According to a report in the British publication The Guardian, The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, formed in collaboration with Bar-Ilan University, had collected over 4,700 signatures by Saturday.
The petition directed at the British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe), opposes the proposed boycott claiming that it does not allow for academic freedom. "Academic boycott actions are antithetical not only to principles of academic freedom but also to the quest for peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict," the petition stated.
The Guardian published a letter signed by 600 academics opposing the boycott and also a letter supporting it. The letter condemning the boycott read "We oppose the inconsistency of blacklisting Israelis but adopting a different attitude to academics in the ... long list of other states that are responsible for equal or worse human rights abuses."
The letter supporting the boycott from the Federation of Unions of Palestinian University Professors and Employees stated, "Israeli research institutes, think tanks, and academic departments have granted legitimacy to the work of academics who advocate ethnic cleansing, apartheid, denial of refugee rights, and other discriminatory policies against the Palestinians."
"Asking academics to state their political opinion on a specific matter as a precondition to being accepted ... is in the best tradition of Stalinism," Emanuele Ottolenghi of Oxford University's Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies told the Guardian.
The proposed boycott is slated for discussion on Monday by Nafthe delegates at the association's annual conference, which began on Saturday.
The petition directed at the British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe), opposes the proposed boycott claiming that it does not allow for academic freedom. "Academic boycott actions are antithetical not only to principles of academic freedom but also to the quest for peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict," the petition stated.
The Guardian published a letter signed by 600 academics opposing the boycott and also a letter supporting it. The letter condemning the boycott read "We oppose the inconsistency of blacklisting Israelis but adopting a different attitude to academics in the ... long list of other states that are responsible for equal or worse human rights abuses."
The letter supporting the boycott from the Federation of Unions of Palestinian University Professors and Employees stated, "Israeli research institutes, think tanks, and academic departments have granted legitimacy to the work of academics who advocate ethnic cleansing, apartheid, denial of refugee rights, and other discriminatory policies against the Palestinians."
"Asking academics to state their political opinion on a specific matter as a precondition to being accepted ... is in the best tradition of Stalinism," Emanuele Ottolenghi of Oxford University's Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies told the Guardian.
The proposed boycott is slated for discussion on Monday by Nafthe delegates at the association's annual conference, which began on Saturday.