Bar-Ilan University establishes website to mobilize opposition to the boycott
Source: www.haaretz.co.il, May 12, 2005
By: Tamara Traubman
Bar-Ilan University has established a new website designed to mobilize academics opposed to the boycott imposed on it and Haifa University by the British Association of University Teachers (AUT).
The two universities recently increased pressure on the AUT before the special session to be held in two weeks to reconsider the boycott. The AUT called the special session after more than 25 of its members submitted an official request, which under the organization's bylaws is enough to allow a reconsideration of its decisions.
Professor Yosef Yeshurun, the head of Bar-Ilan University , issued an appeal on the website calling on academics in Israel and abroad to join a new association called the International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom at Bar-Ilan University .
A statement published by the university yesterday on the website states that the board aims to protect the basic principle of international academic freedom, but according to the name of the board, the only objective is to protect freedom at Bar-Ilan and other institutions in Israel . The site also contains information about the boycott, reports, letters, and comments from around the world that have come following the AUT decision.
On Tuesday (May 10), Haifa University sent a letter to the AUT threatening to file a libel suit against it. In recent days, Jewish organizations and British teachers opposed to the boycott (most of them Jews) have tried to mobilize as many AUT members as possible to retract the decision at the AUT special meeting, to be held at the end of May.
Related Links:
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Britain suggests an organized academic boycott of Israel |
