Israel, Jewish groups slam ASA academic boycott

[King_David]

American Studies Association has never boycotted any other country, but its president says "one has to start somewhere" • Anti-Defamation League slams "morally bankrupt and intellectually dishonest attack on academic freedom."

Israel and Jewish groups leveled harsh criticism at the American Studies Association on Monday, after it announced that its members have endorsed a boycott of Israeli academia. In a statement, the ASA, which has 5,000 individual members and 2,200 institutional subscribers, said that 66 percent of its members voted in favor of the move.

"The [ASA National] Council voted for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions as an ethical stance, a form of material and symbolic action. It represents a principle of solidarity with scholars and students deprived of their academic freedom and an aspiration to enlarge that freedom for all, including Palestinians," the ASA said in a statement.

"We believe that the ASA's endorsement of a boycott is warranted given U.S. military and other support for Israel; Israel's violation of international law and U.N. resolutions; the documented impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students; the extent to which Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights; and the support of such a resolution by many members of the ASA," the statement said.

"Our resolution understands boycott as limited to a refusal on the part of the association in its official capacities to enter into formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions, or with scholars who are expressly serving as representatives or ambassadors of those institutions, or on behalf of the Israeli government, until Israel ceases to violate human rights and international law.

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14061

[CorrectingTheRecord]

1. Misleading quote

This piece includes a reductive caricature of a quote from the ASA president, which depends on ignoring the next two sentences that he said, which appear in the full version of the NYT story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/us/scholars-group-to-disclose-result-of-vote-on-an-academic-boycott-of-israel.html?_r=0

This piece takes the easy way out here, cutting the quote to 5 words. Here is the rest of the quote: “He argued that the United States has “a particular responsibility to answer the call for boycott because it is the largest supplier of military aid to the state of Israel.” While acknowledging that the same could be said of a number of oppressive governments, past and present, he said that in those countries, civil society groups had not asked his association for a boycott, as Palestinian groups have.”

It’s far easier for those opposed to BDS to generate a reductive meme that pretends 5 words were all the president said and make that the sole basis of their critique; no one seems to want to confront the argument that ASA scholars found this issue especially important because Israel is the largest recipient of US aid and the US is therefore complicit in apartheid-like conditions there. It is intellectually dishonest and ethically wrong to keep reproducing this right-wing meme

[King_David]

2. I guess you never read the article I posted ?

Try make another point, because my article clearly says :

'According to the report, Marez did not dispute the fact that other countries, including some in the Middle East, have far worse human rights records, saying, "One has to start somewhere. … There is a particular responsibility to answer the call for boycott because [the U.S.] is the largest supplier of military aid to the State of Israel."

You do know about copyright when posting articles ,I am sure?




Right wing meme?

Boycotting Jewish Academia is not a new `meme` its an extreme right wing meme. Calling The Jewish State Apartheid is all over the most extreme right wing repugnant hate sites such as David Dukes and Stormfront.


Welcome to DU...

[King_David]

4. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=51435

[King_David]

6. What you mean? This post is very jumbled,

Can you tell me what it means?

[azurnoir]

8. Let's clarify exactly what you posted and in the context it was posted

it was this thread

PHOTOS: Palestinians destroy separation barrier in two West Bank villages

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=51253

and here is your post which equates all Palestinians to both Hamas and to being monsters

5. 'Hamas Official: We'll Expel or Kill All the Zionists'

Last edited Sat Nov 16, 2013, 10:47 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113450933


Now Jewish life uhmm sorry , Zionist life, may not mean much to those people in Canada and Belgium and anywhere else these privileged white 'activists'come from, demanding and stamping their recently pedicured feet,to tear down a wall. A wall protecting the Jewish People(umm Zionist people) from monsters, but in Israel they take those Hamas perverts ,such as the one linked to above,seriously.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=51280

eta Hamas has control in Gaza the Wall that is being spoken of here is in the West Bank ruled by Fatah?PA?PLO our POTUS and SoS current negotiating partners

[King_David]

9. Guess you too never understood the post was talking about armchair

Warriors who have problems with Jews such as ASA- ( it might be envy. ?)

[azurnoir]

10. Really? "A wall protecting the Jewish People(umm Zionist people) from monsters"

meant monsters with "recently pedicured feet?" hmmmm do they work as extra's for pixar?