Over 4,000 foreign academics have signed a petition saying they will not participate in academic events in which Israeli academics cannot take part. The petition is a response to an announcement by the British Union of Colleges and Universities (UCU), which voted last week to recommend that its members boycott Israeli academic institutions.
The creators of the petition are calling themselves SPME—Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. On its website, the group quotes Thomas Friedman, who wrote that while criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, “singling out Israel...out of all proportion” is anti-Semitic.
The creators of the petition are calling themselves SPME—Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. On its website, the group quotes Thomas Friedman, who wrote that while criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, “singling out Israel...out of all proportion” is anti-Semitic.