The academic BDS movement against the democratic nation of Israel would be better directed at universities and other institutions that support authoritarian regimes (like Erdoğan’s Turkey) or provide a platform for spreading pro-terrorist propaganda (as at An-Najah or Birzeit universities in the West Bank). At the Algemeiner, Campus Watch director Winfield Myers urges Middle East studies professors to adopt a BDS strategy that could actually make a difference.
By refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of universities controlled by regimes that deny basic academic (and human) freedoms, boycotters undermine corrupt systems and lend moral support to academics fighting for their rights and even their lives.
But not all boycotts are defensible. The academic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel provides the most obvious example of an unjust act masquerading as high-minded activism.
