New motions to boycott Israeli academics were passed on Friday at the annual meeting of the Association of University Teachers in the UK. The AUT voted to pass two of three motions directed against individual universities and to boycott Haifa University and Bar Ilan University.
The AUT accused Haifa University of restricting the academic freedom of staff members who are critical of the government, and protest Bar Ilan's campus in the settlement Ariel in the West Bank, The Guardian reported.
A third boycott proposal against the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was dropped after delegates to the meeting questioned the evidence of an alleged case of Palestinian land confiscation by the university.
The Israeli Embassy in London released a statement condemning the boycott as a biased and adverse move, which, far from promoting peace efforts, ignores and sabotages progress made between the Israelis and Palestinians.
"The resolutions are as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted. The AUT ignored overwhelming academic and public rejection of the proposed motions.
"The fact that no AUT member who wanted to argue against this decision was allowed to speak, and the case for the Israeli universities was not presented to delegates, speaks volumes about the relevance and fairness of this debate," the embassy statement read.
The statement noted that Arabs and Jews work and study side by side in Israeli universities.
"In particular, Haifa University, which was boycotted today, has a substantial Arab faculty and student body. Such institutions are at the forefront of efforts to develop cooperation between different communities and thus further steps towards peace.
"We are certain that the British Government and British university authorities will make it clear that no discrimination or bias on the grounds of nationality, race or religion will be tolerated in UK higher education. Academics should be at the forefront of international cooperation – by passing these resolutions the AUT is doing exactly the opposite," it concluded.
Britain's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks expressed his disappointment in the AUT's decision.
"I am most distressed by this outcome. Academic life is about building bridges of dialogue, not destroying them; opening minds, not closing them; hearing both sides of an argument, not one alone. The AUT has betrayed the academic principles it supposedly represents. This is a sad day for British universities," the rabbi concluded.
"This is a political campaign," Jonathan Spyer, Director of the European Affairs of the Global Center in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya, told The Jerusalem Post after Friday's vote.
"Indeed," he said, "the model or metaphor for it is the campaign against South African apartheid."
"The boycott," added Spyer, who is an expert on Europe-Israel relations and on the new anti-Semitism in Europe, "should be seen as part of a broader strategy toward the de-legitimization of Israel, leading to eventual sanctions against the country. This is a political campaign. The people behind the campaign, such as Sue Blackwell, are opposed to the continued existence of the State of Israel. In line with PLO policy of the 1970s, they wish to see the Jewish State replaced by a 'democratic-secular state', i.e., a single state with a Palestinian Arab majority between the Jordan and the Mediterranean."
The motions had provoked a heated debate earlier this week before the AUT assembled on Wednesday for a three-day meeting in Eastbourne, in South-East England.
Pro-boycott activists were hopeful that their motions stood a better chance of being passed this year after they were turned down in 2003. One reason for their optimism, they said earlier this month, was that they have now received the unequivocal support of the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities' Teachers and Employees, a sister union of the British association.
The Palestinian federation has recently released a statement endorsing the British call to boycott Israeli universities.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post earlier this month, Sue Blackwell, a Birmingham University lecturer and one of the leaders of the boycott proposal, told the Post that she "completely agreed" with comparisons between Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
Talkback (moderated). Please include your first and last names, your city and country.
Tim Thomson, Burntisland, Scotland: As a Christian who loves Israel and lives in Scotland, I would like to say firstly, if there is a boycott on Israeli universities, should there not be boycotts on Muslims whose religion calls for the end to all Jews. Secondly, the people behind this ridiculous boycott had better be prepared for what is to come.
Mark Brajtman, Capetown, South Africa: This latest anti-Semitic attack on Israel, by the lovers of the terrorist, shows how ignorant they are to make any comparison with apartheid South Africa.
They have obviously never been to South Africa, or to Israel. They act on what they learn from the Palestinian liars. typically, the Jenin case.
These academics should be dismissed immediately as they are causing far more harm at a time when Israel and the pa are talking peace, withdrawing from captured land etc.
Israel never attacked the Arabs, but every war fought was because of the Arabs attacking Israel.
What have the got to say about terrorism and the suicide murderers?
They have never experienced these situations themselves. The minister of education should dismiss these disgusting anti-Semites.
Sami Ambar, New York, USA: Having grown up in England, I am not at all surprised by this clearly racist anti-Semitic act. The Board of Deputies who represents British Jewry must speak up. This is just one small example what is going on in Britain. A few days ago, it was announced that Orla Guerin, a noted Israel bashing anti-Semitic British BBC TV reporter, was awarded the respected MBE award, which will be presented to her by the Queen.
A few months ago the Queen of England, unlike the Queen of the Netherlands, decided not to attend the Auschwitz remembrance ceremonies and instead sent her youngest son Prince Edward to the event. This after her grandchild decided to wear a Nazi uniform.
The Labor Party and the British media are consistently making anti-Semitic remarks about Michael Howard, the Head of the Conservative party who is Jewish and whose grandmother died at Auschwitz.
And in the meantime Mr. Blair, the hypocrite, keeps his mouth shut and tells us he's a friend of the Jews.
Dr Joseph Berger, Toronto, Canada; graduate of University of London, England, in saner times: This is absolutely and totally sick. No other words to describe it.
Michael Segal, Boston, USA: The Israeli universities should issue adjunct professorships to a large number of prominent academics who would then inform the British of their association and thus be boycotted.
Seth Morris, Washington, DC, USA: It's instructive that Anti-Semites like Sue Blackwell care not at all about China's permanent takeover of Tibet. In my opinion, attacking Israel grows from their intense frustration both of our success, and our ability and inclination to fight back when attacked.
Daniel, UK: As a British Jew, I find it unacceptable that this sort of anti-Israel activity is going on in my country. The rationale behind the boycott is pure nonsense, pure Jew-hatred, and personally, I hate the people who do it.
The Jewish People have suffered enough without fighting back. For every action taken against us, we need to take action against the people who take that action. Instead, we are not organized, and we let everything slip by.
I am ashamed that in Britain we seem to be doing nothing. Ok, we have spokespersons and organizations, but they are way out of date, they belong in the nineteenth century, their talk is far too 'professional' and 'diplomatic'. They were educated in England, and they want to sound 'nice', basically they are totally irrelevant to the future of the Jewish People.
Speaking for myself, I can't be nice, I can't be normal, I just want to fight back.
Doron Katz, Sydney, Australia: I am also appalled with the decision and freedom Universities have to discriminate based on racial or religious grounds. If the UK government does not force the universities to abide by the federal laws, which prohibit such discriminations, I would hope Israel would send a clear message by sending the UK ambassador back to the UK for an undetermined period of time.
By allowing this, this is a political statement which in fact is placing sanctions on intellectual trading and thus Israel should send its academics and intellectual assets to other European countries and the United States, where they would be appreciated more, and the UK academia would eventually be the big losers.
Ariel Lab, Simcha Monica, California, USA: When Jews sit on their hands and make excuses for decades and when the Jewish media prides itself on being liberal enough to criticize their country as if it where just another western democracy, this is the result.
Maybe now British Jews will care less about what is socially appropriate and more about virulent anti-Semitism.
Maybe now the middle left in Israel will comprehend that Jews on the right are better friends than Europeans on the left, but they just don't seem to comprehend the reality.
The initiators of this action are amongst the most prejudiced, most manipulative and most hypocritical examples of the dishonest extremist left.
Guy Yanai, Tel Aviv, Israel: This is wild anti-Semitism! What about total dictatorships?
Israel is a free democracy, which is why this is obviously anti-Semitic. The Brits should be totally ashamed of themselves!
Jamie Nicol, UK: I am a British student. I have already written to the AUT, expressing my opinion about this. The letter just about sums up how I feel, although I also feel that no words are capable of describing my utter contempt for these ignorant, pathetic, bigoted, racist people.
Excerpts from the letter:
As a British student, words cannot express my unreserved outrage to this foul policy. It stinks to high heaven.
I hope the Israelis boycott every one of you revolting people - it'll be your loss, not theirs.
Here's what you should be boycotting: Nablus' Al-Najah University, Breeding Ground of Suicide Bombers.
This just shows how far removed from reality and how utterly deranged by hatred you really are.
