From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Lisa Taraki | Counterpunch | 10 May 2002 The recent proposals to impose sanctions on the Israeli academy have caused a great deal of controversy in the US, in Europe to some extent, and of course within Israel itself. Some have argued that collective boycotts are often the first sign of fascist and anti-liberal tendencies; at least one American academic has insinuated that it is tantamount to an anti-Jewish campaign.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Polly Curtis | The Guardian | 25 March 2004 Leading advocates of an academic boycott of Israel have stepped up their campaign calling for an "outing" of Israeli universities which support their government's policy on the occupied territories. Nearly 300 academics from around the world have published an open letter calling for leaders of Israeli universities to lay their political cards on the table and reveal whether they support the government's policies on the border conflict.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Gideon Levy | Ha'aretz Daily | 11 January 2004 Perhaps, after all, the world will save Israel from itself. Perhaps Israel's real friends will increase the pressure on the government. Perhaps they will understand that, even in Israel, external pressure is not always bad, because it may be the last chance to bring Israel back on the straight and narrow and make it a more just state.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Helena Flusfeder, Jerusalem | Times Higher Education Supplement | 5 December 2003 Israeli academics are to set up a forum to fight the international academic boycott of Israeli institutions, the heads of the country's universities decided this week at a meeting with Natan Scharansky, minister for diaspora affairs. Hebrew University president Menachem Magidor suggested establishing an organisation to which academics could report boycott attempts and coordinate responses.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Institute for Research: Middle East Policy (IRMEP) | IRMEP | 30 June 2003 The U.S. share of world merchandise exports to the Arab Middle East slid from 18% in 1997 to 13% in 2001. This occurred during import demand growth averaging 1% per year and voracious demand for high value-added capital goods among Arab economies. The hardest hit U.S. export sectors include civilian aircraft, agriculture, heavy transportation, as well as telecommunications and industrial equipment.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | The Guardian | 1 December 2003 Israeli academics are threatening to call for an international boycott of their own university heads if admission tests alleged to have curbed the number of Arab students are reintroduced. The heads of the country's five universities last week announced that they would bring back controversial psychometric testing that favours middle-class Jewish students. The boycott would include rejecting academic papers from individual heads.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent | Haaretz | 27 November 2003 Israeli academics will set up a new forum to fight the international academic boycott of Israel, the heads of the country's universities decided at a meeting Thursday with Minister for Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky. At the meeting, the university presidents warned that the boycott, though still sporadic, was steadily worsening. Professor Joshua Jortner of the National Academy of Sciences and Humanities reported that some members of Norway's national academy had urged treating Israel "
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Sara Leibovich-Dar | Ha'aretz | 20 November 2003 Although they have tried to downplay it, Israeli universities and faculty members are growing increasingly concerned that the worldwide academic boycott will weaken both Israeli science and the peace camp itself. Ten years ago, Dr. Miriam Shlesinger, the current head of the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Bar-Ilan University, was chair of Amnesty Israel, an organization known for its trenchant criticism of Israeli policy and actions in the territories.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Alex Sholem | Totally Jewish | 16 October 2003 A British website that barred Israelis from entering one of its competitions has been forced to issue a retraction after receiving a deluge of complaints. In a giveaway running this month, ukhotmovies.com invited visitors to compete to win the top prize of a DVD box set of popular animated comedy series The Simpsons. But the site’s terms and conditions stated the competition was “open to film fans worldwide except inhabitants of Israel and Serbia.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Polly Curtis | The Guardian | 30 September 2003 Polly Curtis visits Manchester, scene of Israel-Palestine rows last year In the Reynold Building at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, freshers' fair is thronging. The music is ear-bleedingly loud, the salsa society is in full swing and the Tai Kwon Do group is out in force. The Jewish students' body and the Islamic society, among the biggest groups in the university, are two stalls apart.