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David Vance is the editor of , an online Unionist newsletter that seeks to help maintain Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom.
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By David Vance
December 16, 2002
"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts, but of values."
(William Ralph Inge, 1917)
Based on the momentum with which the current British boycott of Israeli academics is gathering pace, it seems that ignorance of both facts and values characterizes the liberal intelligentsia within British academia.
Dozens of professors from amongst the UK's top universities are refusing to cooperate with their Israeli colleagues as part of a concerted campaign to exert pressure on the government of Ariel Sharon over its alleged mistreatment of Palestinians. It has been revealed that as well as this refusal to collaborate with Israeli colleagues in research projects and conferences, there is now mounting evidence that articles from Israeli professors are also being turned down for publication in British journals.
Dr. Oren Yiftachel of Ben Gurion University has claimed that a paper he had co-written with a Palestinian was returned to him by the noted British journal "Political Geography" with a note saying that it could not accept a submission from Israel. The paper was eventually accepted after months of negotiation and an agreement that Dr. Yiftachel making "substantial revisions" to the original copy, including inserting a comparison between his homeland and apartheid South Africa.
Adding to this rolling boycott is the knowledge that science researchers in Israel are now saying that academic papers are being returned from Britain without having even been considered for publication. The boycott is tightening its' grip.
British academics first shamed themselves eight months ago when two professors wrote to a national newspaper calling for a suspension of European Union grants and contracts to all Israeli universities until Mr. Sharon's government "opens serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians." This was at a time when legions of Palestinian suicide bombers were bringing death and bloody mayhem onto the streets of Israel. Somehow this detail slipped the mind of these distinguished professors.
But once started, the boycott was enthusiastically embraced by some of the finest minds in British academia. For example, Patrick Bateson, Provost of Kings College Cambridge, and Colin Blakemore, professor of physiology at Oxford, were amongst 123 academics keen to pledge their public support for the plan to starve Israeli universities of cash.
There have been several on-line petitions amongst Britain's academics highly critical of Israel but all failing to include any condemnation of Palestinian suicide bombers. The ending of any form of cooperation with Israeli academics is their common objective
Back in July, two professors were sacked from British journals for being Israeli! Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology dismissed Gideon Toury and Miriam Schlesinger from the journals she edits privately, provoking an international outcry. Naturally Professor Baker felt no need to apologize for her intolerance. Just being an Israeli, or supporting Israel, appears reason enough to lose your job in modern Britain.
Those academics behind this disgraceful boycott are claiming that their campaign is succeeding. Professor Steven Rose has claimed: "We have documentary evidence from colleagues who are no longer pursuing collaborations such as joint conferences, research projects and invitations to go and speak at events." His colleague in bigotry, Professor Blakemore revealed: "I do not know of any British academic who has been at a conference in Israel in six months."
The pro-Arafat bias that so distinguishes these British professors comes as little surprise. The same people are similarly happily disposed to Islamofascists, to Saddam Hussein, and for years they have supported the IRA. Their absolute moral bankruptcy and ridiculously contrived political radicalism is symptomatic of much that passes for intellectualism within the United Kingdom.
Not having British academic bigots coming to lecture in Israel is a good thing. It would be even better if they did not lecture in Britain. They spread a toxic immoral gospel that should offend any civilized human being. Since they cannot distinguish between right and wrong, no one should pay any attention to them. These people demonstrate that the more educated some people become - the greater their level of ignorance.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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