It took me some time to write about this, even though I could hardly control myself not to do it. In a very radical way, I was able to describe and diagnose the entire situation in only a couple of words, but I wanted to wait a little bit more for recording more than my own impressions.
The facts
On 15 December 2013, the American Studies Association (ASA) voted the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The decision, that is only symbolic, as there is no possible to compel the members to follow it, was endorsed by the largest number of participants in the history of the organization.
In its guidelines, the members are encouraged to get involved in supporting resolutions against the state of Israel - apparently, not too much time for research and publishing books or articles for those academics - to promote the isolation of Israeli academic institutions and to boycott their funding and to refrain from participation in joint projects with academic institutions from the state of Israel. It might not affect directly the collaboration with individual Israeli academics, but as usual - not only in the US - those critical against the state of Israel - with a strong self-hate component - will be always welcomed open arms.
ASA is the largest US academic organization to support anti-Israel boycott. The vote was supported by two thirds of the members. Almost the entire Ivy Leagues is part of the declaration.
One of the references ASA relies upon is the notorious anti-Semite Richard Falk, UN Rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories that even the Palestinian Authority rejects due to his not less notorious biased reporting in favour of Hamas. 'Qui s'assemble se ressemble', isn't it?
As for the strength of the ASA and the relevance of its activities, most probably the 'boycott' issue is their chance to get more visibility and importance. It publishes the American Quarterly.
The reactions
On 20 December, the Association of American Universities (AAU) issued a public statement according to which: "Academic Freedom is the freedom of university faculty responsible to produce and disseminate knowledge through research, teaching and service, without undue constraint. It is a principle that should not be abridged by political considerations. American colleges and universities, as well as likes institutions elsewhere must stand as the first line of defence against attacks on academic freedom".
Leon Wieseltier called the ASA appeal a 'travesty of academic freedom'. The Palestinian issue is 'a political problem that requires a political solution', he reminded.
Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress said: 'This vote to boycott Israel, one of the most democratic and academically free nations of the globe shows the Orwellian anti-Semitism and moral bankruptcy of the American Studies Association'.
On December 31, Robert Sugarman and Malcolm Hoenlein, the chairman and executive vice-chairman of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in a declaration: 'This is now a clarion call to reject the BDS movement, and assure thjat American campuses are not subverted for extremist political ends'.
The latest news is that around 90 universities rejected the boycott, among them Penn State Harrisburg, Indiana University, Kenyon College, and Brandeis.
Recent histories of boycotts
Most of such 'calls for boycott' are moulded according to the Boycott Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
At the beginning of 2009, in the wake of the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza it was launched the US the Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. It has 963 faculty members across the United States. Five years before that, in 2004, it became active the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, having the same aim. Why so many organizations that - no wonder - have almost the same membership and messages? Because the more high the number the more convincing their 'messages' for the public.
Early 2013, the Association for Asian American Studies appealed for a similar move.
On December 15, the Native American Studies Association called for a similar decision. In January, it is expected a similar announcement from the Modern Language Association.
The conclusion
The BDS movement has quite an efficient PR machine, trying to use any opportunity to get more popularity and who is playing a lot of dirty games, especially in the field of academia. Let's say it openly: I bet that many of the people considered as 'supporters' not even have the slightest idea about the Middle East. Mancur Olson has an interest theory regarding group solidarity, according to which, only a limited number of members are actually active in emergency/limit-situation (such as strikes) the rest being rather trend followers. But this is not an excuse, and many of the academics that enrolled in the Nazi party were explaining in a similar way their presence on behalf of the murderers.
The US academia has a problematic bias regarding the so-called 'Middle Eastern studies' and chairs and the subsequent academic reports issued. Important contributors from the Gulf Area are supporting generously the chairs and thus, the political and even religious neutrality is highly problematic, although not very often outlined publicly.
Did that ASA and other anonymous organizations and their even more anonymous members write anything valuable about the real dangers of human rights and academic freedom in Iran, Russia, North Korea, Belarus or Latin American countries. Never heard about. Did they ever launched at least a funding campaign on behalf of the libraries affected by the ongoing massacre in Syria or supporting the intellectuals under threat in Yemen? I doubt.
Sources:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-us-academic-association-decries-israel-boycott/
https://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=14859
http://www.jewcy.com/news/atleast-90-universities-reject-the-asas-boycott
http://www.jta.org/2014/01/02/news-opinion/united-states/dozens-of-u-s-university-heads-have-slammed-asa-boycott-of-israel-presidents-conf-says
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115961/american-studies-association-boycott-israel-travesty
http://www.usacbi.org/guidelines-for-applying-the-international-cultural-boycott-of-israel/
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