Prof Eve Wurtele, Iowa State University, Writes to Leadership of British Unions Regarding Boycott/Blacklist

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I am saddened to hear of the proposed boycott against Israel being voted on by NAFHTE. Academic boycotts do not promote peace or understanding between peoples. I write to you with my hope for your strong opposition to the proposed boycott.

I wonder what the true motivations of the organizers of this boycott must be.

Why not boycott academics from Russia, as thousands of innocent civilians have been killed during the Russian “occupation” of Chechnia.

Why not boycott all Palestinian Univeristies and their Professors; many of these professors as well as the Palestinian leadership are active in their SUPPORT for the killing of innocent civilians?

Why not boycott academics and students from Sudan, where government-sanctioned Muslim fighters have murdered more than a million black Christians and animists in the South, leaving 5 million as refugees, where more than 10,000 black Christians and animists are slaves, and where since 2003 more than 100,000 black Muslims in the Darfur region have been murdered with the complicity of the government, and 1.85 million are refugees. (Worldnetdaily 03; Christian Science Monitor 3/05)

Why not, for those opposed to the Iraqi war, lead a boycott of all British Universities and professors, as the British government supports the war in Iraq? Certainly, the same holds for the US, and US academics and students also should be boycotted.

Why not boycott academics and students from Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive or vote, and people hands get cut off for theft, and where the 60 billion/yr in oil money is used to support luxurious life styles for the House of Saud, and to try to buy off terrorists, and where for the many foreign female workers “long-term forced confinement at places of work and residence — is not a criminal offense….,this practice violates the basic human right to freedom of movement, and also places these women in situations of extreme vulnerability, in terms of both personal safety and exposure to sexual violence from which it may be difficult or impossible to escape.” (Human Rights Watch 7/04) and “Shari’a law, as interpreted and enforced in Saudi Arabia, allows sentences ranging from imprisonment and flogging to death for “deviant sexual behavior.” ” (Human Rights watch 4/05)

Why not boycott academics and students from “Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone… in which more than 40 percent of girls” are subjected to genital mutilation, which is either legal, or tacitly permitted by the government (Human Rights Watch 03)

It is very easy to pick on a tiny productive Jewish state (about 6 million people, GDP 110 billion, 20,000 sq km). Israel has absorbed millions of desperate refugees since its inception, including nearly a million refugees from Muslim countries, millions from the Soviet Union, tens of thousands from Ethiopia. Israel is a democracy, with an exceedingly diverse population of many sects of Jews, Muslims, Christians, all of whom have a vote, and are free.

In contrast the Muslim states surrounding Israel have a total population over 300,000,000, a GDP of about $1,900 billion, and comprise 13,000,000 sq km. Despite the extreme oil-generated wealth and power of many of these regimes, they have refused for more than 55 years to absorb the 350,000 Arabs who left Israel in 1948. Christian minorities in many of these countries, and much more so Jews, are subjected to persecution.

I urge you to oppose the proposed boycott; it is unfair, unreasonable and unjust.

Thank you for your support,

Yours truly,

Eve Wurtele

Professor

Dept. Genetics, Development,& Cell Biology

441 Bessey Halland: VRAC, 2624D Howe Hall

Iowa State University 515-294-2023

Ames, IA 50011 USA

515 294-8989 515 294-1337 (FAX)

mash@iastate.edu

MetNet: Arabidopsis bioinformatic platform

http://metnet.vrac.iastate.edu/

Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?

Prof Eve Wurtele, Iowa State University, Writes to Leadership of British Unions Regarding Boycott/Blacklist

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Eve Syrkin Wurtele


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