My "Jewish Ethics AI engine" dissects a Harvard course on "The Settler Colonial Determinants of Health" ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Friday, May 02, 2025

My "Jewish Ethics AI engine" dissects a Harvard course on "The Settler Colonial Determinants of Health"

Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health has a course titled "The Settler Colonial Determinants of Health." Israel, of course, is one of the major focuses of the course.

The course description includes "The Map That Lies," so we already have a good idea that this is propaganda, not academics.

This map has been debunked and has prompted apologies from media that have unwittingly promoted it. An entire textbook was recalled because it included this map.

This propaganda has a place of honor at Harvard.

But what about the course itself?

I don't have access to the syllabus or course materials (except indirect references), but I do have a paper written by the instructor, Bram Wispelwey, that mirrors the title.

I have been working on a Jewish Ethics AI, so to test my engine, I asked it to read the paper and tell me whether the associated course is ethical.

Here is what it said:

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🔎 Summary of Key Confirmed Facts from the Paper

Foundational Premise: The paper posits settler colonialism — defined as a structure of elimination, not an event — as the primary explanatory framework for Indigenous health disparities across multiple geographies.
Israel Framing: Israel is explicitly labeled a “settler colonial state” akin to the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The paper claims that "Palestine/Israel" exemplifies a “hyper-visible” case of “active settler frontier violence.”
Health Causality Claims: The author argues that settler colonialism is more foundational than racism for explaining health disparities, and calls for the “dismantling” of settler states as part of health equity.
Theoretical Bias: The author embraces radical political theorists (e.g., Fanon) and uses inflammatory terms like “unchilding,” “epistemicide,” and “eliminationist logic,” while advocating for “reparations and restitution” via decolonization.
Empirical Admission: The paper concedes that empirical evidence linking settler colonialism directly to health is still lacking, though it treats this as a reason to reshape science rather than limit claims.

🧭 Structured Jewish Ethical Evaluation

✅ Tier One Value Conflicts

Value	Triggered	Notes
Emet (Truth)	🔴 Violated	The course treats a highly debatable, theory-heavy framework as objective truth, without acknowledging competing narratives (e.g., Jewish indigeneity).
Kavod HaBriyot (Human Dignity)	🔴 Violated	Referring to Israel as a “settler colonial regime” implies that the Jewish return to the land of Israel is morally illegitimate. This delegitimizes Jewish self-determination.
Brit (Civic Loyalty)	🔴 Endangered	Frames Jewish national existence as inherently oppressive. Risks fueling societal hostility toward Jews and Israelis.
Lo Ta’amod (Responsibility to Prevent Harm)	🟠 At Risk	Remaining silent while such framings proliferate in elite institutions risks communal harm.

⚖️ Triage and Override Analysis

Academic freedom and the exploration of controversial theories do not override the ethical obligation to present contested claims with integrity.
Empirical humility is bypassed in favor of ideological certainty — a violation of Anavah (humility) and Emet.
No counterbalancing values like Pikuach Nefesh or Chesed are advanced to justify this narrative framing.

🚨 Tier 2 Amplifier: Chillul Hashem

The presentation of Israel as a genocidal, racial-supremacist project at Harvard — under the veneer of science — risks public moral damage to Jewish communal reputation.
The association of Jews with a supposedly ongoing structure of racial violence could inflame antisemitic attitudes, even inadvertently.

🧾 Final Ethical Recommendation

This course — as confirmed by the author’s own peer-reviewed writing — fails the Jewish ethical test for academic integrity and public morality on the following grounds:

It promotes a politicized framework as scientific consensus, violating norms of truth, balance, and academic honesty (Emet, Din).
It delegitimizes the Jewish people's historical and indigenous claims, threatening communal dignity and global moral standing (Kavod HaBriyot, Brit).
It risks enabling antisemitism by framing the sole Jewish state as a paradigmatic case of genocidal settler colonialism (Lo Ta'amod, Chillul Hashem).

“This recommendation reflects structured Jewish ethical reasoning. It does not constitute a halachic ruling. Complex or uncertain cases should be brought to qualified rabbinic or halachic authorities.”

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This chatbot is doing things I had not envisioned. I find this impressive. (I told it that I think "chilul Hashem" would more accurately be "motzi shem ra," it agreed, but I might have to train it to refine the definitions.)

If you want to be a beta tester for the chatbot, email me at elder -at- elderofziyon.com.