Brandeis University — often regarded as America's premier Jewish-sponsored institution of higher learning — is facing threats of a boycott from an organization once known as the standard-bearer of American Zionism.

The Zionist Organization of America issued a statement Tuesday calling on donors to rethink their financial support for Brandeis if the university fails to reconsider its appointment of Palestinian political scientist Khalil Shikaki. A well-known commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, Shikaki was recently made a senior fellow at the university's Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

The ZOA alleges that more than a decade ago, Shikaki had ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, of which his late brother was a leader. Critics of the appointment have pointed out that Islamic Jihad was responsible for the 1995 terrorist bombing in Israel that killed Brandeis alumnus Alisa Flatow...