Saturday, April 19, 2008
Cluelessness: Pro-Israel leaders feel at a loss as renewed British academic boycott looms
Senior academics and officials in the British Jewish community are gearing up for another boycott motion in their country against Israeli academia but lament they've lost a valuable resource which could lead the battle against well-funded proponents of the boycott. Though the motion may not have practical implications, leaders are concerned they may lose ground on the PR front because the Israeli academic body that led last year's anti-boycott campaign, the Advisory Board for Academic Freedom (IAB), closed down for lack of funding.
The British academic union, the University and College Union (UCU), is planning to hold a conference next month in Manchester where it will consider the renewed call for a boycott...
...Despite last year's precedent, however, Israeli academics in the U.K. are on edge and say the lack of funding for groups like IAB has negative implications at a critical time when cooperation is needed more than ever. "I've tried to bring Israeli lecturers [to the U.K.] and organize academic exchanges, but without funding, it has been problematic," said Prof. David Newman, a British-born lecturer at Ben Gurion University, who is now on sabbatical at the University of London. He claimed Palestinian supporters hold conferences on U.K. campuses every week "about Israel as an apartheid state." Newman complained, "There needs to be a greater balance, but my hands are tied because I have no budget."...
..."The small, hard core group that wants to see this (boycott) go through has bigger funding behind them. They are not just a small group of academics, but we haven't been able to unravel where their funding is coming from."...
...Education Minister Yuli Tamir is less concerned with the boycott effort. She told Anglo File in an interview this week that despite what she believes to be a temporary closure of the IAB, the boycott issue is less pressing than in years past simply because both the British government and the country's mainstream academic establishment remain firmly committed to open academic ties with Israel...
She's right in that it is less pressing than in the past, but that's just when you start to get complacent. Don't mistake pleasant tea-times with British colleagues for being indicative of what's going on in the trenches where the motions are passed. Even a soft academic hand can conceal a knife behind the back. There will be no excuse for Israelis being late to their own party again, should boycott efforts take wing this time.
British Jews are taking a low profile. Their fear for their safety is understandable.
Traditional British anti-semitism is no longer seen as shameful. British magazines and politicians regularly engage in slanders of Jews and Israel.
British Muslims have no qualms announcing their intentions. We've all seen the videos of British Muslims saying murderous things and seen pictures of the islamofascist demonstrations in London where the hold placards warning of a jihad, a 9/11 in Europe.
We've seen the signs of the Finsbury Park mosque celebrating "The Magnificent 19" of 9/11.
Islamofascists aided by self-hating jews, former Israelis, in British academia are emboldened.
Last year BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza and as held for 4 months and the British Journalists Union bashed ISRAEL!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/16/news/web-boycott16.php
"The timing of the ballot was particularly delicate since a BBC journalist, Alan Johnston, has been held for more than a month in Gaza, making the boycott call seem one-sided."