Ze'ev Maoz

Overview

Ze’ev Maoz has claimed that Israeli military actions are morally equivalent to Hezbollah’s terrorism. He is the author of an anti-Israel book that claims Israel’s wars have been the result of Israeli aggression and “folly.”

Maoz has also defended the disruption of pro-Israel events on campus.

Maoz is a distinguished professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).

Demonizing Israel

On May 2, 2016, Maoz appeared on a radio show alongside anti-Israel academic Ilan Pappe, in which he described the pro-Israel lobby as "One of the most powerful pressure groups or interest groups in the United States." (5:25)

In an article published on July 25, 2006, titled “Morality is not on our Side,” Maoz compared the actions of the Israeli military in Lebanon to those of Hezbollah.

In the article, Maoz suggested that Hezbollah’s firing of rockets into Israeli population centers was morally equivalent to Israeli military operations targeting terrorist cells.

Maoz is the author of a 2006 book, titled “Defending the Holy Land.” According to the book’s description, Maoz argues that “Most of the wars in which Israel was involved… were entirely avoidable, the result of deliberate Israeli aggression, flawed decision-making, and misguided conflict management strategies. None, with the possible exception of the 1948 War of Independence, were what Israelis call ‘wars of necessity.’ They were all wars of choice-or, worse, folly.”

Defending the “Irvine 11”

In March of 2011, Maoz signed a letter opposing legal action being taken against the “Irvine 11.”

The “Irvine 11” were a group of eleven students from University of California, Irvine’s (UC Irvine) Muslim Student Union (MSU) who, in 2010, were detained by the police for disrupting a speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

Following their arrest, ten of the eleven students were charged with conspiracy to disrupt and disrupting the event. The students received probation and community service and the MSU was suspended by the university.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website:http://ps.ucdavis.edu/people/maoz