CPU to Host Benny Morris and Norman Finkelstein in Israel-Palestine Debate Series

Benny Morris, a prominent Israeli historian, will speak on Thursday, April 23rd, at 6:45 pm in room G10 of the Biotechnology Building, per the Cornell Political Union’s press release. Doors will open at 6:30 pm.

On the following Thursday (April 30th), Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish-American political scientist and activist, will give a speech in Room 132 of Goldwin Smith Hall– doors open at 6:30 pm, and the event begins at 6:45 pm.

The Cornell Political Union put out the following statement regarding the event, 

This series, which has been in the making for many months, will be a truly memorable piece of inter-organizational collaboration. It will bring together frontline speakers from both sides of this discussion, with the support of organizations from almost every side of this discussion present at Cornell. Through these events, we aim to support students in paying equal attention to both the topics themselves and our fellow learners that engage in them.

The Israel-Palestine Speaker series is cosponsored, according to the official press release, by the following organizations: Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Department of Jewish Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Studies, The David Network, and the Zionist Organization of America.

This speaker series comes at a time when tensions on campus regarding Israel-Palestine are higher than the average over 2025-26 (due to the current war with Iran), yet not close to the peak fervor 2023-24 brought us. Despite the comparative lull in activism, pro-Palestine groups recently put up the following display on the Cornell Arts Quad :

The smaller sign in the above display reads,

April 25, 2026 marks the two-year anniversary of the day Cornell student activists established an encampment on The Arts Quad. In doing so, they stood in solidarity with the people of  Palestine as a part of a nationwide movement for liberation. Today, we observe an increase in US and Israeli military aggression that displaces, injures, and kills civilians around the world, including in Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, and Palestine. This installation serves as a reminder that the student movement will continue to mourn our martyrs and demand liberation.

The Israel-Palestine discussions will likely address these concerns and more.