UK: Israel boycott again on agenda of academics union

“A British academic trade union responsible for continual calls to ostracize Israeli academia is again set to consider a boycott call and alignment with the ‘boycott, divestment, sanctions’ campaign at its annual conference in Manchester next month. The University College Union, Britain’s largest academic trade union, will consider three motions concerning the Israel boycott during its national conference at the end of May.”  So writes Jonny Paul in today’s Jerusalem Post.

He adds: “The Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine, a movement working to unite trade unions and non-governmental organizations to counter boycott calls of Israel, said ‘a boycott of Israeli academics is illegal because it violates basic rules of academic freedom as well as anti-discriminatory legislation.’ The call to ‘sever all relations with Histadrut, and to urge other trade unions and bodies to do likewise’ is ‘outrageous,’ said TULIP’s Eric Lee. ‘Members are not given any reason for the union to issue such a strong statement. While one can understand the hostility to Ariel College, for example, the movers of this resolution see no need to explain their hostility to a fellow trade union - one which includes many thousands of Arab members. It looks to me like blanket hostility to everything Israeli - even the most progressive parts of Israeli society,’ Lee said.”

The full article is available here.