British Academics Union Boycotts Israel

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 28 2007, 08:59 AM) [snapback]469355[/snapback]</div>

Actually no, i don't know... care to post a link so i can find out whats going on?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Jun 28 2007, 11:20 AM) [snapback]469395[/snapback]</div>

Here's a link to the official statement from the University and College Union on their website: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2622.

And here's the statement (since it's nice & short):

In short, no boycott has taken place.

 

As our dear doctor berman likes to say, defense rests :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 28 2007, 08:59 AM) [snapback]469355[/snapback]</div>

What is the British Academics Union? Is it a union of any importance or of academic/politcal sway? In other words, what have they done lately to affect academics(other than "boycotting" Israel).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 28 2007, 10:42 AM) [snapback]469414[/snapback]</div>

I'm floored... you actually posted some sources! that must be a first...

 

Also, i find it highly interesting that the union itself says it was considering the boycot on Jun 8, but most of your sources say it was already boycotted in may...

Now, the next challenge is to find an un-biased source. One written for "Arabic News", another by the "Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations", another from the point of view of someone looking for Antisemitism, and the final one from the point of view of the people being boycotted really doesn't tell us much, except that those who would be against such a boycott surprising are.

 

I say that the reason behind the boycott - Israeli actions in the conflict with Palestine - can certainly be debated. Should the academic community boycott a nation due to the actions of the government? Should the rest of the world have boycotted the US academic institutions after we created and dropped the first atomic bomb? All decent questions.

however, with you it all comes down to one question when dealing with Israel: Is this anti-semitism? The answer there is a very plain and reasonable NO.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 28 2007, 12:33 PM) [snapback]469506[/snapback]</div>

Sure this is anti-semetic. Do you see this as a slipperly slope where semites end up in Gitmo? What should we do. Boycott england? If you're not with us you're against us. Wait aren't the helping us out with the cannon fodder supply in Iraq. Screw that. They hate jews, boycott them.

 

Good for them. Apartheid sucks. Jews should know this as they've so often been on the receiving end of it. Maybe they should look at doing the same thing for US universities since this government used 9/11 as an excuse to shred the (Constitution) document and ignore the Geneva Convention and Human Rights. Next stop Martial Law? Prius owners will probably get singled out and "disappeared" along with the rest of the intelligentsia. Oh, the future's so bright I've got to wear B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jun 28 2007, 01:02 PM) [snapback]469522[/snapback]</div>

Let me preface my post by stating I am a Jewish American who regularly attends worship services and tries to live a modern Jewish life..............

Having that said, this is coming from the same country that no longer teaches the history of The Shoah (Holocaust) because they are afraid of "offending" Muslim students. Oy!

Live and let live. Someone is always boycotting someone else. I have never heard of the British Academics Union, and from these posts, I don't care to know about them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 28 2007, 10:42 AM) [snapback]469414[/snapback]</div>

Re: links above. Arabic news is from May 2006, Sfgate from May 2005 -- thus they're probably regarding earlier resolutions/votes, etc that didn't seem to go anywhere.
Other two reference a vote to support a boycott, not implement one.

From (edited for space)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/world/eu...nyt&emc=rss

LONDON, May 30 — The main union representing 120,000 British college teachers voted Wednesday to endorse a Palestinian trades’ union call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

The boycott resolution, approved at the inaugural congress of the University and College Union, called on British college lecturers to “consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions.â€

In theory, a boycott could sever academic contacts and exchanges of personnel between British and Israeli academic institutions.

The union leaders insisted, though, that rules endorsed in a separate resolution earlier on Wednesday would forestall any immediate moves toward any action of that kind.

The pro-boycott ballot, on a count of 158 to 99, according to a rough tabulation by boycott opponents present at the voting, was the first since the merger of two leading associations of higher education teachers last year.

Under union procedures, the resolution approved Wednesday will be circulated among ordinary members. The rules also lay down a series of criteria to be met before any action is taken to enforce a boycott. Delegates at the gathering in Bournemouth, a southern seaside town, seemed to have ignored an appeal by union leaders to take a softer line.

Sally Hunt, the union’s general secretary, said in a statement after the vote: “As I have made clear in the past, and as I reiterated on the floor of congress this morning, I do not believe a boycott is supported by the majority of U.C.U. members, nor do I believe that members see it is a priority for the union.â€

EDIT: additional info
I doubt, given that the resolution to consider a boycott only passed 159-99 that any resolution to implement one would actually pass. Though I couldn't find the the actual website of the British Academics Union (time limited, it's not in the first couple pages of google results), the chorus of voices calling this a stupid idea is really rather loud on the ADL website, and make it pretty clear that any actual passing of a boycott would frankly be a major emabarrasment to British Academics.
http://www.adl.org/main_Israel/boycott_quotes.htm

EDIT2: ok, here's the British Union's page
http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2622
UCU boycott motion
Following a meeting of the UCU's national executive committee on Friday 8 June, the union has confirmed that it is now considering the necessary steps for members to be able to debate the arguments for and against an academic boycott of Israeli universities. This does not mean an academic boycott is in place, it means that individual branches will debate the pros and cons of boycott.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brad34695 @ Jun 28 2007, 11:21 AM) [snapback]469534[/snapback]</div>

That claim has been thoroughly debunked:

BBC - Holocaust 'ban' e-mail confusion

Jewish Council for Public Affairs - Holocaust Teaching Ban in the UK E-mail False

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brad34695 @ Jun 28 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]469534[/snapback]</div>

That may be because it didn't exist prior to June 1, 2006. It's only a year old, but it definitely should have boycotted everything that Berman said in the past.

Simply put, they found something about the situation wrong, and felt they needed to take action. why is it whenever anyone stands up to Israel Berman's here screaming anti-semite? What about when people take action against Cuba, or China, or NoKo, all of which has happened in the recent past? Does he stand up and call those people racists or bigots? Nope. In fact in many cases he cheers them on. But when directed against Israel suddenly it's this horrible thing.