More than 300 academics from dozens of British universities have pledged to boycott Israeli academic institutions in protest at what they call intolerable human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
The declaration, by 343 professors and lecturers, is printed in a full-page advertisement carried in Tuesday’s Guardian, with the title: “A commitment by UK scholars to the rights of Palestinians.”
The pledge says the signatories, from a variety of universities in England and Wales, will not accept invitations to visit Israeli academic institutions, act as referees for them, or take part in events organised or funded by them. They will, however, still work with individual Israeli academics, it adds.
The advert says the signatories are “deeply disturbed by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the intolerable human rights violations that it inflicts on all sections of the Palestinian people, and its apparent determination to resist any feasible settlement”.
In a statement on behalf of the organisers of the boycott, Prof Jonathan Rosenhead, of the London School of Economics, said Israel’s universities were “at the heart of Israel’s violations of international law and oppression of the Palestinian people”.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
We had numerous threads from this forum where so many haww hayeee'd the general boycott of general Israeli consumer goods? Even when it comes to deicing a form of peaceful protest action against Israel, there is no unity amongst Muslims.
The boycott campaign played a pivotal role in ending or at least raising staggering awareness against the Apartheid state, let's hope this campaign also manages to achieve even 5% of that. Something is always better than nothing at all.
Besides, if those academics are generally white or at least non Muslim, it is lot easier for them to get away with these campaigns and achieve a breakthrough. God forbid if Muslims living in West start openly condemning Israeli barbarity, within seconds they would be classified as "Islamists", "extremists", "fundamentalist" and God knows what else.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
Welcome to the world of minority lives. What would you say (it could be you or your family members) if pakistani hindus started celebrating 15th august and started criticizing pakistan for "terrorism" in india.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
Maybe in all free, democratic and liberal American, the idea of "patriotism" and some kind acceptance of Israel as it is goes hand in hand, but things are luckily very different in UK, despite the country being the founding father of the modern of state of Israel.
The British Parliament had already passed a resolution recognising the state of Palestine, before the academics, there were 100 plus artists who initiated the cultural boycott of Israel few months ago, and now we have academics. All in all, it has sparked a healthy debate in Britain.
British Muslims are very good at coming out in massive numbers to protest in front of Israeli embassy or Downing Street to register their anger at Israeli atrocities, but because vast majority of those Muslims are young - they haven't found the socio-economic strength to create any kind of lobby to put practical pressure. But they still have their voice which does not shy away from condemning Israel.
But yes in Britain they have far more freedom and tolerance in regards to anti Israeli criticism than USA can ever imagine. It is a lot easier to challenge Israel here on Human Rights ground - even without taking a bold stance on the legitimacy of the current borders.
Palestine is a barbaric occupation where Gaza is literally an open air prison, and that's what we are talking about here (not some vague accusations or internal "fault lines"), even Kashmirs have it slightly better than Palestinians. So your whole comparison with Hindus and Pakistan is redundant.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
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Yeah Hindus in Pakistan have a jolly good life. Blasphemy law is not misused and Hindus have equal opportunities.
Yes, compared to Palestinians, Hindus do enjoy much more freedom in Pakistan.
Why is Israel being singled out.
Because maybe the forum title says, "World Affairs" and not "Pakistan Affairs".
.. Why no talk about the massive discrimination that happens in Muslim countries.
Two wrongs do not make a right. Go ahead and talk about discrimination in Muslim countries. No one is stopping you. Check the title of the thread first though.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians’ rights
did anyone see jk rowling’s response to this? she needs to stick to writing novels, and even then she should’ve stopped after harry potter.
you can’t expect people not to get more and more infuriated with the way things are going. netanyahu shows he’s a complete arse and is now grasping at straws with the holocaust comments, as well as the declining patience for israel by usa. at some point they will have to wonder how much more flexibility and time they can buy themselves with their decision not to decide.. it is just unfortunate that it’s at the expense of civilian lives.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
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I did not bring up the topic of Pakistani Hindus.. Sadly nobody talks about the discrimination and does not get highlighted.
You are talking about it aren't you? So, what's the problem? Maybe your concern is why the scholars aren't talking about it as intensely as the Palestinian issue. Perhaps the scholars, being scholars, know the Palestinian issue is more serious than any other.
Two wrongs do not make a right but we always hear about only one kind of wrongs while the other wrong is always brushed under the carpet.
So what? What's stopping you from taking the initiative? Maybe you should become a scholar and take the lead instead of blaming others. And yes, lack of criticism of one issue is not grounds to call for halting criticism of all other issues. It's like saying the police in India should stop fighting burglary because it cannot stop the rape pandemic.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
You are talking about it aren't you? So, what's the problem? Maybe your concern is why the scholars aren't talking about it as intensely as the Palestinian issue. Perhaps the scholars, being scholars, know the Palestinian issue is more serious than any other.
Perhaps the scholars, being scholars know which side of the bread it is buttered on.
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So what? What's stopping you from taking the initiative? Maybe you should become a scholar and take the lead instead of blaming others. And yes, lack of criticism of one issue is not grounds to call for halting criticism of all other issues. It's like saying the police in India should stop fighting burglary because it cannot stop the rape pandemic.
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It is always better to understand the proper perspective while calls for boycott happen. People or the so called scholars decide to take action on what is better for them in terms of personal likes and dislikes.
The classic case of scholars deciding on what is right is when countries like Saudi Arabia get into the human rights council.
Re: UK academics boycott universities in Israel to fight for Palestinians' rights
Hmmmm i think..........by this act.........British just want to be honoured in the world again...........whom they lost with Tony Blair Statement regarding Iraq war :(
