Fighting Discrimination is Discrimination?

While not calling for an organisational boycott the UCU is asking members to learn about the Israel-Palestine conflict.  It hopes to appeal to freedom of conscience, that once academics realise Israel is a criminal state they will refuse to work with it and personally boycott it.

However the Stop the Boycott campaign is threatening that appealing to academics freedom of conscience is illegal due to discrimination on a national and religous basis.  It seems odd that anti-racist laws are being used to defend a racist colonial state.  Was the boycott against apartheid in South Africa anti-white?  Anti-South African?  Or just anti-oppression?

I’m not sure what Stop the Boycott want?  That we can discuss Israel-Palestine, conclude Israel’s a criminal state (as did the International Court of Justice), but do nothing for fear of being sued?  I’ve been boycotting Israel goods and going to protests for several years now including Stop the War marches.  Does that mean I’m discriminating against Israeli’s and my fellow Brits?  Clearly not, I’m using democratic freedoms to pressure Governments to try and produce positive changes.  They also argue that the discrimination is not just to Israeli’s as it would ‘expose Jewish members of the union to indirect discrimination’ too.  A topic I’ve tackled previously here.

The fact that the legal advice suggests talking about boycotting Israel is anti-Jewish discrimination suggests they are clutching at straws and merely trying to smear and scare the campaign.  I can’t imagine theres a strong legal case against the boycott and I hope the UCU continues even if legal action is taken.  Having Israel’s crimes and status as an apartheid state going through the courts would be a big success – a McLibel 2.0.

For more news coverage on the Stop the boycott legal advice see the Guardian, Jewish Chronicle and Jerusalem Post.

Reviving academic boycott of Israel?

The UCU have no motion to boycott Israel merely one to debate the moral issues of working with Israeli institutions.  Disappointing.  However pro-Israel groups, such as Stop the Boycott (StB), that keep claiming they’re worried about academic freedom, are seeking legal advice to make sure this doesn’t happen!  You have to ask if they care about academic freedom or just care about defending Israel?  You also have to ask – was boycotting South Africa under apartheid discriminatory or was it apartheid itself that was discriminatory?  The legal case against the boycott was no where near as clear as its made out to be.  The following from the Guardian - for other recent articles see here and here.

Academics are today accused of attempting to revive the intensely controversial academic boycott of Israel by calling for lecturers to consider their links with Israeli institutions and lobby contacts over the Israeli occupation.

The Universities and College Union (UCU) annual conference will debate a motion that falls short of a full-blown boycott, but asks members to “consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions”.