How have Middle East studies academics responded to Israel’s recent efforts to destroy the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza? Not by condemning Hamas’s indiscriminate rocket fire, its disregard for ceasefires, or its cynical use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. Instead, a rogue’s gallery of signatories to this open letter is calling for an academic boycott of Israel:
As Middle East scholars and librarians, we feel compelled to join the growing number of academics in Israel and around the world who support the Palestinian call to boycott Israeli academic institutions. . . . [W]e call on our colleagues in Middle East Studies to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and we pledge not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.
