AUT ends boycott of Israeli universities
Oxford students protest agains the proposed boycott.
The Association of University Teachers’ boycott of two Israeli Universities was overturned last Thursday, having only been in place since 22nd April. The boycott had generated substantial opposition from students and academics alike, with the Union of Jewish students organising a vigil in Euston Square on the day AUT members were voting on whether to revoke the boycott. The vigil was attended by approximately 150 people.
Daniel Lowe, a fourth year studying Arabic and Hebrew, who co-ordinated the group of Oxford students who attended, denied the motion had been primarily motivated by a concern for Palestians. “The boycott was based on an ignorant hatred for Israel and Israelis,” he said. Lowe also said he felt the boycott would be counterproductive. He declared: “The pro-boycott campaign was belittling of the efforts towards peace, dialogue and co-existence made by both Israelis and Palestinians.
“Such a boycott would inevitably impact this crossborder dialogue and academic exchange which I, and many others in Oxford, have personally been involved with.” Gabriel Doctor, president of J-Soc, told The Oxford Student there had not been an official presence at the protest because the University had declared the boycott to be contrary to University statutes.
One of the academics who has been most vocal in his opposition to the boycott, Dr Emanuele Ottolenghi, wrote to Sally Hunt, General Secretary of AUT, asking that, “In solidarity with my colleagues and as a symbolic gesture to defend the spirit of a free academia, I wish to be added to the boycott blacklist.” Ottolenghi told The Oxford Student: “I wrote the letter to show how ridiculous and disgraceful the AUT’s actions were."
He the idea that any academic should have to agree to a dogma or political view before being allowed to take part in academic discussion, “belongs to Stalinist states and dictatorships not to free democracies.” Some groups are unhappy about the reversal of the boycott.
Mahmoud Hawari, chariman of the Palistain Solidarity Campaign in Oxford told The Oxford Student: “The decision was overturned after members of the Union were subjected to a vicious campaign of pressures and threats, interventions by the Israeli government, systematic disinformation and abusive emails. However, I think the initiators of the boycott have won the moral argument.” The Oxford AUT group voted unanimously against the boycott.
2nd Jun 2005