Reply #6: Why We Should Not Boycott Israeli Academics (Juan Cole - 2002) [View All]

I thought the divestiture movement and the boycott of academic institutions
in the old racist South Africa a good idea, and was cheered to see students at the University of Michigan demonstrating against apartheid in the 1980s. I do not feel the same way about boycotting Israeli academics, as has been called for by hundreds of European scholars since April.

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While I understand the impulse, the shunning of Israeli academic institutions seems to me entirely the wrong place to begin. The supporters of the European academic boycott often make an analogy to South Africa and its apartheid policies. Yet while Arab Israelis are discriminated against in many ways in Israeli society, there is nothing like apartheid.

http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i46/46b01301.htm

I don't know if he's changed his opinion since 2002 on this.