Jahne Nicolaisen 

Program Director, Political Scientist

 

Jahne Nicolaisen works as a program director at the MFFB. He works on the “Bildungbaustein Israel” (BBI) project, the education project at the Berlin University of the Arts and the events program. His main topics are contemporary antisemitism (especially in academia), Islamism (in Germany and the Middle East), right-wing extremism (especially the AfD), the Israeli-Arab conflict and Israeli democracy (see BBI), German-Israeli relations (past and present), as well as Critical Theory (Adorno, Horkheimer, Neumann). 
Nicolaisen advises on university policy strategies against antisemitism. He wrote his master's thesis on the ‘Conflict between academic freedom and antisemitism at German universities’ at Freie Universität Berlin in 2023. He previously studied political science at Freie Universität Berlin and Marmara Üniversitesi Istanbul.

Contact: nicolaisen@mideastfreedomforum.org

 

Lectures/ Seminars

  • December 2025: Speaker as part of a BBI professional development day for a group of Berlin-based social workers – title: “Talking about the Middle East – Recognizing and Intervening against Antisemitism”
     
  • November 2025: Speaker as part of a BBI professional development day at Friedrich Schiller University Jena for teacher trainees, professors of pedagogy, and anti-discrimination officers – title: “Talking about the Middle East – Recognizing and Intervening against Antisemitism”
     
  • Autumn 2025: Speaker in several BBI professional development seminars for the Berlin State Institute for Qualification and Quality Development in Schools (BLiQ) – title: “Talking about the Middle East – Recognizing and Intervening against Antisemitism”
     
  • September 2025: Speaker in preparatory workshops for the German–Israeli Volunteer Service (DIFD) on the history and present of German–Israeli relations and on the Middle East conflict
     
  • June 2025: Speaker at the FES Foundation seminar “Israel in the Middle East: History, Society, and Politics of Israel”, with BBI modules on the history of Zionism, Israeli democracy, and the Arab–Israeli conflict
     

  • January 24, 2025: Speaker at the BBI workshop “Israel-related antisemitism” (together with Reza Zadeh), at the invitation of the AStA of the HNE Eberswalde.

  • December 10, 2024: Speaker as part of the project seminar “Antisemitism in the university context”, TU Berlin, led by Laura Steinbrück and Bettine Rau - lecture title: “Introduction to the history of the Middle East conflict and current controversies”.

  • 11 July 2024: Speaker at the colloquium ‘Practical Philosophy’ by Prof. Dr Elif Özmen at JLU Giessen - lecture title: ‘A critical theory of academic freedom against academic antisemitism’.
     
  • 21 June 2024: Speaker at the conference ‘Grenzen der Aufklärung. Der 7. Oktober und die Gegenwart des Antisemitismus’ in Cologne, organised by the Gesellschaft für Kritische Bildung (GfKB) - workshop title (together with Michael Spaney): “Introduction to the Arab-Israeli Conflict”.
     
  • 2 May 2024: Speaker and co-organizer of the conference "Academic antisemitism - academic and practical perspectives" at the FU Berlin, organized by the Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin (MFFB) and Chaverim@FU - Netzwerk für jüdische Themen - lecture title: "A critical theory of academic freedom against academic antisemitism".
     
  • 18 March 2024: Speaker at the panel discussion "The Effects of Israel-Hamas War on Academica in Europe and North America", organised by ICE (Israeli Community Europe) - lecture title: "Networks and Strategies against Antisemitism at German Universities".
     
  • October 13, 2022: Speaker at the Critical Orientation Weeks at the FU Berlin - lecture title: "Max Horkheimer's 'Concept of Education' (1952)"
     
  • July 21, 2022: Speaker in the context of the lecture series on right-wing extremism of the NaturFreunde Berlin - lecture title: "What does Adorno's 'Education after Auschwitz' (1966) mean today? Theses on the Categorical Imperative in University Education, Activism and Nation-State Politics".
     

Moderations

  • 10 July 2025: Moderator of the book presentation “Adam Kirsch’s essay ‘Settler Colonialism’: How a Research Paradigm Became a Political Weapon against Israel,” with Tim Stosberg and Christoph Hesse at the University of Potsdam, organized by MFFB in cooperation with the Young Forum.
     
  • 03 July 2025: Moderator of the event “Kurds and Israel – Allies in the Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East? Expectations of German Foreign Policy,” lecture by Ali Ertan Toprak (Kurdish Community in Germany), organized by DIG Berlin and Brandenburg in cooperation with MFFB.
     
  • May–June 2025: Moderator of three lectures in the event series “Antisemitism at Universities – Reality, Reflection, Response” at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin), with Prof. Monika Schwarz-Friesel, Prof. Karin Stögner, and Prof. Friederike Lorenz-Sinai, organized by the Antisemitism Prevention Office of UdK Berlin in cooperation with MFFB.
     
  • 04 December 2024: Moderator of the lecture “The Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1882–2023” by Prof. emeritus Dr. Benny Morris (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba), organized by DIG Berlin and Brandenburg in cooperation with the Young Forum.
     
  • 01 December 2024: Moderator of the panel “Islamist Antisemitism” with Prof. Dr. Günther Jikeli (Indiana University), PD Dr. Sarah Demmrich (University of Münster), and Dr. Cemal Öztürk (University of Duisburg-Essen), as part of the conference “Critical Antisemitism Research after 7 October 2023,” organized by the Tikvah Institute in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Julia Bernstein (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences), held there.
     

Scientific publications

Master's thesis at Freie Universität Berlin: "The conflict between anti-Semitism and academic freedom at German universities", published on January 23, 2024. 
 

Media

  • "Always stay in dialogue with the Islamic Associations", with Jahne Nicolaisen, in: Jungle World v. 16.11.2023 (link)
     
  • "Suspicion of murderer visit in Hanover," with Ulrike Becker, in: Jungle World v. Aug. 3, 2023 (link)
     
  • “Friends of Fascists and Antisemites as Partners of Hamburg – How Is That Possible?”, interview for an article by Olaf Wunder, in: Hamburger Morgenpost, 27 April 2025 (link)
     
  • “Antisemitic Rhetoric of Eradication at German Universities,” article by Geneviève Hesse / interview for the JFDA film, in: Mena Watch, 28 December 2025 (link)