Britain – A British Lecturers’ Association May Call for an Academic Boycott of Israel

The previous attempt by this group to create an academic boycott in Israel was made in April 2005 when the “Association of University Lecturers” decided to boycott Bar Ilan and Haifa Universities. This decision brought in its wake severe criticism, and under pressure from many organizations, mostly Jewish and Israeli, it was cancelled about a month after it had been adopted. The present attempt by the “Association of Lecturers in Higher Education and University Education” which has some 67 thousand members, lecturers at colleges and universities as well as in non-academic institutions in Britain. Unlike the previous proposal which dealt with two specific universities in Israel, the present proposal refers to all of the lecturers and academic institutions in Israel. The suggestion in this case proposes that the boycott not be made by the Association, but rather by its individual members. Under the heading of “Academic responsibility” it is proposed that the Association discern “Israel‘s policy of Apartheid – including the building of the separation fence and discriminatory practices in education”. It also calls for the recognition of the Palestinian elections and the victory of Hamas. (Ha’aretz)