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UCL Expresses Disgust at Israel Academic Boycott (graphic) Academic freedom in the UK allows censorship of Israel while ignoring real threats to democracy such as Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem----May 30...... UCL President and Provost Malcolm Grant today expressed his concern at the vote by delegates at the National Association of Higher and Further Education (NATFHE) conference for a boycott of Israel universities and academics unless they publicly dissociate themselves from the policies of the state of Israel. It echoes a resolution that was adopted last year by the Association of...

Before moving into higher education and teaching Israeli studies, I taught chemistry for 20 years in an inner-London college and was a loyal member of my union, NATFHE (National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education). Lecturers in further education like myself were treated extremely badly by successive British governments and we went out on strike on numerous occasions to express our exasperation at poor conditions and inadequate salary. NATFHE also attracted far-Left fantasists who attempted to exploit the desperation of dedicated staff. The attempt at the current academic boycott of Israel is mired in this mind-set, inspired by...

David Hirsh replies to Steven Rose - Vote No to the Blacklist Jacqueline Rose, at a conference last September became exasperated by patient logical arguments against boycotting Israeli academics. In the end she fell back on the desperate exclamation, "We have to do something!" Never mind that a blacklist of Israeli academics will do nothing to help Palestinians or Palestinian universities. Never mind that a blacklist will do nothing to help unite all those who oppose the Israeli occupation in a campaign for a free and democratic Palestine. Never mind that the proposal to draw up a blacklist of Israeli...