{"id":295,"date":"2007-06-19T02:03:55","date_gmt":"2007-06-19T02:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/06\/boycotting-common-sense.html"},"modified":"2007-06-19T02:03:55","modified_gmt":"2007-06-19T02:03:55","slug":"boycotting-common-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/06\/boycotting-common-sense.html","title":{"rendered":"Boycotting Common Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago, the British University and College Union (UCU), the union of university academics, passed an absurd and deeply offensive resolution<\/a> calling on all union members to \u201cconsider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions.\u201d In plain English, the UCU is encouraging its members to agree to a boycott of Israeli academia\u2013to cut ties with any Israel-based professors, conferences, journals, or institutions. This preposterous move presents itself in response to Israel\u2019s policies toward the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
\nNow let me start by saying there are legitimate reasons one might have concerns about Israel\u2019s treatment of the Palestinians (although, frankly, a bigger concern might be Palestinians\u2019 treatment of the Palestinians, given Hamas and Fatah\u2019s nasty new habit<\/a> of throwing each other\u2019s members off of rooftops). Even for those who are concerned about Israeli policies, however, there are several reasons that a boycott should be seen as a ludicrous piece of theatrical grandstanding at best and a shocking display of anti-Semitism at worst. First, the whole core premise of academic freedom is appallingly disregarded when certain perspectives are systematically delegitimized in what Burt Siegel, executive director of the Philly Jewish Community Relations Council (full disclosure: and my congregant), calls \u201cthe worst kind of intellectual McCarthyism.\u201d Add to this the fact that many Israeli academics who would be penalized under the proposed boycott<\/a> are on the political left and share concerns about Israel\u2019s policies in the territories. Rather than furthering the Palestinian cause, the boycott would only strengthen those on Israel\u2019s right who see a systematic campaign to delegitimize Israel.
\nAnd they\u2019re right<\/a>. What makes this campaign so outrageous and dangerous is that it punishes Israel\u2019s actions, which are relatively minor, even as it stays silent about flagrant human rights abuses and genocide in countries like China and Darfur. The UCU is completely silent when it comes to these countries and maintains relationships with human rights abusers around the world, including with Serbia during the height of the genocide. And what\u2019s worse is that the UCU is not alone in this hypocritical effort to single out Israel. The Presbyterian Church recently voted to divest from Israel; the National Synod of the United Church of Christ has a similar resolution for Israeli divestment on the table for their coming meeting, while the question of divestment from Sudan isn\u2019t even on the agenda<\/em>. In other words, it\u2019s clear that Israel is being singled out for isolation, even as organizations carry on business as usual with far worse offenders. The truth of the matter is that the UCU boycott will do nothing to help the Palestinian cause; it isn\u2019t pro-Palestinian, it\u2019s just anti-Israeli<\/em>. The true aim of the UCU isn\u2019t to change Israeli policy or help Palestinians. Its purpose is to delegtimize Israel and turn it into a pariah state. That is why it is so insidious and that is why it must be opposed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago, the British University and College Union (UCU), the union of university academics, passed an absurd and deeply offensive resolution calling on all union members to \u201cconsider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions.\u201d In plain English, the UCU is encouraging its members to agree to a boycott…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nBoycotting Common Sense - Virtual Talmud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/06\/boycotting-common-sense.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boycotting Common Sense - 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