SWC: British University and College Union should be shunned by International Academics for Boycott of Israeli Academics and Institutions

SWC: British University and College Union should be shunned by International Academics for Boycott of Israeli Academics and Institutions

Yesterday, the University and College Union (UCU), representing teachers in
universities and institutions of Higher Education throughout the United
Kingdom, voted to boycott its Israeli counterparts.

In a letter to Prof. Mohamedbhai Goolam, President of the Paris-based
International Association of Universities (IAU), the Simon Wiesenthal
Center's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed
its membership's grave concern at "this one-sided and discriminatory
campaign to single out Israeli academics and Universities."

Samuels added, "Campaign instigators have also called for a rupture in
research collaboration and in the publication of papers in Israeli learned
journals."

The letter noted that "the International Association of Universities
represents institutions and organizations of higher education in over 150
countries, and [its] Founding Charter states as 'a fundamental principle
for which every university should stand: the tolerance of divergent opinion
and freedom from political interference.'"

Samuels stressed that "the UCU boycott, in its political interference,
encourages the most extreme rejectionists of peace in the Middle East and
will exacerbate relations between Arabs and Israelis, Muslims and Jews on
British campuses. Above all, in its anti-Israeli focus, it is in violation
of Article 13 of the European Union's Treaty of Amsterdam, which prohibits
'national discrimination'; it also evokes the clause in the 2004 Working
Definition of Anti-Semitism of the European Union Monitoriong Centre on
Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), which states: 'Applying double standards by
requiring of it [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other
democratic nation.' Thus, the UCU behaviour is clearly characterized by
this international instrument as a form of antisemitism."

The Center urged the International Association of Universities "to publicly
condemn this boycott and to warn the UCU that it will be considered a
pariah in international academia until its scurrilous resolution is
reversed."

The letter was shared with Pornchai Mongkhonvanit, President of the IAU's
sister organization, the International Association of University Presidents
(IAUP) in Bangkok. It was likewise sent to the IAU's Associate members,
Prof. Georg Winckler, President of the European University Association
(EUA) in Brussels, and Prof. Ward David, President of the American Council
on Education (ACE) in Washington D.C., in order to alert them to potential
regional repercussions.

Samuels concluded: "Boycotts are the antithesis to international scholarly
cross-fertilization. The political hatemongering behind the British
University and College Union's campaign must not impugn academic integrity
- prejudice must carry a price."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58