British academics boycott Israel
Britain's Association of University Teachers (AUT) has voted to boycott Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University for supposedly suppressing academic freedom and supporting the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Some good insight into the intellectual level of the British academics in question can be gleaned from the website of the boycott's primary organizer, Sue Blackwell, formerly a Christian fundamentalist, now a dogmatic Communist and anti-Zionist:
Q: Aren't all Zionists Jewish, and most Jews Zionist?
A: No. There has always been at least one important strand of Jewish political thinking which has been opposed to Zionism, namely socialism. Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg - my top 3 political heroes by the way - were all Jewish
Socialism isn't a "Jewish" philosophy, nor is it necessarily opposed to Zionism at all. Labor Zionists (ie, socialists) dominated the Israeli political scene for a long, long time.
Q: Are you a pacifist?
A: No, I believe in the right to self-defence, both individually and collectively. Governments commit daily acts of violence against their own citizens and those of other countries, and I support the right of ordinary people to resist that violence, using their own violence if necessary. Other than in self-defence the only war worth fighting is the class war.
Ah, yes, the class war...
Predictably, the right of self-defense doesn't apply equally to Israel, though: "I don't think the violence of the Israeli state - armed with tanks and F-16 bombers supplied by the USA and Britain - can be equated with the violence of Palestinians fighting back against illegal occupation."
The most stunning aspect of this fiasco is the AUT's sheer hypocrisy. In defense of "academic freedom," they are boycotting the scholars of a fellow democracy, many of whom oppose Israel's policies in the territories, and demanding that they adhere to a murky, ill-defined political test. Meanwhile, these defenders of academic freedom denied the targets of the boycott the chance to present their case in open debate before voting on the measure.
Some good insight into the intellectual level of the British academics in question can be gleaned from the website of the boycott's primary organizer, Sue Blackwell, formerly a Christian fundamentalist, now a dogmatic Communist and anti-Zionist:
Q: Aren't all Zionists Jewish, and most Jews Zionist?
A: No. There has always been at least one important strand of Jewish political thinking which has been opposed to Zionism, namely socialism. Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg - my top 3 political heroes by the way - were all Jewish
Socialism isn't a "Jewish" philosophy, nor is it necessarily opposed to Zionism at all. Labor Zionists (ie, socialists) dominated the Israeli political scene for a long, long time.
Q: Are you a pacifist?
A: No, I believe in the right to self-defence, both individually and collectively. Governments commit daily acts of violence against their own citizens and those of other countries, and I support the right of ordinary people to resist that violence, using their own violence if necessary. Other than in self-defence the only war worth fighting is the class war.
Ah, yes, the class war...
Predictably, the right of self-defense doesn't apply equally to Israel, though: "I don't think the violence of the Israeli state - armed with tanks and F-16 bombers supplied by the USA and Britain - can be equated with the violence of Palestinians fighting back against illegal occupation."
The most stunning aspect of this fiasco is the AUT's sheer hypocrisy. In defense of "academic freedom," they are boycotting the scholars of a fellow democracy, many of whom oppose Israel's policies in the territories, and demanding that they adhere to a murky, ill-defined political test. Meanwhile, these defenders of academic freedom denied the targets of the boycott the chance to present their case in open debate before voting on the measure.
posted by Josh
at 1:56 AM
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