The Board of Deputies of British Jews has sent a letter to the Vice Chancellors of every university in the United Kingdom expressing the UK Jewish community’s concerns about proposals for an academic boycott.
Written by Board President Henry Grunwald QC and asking the universities to “make clear and public” their opposition to the proposed boycott currently before the membership of the University and College Union, the letter highlights how damaging a boycott policy would be to British institutions and interests.
These include the violation of the principle of academic freedom, the counter-productive effects on Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East and the impact on Jewish students and lecturers on UK campuses.
Calling academic freedom a “precious and hard-won right” that is more an aspiration than a reality in many parts of the world, the letter warns that its unilateral curtailment in the UK “would pose a threat to learning, innovation and progress everywhere, but particularly in the Middle east, where academia is one of the few areas of civil society in which a climate of mutual respect and understanding is being built across the Palestinian-Israel divide.”
Citing last September’s report, the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism, the letter goes on to state that passage of the boycott “risks creating a climate in British colleges and universities which encourages discrimination against Jewish students and lecturers on campus.”
The letter was sent to more than 130 universities throughout the UK.
For more information on the Board of Deputies, click here
For information on the Stop the Boycott campaign, click here
