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Israel is singled out for censure
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| By israelinsider staff May 30, 2007 |
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University lecturers in the United Kingdom today voted to force their union into a year-long debate over boycotting work with Israeli universities, and risk provoking European and international condemnation over political interference with academic freedom, the Guardian reported.
At the first conference of the new University and College Union in Bournemouth, delegates voted 158 to 99 to recommend boycotts in protest of what it called Israel's "40-year occupation" of Palestinian land and to condemn the "complicity" of Israeli academics.
The conference motion acceded to the demand for "a comprehensive and consistent boycott" of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions.
Michael Cushman, from the London School of Economics, complained that Israeli lecturers "regularly ... take up their commissions in the Israeli Defence Force as reserve officers to go into the West Bank to dominate, control and shoot the population."
The union's leadership is now directed to circulate calls from Palestinians for a boycott of Israeli universities to all branches throughout the country. The Guardian quoted Tom Hickey, a Brighton University academic and union national executive member, who led the call for stronger moves towards a boycott, as saying: "There will be adverse effects on individuals, but this is not targeting individuals or trying to break contacts with them."
A boycott could involve lecturers refusing to collaborate on research contracts with Israeli academics and refusing to work with journals published by Israeli companies. Hickey said the vote reflected "the deep concern" people have about the issue.
But Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the union, said: "I do not believe a boycott is supported by a majority of (the 120,000) UCU members; nor do I believe that members see it as a priority for the union." She spoke out against the motion, and doubted that an actual boycott would come to fruition. "All branches now have a responsibility to consult all of their members on the issue... Any future calls for a boycott must pass key tests before a boycott can be implemented."
Ofir Frankel, a spokesman for the Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, said: "This was a disappointment. We see it as discriminatory and counterproductive. It will make British academia look a little less serious." He added that it would also damage existing links between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs.
The decision was greeted with outrage among Jewish groups and activists. Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: "The UCU boycott motion is an assault on academic freedom. While the vast majority of academics do not support a boycott, this decision damages the credibility of British academia as a whole."
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "Now is the time to strengthen the kinds of relationships that will bring all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict together and, in this country, create a better understanding of the complex issues through that engagement. We call upon the Union's leadership and all members who are rightly outraged by the decision to work towards a reversal of this policy."
Mitch Simmons, campaigns director for the Union of Jewish Students, said: "Academic freedom is part of the fabric of modern society. The exchange of information and the advancement of human knowledge should have no borders. Disappointingly, it seems that no value can be left unviolated by the proposers of this motion."
Responding to the resolution, Professor Menachem Kellner, Professor of Jewish Thought at Haifa University, said: "I'm deeply disappointed by the failure of truth and justice at this vote." He doubted that the boycott would seriously impact Israeli academia, "treat it with seriousness because it will affect Jewish organizations abroad," he said.
"The people who organized this boycott are working for the forces of evil. They not working for Palestinians, they are working against Israel," Kellner declared, adding: "If there was something there that would actually help Palestinians, I would say they are honest but dumb. But this is just an attempt to defame and delegitimize Israel." He added: "This is a sad day for British academia. The boycott resolution is a badge of dishonor."
Ronnie Fraser, Chairman of the Academic Friends of Israel organization, who spoke during the debate, said that Britain was the only country in Europe seeking a boycott of Israel. "There will be very little take up of this issue because Israeli academica is premier league, everyone wants to work with them," he said. "There are 500 current projects involving Israeli academics in the EU framework. Europe is not interested in a boycott or a moratorium, and its going to have absolutely no effect."
"We will continue to oppose the boycott, and spare no efforts in combating it. Nothing we heard today was of a positive nature," he added. |
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