israel academic boycott

8/14/2019 Israel Academic Boycott

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Uri Yacobi Keller

T E OA Socioeconomic Bulletin

23-24*October 2009

and the Complicityof Israeli Academic

Institutions

in Occupationof Palestinianerritories

Academic Boycott of Israel


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Shir Hever

Economy of the Occupation

Socioeconomic Bulletin 23___________________________________________Academic Boycott of Israel

C I A

I O P ___________________________________________

O 2009P A I C (AIC)

http://www.alternativenews.org/

E: Connie HackbarthG D: al Hever

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expropriated from the Palestinian village of al-Issawiya, shown here in the background.Photography by Jill Granberg, December 5th, 2006.

Tis research was conducted with the assistance of Diakonia.

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government through the help of Mundubat, Broederlijk Delen, the Catalan Government through thehelp of Sodepau, Comite Catholique Contre La Faim Et Pour Le Developemment (CCFD), Diakonia,

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Both the cover of this Bulletin and the photograph in page 38 are licensed under a CreativeCommons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License (http://creativecom-mons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en). Te photograph in page 38 was taken by TomasMarthinsen on January 20th 2009 in Oslo, Norway.

Many thanks are in place to ShirHever and Connie Hackbarth fromthe Alternative Information Center,to Omar Barghouti of the Palestinian

Campaign for the Academic and Cul-tural Boycott of Israel and to RoserZaurin of the Comission Universita-ria Catalan per Palestina.

I. Introduction

II. Israeli Academic Institutions in

Support of the Occupation

III. Te Question of Academic Boycott on Israel

IV. Israeli Academic Institutions in Support

of the Occupation

Endnotes

4

8

23

35

42


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Economy of the Occupation4 |

. General

he idea of an academic boy-cott of Israel first emerged

in 2002 as part of the grow-

ing boycott and divestment campaign

against Israel, itself a part of the

struggle against the Israeli occupa-

tion of Palestinian territories and the

violation of Palestinian human andnational rights. Compared to other

types of boycott, the academic boy-

cott has gathered a relative amount of

widespread support amongst academic

unions and organizations, primar-

ily in Great Britain. Not surprisingly,

this relative success has stirred a pub-lic debate and opposition to the boy-

cott, mostly by pro-Israeli organiza-

tions and academics. Te campaign for

academic boycott has wavered under

these pressures and various degrees

and measures of boycott have since

been approved and then often can-

celed by academic organizations. Te

arguments in favor of this kind of boy-

cott have relied largely on the facts of

the Israeli occupation and the idea of

pressuring Israel through its academicworld; often, they have not utilised de-

tails relating to the specific academic

institutions that they call to boycott.

Trough this report, however,

the Alternative Information Center

(AIC) aims to inform and empower

the debate on an academic boycottby giving information not on Israeli

violence and violations of interna-

tional law and human rights, but on

the part played in the Israeli occupa-

tion by the very academic institutions

in question. Te report demonstrates

that Israeli academic institutions havenot opted to take a neutral, apolitical

position toward the Israeli occupa-

tion but to fully support the Israeli

security forces and policies toward the

Palestinians, despite the serious suspi-

cions of crimes and atrocities hovering

over them. Any who argue either for

or against an academic boycott against

Israeli institutions, we believe, should

I. I


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Academic Boycott of Israel | 5

know and consider not only facts re-

garding the situation in the Occu-pied Palestinian erritories (OP),

but also the ways in which the Israeli

academic institutions make political

choices and actively take sides in the

ongoing conflict.

Tis report deals with relevantfacts about the connections between

Israeli academic institutions and the

occupation. It is doubtful that in the

process of researching this report all

facts relevant to the subject were un-

covered, especially since some of the

economic connections between aca-demic institutions and private compa-

nies are actively hidden by the parties

involved. Te involvement of Israeli

academic institutions in the occupa-

tion takes many forms and scopes,

and not all Israeli academic institu-

tions can be said to be involved on the

same scale. However, all main Israeli

academic institutions are involved inthe occupation. Indeed, all major Is-

raeli academic institutions, certainly

the ones with the strongest interna-

tional connections, were found to

provide unquestionable support to Is-

raels occupation. Some of the detailsdepicted in this report are evidence

of blunt and direct support to the oc-

cupation while others are more minor

details, which, nonetheless, provide a

clear indication of the political stance

taken by academic institutions.

It should be noted that the Israelisecurity forces are the prime propo-

nents of the occupation and there-

fore any aid given to

them is considered

here as support for

the occupation. It is

probable that uni-versities in other

countries may also

occasionally support

the local security

forces. However the situation of the

Israeli army is unlike that of other

armies around the world and no sup-

port given to the Israeli security agen-

cies can be defined as neutral.

Tis report aims to empower the debate on

an academic boycott by giving information

not on Israeli violence and violations of

international law and human rights, but on

the part played in the Israeli occupation by

the academic institutions.


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. Overview of Academic

Institutions in Israel

Tere are seven Israeli universities:

Te Hebrew University in Jerusalem,

el-Aviv and Bar-Ilan Universities in

el-Aviv, Haifa University and the

echnion in Haifa, Ben-Gurion Uni-versity in Beer Sheva and the Weiz-

man Institute in Rechovot. Te Is-

raeli Open University, which is not

attached to any specific geographical

location in Israel, is also often consid-

ered a university, but as research is

not a major part of its function and itsimportance and prestige are nowhere

near the other universities, we relegate

it to the category of non-university

academic institutes. Tere are numer-

ous colleges and more minor institutes

in Israel, a few of which have acquired

a status and prestige rivaling that ofthe universities. Prime amongst those

is the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Cen-

ter (IDC), which is notorious for high

student fees and rich private donors

who show great generosity. Te Israeli

universities and the Interdisciplinary

Center are probably the most impor-

tant Israeli academic institutes in con-

tact with foreign institutions, as well

as the most respected within Israel

itself, and therefore also the most im-portant in the context of this report.

Troughout this publication we will

refer to them often as the main Is-

raeli academic institutes.

Several of the Israeli academic insti-

tutions began even before the founda-tion of Israel itself. Te echnion and

Hebrew University were founded by

the pre-state Jewish settlement, a part

of the effort to prepare for the state to

come. Eventually several Israeli univer-

sities, including the aforementioned

and the Weizman Institute, becameworld renowned and greatly contrib-

uted to Israels economy and prestige.

Te Israeli academic world enjoyed

many years of governmental support

and backing in tandem with the Israeli

attempt to gain international legitima-

cy and recognition as part of the west-ern developed world. As the Israeli

economy moved towards knowledge

dependent industries such as com-

puter software and electronics, Israeli

academic institutes became more and

more valuable in all respects. Te Is-

raeli image gained substantial political

prestige from the intellectual sphere

that developed in Israeli academia.


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With Israels change into a more

neo-liberal society, funding for uni-versities and other academic institu-

tions started to decline. With less

money and resources available from

the government, universities rely in-

creasingly on growing student tuition

(which prompted student strikes andprotests), budget cuts (which re-

sulted, for example, in a prolonged

lecturers strike) and funding from

outside. Tis coincides with a pro-

cess of privatization of higher edu-

cation in Israel, with the founding of

private colleges and institutes thatusually offer studies in practical

fields such as law or engineering, and

which are beginning to compete with

universities for students. Tis has

resulted in a declining financial sys-

tem for most Israeli universities and

main academic centers.

Tough many researchers in fields

of humanities and more theoretical aca-

demic disciplines need little more than

pen and paper to conduct their research,

researchers in applied fields that gener-

ally yield the most profitable technologi-

cal advances (and turn the most revenue

for the universities themselves, and laterfor the Israeli economy) often require

costly equipment and laboratories. Te

capital for the acquisition of such equip-

ment is usually invested by foreign uni-

versities, private companies and donors.

A substantial percentage of all money

invested in this way is usually directedto the university in general instead of to

the research for which it is intended. In

the current climate of declining govern-

ment funding and financial instability, it

may well be that Israeli universities are

very much dependent on such external

non-governmental investments.


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he facts gathered regardingthe involvement of Israeli

academic institutions in the

Israeli occupation are presented here,

divided into chapters according to the

type and target of involvement. Tis,

we hope, presents a broad picture and

highlights similarities and connec-tions between political actions of the

various institutions. A brief summary,

divided by institution, can be found at

the end of this report.

. Research and Developmentin Israeli Academic

Institutions in Service

of the Israeli Armed Forces

With the continuation of Palestinian

resistance to the Israeli occupation

and the deterioration of the economic

situation within Israel, Israeli security

forces often find themselves lacking in

sufficient personnel. Te Israeli gov-ernments ability to financially sup-

port the army is gradually declining

and the number of Israelis willing to

be drafted is in decline.1 In order to

successfully maintain the occupation,

Israeli security forces are becoming

heavily dependent on technologicalmeans and developments that facili-

tate a continuation of the occupation

with less manpower and government

support (this has encouraged, for in-

stance, commercial companies to en-

dorse specific Israeli military units).2

High tech advancements allow, onthe one hand, the daily operation of

instruments of occupation, such as

checkpoints, with fewer soldiers, and,

on the other hand, provide Israeli

security industries new products to

market and export to foreign coun-

tries, thus compensating for a lack of

government funding and allowing the

occupation to continue.

II. I A I S O

According to ype of Involvement


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Tough the Israeli military main-

tains several internal units of researchand development, primarily within

the military intelligence corps, these

cannot provide all of the armys high

tech needs. A major part of research

and development for the security

forces is done by private companiesand academic institutions, often in

cooperation with each other and the

army itself.3

Te echnion, the Israeli institu-

tion most renowned for applied sci-

ences such as engineering and com-

puter science, has all but enlisteditself in the military. Te echnion,

like most other Israeli universities,

takes pride in projects of research

and development conducted for the

Israeli security forces.4 Examples of

the more brutal of these are the de-

velopment of a remote-controlledD9 bulldozer used by the Israeli

army to demolish Palestinian houses5

and the development of a method

for detecting underground tunnels,

specifically developed in order to as-

sist the Israeli army in its continued

siege on the Gaza Strip.6 Te extent

of cooperation between the echnion

and Israeli military was demonstrated

when the echnion opened a center

for the development of electro-opticsin complete partnership with El-

bit,7 one of the biggest Israeli private

weapons research companies which is

also heavily involved in development

for the Israeli military.8

Tough the echnion is the mostnotorious and prestigious academic

institution that cooperates with the

Israeli military in developing military

technologies, it is not the only Israeli

university to do so. A recent report

by the student Palestinian Society of

the School for Oriental and AfricanStudies (SOAS) revealed that el-

Aviv University has participated in

no less than 55 joint technological

projects with the Israeli army, par-

ticularly in the field of electro-optics.9

It has hosted conventions about elec-

tro-optics10 and robotics11 in whichweapons manufacturing companies

have participated. Bar-Ilan Univer-

sity has also participated in joint re-

search with the army, specifically in

developing artificial intelligence for

unmanned combat vehicles.12

Other academic institutes such

as the Weizman Institute have also

been involved in development in ser-


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vice of the Israeli army.13 Academic

institutions such as the Interdisci-plinary Center in Herzliya14 or Ho-

lon College15 take pride in the fact

that their students later work in

weapons manufacturing companies

such as Elbit and RAFAEL. Te

Wingate Institute also has joint re-search projects with the Israeli se-

curity forces, although more related

to physical fitness rather than to

weapon development.16

An example of the deadly fruits of

such cooperation was revealed during

Israels 2009 military attacks againstthe Gaza Strip, when at least 29 Pal-

estinian civilians were killed by Israeli

unmanned aircraft.17

One of the problems in estimat-

ing the exact extent of academic par-

ticipation in military research is that

much of it is done without formallylabeling it as such. Private commercial

companies have become an important

part of the universities structure by

investing money into the universities

and becoming directly involved on the

academic level.

Numerous Israeli students turn

to academic studies in engineering or

computer science, hoping for a career in

the lucrative high-tech sector. In study-

ing for advanced degrees it has becomea common practice in several Israeli

universities for M.A. and Ph.D. stu-

dents to have a university professor as

a formal instructor, but someone from

outside the university as their practi-

cal, de-facto instructor. Tis externalperson is usually a researcher or man-

ager in a commercial high-tech compa-

ny who guides the student in research

which is heavily connected to that of

the company.

Tough it is difficult to detect

this type of involvement, as it israrely written or publicized in of-

ficial documents, indicators of this

process can be found in the coop-

eration and connections between

academic institutes and companies

such as Elbit, RAFAEL and other

weapon developers. Tis is most ap-parent in the echnion, which, in

addition to the aforementioned, has

also trained engineers specifically for

work in Elbit18 and RAFAEL19 and

where students have even dealt di-

rectly in the development of complex

weapons in the process of research-

ing their academic theses.20 In June

2008 Elbit publicly announced that


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in each of the next five years it would

be awarding half a million dollarsin grants to echnion research stu-

dents.21 Tis unusual publication of

the research sponsorship indicates

the special relationship between the

echnion and Elbit.

On a higher level, it is interestingto note that Yossi Ackerman, Presi-

dent and CEO of Elbit, was granted

an honorary Ph.D. by the echnion22

while Haim Russo, manager of the

El-Op branch of Elbit (which spe-

cializes in military equipment) had

been appointed to the echnionsquaternion.23 Te echnions man-

agement even publicized meeting and

discussing research cooperation with

Elbit.24 However, while the echnion

seems to publicly strengthen these

connections, it is not the only one.

Elbit, RAFAEL and other weaponsmanufacturers are frequent partici-

pants in virtually every employment

fair (occasions where the companies

send representatives to the campus

in order to recruit students) in many

major universities25 and the uni-

versities themselves rarely forget to

mention the company names when

advertising these fairs.

Michael Federmann, Chairman

of the Board of Directors of El-bit, is also a member of the Board

of Governors of both the Weizman

Institute and the Hebrew Univer-

sity. Tis fact indicates that these

two highly prestigious institutes, re-

nowned in scientific fields relatingto high-tech, may also be deeply in-

volved with weapons research com-

panies. Te Weizman Institute also

cooperated with Elbit to create a

special electro-optics research orient-

ed science program for high school

students in Elbit factories.26

When announcing the aforemen-

tioned research grants by Elbit to the

echnion, echnion President Yitzhak

Apeloighe said: Tis new program

that we are launching and the yearly

donation that Elbit Systems is going to

give [...] are an example of the opulentcooperation between the echnion and

the industry.

Elbit President and CEO Ack-

erman said in relation to the same

event: Te investment in research

and development is one of the main

factors in Elbits success so far, and

it is vital in the world competition of

security industries.27


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. Support of Israeli Soldiers

and Discrimination against

Palestinian Students

Being an important part of a milita-

rized war-like society in which army

service is a fundamental mainstream

consensus, Israeli universities andacademic institutes tend to provide

preferential treatment to current sol-

diers, ex-soldiers and reserve-soldier

students.

Israeli law itself stipulates that

universities give special treatment to

reservist students28

and none of theuniversities themselves have ever ex-

pressed even symbolic opposition to

this political interference in the aca-

demic sphere; on the contrary, almost

all of them have come up with their

own original ways of supporting sol-

diers and the Israeli war-like agenda(way beyond what they are required

to by law). Te most common method

for this is the granting of scholarships

and academic benefits based, some-

times solely, on past, present or future

military service. Many scholarships,

including some university sponsored

ones, grant credit to applicants who

have served in the army,29 and it is

also easy to find scholarships granted

solely to soldiers.30 Haifa University,for example, sponsored a soldier-only

scholarship in memory of fallen sol-

diers.31 Other forms of academic aid

granted to soldier-students include

free additional classes, extra test dates,

and consideration for absence fromlectures. Tis consideration is more

generous than that given to students

requiring such measures for health

reasons, for example. Recently, Israeli

academic institutions have even begun

to recognize army-training courses as

academic credit.32

Nearly all academicinstitutes in Israel, including almost

all universities, give certain (though

sometimes minor) academic benefits

to soldiers in general, and combat sol-

diers and elite unit veterans in partic-

ular,33 support that tends to increase

during periods of intense fighting, forexample the second Lebanon War or

the 2008-09 attack on Gaza.

Te period of operation Cast

LeadIsraels attack on Gaza that

had resulted in the killing of more

than a thousand Palestinianswit-

nessed a distinct increase in the aca-

demic support provided to soldiers.

Ben Gurion University outdid all oth-


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er universities by giving a special grant

of NIS 180 (approximately EURO35) for each day of service to students

who went on reserve duty, in addition

to other benefits.34 Te Hebrew Uni-

versity,35 echnion,36 Haifa Universi-

ty37 and Bar Ilan University38 also gave

reservist students who participated inthe fighting academic benefits in addi-

tion to the usual benefits for reserv-

ists. Among the non-university aca-

demic institutes, the most notable is

probably the Peres Academic Center,

which provided scholarships of NIS

10,000 (approximately EUR 2,000)to veterans of the operation.39

Te Cast Lead period is not the

first time for such extra support. Te

Hebrew University, for example, an-

nounced a special scholarship of NIS

1,500 (EURO 300), in addition to

other academic benefits, to studentswho went on reserve duty in combat

units for more than three weeks dur-

ing operation Defensive Shield in

2002,40 thus actively encouraging stu-

dents to participate in the fighting that

resulted in, amongst other things, the

complete devastation of the Jenin Ref-

ugee Camp and other suspected war

crimes.41 Te Haddasah College in Je-

rusalem provided similar benefits.42

Te Herzliya InterdisciplinaryCenter (IDC), probably the most

prestigious of all Israeli non-universi-

ty academic institutes, has made sup-

port of the Israeli military an integral

part of its overt agenda. Te IDC re-

serves ten percent of its student placesto veterans of elite combat units in

the Israeli army, who further benefit

from lower acceptance entry crite-

ria.43 Moreover, it gives scholarships

to veterans of combat units hailing

from Jewish Ethiopian origins.44 Te

IDC also takes pride in having givenextra support to soldier-students dur-

ing the Gaza attacks.45 Te method of

giving a large scholarship solely on the

grounds of former membership in the

Israeli army has become popular in

many smaller, less renowned colleges,

especially in high tech fields such asengineering. el Hai College and the

Qiryia for Engineering and echnol-

ogy, for example, both offer a 90%

scholarship to former soldiers.46

Te Israeli army runs programs of

academic reserve in which it funds

the studies of future soldiers in return

for longer service. Simply receiving

student fees from the army instead of


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the students themselves does not, of

course, mean that these universitiessupport the army, but several of these

programs are conducted, sponsored

and facilitated by the academic insti-

tutes themselves. Te Atidim aca-

demic reserve program, for example, is

sponsored by the Herzliya IDC, Judeaand Samaria College, Afeka College,

Academic College for Engineering in

Jerusalem, and Jordan Valley College

(as well as weapon manufacturing

companies such as Elbit).47 Several of

the universities also sponsor Atidim.

Te echnion, for example, takes anactive part in the program48 and has

even granted an honorary degree to

Atidims military commander.49 Te

participants of the joint military-He-

brew University alpiot program,

intended for science students who

will later be integrated into the armysresearch & development units, wear

uniforms throughout their years of

study and live in a special

.50

Likewise, the Havatzalot program

for future military intelligence officers

also has a military base on the cam-

pus of the Haifa University.51 Te

Brakim academic reserve program

is being co-conducted by the ech-

nion and the Israeli army52 which,together with el-Aviv University,

also allow the army use of their ex-

cellent student programs to run the

Psagot program.53 Tese latter pro-

grams are considered very prestigious.

Tey sometimes include courses notopen to other students and their par-

ticipants are shown academic lenience

and flexibility unlike that provided to

other students. Hebrew University,

for example, organizes special courses,

classes and test dates exclusively for

alpiot student-soldiers.In 2008, the Hebrew University

won a tender to establish and run a

school for military medicine, designed

specifically to train medical staff for

the Israeli armed forces.54 Tis school

means the creation of a special depart-

ment for future soldiers. It is unknownwhich other universities participated

in the tender besides Ben Gurion

University, which claimed it had origi-

nated the very idea for this school and

thus challenged the awarding of the

tender to Hebrew University.55 Is-

raeli military doctors have long been

accused of collaborating with torture

and human rights abuses in detention


15/64


centers and military facilities.56

Tese examples alone are clearevidence of the unconditional sup-

port given by Israeli universities and

colleges to the Israeli army and gov-

ernment policy, but examining them

solely from this perspective hides part

of the picture. Tis type of support,whether through scholarships and

money transfers, or academic benefits

and lenience, is also discriminatory

against those who do not conscript to

the Israeli army.

Conscription to the Israeli army

is mandatory, but there are numer-ous Israeli youth exempt from service

because of religious beliefs and health

reasons. Tere are also a small but im-

portant number of conscientious ob-

jectors who are sometimes imprisoned

because of their refusal to enlist. Any

favorable or preferential treatmentto soldiers is discrimination against

both these groups, but the starkest

discrimination is against Palestinian

citizens of Israel who, unlike most

other ethnic populations, are not con-

scripted to the Israeli army. In the past

this fact has been used in numerous

cases to discriminate against Palestin-

ian citizens, especially in matters of

employment.57 Since any preferential

treatment of soldiers and ex-soldiersmust necessarily be seen as practical

discrimination against Palestinians,

the Israeli system of higher education

is rife with such mistreatment.

Te small Carmel College caused

an uproar when a recorded conversa-tion between officials in the college

confirmed that an entire department

was closed because too many Pal-

estinian students had enlisted for

studies there.58 Tis, however, is an

exception. Discrimination against Pal-

estinian citizens of Israel is usuallydone in a much more subtle manner,

employing bureaucratic criteria for

receiving academic services based on

previous army service. An example of

this is that the Atidim program of

academic reserve, mentioned above,

also operates a program of fundingstudies for students from a margin-

alized and weakened socio-economic

background. While this program has

no connection to military service, it

includes only towns and settlements

whose population are drafted into

the army (or, in other words, all eth-

nic populations who are not Palestin-

ian).59 All of the organizations men-


16/64


tioned above which sponsor Atidim

should therefore also be seen as en-couraging racial discrimination. Such

discriminatory bureaucratic measures

were also used by Haifa University to

exclude Palestinian citizens of Israel

from the subsidized student dormito-

ries on its campus.60

Te Israeli HighCourt itself ruled against the univer-

sity and declared that such treatment

constitutes discrimination and should

be abolished, but as is evident by the

examples mentioned here, preferential

treatment towards soldiers, ex-soldiers

and future soldiers is deeply rooted inalmost all main Israeli academic insti-

tutions and should therefore be con-

sidered as discriminatory against Pal-

estinian citizens of Israel.

While Palestinian citizens of Is-

rael constitute more than 20% of the

countrys population, only 9.5% ofB.A. students, 4.8% of M.A. students,

3.2% of Ph.D. students and a mere

1% of the academic staff in Israeli aca-

demic institutions are Palestinians.61

Palestinian applicants are three times

as likely to be rejected by Israeli aca-

demic institutions than Jewish appli-

cants.62 Tis situation must also be a

consequence of discrimination and

neglect of the education of Palestin-

ian citizens of Israel on all levels, butIsraeli universities and colleges do not

appear concerned about this situation.

Although Arabic is an official lan-

guage of Israel and the first language

of more than a fifth of Israels popula-

tion, none of the main Israeli academ-ic institutions have programs of study

conducted in Arabic.

Discrimination is sometimes used

by academic institutions against

Palestinians who are not registered

students in those institutions. Te

Hebrew University, for instance, de-mands a police-issued character ref-

erence certificate from non-student

Palestinian visitors to its campus, sup-

posedly to ensure they are not terror-

ists. Tis demand is not required of

Jewish visitors.63

. Participation in Israeli

Military raining

Support of the Israeli military and

policies by academic institutions can

also involve more direct intervention

in support of armed forces and deter-

mination of Israeli government policy.


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One of the major developments

of the Israeli occupation in recentyears is the gradual privatization and

transference of many security roles,

both within Israel and in the Occu-

pied Palestinian erritories, to private

companies. With a security guard on

the doorstep of most big shops andrestaurants in Israel and private secu-

rity companies operating some of the

larger checkpoints in the West Bank,

the need for security guards rarely

drops. Being a security guard, howev-

er, is not considered a very prestigious

job, and most guards tend to comefrom the lower rungs of Israeli soci-

ety. Likewise, the bigger, more estab-

lished academic institutions have little

to do with these kinds of jobs while

some of the smaller colleges, in an at-

tempt to attract more students, offer

courses and entire programs that trainstudents to become security officers,

with a clear direction towards private

security companies and the Israeli se-

curity forces. Some of these colleges,

such as the Israeli College for Security

and Investigation, have an official pro-

gram that prepares its graduates for

integration into the security services.64

Other institutes, such as the College

for Management, have a program of

Security Studies and explicitly statethat the participants future employ-

ment in the Israeli operative security

services is distinctly optional.65

Te more prestigious institutes

involvement in training is usually

reserved for deeper, more direct con-nections with Israeli security agen-

cies. Te Israeli armys Command

and Staff College (PUM) is its main

institute for training officers and

command staff. Since 1969 the train-

ing in PUM has also had an aca-

demic side, first under the charge ofel-Aviv University and later under

the Hebrew University.66 In addition

to PUM, the Israeli army has other

military colleges that, as of 2005, are

also under the academic auspices of

Hebrew University and are supposed

to be built inside the Hebrew Uni-versitys campus.67 Military training

is also a big part of the Wingate In-

stitute, which is Israels primary aca-

demic institute in the fields of fitness

and sports. A whole military training

base is located at the Wingate Insti-

tute,68 and it often acts as a part of

the armys training facilities.69 Te

Zefat College, a branch of Bar Ilan


18/64


University, has an exclusive academ-

ic program for training members ofthe Israeli General Security Service

(GSS),70 an organization notorious

for using torture and abusing hu-

man rights throughout the Occupied

Palestinian erritories.71 Participants

of this program receive their B.A.after only 16 months (as opposed

to the usual three years required in

a regular B.A.).72 Tis program was

intended to be moved to the more

prestigious Hebrew University, but

this plan was eventually revoked (in-

terestingly, the programs cancellationhappened after activists threatened

to report these developments to what

was then a formulating academic boy-

cott campaign in the UK).73 Bar Ilan

University also has other types of

programs intended for high-ranking

army officers.74

Some of the most prestigious pro-

grams within the army itself include

substantial academic parts. As part of

their training, military pilots receive

a B.A. from Ben Gurion University

in the course of a single year (instead

of the normal three years).75 Te

trainees of the navys ship captains

course, also one of the most presti-

gious in the army, receive a B.A. from

Haifa University.76

. Direct Involvement with

the Israeli Occupation

Te three previous chapters havedepicted unquestioning support by

virtually all Israeli universities and

other academic institutions of the oc-

cupation, mainly through support of

the Israeli security forces, their poli-

cies and actions. Several universities

have taken a step further and havebecome directly involved with the

Israeli occupation.

Te starkest example of this is the

Judea and Samaria College, founded

by Bar Ilan University in Ariel, an

Israeli settlement on Palestinian ter-

ritory.77 While attempts have beenmade to turn this college into a full-

fledged university in its own right, the

responsibility of Bar Ilan University

should not be underestimated. Tis

is an obvious attempt by the Israeli

authorities to cement the status of

the Ariel settlement as a part of Is-

rael, with the full cooperation and ac-

ceptance of the university. In a short


19/64


welcoming movie, former Israeli Chief

of Staff Moshe Yaalon states that theAriel College has an important stra-

tegic value and that it fortifies Isra-

els future borders,78 which makes it

undeniable that the College is a part

of an Israeli attempt to eternalize the

Ariel settlement.Another academic institute lo-

cated in a settlement is the Herzog

College, located in the Gush Etzion

settlement bloc.79

Jerusalems Hebrew University has

also become an accomplice in building

in settlements on Palestinian lands. ItsMount Scopus campus is situated in-

side the Green Line, but bordering on

Palestinian land in virtually all direc-

tions. Since the 1970s, the university

has attempted to oust nine Palestinian

families who live in nearby lands in

order to expand its campus. HebrewUniversity has already built on lands

belonging to the Palestinian villages

of Lifta, al-Issawiya, and Wadi al-Joz.

In 2004 the university began expan-

sion onto another area that belongs to

Palestinians, in order to build parking

lots, offices and student housing.80 A

big part of the Hebrew Universitys

student housing is located on French

Hill, a settlement neighborhood of

Jerusalem. Tis student housing areaalso serves the Bezalel Art Academy.

el-Aviv University is situated on

the land of the destroyed Palestinian

village Skeikh Muwanis. According

to Zochrot, some parts of the univer-

sitys land were confiscated by Israeland not purchased from the Palestin-

ian owners of the area.81 Te el-Aviv

University has never even recognized

the facts relating to the territory it

uses and has never acknowledged the

history of its campus.

Being centers of knowledge andinfluential people, Israeli universities

are sometimes involved not only in a

land grab for themselves, but also in

determining official policies of Israels

occupation. Te instances in which

academic research merges with gov-

ernmental or security policy are dif-ficult to detect, but the case of Haifa

Universitys Department of Geo-strat-

egy is a clear example. One of the most

prominent members of the depart-

ment is Arnon Sofer, who also acts

as its head and the head of the Israeli

armys College for National Security.82

In a paper marking five years of work

by the Geo-strategy Department,


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Sofer boasts of the departments influ-

ence on policies taken by Israel in sub- jects such as the Separation Wall and

the Palestinian Right of Return.83 Te

department, an official part of Haifa

University, thus takes a clear political

stance. Sofer mentions that the topic

heading the department agenda is theDemographic Problem (Haifa Uni-

versity also conducted a conference on

this subject),84 a way of defining the

rate of reproduction amongst Pales-

tinians, which is higher than that of

Israeli Jews, as a problem.

. High-Ranking Military

Officers in Israeli

Universities

Te Israeli mainstream has never ac-

cepted the debate of the legality of Is-raeli actions during Israels various wars

and towards the subjugated Palestinian

population. Te legitimacy of the Is-

raeli security forces is taken for granted

in every situation, regardless of actions

they take or the amount of destruc-

tion and harm they cause Palestinians.

Any attempt to raise this subject in a

way that does not assume the Israeli

security forces moral high ground

is automatically marginalized by themainstream media and politicians and

labeled radical and un-patriotic.

Israeli universities have adopted

this consensus by accepting into their

ranks former members of the Israeli

security services, without regard forthe problematic aspects of their pos-

sible actions in past positions. Ex-

Colonel Pnina Sharvit-Baruchs part

in approving and overseeing the legal

justification of Israels bombing and

devastation of the Gaza Strip in De-

cember 2008January 2009 did notprevent el-Aviv University from ap-

pointing her to the post of lecturer.85

Te universitys response to an outcry

by activists and lecturers against this

appointment was that the univer-

sity does not judge lecturers political

points of view and encourages a myr-iad collection of political opinions.86

Sharvit-Baruch, however, does not

only hold a certain political opinion,

but in her time as Colonel, Sharvit-

Baruch specifically authorized the

killing of Palestinian civilians, mak-

ing her a possible accomplice in war

crimes. Tis is independent of her po-

litical views.


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Similarly, Carmi Gilons past as

Director of the General Security Ser-vices, an organization especially no-

torious for torture and human rights

abuses of Palestinians, and who is

accused by various organizations of

committing war crimes,87 did not

cause Hebrew University to reconsid-er appointing him to the post of Vice-

President for External Affairs.88 Tese

appointments of former high-ranking

officers in the Israeli security services

would seem very natural in the Is-

raeli mainstream context, where they

enjoy a great deal of prestige, but theIsraeli mainstream is itself very radi-

cal and should by no means be taken

as a standard.

. Stifling of Political Dissent

in Israeli Universities

Israeli universities and academic in-

stitutions are supposed to allow free-

dom of expression on their campuses,

as well as the formation of political

organizations and student groups. o

a certain degree that is indeed the

situation and it cannot be said that

students are completely incapable

of expressing their views on Israeli

campuses. Tere are, however, sev-eral notable exceptions that offer a

glimpse into the underlying policy of

several universities, policies severe in

their own right.

In 2009 a graduation ceremony for

M.A. students at the echnion Uni-versity concluded, like many official

ceremonies in Israel, with the singing

of Hatikva, the national anthem. M.A.

graduate and activist Eyal Rosenberg,

unlike the rest of the students, re-

mained sitting during the singing of

the anthem. He subsequently receivedan official letter from the Dean of the

university, denouncing him and warn-

ing him not to attend the next cer-

emony.89 Tis example of nationalist

feelings superseding academic notions

is not the only one. In 2008 Israeli

President Shimon Peres visited theHebrew University campus of Mount

Scopus. During Peres tour of the li-

brary he approached several students

and asked them questions. Ali Baher,

a Palestinian citizen and Head of the

Hebrew Universitys Arab Student

Body, refused to shake Peres and called

him murderer of children. University

security immediately apprehended


22/64


and detained him for more than three

hours.90 Bahers student card was con-fiscated and he was subsequently sent

to a disciplinary committee. Ben Gur-

ion University also took action against

political activists: its security guards

started photographing and monitor-

ing left-wing political activists and, es-pecially during Israels military attack

on Gaza, put in place unreasonable

and illegal obstacles, even preventing

students from mounting legal political

demonstrations and activities.91

Te most notorious case, how-

ever, happened in 2008 in the SapirCollege in Sderot. Nizar Hassan, a

movie maker and lecturer on cinema

at the college, asked a student, not to

come to his class in the future wear-

ing an army uniform, after the stu-

dent, returning from military reserve

duty, entered Hassans class wearinga uniform and carrying a gun. Tis

case was followed by a huge media

uproar, which included false reports

by Israels mainstream media that

Hassan threw the student out of

the class and made anti-Semitic re-

marks (a report that was completely

disproved by the students in Has-sans class). Te college came under

intense pressure from top ranking

army officers to rebuke Hassan, who

did not receive the colleges backing.

Te question of whether a lecturer

can decide what a student can or can-not wear in class is a legitimate one

and some would argue that it indeed

was not Hassans right to ask the stu-

dent not to come to class while in

uniform. Tis, however, is not a case

regarding the question of attire, else

the same would have happened in thecase of another lecturer at Sapir Col-

lege who had asked a female Bedouin

student not to come to class wearing

a veil. Later in 2008 Sapir College

opened proceedings to dismiss Has-

san from his position at the college

because of the incident.92 Regardlessof whether this measure was taken in-

dependently by the college or wheth-

er it was a surrender to the pressure

of state and army officials, it shows

a special regard by the college of

the Israeli army.


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. History of the Academic

Boycott of Israel to Date

he notion of an academic

boycott of Israel is consid-

ered to have been first pub-

licly introduced in an open letter to

the Guardian newspaper in the United

Kingdom in 2002.93 It was drafted in

light of Israels disproportionate use offorce against the Palestinians during

the Second Intifada, and the killing of

thousands of Palestinian civilians by

Israeli troops. Te letter, formulated

by Steven and Hilary Rose and signed

by many other distinguished academ-

ics and scholars, calls for a moratori-um [...] upon any further [privileged]

support [of grants and contracts to

Israeli research institutes] unless and

until Israel abides by UN resolutions

and opens serious peace negotiations

with the Palestinians along the lines

proposed in many peace plans, includ-

ing most recently that sponsored by

the Saudis and the Arab League. It

is likely that some forms of boycott,

decided on a more personal level, had

been in place before this letter, but onlyafter the Rose couples letter did de-

bate seriously and openly begin about

the notion of an academic boycott.

Unsurprisingly, the letter also sparked

a furious opposition, mainly, but not

exclusively from pro-Israeli academics

and organizations.It is important to note that the

Rose letters argumentation revolves

around academic boycott being a pos-

sible effective measure towards end-

ing the occupation and not about

the Israeli academias involvement

with the occupation. Trough sanc-tions, the Rose couple claimed, Is-

rael could be better pressured to end

the occupation.

Further, outright boycott actions

took place in the following few years,

but these were more or less restricted

to decisions made by individuals and

did not garner international interest.

It was not until 2005 that a more or-

III. T Q A B I


24/64


ganized and public boycott was suc-

cessfully declared. Te British Asso-ciation of University eachers (AU)

voted to boycott Bar Ilan University

because of its academic responsibil-

ity for Judea and Samaria College

(which is, as mentioned above, located

in a settlement) and Haifa Univer-sity, because of its alleged controver-

sial treatment of Israeli lecturer Ilan

Pappe. Tis boycotts reasoning dif-

fered from the Rose letter-suggested

boycott, in that it was targeting cer-

tain academic institutions because of

specific actions rather than the wholeof Israeli academia. It was unsurpris-

ing that this very first successful act

of organized boycott triggered wide

opposition both in Israel and outside.

remendous pressure was exercised

on the AU. Only a little more than

one month after approval, the boycottwas retracted.

A year later, in 2006, the second

main British academic union at the

time, the National Association of

eachers in Further and Higher Edu-

cation (NAFHE), approved what

was considered a boycotting measure

of their owna motion recommend-

ing all members to reconsider any

connection they had with Israeli aca-

demics and academic institutions whodo not openly object the occupation.

It is important to analyze the NA-

FHE boycott attempt because it had

several important differences from the

earlier AU attempt.

Firstly, the NAFHE boycott tar-geted not only academic institutions

but also academics as well. Tis, cou-

pled with the fact that the criterion for

boycott was whether the academic in

question had openly rejected the oc-

cupation or not, meant that the argu-

ment that this boycott had steppedinto the realm of political discrimi-

nation had at least some measure of

truth; political opinions rather than

actions were judged by the boycott

motion. Tis motion essentially de-

manded that all Israeli academics and

academic institutions take a politicalposition. A number of uncertainties

come with such a demand as it is un-

clear, for example, what exactly are the

criteria for objecting to the occupation.

Is a professor who personally opposes

the occupation but has not published

an article in support of his political

position objecting or not? What if an

academic institution declares opposi-


25/64


tion to the occupation, but continues

supporting the Israeli military?Secondly, the NAFHE boycott

motion was ultimately only a sug-

gestion and not an active action. All

members of NAFHE were merely

advised to reconsider all connections

with Israeli academics and institutionswho did not oppose the occupation,

but no collective action was decided

upon. Tis was little more than a

symbolic statement, as academics who

had decided on a personal academic

boycott were free to do so even be-

fore the NAFHE motion. Toughsymbolic steps should not be under-

estimated, the mere encouragement

of academics to consider a boycott on

a personal, non-declarative level can

hardly be understood as a serious step

of boycott.

Te two unionsNAFHE andAUmerged a short while after

the boycott motion was passed into a

new union called the University and

College Union (UCU), resulting in

the boycotts cancellation. Since then

various attempts were made to pass

boycotting motions within the UCU,

which mainly included declarative

support of the idea of boycott but no

real action. In September 2007 the

UCU declared that boycotting mo-tions will not be suggested further be-

cause of the threat of legal action.

Ironically, one of the biggest incen-

tives for the campaign of academic

boycott on Israel was Israels 2009 at-

tack on Gaza. Te beginning of 2009(following the attack, which ended

on 21 January) witnessed a surge in

initiatives of boycott and divestment

against Israel in general, and the aca-

demic boycott in particular. Since

January 2009, academic boycott initia-

tives have begun in Sweden, Canada,Spain, USA and Australia.94 Some

of these, like the Canadian Union of

Public Employees resolution on boy-

cotting Israeli academic institutes that

have connections to the Israeli army,

have already received widespread cov-

erage and have been sustained evenmore than the failed 2005 AU res-

olution. An important step was the

above-mentioned report on el-Aviv

Universitys connection to weapons

development, written by the SOAS

student Palestinian Society, which

demonstrates that the proponents of

the academic boycott may have be-

come more particular and specific


26/64


in their arguments.

In September 2009 the Spanishgovernment canceled the participation

of Ariels Judea and Samaria College

in a contest on solar energy technol-

ogy development. Tis act was the

success of a short but effective cam-

paign by Spanish and Catalan aca-demics and BDS organizations, and

this case is most probably the first

ever success of an academic boycott

and divestment campaign.95 Tough

the path from canceling Ariel Col-

leges participation in a contest to an

overall boycott of Israeli academic in-

stitutions is long, this act is an impor-

tant precedent that represents the fact

that Israeli attempts to present Ariel

College as having nothing to do with

politics has failed. Te fact that the

campaign for the exclusion of Ariel

College was mounted by a relatively

small group and took little time to

reach its goal could indicate that moretargeted and fact-based academic boy-

cott campaigns may be more effective

than large, wide scale campaigns.

. Comparison With theAcademic Boycott of South

Africas Apartheid Regime

Te boycott campaign to end the

South African apartheid regime, sup-

ported by numerous

popular organizations(though not without

its own opposition,

controversies and de-

bate), is often seen as a

model for the boycott,

divestment and sanc-

tions (BDS) campaignagainst the Israeli occupation. An

important part of the South African

boycott was an academic boycott that

was more harsh than what is current-

ly advocated by the BDS campaign

against Israel: the academic boycott

on South Africa included not only not

investing in and not sharing university

research with South African academic

Te fact that the campaign for theexclusion of Ariel College was mounted by

a relatively small group could indicate that

more targeted academic boycott campaigns

may be more effective.


27/64


institutes, but also not recognizing ac-

ademic degrees given by South Afri-can universities, thus practically ignor-

ing the universities altogether. Despite

this, a study conducted a short time

after the end of the boycott in 1990

showed that most of the academics

and academic institutions in apartheidSouth Africa felt the boycott as little

more than an annoyance and not as a

real obstacle.96 Te academic boycott,

like much of the other aspects of the

boycott against South Africa, is said

to have exerted very little real pres-

sure on the apartheid regime. Someargue, based on this example, that an

academic boycotts effect is too minor

and that the potential harm done by

such a boycott outweighs the benefits,

which are anyways too small. Put-

ting ideological aspects regarding the

value of a mere act of resistance aside,comparisons between the academic

boycott of South Africa and formu-

lating one against Israel should be

made with caution.

South Africas economy is today

centered around the countrys rich

natural resources, and was even more

so during the time of apartheid, when

technology related economic fields

were marginal, at least until the 1990s.

However, twenty-six percent of Israeliexports in 2008 were comprised of

high-tech goods,97 which are the prod-

ucts of an industry highly dependent

on academic training and connections.

Even if a boycott of Israeli academic

institutions did not grind Israeli re-search to a halt, it might have a pro-

found effect on the Israeli economy,

adding pressure to end the occupa-

tion. Te same research done on the

South African boycott concluded that

academics in the fields of the natural

sciences (which are the areas morerelated to high-tech) found the ef-

fects of the boycott more severe than

other academics.98

Tat natural scientists may be

more affected by boycotts is related

to the fact that they require more re-

sources than academics in fields of hu-manities. For instance, as mentioned

before, Israeli universities do not fully

cover the expenses of scientists and

many of the researchers use external

investments, percentages of which are

taken by the universities themselves.

Tis process of money being invested

from external sources, such as foreign

universities and private companies, has


28/64


increased with the age of globalization

and neo-liberalism. Tese sorts of in-vestments were not in place during the

boycott of South Africa. An academic

boycott, in addition to influencing the

technology and knowledge dependent

economic sectors, may therefore alsodirectly hurt the funding of universi-

ties as a whole, at a time in which they

their finances are already precarious.

From an economic perspective, Is-

rael is therefore at present far more

vulnerable to an academic boycott

than apartheid South Africa ever was.Lastly it is important to note the

psychological effects of a boycott.

Even an academic boycott, which did

not have any obvious economic effects

on Israel or its academic institutions,

is still likely to have an impact on one

of the main purposes of the Israeli

academic institutes: the political capi-

tal gained from the prestige of being

part of the global intellectual sphere.

Te prestige of Israels universitiesis one of the main elements that al-

low Israelis to consider themselves a

part of the western world. Israelis are

very much dependent on these con-

nections, not only eco-

nomically but culturallyas well. White South Af-

ricans are descendants of

British and Dutch colo-

nialists and therefore even

when boycotted could still

easily consider themselves

connected to Europe. Israelis, how-ever, cannot take for granted being a

part of western world and its culture.

An academic boycott of Israel rep-

resents a threat that could damage

one of the most important cultural

connections between Israel and the

western world.

. Discussion of Academic

Boycotts against Israel

In order to understand the arguments

for and against academic boycotts of

Israel one first has to formulate the

boycott in question and ask what are

From an economic perspective Israelis far more vulnerable to an academic

boycott than the apartheid in South

Africa ever was.


29/64


its targets. Actions of boycott and

sanctions aimed at changing a certainsituation or governmental action can

be divided into two types.

Te first consists of acts directed at

organizations and companies that are

accomplices or supporters of the situ-

ation the boycott sets out to change.Actions of divestment from compa-

nies that own factories in the Occu-

pied erritories are an example of this

type of sanctions. Tis sort of boycott

is ideological in principle, in that it

identifies the organization in question

as a political entity that willingly in-tervenes in the situation and as such,

a part of the problem. Such a boycott,

against an organization, would be a

refusal to support the organization

because any such support is, indi-

rectly, also support of the situation in

question. Tis type of boycott will bereferred to as ideological henceforth.

Te second type of boycott would

be a complete boycott of all organiza-

tions connected to a certain group in

order to exercise pressure on the group

or the groups leadership, regardless

of the boycotted organizations part

in the situation in question. Boycot-

ting all Israeli agricultural produce,

even produce by companies that have

nothing to do with the occupation, inorder to put pressure on the Israeli

government to cease the occupation

is an example of this type of boycott.

Tis type of boycotts argumentation

and reasoning is tactical rather than

ideological in its basis as though itwould be recognized that some of the

organizations targeted are innocent

of political involvement, hurting them

would be seen as the price to pay in

order to achieve a certain goal. Te

considerations of such a boycott are,

ultimately, arguments of effective-ness. For such a boycott to gain sup-

port it must be proved that the harm

done is outweighed by the good that

will be achieved. An academic boycott

of this type will be referred to here

as tactical.

Many attack the idea of academicboycott of Israel by attempting to

justify Israels actions. Tis report,

however, deals with the notion of aca-

demic boycott and is not the place to

discuss arguments regarding the oc-

cupation itself. Terefore, arguments

against the academic boycott that at-

tack the boycotts very goal of ending

the occupation99 will not be related to


30/64


here. Te ideas in question here are

only those arguing for or against anacademic boycott being a legitimate

means of objection and resistance to

the Israeli occupation.

One of the most common argu-

ments against an academic boycott

on Israel is the notion of AcademicFreedom, which asserts that academ-

ics and academic institutions should

be given almost total freedom of ex-

pression, thought and academic re-

search. Another frequently used argu-

ment that lies in close proximity to the

Academic Freedom one is demandinga separation between academics and

politics and claiming that Israeli aca-

demic institutes should not be the tar-

get of a boycott because of the politi-

cal situation and the actions taken by

Israeli politicians.

An ideological boycott motionsanswer to these arguments would be

that, indeed, a separation between

academics and politics is in place, but

that demanding such a separation is in

fact an argument very much in support

of an academic boycott. As proved

here, the political and the academic

institutions are not at all separated

within the borders of nearly all Israeli

academic institutes. Whats more, the

disappearance of borders betweenthese two spheres is done not only

with the consent and cooperation of

the main academic institutes, but with

their active encouragement and ini-

tiative. Most Israeli academic institu-

tions cannot be treated as neutral orapolitical organizations, and as such

cannot hide behind Academic Free-

dom as they are not merely academic

and nonpolitical themselves.

A tactical boycott motions answer

to these arguments would first be to

remind that the original purpose ofAcademic Freedom was to protect

academics and academic institutions

from attacks by the likes of non-dem-

ocratic or totalitarian measures, usu-

ally within the state itselfactions

very much like the treatment of Pales-

tinian universities in the OP (whichare, therefore, under the responsibility

of Israel). Palestinian universities have

been closed down, blockaded, assault-

ed and even bombed from aircraft by

Israeli forces all throughout the years

since 1967. Tis, by all means, consti-

tutes a blunt violation of the Palestin-

ian Academic Freedom and a tactical

boycott would deem it worthwhile to


31/64


harm Israeli Academic Freedom right

now in order to achieve overall Aca-demic Freedom for both Israeli and

Palestinian institutions in the future.

Another important argument

against academic boycotts of Israel is

that some of the most notable critics

of occupation within Israel itself areacademics. It has been rightfully said

by objectors to the notion of academic

boycott that inside the Israeli academ-

ic sphere it is certainly much easier

to find objectors to the occupation

than outside. Te Israeli universities,

despite all their flaws, continue to becenters of intellectual activity and are

generally far more progressive than

the mainstream.

Tis fact, however, has yet to

change the policy taken by the univer-

sities where these academics work and

research. In fact, while in the past theacademics have had more influence on

the management of their own univer-

sity (which did not stop the universi-

ties from supporting the occupation),

the ability of academics to determine

the policy of the institutes where they

work has been eroded in recent years.

Te recent election of a new president

at Hebrew University, for example,

was done not by the academic staff of

that university but by an external com-mittee which consisted of academics

and public representatives, amongst

whom are a bank director and hotel-

owning businessman. Te commit-

tee eventually chose a former Hebrew

University professor, but the othermain candidate for the post was former

chief of the Israeli Air Force, Eliezer

Shakedi, who had never even studied

at a university.100 Shakedis name was

mainly pushed by the non-academic

members of the committee and the

election of a new president took longerthan anticipated because of a deadlock

between the two candidates. Tough

the academics candidate eventually

won, this example serves to demon-

strate that the power of academics to

influence the policy of academic insti-

tutions may be limited. Even if all aca-demics in a certain academic institute

would unite in demanding that the

institute stops support of the occupa-

tion (an event which in itself has never

happened and is unlikely to happen),

there is no certainty that they would

succeed, as the control of the institutes

has been, to a very large degree, taken

out of their hands.


32/64


Even the few instances where uni-

versities have acted in opposition tothe occupation, such as the success-

ful and admirable struggle to allow a

few Palestinian Ph.D. students from

the West Bank attendance at Hebrew

University in spite of the armys oppo-

sition,101

or the supportive treatmentof Bedouin women students in Ben

Gurion University, cannot hide the

unconditional support that the these

universities give the occupation in

general. While these cases show that

voices rejecting the occupation do ex-

ist within the Israeli academia, theycan hardly cover for the overall policy

taken by the institutions themselves.

Another common argument

against academic boycotts of Israel is

that such measures are, in fact, a cover

for anti-Semitism. It is worth noting

that this argument identifies the Is-raeli state with the Jewish people, an

act which is also necessary for any

theoretical anti-Semite who supports

the boycott and goes very much in

contrary to the agenda of many of the

actual proponents of the boycott.

A actical academic boycott, tar-

geting all Israeli academic institutions

without distinction, may theoretically,

though not necessarily, be a cover for

anti-Semitism. However, is difficultto understand exactly how a careful

and fact-based argumentation of an

Ideological academic boycott of Israel

would be a cover for anti-Semitism, as

it leaves the clear option of cessation

of the boycott to any institute whichceases its support of the occupation.

. Conclusion

At its beginning, many of the efforts

of the academic boycott movementagainst Israel focused on the horrors

of the occupation itself and the boy-

cott as an effective way of stopping it

(such as the Rose letter of 2002). Tis

can be viewed as the tactical form of

boycott, and much of the opposition

to the academic boycott has tried toprove how ineffective such a boycott

would be. Arguing that the Israeli

academic sphere is more left-leaning

than the rest of the Israeli society is

such an argument of effectiveness. As

the campaign for academic boycott

evolved and expanded, however, the

argumentation for it began leaning to-

wards the first typethe ideological.


33/64


In some instances the feeling was that

an operation like the Israeli occupa-tion of the Palestinian territories must

involve all layers of society and thus

include the Israeli academia. Tis, as

has been shown here, is quite true,

and an academic boycott against Israel

may take the form of ideologically-based sanctions against organizations

who are involved with the occupation.

It should be remembered, however,

that though all main Israeli academic

institutions, and many other minor

ones, were found to be accomplices

to the occupation, not all academicinstitutions were found to have such

clear-cut positions. Te Open Univer-

sity, for example, is an institute that

was not found here to grant any ob-

vious and unquestionable support to

the occupation. Based solely on facts

presented in this document (whichare almost surely incomplete), an ide-

ological academic boycott would not

target the Open University, for one. It

should be remembered, however, that

the Open University and the other

academic institutions not mentioned

here in connection with cooperation

with the occupation are very mi-

nor institutions. As such, they have

little connection, if any, with foreign

academic institutions and boycot-ting them would be little more than

a very symbolic act. An ideological

academic boycott and a tactical boy-

cott would target, effectively, the same

major targets. It is also not clear what

a boycott of these minor institutionswould add to the struggle against the

occupation and whether it would jus-

tify possibly hurting truly non-politi-

cized institutions.

An academic boycott is a concept

open to interpretation and can have

several different meanings. Some ofthe measures that can be taken by an

academic boycott, such as not invit-

ing university representatives to con-

ventions, may be more symbolic and

prestige damaging than economically

effective (though they should not be

underestimated). Other measures,such as ceasing investment in Israeli

university research, may drastically af-

fect the Israeli academia and econo-

my. Whether it is a boycott of all Is-

raeli academic institutions or only the

academic institutions that take part

in the Israeli occupation, an academic

boycott may be a legitimate action

to achieve an end to the occupation


34/64


(this is not to say that it must neces-

sarily be used). An action of boycottshould be taken very seriously and

cautiously with a consideration of all

surrounding details, its goal and the

affected targets. Tough ultimately

non-violent, it is nonetheless a grave

action that can cause great harm andantagonism and should therefore be

approached cautiously and methodi-

cally. Whatever the arguments for oragainst an academic boycott of Israel,

and whichever type and form of boy-

cott is pushed forward or rejected,

the actions of the Israeli academic in-

stitutes and their connections to the

political situation in Israel-Palestinemust be taken into consideration.


35/64


. Afeka College

Sponsor of Atidim, a program of

academic reserve which recruits

academics to the army and dis-

criminates against Palestinian citi-

zens of Israel.102

. Ariel Judea And Samaria

University College





zens of Israel.103

he college is located in the Occu-

pied Palestinian erritories and is a

part of an Israeli settlement.104

. Bar Ilan University

Bar Ilan computer science re-

searchers develop unmanned

vehicle algorithms for Israeli

military use.105

Bar Ilan University offers special

assistance to students who partici-

pated in the 2008 military attack

on the Gaza Strip.106 he University is the academic

sponsor of the Zefat College which

has an exclusive program for mem-

bers of the Israeli General Secu-

rity Services, an organization no-

torious for human rights abuses ofPalestinians.107

Bar Ilan University has several

courses and programs exclusively

for high military officers.108

he University is the sponsor of the

Ariel Judea and Samaria UniversityCollege, which is located in the Oc-

cupied Palestinian erritories and is

a part of an Israeli settlement.109

IV. I A I S O

Divided by Institution


36/64


. Ben Gurion University

Ben Gurion University has pro-

tocols for helping army reservist

students.110

Ben Gurion University grants

scholarships to students who

served in combat units during

Israels 2008 military attack on

the Gaza strip.111

Ben Gurion University initiated

the idea for a military medicine

school and appealed when the

project was given to the Hebrew

University.112

he University has a program for

army pilots which grants a B.A.

in a shorter than usual time of

study.113

University Security harass politicalactivists.114

. Carmel College

Carmel College closed a depart-

ment because of too many Pales-

tinian students.115

. College For Management

he College has a program of se-

curity studies whose students have,

according to the colleges website, a

distinct option of involvement in

the Israeli security agencies.116

. Hadassah College

Hadassah College granted a schol-

arship to veterans of the 2002 De-fensive Shield operation that had,

amongst other things, resulted in

the vicious destruction of the Jenin

refugee camp.117

. Haifa University

Haifa University sponsors a schol-

arship solely for army veterans.118

Haifa University offered spe-

cial assistance to students who

served in the 2008 attack on the

Gaza strip.119

Haifa University is a partner and

host of the Havatzalot academic

reserve program, in which the uni-

versity trains soldiers and allows

the existence of a military base on

its campus.120

Haifa University discriminated ag-

ainst Palestinian citizens of Israel

(though this discrimination was ruled


37/64


illegal by the Israeli high court).121

he University grants degrees to

attendants of ship-captains mili-

tary course.122

he Universitys department for

Geo-strategy takes pride in help-

ing shape Israeli demographic and

security policies.123

Haifa University hosted a confer-

ence on the solution of the demo-

graphic problem, another way of

saying there are too many Palestin-

ians in Israel.124

. Hebrew University

Job fair at the Hebrew University

includes weapon manufacturing

companies.125

Chairman of the Board of Elbit Systems is also a member of the

Hebrew Universitys Board of

Governors.126

Hebrew University has proto-

cols for aiding army reservist

students.127

Hebrew University offered special

assistance to students who served

in Israels 2008 military attack on

the Gaza Strip.128

Hebrew University granted a

scholarship of up to NIS 1,500

to veterans of the 2002 Defensive

Shield operation that, amongst

other things, resulted in Israels

vicious destruction of the Jenin

Refugee Camp.129

Hebrew University is a partner

and host of the alpiot academic

reserve program, in which the

university trains soldiers in sci-

ences and technology and allows

the existence of a military base onits campus.130

Hebrew University will open a

school for military medicine in co-

operation with the Israeli army.131

All military colleges and training

facilities, including the militaryCommand and Staff College

which trains officers, are under the

academic auspices and responsibil-

ity of the Hebrew University.132

One of the Hebrew Universitys

campuses has expanded into theOccupied erritories in a confisca-

tion of Palestinian land. In addition,

some of the university owned stu-


38/64


dent quarters are located in a settle-

ment neighborhood of Jerusalem.133

Hebrew University appoints for-

mer head of the General Security

Service, an organization notori-

ous for human rights abuses, to

the post of Vice President for

External Relations.134

University ill-treats and disciplines

Palestinian student after he refuses

to shake the hand of Israeli Presi-

dent Shimon Peres.135

University demands police-issued

character reference from Pal-estinian visitors, but not from

Jewish visitors.136

. Herzliya Inter-

disciplinary Center

he Interdisciplinary Centertakes pride in its students work-

ing for weapon manufacturing

companies.137

he Center reserves 10% of its stu-

dent spots to veterans of elite com-

bat units, who also benefit from

lower entrance criteria.138

he Center has a special scholar-

ship for ex-soldiers.139

he Interdisciplinary Centers of-

fers assistance to students who

served in Israels 2008 military at-

tack on the Gaza Strip.140

. Herzog College

Herzog College is located in the

Gush Etzion settlement bloc.141

. Holon Academic College

Sponsor of Atidim, a program

of academic reserve which re-

cruits academics to the army and

discriminates against Palestinian

citizens of Israel.142

. Holon Institute

of echnology

Holon Institute of echnologytakes pride in its students work-

ing for weapon manufacturing

companies.143

. Israeli College for

Security and Investigation

he College trains students

for work in the Israeli security

agencies.144


39/64


. Jerusalem High

echnological School





zens of Israel.145

. Jerusalem Academic

College for Engineering



academics to the army and dis-criminates against Palestinian citi-

zens of Israel.146

. Jordan Valley College





zens of Israel.147

. Kirya For Engineering

And echonlogy Studies

he Kirya has a 90% tuition schol-

arship for ex-soldiers.148

. Kiryat Ono College

he College sponsors a scholarship

available only to army veterans.149

. Peres Academic Center

Peres Academic Center grants

scholarships to veterans of Israels2008 attack on the Gaza Strip.150

. Sapir College

he college mistreated and finally

fired a Palestinian lecturer who

asked a student not to attend classin army uniform.151

. echnion

Elbit Systems grants half a mil-

lion dollars to the echnion in

research grants.152

echnion has a policy of full co-

operation with homeland secu-

rity projects such as unmanned

vehicles.153

echnion researchers develop un-manned vehicles that also aid the

Israeli army in destroying Palestin-

ian houses.154


40/64


echnion researchers developed

a method for discovering under-

ground tunnels, aimed specifically

at aiding the siege on Gaza.155

echnion and Elbit Systems found

a joint research center.156

echnion researchers developed

unmanned land vehicles for Israeli

military use.157

echnion trains engineers specifi-

cally to work in weapon manufac-

turing companies.158

echnion students academic the-

ses involve weapon research.159

echnion granted an honorary

doctorate to the President of Elbit

Systems.160

Haim Russo, a senior manager in

Elbit Systems, joins the echnions

quaterion.161

echnion takes pride in coopera-

tion with Elbit Systems.162

Job Fair at the echnion includes

weapon manufacturing companies.163

echnion takes pride in encour-aging students to work in weapon

manufacturing companies like

Elbit Systems.164

echnion offered special assistance

to students who served in Israels

2008 attack on

israel academic boycott

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