update desk

100-plus Jewish, pro-Israel groups call on higher-ed leaders to buck BDS

The move came in response to recent actions by faculty at the University of Michigan and Pitzer College against the Jewish state.

At New York University, pro-Israel students hold a counter-demonstration that raises awareness about Israeli democracy, diversity and other positive attributes of the Jewish state. Encouraging students to publicly counter anti-Israel protests is part of the Maccabee Task Force's strategy of "taking back the quad." Credit: Maccabee Task Force.
At New York University, pro-Israel students hold a counter-demonstration that raises awareness about Israeli democracy, diversity and other positive attributes of the Jewish state. Encouraging students to publicly counter anti-Israel protests is part of the Maccabee Task Force's strategy of "taking back the quad." Credit: Maccabee Task Force.

In response to recent anti-Israel actions by faculty at the University of Michigan and Pitzer College in support of the BDS movement, more than 100 national and local groups called on the same 250 higher-education leaders who denounced the American Studies Association’s anti-Israel boycott to sign a letter to affirm their opposition to the anti-Israel movement.

Started by the AMCHA Initiative and titled the “University Leaders Statement Against the Implementation of an Academic Boycott of Israel,” the letter states: “Following the American Studies Association’s adoption of a resolution endorsing a boycott of Israeli universities in 2013, leaders of 250 U.S. colleges and universities, including your own, issued statements opposing the ASA resolution.”

“However, in light of recent reprehensible attempts by faculty at University of Michigan, Pitzer College and elsewhere to implement an academic boycott that thwarts their own students’ academic freedom and their own colleagues’ scholarly activities, it is imperative that university leaders speak out once again, this time even more forcefully,” they added.

Some of the organizations that signed the letter include, but are not limited to StandWithUs, B’nai B’rith International, WoMen For All, American Zionist Movement, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Endowment for Middle East Truth, Association of Reform Zionists of America, National Council of Young Israel, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, CUFI on Campus, Hasbara Fellowships, NCSY, Iranian American Jewish Federation, Rabbinical Alliance of America, and students and faculty groups on campuses such as Dartmouth Students for Israel and Tufts Friends of Israel.

Topics
Comments