Prof. Alisse Waterston
President
American Anthropological Association

RE: Endorsement of the American Anthropological Association for a Boycott on Academic Israeli Institutions

Dear Prof. Waterston,

It was with great regret and disappointment that we learned that the American Anthropological Association adopted a resolution endorsing the call to boycott Israeli academic institutions in its Annual Meeting, a number of weeks ago. We understand that the measure is expected to be placed on the AAA Spring Ballot for a final vote by all members of the Association in the coming months.

We ask that before bringing this motion to a formal vote by all members of the association to consider revisiting the motion, which presents a distorted and false depiction of reality in Israel.

Israeli universities are open to all qualified students, regardless of religion, gender or sexual orientation; in fact, a significant percentage of the student population at Israeli institutes is made up of Israeli Arab students who benefit from full equality as granted to all students and researchers. Research and academic discourse in Israel are in accordance with the principles of academic freedoms and ethos that is impartial and free of political or ideological tendencies. Universities in Israel are staffed with senior officials and researchers of Jewish and Arab descent working side by side with one common goal in mind – to promote and advance science and the pursuit of knowledge.

It is both ironic and absurd that specifically those supporting such boycotts are using politics in an attempt to incite and introduce hatred and racism into the Israeli academia. With these actions, they are creating a division where one does not exist.

The motion on which you and your members will be voting shortly is endorsed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement . I am drawing your attention to this fact, as this is an aggressive global anti-Israel campaign led by interest parties.

That is maliciously circulating vile slander and lies about Israel in general and Israeli academia in particular, while posing as a civil rights activist group. Over the past several years the BDS movement has been leading a hate campaign on academic, political and economic frontswith the sole objective of delegitimizing the State of Israel.

Their agenda, which is inherently political, hostile and self-serving, is deliberately presented in an attempt to mislead and deceive you. They are intentionally proposing to you distorted, one sided, prejudicial and false information, spread through populism and hatred.

We believe you will agree with us that proposals of this kind have no place in academia. The success of academic research worldwide is based on inter-institutional and international cooperation without limitations or restrictions, and free of political or ideological appeals, partitions and barriers. Academic boycotts contradict, in no uncertain terms, both the basic academic ethos and values, and violate the mere academic freedom by banning collaborations and international research on the whole.

As previously stated, the first principle in the realm of science, research and teaching is for academia to remain impartial to political and ideological proposals, and to maintain the language of evidence based science as a universal language, uniting academics worldwide.

Boycotting a single researcher as well as an academic institution has serious implications, infringing on academic freedom and collaborations between universities, which are essential for the development of teaching and research; indeed, it underscores the antithesis of the basic values, which are the foundation of the scientific world.

As academic researchers who seek to verify the truth in order to get the full picture, we ask that you also present these facts to the members of the association before they take the vote.

Supporting the proposed motion and approving it will lead members of the association to act contrary to the principles of academic integrity we all believe in.

We call on our colleagues, faculty members in institutions around the world, to join those working to combat politically motivated exclusions and boycotts, and condemn proposals of this nature.

When resorting to implementing measures such as ‘boycotts,’ no researcher or institution is immune. It is us today and you and others tomorrow and ultimately, the scientific world in its entirety will be the one to pay the price.

We respectfully ask again that you refrain from taking such a groundless measure.

Sincerely,

Prof. Peretz Lavie
Chairman of VERA – Association of University Heads, Israel
President, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson – President, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. Rivka Carmi – President, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz – President, Bar Ilan University

Prof. Yoseph Klafter – President, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Jacob Metzer – President, the Open University of Israel.

Mr. Amos Shapira – President, University of Haifa

Prof. Daniel Zajfman – President, Weizmann Institute of Science