By KUNA,
London : British academics are set to reignite an international row Wednesday as they urge fellow lecturers to consider whether they should sever links with Israeli universities, their union said.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will highlight the “humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel” at their annual congress in Manchester, northern England.
A motion passed by the union last year provoked outrage from academics and politicians in Britain and overseas.
The UCU meeting today is set to reopen the row with a similarly worded call to members.
Speaking ahead of the debate Tom Hickey, a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Brighton, southern England, stressed that the new motion stopped short of backing a full boycott.
Hickey, who is proposing the call, said “It is not a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. We are urging people to reflect on whether it is appropriate for them to maintain their links with Israeli institutions.” “It is one step short of urging people to consider a boycott,” he said.
Hickey added that UCU members around the country needed to discuss the situation in the Middle East in more detail before any moves towards a full boycott could begin.
The intention is for members to reflect on “the apparent complicity” of most Israeli academics in the “humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel,” according to the new motion.
It said union members should “be asked to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions.” The motion states that “criticism of Israel or Israeli policy are not, as such, anti-Semitic.” But it notes the “continuation of illegal settlement, killing of civilians and the impossibility of civil life, including education” as a result of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
And it criticises previous attempts to stop UCU members debating a “boycott of Israeli academic institutions.” After last year’s vote, Jewish leaders condemned the union for its “frightening” assault on academic freedom.
The “Stop the Boycott” campaign, which is backed by the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and other groups, has condemned the latest UCU motion as “shameful” and “utterly irresponsible.”