In 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, members of the British University and College Union (UCU), a trade union for academics in the United Kingdom (UK), attempted to promulgate a boycott of Israeli academics. Each time, the campaign failed, and leading members of the British academic community and other British leaders denounced it. Now, in their desperation, a few academic extremists within the UCU have turned to the internationally notorious racist David Duke for instruction and guidance on academic freedom, free speech, trade unionism and international politics.
Last week, in a pro-boycott email to the 700-member UCU activist listserv, Jenna Delich, a Sheffield-based member of the UCU, provided a link to an article on David Duke’s website. “Racism, not Defense, at the Heart of Israeli Politics,” by 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Joe Quinn, (http://www.davidduk e.com/index. php?s=Joe+ Quinn ) is itself a racist, anti-Semitic attack on Israel.
For those unfamiliar with David Duke, he is a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan who served as a representative in the Louisiana State Legislature and claims to have a doctorate in history from MAUP University system in Kiev University in Ukraine. The ADL has described MAUP (the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management) as “a bona fide university, with more than 50,000 students enrolled in various locations… ” and as ” the main source of anti-Semitic agitation and propaganda in the Ukraine. It organizes anti-Semitic meetings and conferences, regularly issues anti-Semitic statements and publishes two widely-distributed periodicals. ..which frequently contain anti-Semitic articles…. ” For more on David Duke and MAUP click here.
Duke currently serves as President of EURO, the European American Unity and Rights Organization. His website
() claims that he teaches European History, but it does not say where. He is well known for trying to dress up his anti-Semitism and White supremist ideology in politically correct rhetoric.
In an apparent insult-to- injury moment, Harry’s Place, a popular left-of-center blog, was removed from the blogisphere, allegedly in response to complaints from Delich or her supporters, after it reported on Delich’s action and characterized the Quinn article as a “neo-Nazi” post. Although it has resurfaced Harry’s Place has been
controversial since its inception and has faced other threats as well.
A number of anti-boycott leaders and union activists have spoken out against Delich ( who apparently has a history of formal complaints against her) and the UCU. By allying themselves with neo-Nazis and while supremacists, Delich and her colleagues have forfeited whatever credibility they had. And by attempting reprisals against Harry’s Place, they have lost their right to justify the publication of racist propaganda as free speech. However, at this point, the UCU must be held to account for allowing itself to be a vehicle for the dissemination of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism from its members.
SPME has no problem with academics or anyone else constructively and legitimately criticizing the policies of Israel. However, we have a serious problem when academics, using professional institutions and means, are allowed to propagate racism and hate material as academically valid and worthy of distribution to peers and to students. As members of the international academic community, we call upon the UCU to censure Delich, to publish a statement disassociating itself from her actions, and to develop policies to prevent the use of its facilities, including websites and listservs, for the promotion of racism and hate in the future.
SPME Board of Directors
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
8.27.08
For Further Information Contact:
Prof. Peter Haas,
Case Western Reserve University,
SPME Vice President for External Relations at peter.hase@case.edu or call 216.368.2741 or,
Dr. Edward S. Beck,
Walden University and Susquehanna Institute,
SPME President Emeritus at or call 717.576.5038
About SPME:
Governed and directed by academics, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is a grass-roots community of over 20,500 university and college professors, researchers, administrators, teachers, librarians, and students on more than 1500 campuses worldwide. All receive our SPME Faculty Forum. Nearly 30 campuses in the US and abroad now have their own chapters (see SPME Chapters ). SPME is an independent, not-for-profit organization chartered in the State of Pennsylvania under provision 501(C)3 of the US tax code.
As our name implies, we envision and strive for peace in the Middle East: a world in which Israel exists as a sovereign Jewish state within secure borders and her neighbors achieve their legitimate peaceful aspirations. As scholars, we commit ourselves to the promotion of research, education, and service to achieve this just peace. We also envision and strive for a region in which human rights, stability and economic development grow and benefit all the peoples of the area.
However, we observe that academic discourse is increasingly influenced by ideological distortions, politically biased scholarship, and agenda-driven speakers who demonize Israel and Zionism as bearing full responsibility for the Middle-East conflict. Such indoctrination violates academic traditions of scholarly integrity and degrades the academic enterprise. It poisons debate about the Middle East, inflames hatred of Israel, spreads anti-Semitism, incites anti-Israeli militancy, and serves to excuse or tolerate terrorist attacks and genocidal threats against Israel. Anti-Israel slanders exacerbate conflict and undermine prospects for peace.
Our mission is to inform, motivate, and encourage faculty to use their academic skills and disciplines on campus, in classrooms, and in academic publications to develop effective responses to ideological distortions, including anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, and anti-Muslim slanders, that poison debate and work against peace. SPME opposes all manifestations of anti-Semitism in academia, including calls for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In a time when faculty members sympathetic to or merely suspected of being sympathetic to Israel may be subject to hostility and intimidation, we also serve as a network for mutual support.
SPME welcomes scholars from all disciplines, faith groups, and nationalities who share our desire for peace and our commitments to academic freedom, academic integrity, and honest debate.
