Again With The Israel Bashing?

Regarding "Scholars’ group backs boycott of Israel" (Tuesday Nation), one thing is unremarkable about the effort to rule Israeli universities out of polite society because of Israel's alleged suppression of Palestinian academic freedom, and that is the tiresome regularity with which left wing groups in America target Israel - and Jews - in their struggle to survive Islam. 

 

What is remarkable about this article is the very matter-of-fact way in which the NY Times misrepresents this boycott as the action of a mainstream institution within the American intellectual community.  In point of fact, The ASA (American Studies Association) - like so many institutions which previously had a reputation for scholarship - has in recent years been substantially co-opted by the Far Left, with a political agenda largely replacing an academic one.  Just peruse their website.

 

What is also remarkable is that any educational group supposedly committed to academic freedom and exchange should target Israeli institutions of learning as opposed to their Islamist counterparts.  Israel has an Arab and Islamic intellectual community every bit as robust as their political community; they are largely state-sponsored and voice their opinions without fear of reprisal.  By comparison, Palestine supports nary a single Jewish voice, and to this day continues to offer as part of its core educational curriculum the demonization not just of Israel, but of Jews. 

 

I could go on.  The article fails to point out that of the 5000 members of the ASA, less than 16% voted in favor of the boycott.  The article also fails to point out that eight past presidents of the ASA lobbied against this measure, or that the past two presidents of the ASA lobbying for the boycott are committed Leftists who were repudiated not just by the larger academic community, but by liberal papers such as The Daily Beast and The New Republic, to name but two. 

 

Finally, the Association for Asian American Studies - which also advocates for an educational boycott of Israel - is hardly an "American academic group".  A simple perusal of their website reveals an organization largely committed to the disenfranchisement of Israel, as opposed to academic pursuits. 

 

Pete Smith

Cypress, TX