620 Academics Sign Petition Against Boycott Israel Movement

Some 620 individuals have signed their names to a letter petitioning the academic boycott Israel movement.

The pledge was specifically organized to be signed by those working in the academic field, who “vigorously support free speech and free debate but we oppose faculty or student boycotts of Israel’s academic institutions, scholars and students.”

The petition went public September 15 and is aimed at drawing awareness to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which looks to delegitimize Israel on a global stage. College campuses are a major point of focus for the BDS, which often organizes boycott votes among pupils and administrators.

The new letter says academic boycotts “violates the very principle of academic freedom,” and calls out the BDS for its use of “accusations and narratives” and “overstatements, cherry picked evidence, outright falsehood.”

Alan Dershowitz, an esteemed Harvard law professor who often speaks out against the boycott Israel campaign, was among those who signed, including Eric Alterman, a City University of New York journalism professor, and Deborah Dash Moore, the director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan.

Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, was also among the signatories. Judea is a UCLA computer science professor.

See more on this Topic
George Washington University’s Failure to Remove MESA from Its Middle East Studies Program Shows a Continued Tolerance for the Promotion of Terrorism
One Columbia Professor Touted in a Federal Grant Application Gave a Talk Called ‘On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy’
The Department of Education Has Granted Millions of Dollars in Funding to University Programs Taught by Anti-Israel Professors