Sunaina MAIRA: "The BDS movement and the front lines of the war on academic freedom" (Univ. of Minnesota Press Blog, April 9, 2014).
In December 2013, the American Studies Association announced that it had endorsed an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions, following two years of discussion in the association and based on a majority vote by the membership in support of the boycott resolution.
"Those of us who have called for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions have done so for quite straightforward reasons. We believe in academic freedom and in the intricate network of intellectual exchanges that it safeguards. We believe this, not primarily because we are concerned with the fate of the profession and its protocols, but because we believe that the academy is part of the world..."
Haim BRESHEETH & Sherna Berger GLUCK: "On the Fallacy of ‘Engaging’ with the Israeli Academy" (CounterPunch, September 20, 2013).
"A standard argument against BDS – the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation – and especially the academic boycott- has been the “‘need to engage” with Israelis. In fact, during the 46 years of the occupation, numerous efforts to ‘engage’ have been made repeatedly, all of which are warmly embraced by Israel and its academic institutions."
Ali ABUNIMAH: "Hundreds of academics call for boycott of Hebrew University conference in 2014" (The Electronic Intifada, 26 September 2013).
"...What could possibly be wrong with dialogue, you might ask? Instead, perhaps the appropriate question might be: “is it moral to collaborate with a militarized, racist, colonial state, in order to cleanse its crimes?” Doesn’t this mean that crimes continue and newer ones are perpetrated? Indeed, evidence clearly demonstrates that continuing ‘engagements’ have not led to resolution, but instead served to numb the sensibilities of international academia to the realities of occupied Palestine. In the case of South Africa, it was clear to all academics that there was no way to ‘engage’ with apartheid by speaking to its representatives; the only way to deal with apartheid was to oppose it – to boycott, divest and apply sanctions; to deny South African institutions any support and dialogue; and to follow the advice of the ANC [African National Congress]" (letter by Haim Bresheeth and Sherna Berger Gluck).