Four Int’l Academic Organizations Slam British Boycott

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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125811

(IsraelNN.com) Four international academic organizations signed a joint declaration denouncing British academics for attempting to impose a boycott on Israeli research institutions.

Prof. Shlomo Sasson, who heads the Institute for Diabetes Research at the Hebrew University, was one of the people who initiated the declaration. He said: “This declaration reflects the opinions of four organizations that represent thousands of researchers, physicians and health system employees in the field of diabetes and endocrinology.” He added: “I hope that this declaration helps prevent attempts to organize scientific boycotts in the future.”

The declaration cites “the principle of the universality of science” and was signed by the presidents of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the American Diabetes Association, the International Diabetes Federation and the the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The statement read: “We are aware of the suggestion put forth at the congress of Britain’s University and College Union (UCU) in May of 2007, calling for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. We find the fact that the union chose to dismiss the suggestion unsatisfactory, because [the decision] stemmed from legal considerations and not from the actual substantive subjects that had been discussed.”

“We reaffirm our support for the important foundations of the principle of scientific universality, as it was defined in the constitution of the International Council for Science, which includes within it the freedom of movement, organization, expression and communication between scientists, as well as the possibility of access to information, data and research materials.

“As a corollary of this goal,” it added, “the Council opposes any display of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, citizenship, language, political outlook… sex and age.”

The four organizations added: “We implore scientific unions and academic communities from various countries and regions to express similar support for these principles and for their implementation for the sake of academic freedom.”

The UCU decided last September to back off the boycott decision after lawyers told it that the boycott was illegal.

“It would be beyond the union’s powers and unlawful for the union, directly or indirectly, to call for, or to implement, a boycott by the union and its members of any kind of Israeli universities and other academic institutions; and that the use of union funds directly or indirectly to further such a boycott would also be unlawful,” a statement by the group said.

Four Int’l Academic Organizations Slam British Boycott

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