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| 1,200 Academics Sign Anti-BDS Petition |
| 2014-10-09 |
| [IsraelTimes] Nearly 1,200 academics from universities and colleges across the world signed an online petition to oppose any boycott of Israel and its higher education institutions. The petition was posted October 5 on the Faculty for Academic Freedom website and had been endorsed by 1,185 signatories at time of writing. "We, the undersigned academics... vigorously support free speech and free debate but we oppose faculty or student boycotts of Israel's academic institutions, scholars and students," the petition states. The statement accused BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) supporters of discriminating against Israeli institutions, professors, and students "for no other reason than their nationality and the policies of their government," and added that such a practice violated "the very principle of academic freedom." According to the petition, the BDS supporters' position undermines the possibility of ever achieving a long-lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Paleostinians, as it completely isolated the Jewish state. "The two-state solution ‐ which guarantees to both parties mutual recognition ‐ enjoys the endorsement of the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... , the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... ," the petition reads. "By demonizing and seeking to isolate one of the two parties to the grinding of the peace processor, the anti-Israel BDS movement sets itself apart from the global consensus for peace." The anti-BDS petition came in response to a statement posted on Oct. 1 on the website jadaliyya.com signed by "As a community of scholars who study problems of power, oppression, and cultural hegemony, we have a moral responsibility to speak out and demand accountability from Israel and our own governments," read the statement, which endorsed "boycott[ing] Israeli academic institutions that are complicit in these violations." Israeli academic institutions, the statement said, "are complicit with the occupation and oppression of Paleostinians" with "intimate connections between Israeli academic institutions and the military, security, and political establishments in Israel." Among the signatories were 13 academics from the City University of New York and 13 from Columbia University. Nine co-signatories were listed as being from Harvard University and eight from Yale University. |
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