Anti-Israelism

Local Academics Speak Out Against Boycott

Simon Bronner, chair of the American Studies program at Penn State Harrisburg, isn’t opposing a boycott of Israeli institutions because its target is Israel rather than a country like China; he just believes all academic boycotts are bad. “They shut…

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Answering the Academic Boycotters of Israel

Six days after its membership voted to implement an academic boycott against Israeli universities, the American Studies Association’s Caucus on Academic and Community Activism hurriedly issued a defensive appeal for support bemoaning, in the wake of a tsunami of backlash,…

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An academic scandal headed for Chicago

Academicians from all over the world will gather in Chicago for the 129th annual convention of the 30,000-member Modern Language Association. The MLA, according to its website, provides opportunities for teachers of English and foreign languages “to share their scholarly…

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When Did the Quakers Stop Being Friends?

In the summer of 2013 an unusual gathering of students took place in an undisclosed location in upstate New York. Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) along with Jewish Voice for Peace, the “We Divest Campaign Student Leadership…

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Combatting BDS: A battleplan

The recent Association of American Studies boycott of Israel is the latest chapter of a general campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the State of Israel. The campaign took off in 2005 with the academic boycott in the…

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No home for BDS in Hillel

  Yes, there is work to be done to defend Israel on the American college campus, but let’s not panic. The situation is not so bad. In some respects, in fact, the college campus is an island of sanity when…

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The ASA Responds to its Critics

Evidently stung by over seventy statements of opposition by college and university presidents to their boycott resolution, and the loss of some of its institutional members, the American Studies Association has issued a plea for support. As Yair Rosenberg says, it’s like they’re not even…

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Bollinger announces opposition to academic boycotts of Israel

University President Lee Bollinger said he opposes a recent boycott of Israeli universities by the American Studies Association in a statement released Friday. “I reject the ASA’s position which would compromise an essential value of universities in an increasingly global…

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Not in Our Name

Dozens of college and university presidents have released statements condemning the American Studies Association’s vote to boycott Israeli universities, but professors at one institution have penned their own letter saying that the president does not speak for them. In a letter released on…

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