It is wrong to boycott Israeli universities

Sir, – We write as academics to dissociate ourselves from our colleagues’ and friends’ call to boycott Israeli universities (Letters, November 4th). We condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza. We were disappointed to see that our colleagues’ letter did not call for the release of hostages, a humanitarian act that may also expedite a ceasefire. We disagree profoundly with our colleagues’ perfunctory language in describing the events of October 7th as an “incursion by Palestinian armed groups”, which “included criminal attacks against civilians”. It was a terrorist attack which discharged horrifying levels of atrocity, claiming over 1,400 lives, including the cold-blooded murder of babies, children and the torture of women, at least one of whom had her broken body desecrated, spat on and displayed as a trophy. Reading our colleagues’ letter you would not know that 241 hostages, most of them Jewish and most of them civilians, were taken from within Israel’s internationally-recognised borders into Gaza, among them at least 25 children and 30 elderly people. Our colleagues’ silence with respect to the continued suffering of Jews and non-Jews abducted by Hamas and the suffering of their families is incomprehensible and should prompt some soul searching. We question why Israel alone, of all the regimes in the world which might be deemed to infringe human rights, is selected for this boycott, when our universities ally with China, Saudi Arabia, and indeed the United States and Britain, whose actions in the Middle East have resulted in untold deaths.

We disagree with those who regard Israel’s current actions as genocide. Any war, and this war in particular, is a terrible outbreak of brutality that claims innocent lives. But not all war is genocide, certainly not this war which was started when Hamas carried out its massacre of civilians on October 7th. This is not to excuse Israel’s excessive use of violence and actions that consciously aggravate an already extreme humanitarian crisis. Nor is it to excuse cruel and routine acts of violence that Jewish settlers carry out against innocent Palestinians. Such evils should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We agree with the Taoiseach’s statement of November 3rd which acknowledged that Israel has the right to defend itself but we also heed his call to question the utility and morality of actions that he described as “approaching revenge”. We deplore the bombing of universities in Gaza and the attack of places of education. We also oppose the boycotting of universities in Israel at a time when more dialogue is needed, not less. Universities are vital bridges for connecting critical and dissenting voices worldwide. There are indeed Israeli universities that have voiced clear opposition to policies of the current ultra-nationalist coalition which are aimed at curtailing human rights. We call on fellow academics to stand with them in their opposition and not weaken them. A boycott would also undermine EU-funded exchange programmes, all of which give priority to students and staff of Palestinian descent. Should we also boycott these? – Yours, etc,

EDWARD BURKE,

MARC CABALL,