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The Movement to Isolate Israel Susan Estrich Its supporters call it "a historic step forward." Even opponents acknowledge that "it creates a precedent." It is the resolution passed on Monday by Britain's largest association of academics to urge its members to boycott Israeli academics who have not renounced the so-called "apartheid policies" of Israel. With fewer than 200 members voting, this resolution puts a 67,000-member organization on record in support of a wrong-headed and ill-considered boycott of Israeli academics, part of a dangerous but growing movement on university campuses to isolate Israel. Make no mistake. This was no isolated action taken by a single group on Monday. This was Britain's biggest association of university professors, voting at its annual meeting. The resolution, which passed by a vote of 106 to 71, made note of "continuing Israeli apartheid policies, including construction of the exclusion wall and discriminatory educational practices," and called on British academics to "consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies." According to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which issued a statement after the vote, "Just as in the South African case, a comprehensive regime of sanctions and boycotts remains not only the most politically effective but also the most morally sound strategy in bringing about Israel's compliance with international law and universal principles of human rights." The analogy to South Africa was carefully chosen. It is the model for this campaign. Its sponsors are hoping to spread the boycott to speakers, investments, scholarship programs and all forms of involvement with the Jewish state. Plans have already been drawn up by some of the British sponsors for such a full boycott. Nor are these plans limited to British campuses. Of course, academic freedom and free speech find no place in debates like these. The idea of isolating not only a country, but also individual academics, is anathema to the very notion of academic freedom, something the sponsors of this resolution seem to care not at all about. But this is about Israel, not about academics, which is what is so troubling. If academic freedom can so easily be swept aside, why not also the First Amendment? Story Continues Below
At the University of California at Irvine, there has been a resurgence of virulent anti-Zionism on campus. Students have been careful to limit their attacks to Israel and Zionism, so as not to be criticized as anti-Semitic. They've even managed to find an occasional Jewish anti-Zionist. Still, a week of programs on "Holocaust in the Holy Land" – including a speech titled "Israel: The 4th Reich," with lines such as this: "The apartheid state of Israel is on the way down. They are living in fear, and it is about time they live in fear" – not only echo the British approach, but for many of us, cross that line. Israel is not one of a handful of Jewish states, not one of a dozen Jewish states, but the only Jewish state. Its founding was not an accident of history, but a direct outgrowth of a particular Holocaust. To separate Jews from Israel, to pretend you can hate one and not the other, is an exercise in formalism that fools no one – and the more virulent the hatred, the fewer people are fooled. "The truth of the matter is: Your days are numbered," the activist continued in his speech attacking Israel. "We will fight you until we are martyred or until we are victorious." "If you haven't been through a bit of radicalism in college, you've missed out," said Hussam Ayloush, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "They're very harmless, nonviolent kids, but they're very vocal." Maybe. But this stuff spreads easily. And those aren't kids in Britain.
COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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