Res ipsa loquitur.
UPDATE: one "Chris Bertram" (apparently a lecturer at the U. of Bristol, and a former editor of the New Left Review, say no more) downplays the importance of the AUT "boycott":
Critics--and Daily Mail columnists--will seize on this decision and claim that it demonstrates that British academics are obsessively anti-Israeli (and possibly anti-semitic). The truth is that the AUT is not particularly representative, that aforementioned librarians and computer technicians often play more of a role than academics, that poor attendance at union meetings means that single-issue activists find it easy to push through resolutions on political topics, etc. Will anyone pay any attention to the boycott? A few, perhaps. But most British academics will continue to work with Israeli academics as before.
Here's hoping this will be the case. I also think that things will be a bit different in the sciences (pure and applied) than in the "luftgeschaeften" ;-)
Commenters at "Harry's Place" point out that the prime mover behind the initiative,
Sue Blackwell of Birmingham University (seconded by an at least technically Jewish lecturer at the same institution, Shireen Benjamin --- are we surprised ;-)) is a former member of the Socialist Worker's Party (Trotskyite group too left-wing for Labour)
and presently a member of the 'pretend' CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain).
The Jerusalem Post notes:
A message from Dr. Ilan Pappe, a lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa, was distributed to every executive member. Pappe called on the conference to adopt a boycott of his university, alleging he was the victim of "restriction" and "harassment."
Had this been Belgium, then Pappe would not have had to suffer "restriction" or "harassment", since doing what he did --- endorsing international academic boycotts against Israeli academic institutions --- thus directly and intentionally harming one's own employer --- is just about the only reason not involving a felony crime that a tenured Belgian academic can get fired for.
But get this, from the BBC of all places:
The lecturers' decision has been criticised by representatives of the executives of Britain's universities, Universities UK. A spokesperson said: "UUK condemns the resolution from AUT which is inimical to academic freedom, including the freedom of academics to collaborate with other academics" [...]
The Israeli Embassy in London said the resolutions were
"as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and
adopted".
"The fact that no AUT member who wanted to argue against
this decision was allowed to speak, and the case for the Israeli
universities was not presented to delegates, speaks volumes about the
relevance and fairness of this debate.
Debate? Who needs "debate" during "two minutes of hate"? ;-)
UPDATE 2: in their obituary for Ezer Weizmann z"l, the JPost note in passing:
He also spoke fluent Lithuanian-style Yiddish in which he told
side-splitting jokes. One of his favorites was about his uncle Chaim,
who, toward the end of his life, suffered severely from respiratory
illnesses.
Trying to ease some of the pressure on Chaim Weizmann's lungs, one of his relatives said to him: "Chaim, sphai zich ois" (Chaim, spit it out). To which the reply, according to his nephew, was: "Nisht do oif vemen" (There's no one to spit on).
Now here Ilan Pappe could have made himself mighty useful ;-)
UPDATE 3: the in Israel submarginal darling of the Belgian media, looneytunes-leftist
Helmut Ostermann Uri Avnery, cannot pass up another good opportunity to show what a "tool" he is. From the Haaretz ticker ("Itim" is the main Israeli press agency):
08:13 Leftist Uri Avneri backs U.K. academic boycott of Bar Ilan Univ. for W. Bank ties (Itim)
UPDATE 4: Three cheers for the Chancellor of
Haifa University. Haaretz
reports:
Haifa University President Aharon Ben-Ze'ev called on Dr. Ilan Pappe, a staff member who supports the academic boycott on Israeli universities, to tender his resignation. "It is fitting for someone who calls for a boycott of his university to apply the boycott himself," Ben-Ze'ev said Monday.
Ben-Ze'ev said the university management would not boycott Pappe nor would it take disciplinary steps against him, because boycotts destroy academic freedom. But he said Pappe's behavior was "intolerable from a moral point of view," and that he should therefore decide to leave of his own accord.
Pappe, a member of the political science department, was not available Monday evening for comment.