fellow and grad students, some of our fellows have been instrumental in the public discussion on contemporary antisemitism. Ben Freeman, together with Isabella Taborovsky, and Hussein Abu-Bakr Mansur, are a great example of people who can bring academic knowledge into the real world across formats and platforms.

Ben’s work on Jewish pride, on indigeneity, and on addressing antisemitism in LGBTQ spaces has been phenomenal. We are proud that, after his Aliyah to Israel, he will be completing his graduate studies with us. We see this as an opportunity for cross-fertilization between academic and public understanding of the challenges that we face. In a world dominated by clashing narratives, academic discourse needs to be engaged, forward facing, and accessible.  

Can you tell us what you’re working on now?

The core of our work is our research group. Next year, we are excited to welcome a remarkable cohort of scholars whose research spans religion, Latin America, AI, and more. We are developing a project-based organization, based on collaboration with other universities and institutions. Some of our partners for next year include NYU, Indiana University, Florida International University, the Wilson Center, and Jindal Global University in India. On top of that, we have partnerships forming up across Europe, most notably in Germany around education, but also in France.

One of our most exciting projects in the making is an AI research and social impact project, in collaboration with academic and community partners from Northern Israel. Students will be helping us train AI to identify antisemitism in unique corpuses of knowledge and data. Stay tuned…

Anything else you’d like to add?

Addressing contemporary antisemitism is a field where the University of Haifa can play a key role and assume a leadership role, in collaboration with our many partners. We are always looking for people that want to support our work in a variety of ways. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.