Academic boycott of Israel

The current campaign for an academic boycott of Israel was launched in April 2004 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.[1] The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals.[2] Since then, proposals for academic boycotts of particular Israeli universities and academics have been made by academics and organisations in Palestine,[3] the United States,[4] the United Kingdom,[5] and other countries. The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians.[6]

The campaigns for academic boycott of Israel have led to fierce debate. Opponents argue that boycott advocates apply different standards to Israel than other countries, that the boycott is counterproductive, a collective punishment of Israeli academia,[7] a tactic to threaten the existence of the State of Israel,[8] and also that the campaign is antisemitic.[9][10][11][12][13][14] Despite this debate, academic boycott measures have been undertaken around the world, with some support among academic associations and unions, but with little institutional success.[15]

  1. ^ Pessin Andrew and Doron S. Ben-Atar. Introduction. Anti-Zionism on Campus: The University, Free Speech, and BDS, edited by Pessin and Ben-Atar, Indiana UP, 2018, pp. 1-40.
  2. ^ Keller, Uri Yacobi (October 2009). "Academic Boycott of Israel and the Complicity of Israeli Academic Institutions in Occupation of Palestinian Territories" (PDF). Economy of the Occupation. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Call for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel". PACBI. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  4. ^ USACBI. "US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel". Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  5. ^ Newman, David. "The academic boycott of Israel", Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2 (2), 45–56, 2008
  6. ^ "Israel Palestine Paradoxes of Academic Freedom". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  7. ^ Isaacs, Tracy; Vernon, Richard (2011). Accountability for Collective Wrongdoing. Cambridge University Press. pp. 215–218. ISBN 9781139497312. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. ^ Avnon, Dan. "BDS and Self-Righteous Moralists." Anti-Zionism on Campus, Pessin and Ben-Atar, Indiana UP, 2018, pp. 224-235.
  9. ^ ADL Slams British Academic Boycott Policy Archived 25 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Anti-Defamation League, 26 May 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  10. ^ "Lecturers call for Israel boycott", BBC News, 30 May 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
  11. ^ Tamara Traubmann and Benjamin Joffe-Walt, "Israeli university boycott: how a campaign backfired", The Guardian, 20 June 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
  12. ^ Editorial (6 May 2005). "Facing Up to the AUT". The New York Sun.
  13. ^ Anthony Julius and Alan Dershowitz in The Times Online 13 June 2007 "The Contemporary Fight Against anti-Semitism". Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Times Higher Education, June 2, 2006". Timeshighereducation.co.uk. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  15. ^ Ward, Olivia (20 July 2015). "Israeli boycott movement scores successes". Toronto Star. Retrieved 25 March 2016.