LONDON (EJP)--- British Jewish groups criticized Wednesday's vote of an academic motion to contemplate a possible boycott of Israeli universities as “shameful” and "utterly irresponsible".
Members of the University and College Union (UCU), the largest union of lecturers in the UK, agreed to contemplate a possible boycott of Israeli universities over the Palestinian issue.
Although they didn’t vote on severing links with their counterparts in Israel, they agreed at their annual conference held in Manchester to “consider the moral and political implications of education links with institutions".
In the new UCU resolution, the members noted the “the apparent complicity of most of the Israeli academics with the humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel and the EU.”
The union represents over 120,000 academics
Around 30 delegates among the 250 present at the congress opposed the motion brought by Tom Hickey, a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Brighton.
A similar motion passed by the union last year prompted Jewish leaders to condemn it as an assault on academic freedom and provoked outrage around the world.
But last year, the motion for an academic boycott of Israeli universities was dealt a blow as lawyers warned the UCU that the action would be 'unlawful and discriminatory' and cannot be implemented.
The ‘Stop the Boycott’ campaign, which is backed by the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and other groups, criticized the latest UCU motion as "shameful" and "utterly irresponsible".
Jeremy Newmark, director of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “UCU has again demonstrated how out of touch it is with the vast majority of its membership and with the wider academic community. This motion does nothing to help the Palestinians.”
Lorna Fitzsimons, joint head of the Stop the Boycott campaign, said: "Boycotts of any kind do nothing to promote peace and moderation in the Middle East, as well as undermining the academic freedom and integrity of British academic institutions.”
Lawyers for ‘Stop the Boycott,’ say the motion will "expose Jewish members of the union to indirect discrimination" and could make the UCU liable for an "act of harassment on grounds of race or nationality".
As a result of last year’s vote, a UCU delegation visited the Palestinian territories earlier this year on a fact-finding mission.
Hickey told congress: "This motion emerges from our decision not to boycott but to discuss the issue.” He said the ongoing conflict over the territories was "not just about impediment but serial humiliation" of Palestinians.
National Executive Committee
The matter has now been passed to the union's national executive committee which will decide what steps next to take on addressing the issue.
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, said: "We have passed a motion to provide solidarity with the Palestinians, not to boycott Israel or any other country’s academic institutions."
The motion said that criticism of Israel and Israeli policy are "not, as such, anti-Semitic” and Israeli occupation of Palestinian land led to the "killing of civilians and the impossibility of civil life, including education."
David Willetts, the Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said: "It is entirely wrong to be threatening academic boycotts of Israel. It is a threat to the high principles of academic freedom to be caught up in such anti-Israel campaigns, and will do nothing to help peace in the region."
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the UCU vote a "cynical and perverse violation of academic freedom and anti-discrimination principles."
It said the vote "fails to mention Palestinian terrorism, daily rocket attacks against Israeli cities, or Hamas’ restrictions on religious and educational freedoms."
