Friday, September 28, 2007
(Mostly) The British University and College Union says: Israel boycott illegal and cannot be implemented UCU tells members
UCU announced today that, after seeking legal advice, an academic boycott of Israel would be unlawful and cannot be implemented.
Members of the union's strategy and finance committee unanimously accepted a recommendation from UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, that the union should immediately inform branches and members that:
- A boycott call would be unlawful and cannot be implemented
- UCU members' opinions cannot be tested at local meetings
- The proposed regional tour cannot go ahead under current arrangements and is therefore suspended.
The union had passed a motion at its congress in May calling for the circulation and debate of a call to boycott. Since then UCU has sought extensive legal advice in order to try to implement congress policy while protecting the position of members and of the union itself.
The legal advice makes it clear that making a call to boycott Israeli institutions would run a serious risk of infringing discrimination legislation. The call to boycott is also considered to be outside the aims and objects of the UCU.
The union has been told that while UCU is at liberty to debate the pros and cons of Israeli policies, it cannot spend members' resources on seeking to test opinion on something which is in itself unlawful and cannot be implemented. The union will now explore the best ways to implement the non-boycott elements of the motion passed at congress...
Update: Engage with analysis, here.
David Hirsh of Engage predicted that:
"It will be claimed by the campaign to exclude Israelis from our campuses, conferences and journals that the end of the boycott in UCU represents a capitulation to ‘bourgeois’ or ‘Zioinst’ law (the two adjectives have become inter-changeable amongst some ‘anti-Zionist’ ‘anti-capitalists’). "
And Shalom Lappin, on "Normblog" concurs:
"One wonders how long it will be before we are subjected to the usual claims of 'well-funded outside lobbies' and 'Zionist' cabals, to explain this latest setback to their cause."
Well, here it is, in a letter by Dr. Amjad Barham, The President of Federation of Union of Palestinian Universities' Professors & Employees:
"While we do not have the resources of the Israel lobby in the UK, we do think that fair-minded British academics ...."
http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0071267.html
Well, there is the opening gambit: It's the conspiracy of the Were-Rabbit, the collusion of British Law and the "Israel lobby", that keeps the "truth" from being recognized.
What a depressing clichéd thinking!