There is a major development in the movement among universities and colleges to boycott Israeli universities over objections to its treatment of the Palestinians. The influential American Studies Association on Monday endorsed the boycott with mover 3000 of its members voting and 66 percent supporting the action as a response what they view as a pattern of human rights violations by Israel. It is a major victory for academics pushing for cutting off ties to Israeli educations institutions.
The association passed the endorsement of the boycott with the statement that “The ASA condemns the United States’ significant role in aiding and abetting Israel’s violations of human rights against Palestinians and its occupation of Palestinian lands through its use of the veto in the UN Security Council.”
The boycott is beginning to impact academics in Israel, a major part of the country’s economy and culture. A similar boycott against Israeli products has been expanding with many stores pledging not to buy products from the country.
The academic boycott not only calls for cutting off ties to Israeli institutions but divestment and sanctions against Israel. It has even greater support in Europe.
Kenneth Stern of the New York-based American Jewish Committee objected to the American Studies Association’s vote “abhorrent.”
Notably, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) opposes the boycott as a violation of academic freedom — a legitimate concern. However, the ASA insists that it is not limiting individual collaboration on scholarship and only “formal partnership[s] with or sponsorship[s] by Israeli academic institutions.”
Here is the ASA resolution:
American Studies Association Resolution on Academic Boycott of Israel
December 4, 2013
Whereas the American Studies Association is committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the struggle against all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and to solidarity with aggrieved peoples in the United States and in the world;
Whereas the United States plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the expansion of illegal settlements and the Wall in violation of international law, as well as in supporting the systematic discrimination against Palestinians, which has had documented devastating impact on the overall well-being, the exercise of political and human rights, the freedom of movement, and the educational opportunities of Palestinians;
Whereas there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation, and Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students;
Whereas the American Studies Association is cognizant of Israeli scholars and students who are critical of Israeli state policies and who support the international boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement under conditions of isolation and threat of sanction;
Whereas the American Studies Association is dedicated to the right of students and scholars to pursue education and research without undue state interference, repression, and military violence, and in keeping with the spirit of its previous statements supports the right of students and scholars to intellectual freedom and to political dissent as citizens and scholars;
It is resolved that the American Studies Association (ASA) endorses and will honor the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. It is also resolved that the ASA supports the protected rights of students and scholars everywhere to engage in research and public speaking about Israel-Palestine and in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Source: ABCNews
Do these actions implicate either U.S. or Israeli Anti-Boycott laws?
I’m following….
“What a bunch of hypocrites! Follow the money!” (Justice Holmes)
Agree!
**Mike Spindell 1, December 17, 2013 at 9:48 am **
What Mike S said.
I am going to join the ASA and then file a motion to Boycott New York City. The police in NYC stop and frisk black people for being black people. The cops and the Mayor (a Jew by the way) says that it cuts down on crime. I believe that this is discrimination. I call for a Boycott against the City and all companies who do business there, including Bloomberg News. If you are going to be a bear be a grizzly.
I am confused here about names. It is George Dubl-U Bush, not George Dubai Bush. Grandad was George Hiram Walker Bush. Oh, and the Palestinians have a great human rights record. I have one recommendation for you though. Do not be a dog on the West Bank of the Jordan River. That is where Saint Peter sends one to perdition for being a bad human on Earth. A dog on the West Bank is hanging by his hind feet (alive) in a food market, usually an outdoor market. The Israelis object to this treatment but the Jordanians say that it is part of their “Heritage”. I guess its kind of like those segregated sororities at Ol Miss.
These bigots call themselves an “academic” group?
“They will take no guff from anyone. “Carpet bomb the Palestinians.” (as stated by a member of the Knesset who a few years earlier immigrated from Russia).”
Isaac,
Selective quotation does not a case make.
“Drive the Israeli’s into the Sea”. Re-quoted various times by many people and included in the PLO’s statement of purpose.
“However, Israel today and since its foundation has been moving in the same direction America did in the 1800′s regarding the ethnic cleansing of the West of its original inhabitants.”
I suggest that you apply yourself to really studying both histories you cite since what has occurred in Israel in no way is analogous to what happened to the native Americans. however, the necessities of propaganda are such that it is important for the Arab side to defuse what was perpetrated in the Shoah in order to paint the Israeli’s in genocidal terms, thus ending any sympathy people may have because of the history of Jewish oppression. As far as the U.S. being so supportive of Israel I’ve dealt with that myth many times here, but the propaganda of oil money is pervasive and overwhelming.
MS I agree that there is no comparison to what the US did in regards to the Native Americans and what Israel is doing since Israel is far worse. The fact is that the Native Americans were FAR outnumbered by the settlers and indeed became US citizens as well as having their tribal territories. The treaties that were signed gave compensation to them in return for cession of their range land. While it is true that they were cheated out of the goods and living materials that they were promised in many cases, it was not US policy to do that. Then there is the fact that the Native Americans were not settled peoples tied to the land in settlements for the most part except for some tribes in the east. The Palestinians are in the main town residents and farmers who have centuries ties to their land. Israel has NO desire and will NOT allow the conquered people to join in Israeli society as equals, and is true in the US for our Native Americans.
Sorry Isaac, justice Holmes had it right. Israel has its problems, but there are far far worse offender when it comes to human rights. And the US is very cozy with most. Follow the money.
The anti-Semitic uptick in the past 5 years or so is deeply disturbing.
The eternal question is if you target one example of injustice and you don’t target the others, then are you a hypocrite? Israel is unique as it receives almost unfettered support from the US and most other western nations. The core of its people have been targeted for centuries, especially by the Germans and other Europeans in WW2. However, Israel today and since its foundation has been moving in the same direction America did in the 1800’s regarding the ethnic cleansing of the West of its original inhabitants.
Their flag is that thousands of years ago their god gave them this land. They have suffered enough and deserve it. They will take no guff from anyone. “Carpet bomb the Palestinians.” (as stated by a member of the Knesset who a few years earlier immigrated from Russia).
The issue is human rights, not Israeli human rights, not Palestinian human rights, not Arab human rights, but human rights. In this regard, Israel is sorely wanting, regardless of how much its people have suffered and how deficient other nations, including ours, is in this arena.
Tough to stand up for something or against it when you are on one side or the other.
I usually do not reply to dogs, but this one is too off the wall to ignore. The examples cited do NOT apply at all. The Mexicans who stayed became US CITIZENS if they wished. The Palestinians are barred from becoming Israeli citizens and have no rights that are respected. Too bad your knowledge of US history is so bad.
The segregation of fraternal organizations is NOT mandated by law, nor are classes segregated. Plus the fact that such private clubs are NOT required by any law to take any and all comers. In fact no church or synagogue is required to take any person just because they ask.
I was not aware that any US university has formal ties with any Dubai university. It is NYU, NOT Dubai U there. Try using ones head.
I agree with this resolution.
“It is NYU, NOT Dubai U there. Try using ones head.”
ARE,
Your facts are somewhat askew.
http://nyuad.nyu.edu/about/careers.html
Now are you seriously relating that Dubai has a better human rights record than Israel.?
MS this is NOT a Dubai university! It is NYU teaching in that country apart from the government and any local university. Big difference between this and having institutional links with a local school that is government supported and run as Israeli schools are. I guess that one would have to denounce any US university that has an extension in Red China too or any other objectionable regime.
“I guess that one would have to denounce any US university that has an extension in Red China too or any other objectionable regime.”
I think that is true considering the human rights history of these places, but then perhaps some choose to pick and choose which human rights issues to pay attention to.
“MS I agree that there is no comparison to what the US did in regards to the Native Americans and what Israel is doing since Israel is far worse.”
Randyjet,
I normally respect your intelligence and your comments on most things. This statement, however, and the balance of your comment are hyperbolic nonsense. It is seemingly a defense of the U.S. treatment of Native Americans that is completely un-historic and amazingly naive. My thought is that since you start with a pre-judgment against Israel’s legitimacy, you are forced to twist logic into justifying your opinion. I believe you can do better than that.
The facts are that those Arabs indigenous to the Palestine Territory were urged to leave their homes by the attacking massed, Arab forces so as not to impede their march to drive the Jews into the sea. About 500,000 fled despite Israeli pleas for them to remain. Israel, under armed and outnumbered defeated the well equipped massed invaders. The U.S. had an arms embargo against Israel and refused it aid in any way. That’s the history, but literally billion$ of oil dollars have been spent to re-write it and the propaganda seems to have worked with you.
MS I too regard your comments as well grounded in logic and facts. Unfortunately, you have a knee jerk reaction to any criticism of Israel which I understand, but just as I have no hesitation hitting the US government for its misdeeds and crimes, I would have hope you would take a similar view of Israel. I notice that you offer no factual rebuttal to my observations on US governmental policy towards the Native Americans. I have done extensive reading and research in this area, and I recommend two books I recently read, Mayflower, and Trail of Tears which I just finished a month ago. I have also read and have in my library Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee which was probably the first book I read on the subject. All of these are excellent books. I also read a bio of President Grant, who had a very progressive policy towards the Indians, and he appointed the first Native American to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs and did his best to be just to them. I think you need to get beyond the standard view of too many which is that the US committed genocide against them. That is simply UNTRUE. In fact, on the trail of tears, only 234 died and that was mainly due to Ross, a Cherokee, being the contractor to provide for supplies and transport. Had it been left to the US Army, it probably would have been done better.
As for my presumed hatred or disallowance of the legitimacy of the state of Israel, I can only guess that you forgot my posts in support of the IDF attacking and killing Hamas in Gaza. I am always in favor of killing fascists of any stripe be they Jews, Palestinians, Muslims, Germans, Americans,etc.. There is no question as to the legitimacy of Israel if for no other reason that they are recognized and full members of the UN and are an established fact. The justice of the founding of Israel is a moot point and is fruitless to debate it. I think that I know a LOT more than you about Israel and the IDF since I recommend van Creveld’s book The Sword and the Olive which I also have read.
I see that you simply either lie, or ignore the crimes that Israel has done en masse against the Palestinians. Israel did NOT ask Palestinians to stay since it was the Haganah which drove out the Palestinians from Haifa at GUNPOINT on pain of DEATH! Then there is the little matter of Deir Yassin in which over 200 men,women and children Palestinians were slaughtered by the Irgun to promote the exodus of all non Jews. No rational independent observer can ignore those FACTS. Then we have the fact that prior to 1948, the word terrorist was applied to Israeli Jewish Zionists who developed the letter bombs which they sent to Britain to blow off the hands and kill secretaries in London. The fact is that Israel has pardoned the assassins of Count Bernadotte who was the victim of Israeli terrorists while he was trying to end the war. How can you overlook such criminals and terrorists except that you think that YOUR terrorists are good ones? This is just as bad as the Muslim extremists of Hamas and is just as outrageous.
If you read The Sword and the Olive, you will find that Israelis were not outnumbered or outgunned. In FACT is was the other way around. The UN and the west had an arms embargo against all arms to the region which was quite effective against the Arabs, but less so against the Israelis. At the founding of Israel, it was viewed by most as a very left wing government and the US establishment was against supporting them. Stalin though thought quite well of them since they had communists in the government. So Stalin had Czechoslovakia break the arms embargo that the UN imposed. Almost all of their weapons came from Czechoslovakia, and the nascent Israeli Air Force had most of its fighters ME-109s from that country too. The Arabs had no such arms source and suffered the consequences. I have read about the first Israeli pilots who fought in that first war and I loved the irony that Nazi aircraft were in large part responsible for Israel’s victory. Later the Israelis got the blueprints for the Mirage fighters and were building their own planes, and then they got license to build them since Dassault was Jewish and had fought in WWII. As we saw in 1967, they FAR outclassed the Migs. In any case, the armed forces in 1948 were very small compared to what exists now.
I doubt that oil money has anything to do with van Creveld since he is a veteran of the IDF and is a well respected military writer and can hardly be called an anti-Semite. I suggest you read his book first before you buy the Israeli propaganda crap. I also have first hand eyewitness accounts of how the Israelis treat UN peacekeepers, and Israeli Palestinians. They are all pilots who I worked with. One of them was in the Danish military at a UN observer post. The Israelis loved to blow past his post and machine gun it as they went buy. They thought it was funny to see them all jump for their lives. He came out of that experience hating Israelis. Big surprise, which also explains why the countries who sent people under the UN are among the leading critics of Israel. The dumbos must forget that these UN peacekeepers have families and friends and when they get back home, they tell of their experiences.
Another fellow pilot who is now a United airlines captain is an Israeli Arab. He got out of Israel and came to the US because he knew he had NO future in Israel. When he goes home to visit family in Israel, it normally takes at least three hours before they let him in. They subject him to hours long grilling even though he is in his United Airlines uniform, has all kinds of security badges and clearances. The whole point as he thought is to discourage him from coming back to Israel since he is a bad example for other Arab Israelis. In the vernacular of the old South, he is an uppity nigger to them. It is an article of faith and treatment of Arab Israelis that they are inferior to Jews, and this is reflected in all of their laws. IT is this kind of thing that I protest against and any US universities having ties to Israeli universities. As for other countries having worse records, that is true, but in NONE of those do we taxpayers pay over $4 BILLION/yr as we do Israel.
This boy is going to call for a boycott of American Universities. They have long deeply herded traditions of racial segregation in fraternities and sororities. Google: Segregated Sororities in Alabama. If American schools are going to treat black people like Palestinians then those schools need to be boycotted. The graduates need to be denied employment. Alphabetically you can start with Alabama and keep going past Ol Miss.
If you are in favor of Jordanians who live on the West Bank of the Jordan River then lobby for Jordan to take back that territory. The six day war back in 1967 was too short. It is kind of like those Mexicans who stayed on in Texas after Texas seceded from Mexico. Or those Mexicans in New Mexico. Or those folks from Cardinal Nation living on the West Bank of the Mississippi. We need a Cardinal Nation State on the West Bank. Boycott Illinois if they object.
“This boy is going to call for a boycott of American Universities. They have long deeply herded traditions of racial segregation in fraternities and sororities.”
BDog,
It does seem like we’re dealing here with situational ethics.
Count me in with them, too. What about NYU in Dubai?
Count me in with Justice Holmes and with Andrea. The hypocrisy reeks.
Isn’t this a bit like blaming Harvard and/or Georgetown for what the military NSA does?
Will this same group boycott Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates or China? Probably not because there is gold in those hills. American Universities are fanning out across the world dealing with dictators and theocracies that oppress women, men and children without distinction. Boycotting Israel is about a lot more that concern about human rights… It is an age old problem.
Will this same group boycott UK Universities that believe that women are really second class citizens? No because of course women are expendable.
What a bunch of hypocrites! Follow the money!
Jonathan Turley, you seem to have no opinion on this (or are perhaps timid about stating it), since you haven’t blogged one.
I’m not awake enough to write mine, so I’ll link to Jeffrey Goldberg’s:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-16/some-lessons-in-effective-scapegoating.html
An excerpt: “Savvier scapegoaters know how indispensably important it is to deny singling out the world’s one Jewish country for discriminatory treatment simply because it is Jewish. When asked “Why Israel?” they are ready with an answer: “Because Israel is a uniquely evil country.”
Marez, an earnest but unskilled propagandist, failed this very basic test. When New York Times reporter Richard Perez-Pena asked him why Israel, alone among the countries of the world, was chosen for excoriation and isolation — the ASA has heretofore boycotted no other country — Marez “did not dispute that many nations, including many of Israel’s neighbors, are generally judged to have human rights records that are worse than Israel’s, or comparable.” Marez then compounded his error by telling Perez-Pena, in his organization’s defense, that ‘one has to start somewhere.'”
Also, a tweet from Virginia Postrel:
@vpostrel
American Studies Assn votes to fuel popular belief that humanists are nasty, scholarship-hating ideologues http://buff.ly/IQs2tB
BAD.
GOOD.