Washington – Members of the American Studies Association have voted to endorse the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
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The ASA website (http://bit.ly/J08EK4) reports that in an election of 1252 voters, 66.05% of voters endorsed the resolution, 30.5% of voters voted no and 3.43% abstained. On December 4, the ASA National Council announced that it backed the boycott and, in a first-time action, asked its membership for their vote of approval.
The ASA states the vote seeks to increase academic freedom for all, including Palestinians, and that their endorsement comes from the circumstance of US military and other support for Israel along with the recognized effect the Israeli occupation has on Palestinian education.
According to press release from the World Jewish Congress, President Ronald S. Lauder had much to say about the vote, stating, “This vote to boycott Israel, one of the most democratic and academically free nations on the globe, shows the Orwellian anti-Semitism and moral bankruptcy of the American Studies Association.” He went on to say, “The Middle East is literally filled with dead from governments’ reaction to the convulsions of the ‘Arab Spring,’ but the American Studies Association singles out the Jewish State, the one Middle Eastern country that shares American values, for opprobrium? No wonder many Americans dismiss the academy as deeply biased and disconnected with reality.”
The American Studies Association is the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history. The vote is the first time the association has boycotted a nation’s university and the second academic boycott of Israel by a group of American scholars.
Jews need to boycott donations to institution with faculty that belong to this ASA outfit.
They have more to lose than to gain. So much knowledge is Jewish in the academic world. Sound like the German book burning fiasco. Nothing will ever stop us!!
We underestimate the potential impact of this sort of thing at our perile…just ask the Afrikaners, who in the late 60s and early 70s dismissed the nacent boycott movement as unimportant…25 years later the impact of the boycott was the single most important factor in the decision to release Nelson Mandela from prison and phase out Apartheid.
More critically, we need to be more self-critical about why this sort of thing is escalating – it is not merely antisemetism, though too many of us dismiss as antisemetic anyone who dares question Jewish conduct in the territories.
I have a Sabra relative in his 50s who says that he would resist and “hate” anyone who treated him and his family the way his he has, during his military and miluim duty, observed people in Judea and Shomron being treated by “us.”
Our cause is correct at the macro level…but the Israelis under the Likud have squandered international public support over decades of abusive policies. I personally witnessed the first post-67 War Haifa ferry pulling into Pireus..to the loud cheers of crews on many ships from many nations, including mine, the S.S. Atlantic. The world was with Israel then.
Of no great importance…the drawing seems to be a barely camouflaged rendition of Case Western Reserve University’s old Mather Gate, in Cleveland…can anyone shed light on this?
is anyone surprised?! the Israeli gov. boycotted the yeshivas, stoped most of the funding, working everyday to come up with new “gezeiros” on the frum community, can you expect from the world to act differently?
Eissov sone es yakov applies even here in the US.
Let’s put this into context: There were a grand total of 1,252 people who voted. Of that, less than 830 people voted for this boycott. Statistically speaking those 830 people make up about 0.000002643% of the USA’s approximate population of 314 million.
There are more than 830 people living on my block. There are more than 830 people in one NYC subway train during rush hour. There are more than 830 students in the average NYC high school. Boycott away members of the ASA, you barely count, 830 is a negligible number.
Bouhh! Bouhh! Bouhhh!