A paraphrased extract from The Jerusalem Report's Daniella Peled (London) article today....
The Association of University Teachers, the U.K.'s largest academic union, sparked a media firestorm in recent weeks...when it passed a motion launching a boycott of two Israeli universities - Haifa University, charged with infringing on the academic freedom of anti-Zionist professor Ilan Pappe (a charge the university vehemently contests), and Bar-Ilan University, condemned for its ties to a college (defiantly upgraded subsequently to university status by the Israeli cabinet) in the West Bank city of Ariel. The boycott triggered international condemnation and negative editorials and also prompted a slew of resignations from the AUT. A petition organized by members quickly drew enough signatures to force the boycott issue to be formally reopened in an emergency May 26 meeting in London.
Follow the link for some indepth background to the issue including an amusing account of the contribution of English lecturer Sue Blackwell of Birmingham University. She addressed the AUT conference wearing an outfit fashioned from a Palestinian flag and has attracted huge media interest in her that's overshadowed her academic work . But then Blackwell, a pro-Palestinian activist for more than 25 years, who peppers her speech with references to "worker solidarity" and other artifacts of a far-left rhetorical tradition, relishes her status as a persecuted fighter for Palestinian rights. "My personal opinion...is exactly what it was toward South Africa 20 years ago. Did apartheid South Africa have the right to exist? No. And I would give the same answer about Israel, if it means non-Jews are treated as second-class citizens." While Blackwell seems to find it hard to understand why anyone might find an anti-Israel boycott offensive or prejudiced, she laments that the special May 26 meeting to reconsider the AUT resolution and how it was passed will be a waste of money for the union and a waste of time for the faculty at exam time. Rather optimistically - and without giving a reason - she predicts it will cause "a backlash against the backlash."
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