Colleagues:

Just one point, which I hope we shall take note of, and give full emphasis to, in our response.

It is curious that the academic framers of this motion of boycott of Israeli academics and universities saw fit to anticipate, and composed it with an eye to, eminently reasonable charges against them of anti-Semitism.

As a result, they attempted to defend their motion, and its ensuing action of banishment of all Israelis from academic discourse, as “not, as such, anti-Semitic.”

I think in our response we should be clear that, while criticism of Israel and Israeli policies is not anti-Semitic, to tell lies about Israel, and to judge Israel by standards by which one judges no one else, is anti-Semitic. On top of all this, to undoubtedly smear the good name of all Israeli academics, and to assume an entirely one-sided and simple-minded view of a complex conflict, is an act of hatred and contempt for Israel and for every Jew (as well as every non-Jew) who dares to support Israel in the name of justice. Any views in favor of, or in defense of, Israel are henceforth arbitrarily disallowed as illegitimate by the motion’s framers.

Hence, this is an anti-Semitic motion in effect, even if (perhaps) not in intent. The framers of this motion expect that their poisonous views on Israel will be accepted as true and promulgated as factual. They also have the temerity to further assume that they are entitled, by undeniable right, to circulate factually false statements and blatant lies.

For such ignorance amounting to viciousness, they as academics are culpable. They are guilty of gross academic negligence, for they have not met even the minimum standard of fairness, which also makes them responsible for fueling the new anti-Semitism. As a by-product of the boycott they wish to impose, their higher aim appears to be to extinguish any debate about, or challenges to, their own gross factual errors and historical distortions, as well as unconscionable lies, which is the opposite of everything which free academic life, and the life of the mind, is supposed to stand for. This is equivalent to a campaign to inculcate hatred, first against Israel and its supporters, and ultimately against the Jews. That is the ugly truth about the motion and its framers, which must be faced.

Kenneth Green,

Associate Professor

Department of Religion, University of Toronto