While most students probably don’t care much about what happens at academic conferences, we should probably start paying attention to one major development that is shocking and wrong. A few months ago, the American Studies Association passed a resolution supporting the boycott of academic institutions in Israel due to the “Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students.” Then last month, the Modern Language Association took a similar stance and voted to open the door toward a boycott.
These actions are the latest in a collective push towards turning Israel into a pariah state because of a professed solidarity with the Palestinian people. The larger front is called the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and it’s a sad and misguided campaign. Look, I’m a liberal and a supporter of international law and human rights. I feel for the plight of many Palestinians who have suffered for years due to a seemingly endless conflict. But I’m also a student of history and understand that the situation is far more complicated than so many American academics believe.
As the ASA explained in a publicly-issued white paper, the “Israeli academic institutions are part of the institutional scaffolding of the Zionist settler-colonial project, and as such are deeply implicated in maintaining the structures of domination and oppression over the Palestinian people.” The idea that Israel is an invading force is just not true. Zionism is an important and justified reaction to nearly two millennia of Jewish persecution. No other groups have been so vilified and systematically oppressed as those of Jewish faith and culture. Dating back before antiquity, anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head in nearly every historical period and place. From the Roman conquest and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem to by-products of the First Crusade in 1096 to the infamous examples of Nazi and Imperial Russian cruelty, the oldest hatred has plagued humanity.
To be more blunt, the Holocaust killed nearly two thirds of all Jewish people in Europe. It destroyed centers of Jewish culture and forced an emigration of the vast majority of remaining Jewish people in Europe. Israel and its promise, which some feel is secured by God himself, is a safety value for Jewish people the world over. With that being said, there needs to be a negotiated peace based on a two-state solution and a comprehensive plan to forever deal with thorny issues like Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This needs to be a political discussion between two sovereign nations, not a terms of surrender between an occupying force and a rebel group. American academics do no favors to their students when they cross the line in such a flagrant way as the ASA and MLA have.
We depend on professors to have their thoughts clear and resolute in imparting impartial truth to their pupils. Comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and singling it out among the global community is historically wrong and, frankly, dangerous. Why do these groups not boycott Russia as Putin continues to pivot his nation to its Soviet past and destroy free speech and expression, or condemn Uganda for its law that makes homosexuality a criminal offense? Why does the ASA not look down their nose at France, which has banned the wearing of the burqa in society? Or China, which is currently conducting a real occupation in Tibet and is also a world–leading human rights abuser?
The only rational reason for this out-sized response to Israel is the fact that the ASA and MLA find it to be different – an “other” nation. This is a form of anti-Semitism and needs to be stopped in its tracks.
Rich Robinson is a junior majoring in telecommunication and film. His column runs biweekly.
