Sunday, April 29, 2012

BDS Now!! – We Demand a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to end the Illegal Occupation!!

1. BDS Now!! – We Demand a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to end
the Illegal Occupation!!

We, Israeli professors for justice and peace, do hereby appeal to
researchers, academics, scholars and teachers, in Israel and
throughout the world, to take a firm and clear stand against the
continuing occupation and denial of rights.
We are, of course, referring to the continuing British occupation of
territories in which Britain clearly has no right to be. We demand
that all British universities, and all academics at those
universities, be boycotted until these same institutions and
individuals come out clearly and openly in favor of immediate
unconditional removal of all British occupation from these
territories. We demand a moratorium on all funding of academic
research in Britain and divestment from Britain in all its forms.
Unlike Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (the
latter of which is not occupied any longer in any way), which has
lasted a mere 45 years, Britain's occupations of territories has
lasted centuries.
Take, for example, the clearly illegal British occupation of
Gibraltar. There, Britain maintains an illegal settlement in open
defiance of all internationally accepted standards of legitimacy and
concepts of national rights. Moreover, Britain has placed there an
illegal security fence that prevents non-British nationals from
entering Gibraltar. This "apartheid fence" is a human rights atrocity
and must be torn down at once. And until it is, the entire world
should divest from Britain and boycott British universities.
Then there are those clearly illegal British settlements constructed
on occupied Argentinian territory in the Falkland Islands. What
clearer example is there of the continuing colonial aggression of
white European imperialism against the Third World?
But Britain's illegal settlements have also been constructed
elsewhere. Britain continues to maintain settlements on the Channel
Islands that obviously belong to France. While it is true that Britain
earlier ended its occupations of Hong Kong and India, that is no
excuse for its settlements elsewhere. After all, Israel ended its
occupation of Sinai, but that has not stopped the British University
and College Union, representing more than 120,000 college-level
educators, from voting on May 30 to pass a resolution calling for a
boycott of Israeli academics and universities, as well as a moratorium
on European Union funding of Israeli research.
And what about Britain's occupation forces in Afghanistan and Iraq?
True, Afghanistan and Iraq were terrorist enclaves, but since when
does that serve to legitimize the dispatch of occupation forces?
British professors clearly do not think that Israel has any right to
use force against terrorists attacking its population, so why should
British forces do so?
Of course, the very worst cases of illegal English occupation are in
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. These are occupations imposed upon those
oppressed populations by force of arms. And in Ireland, the occupation
produced genocidal levels of mortality. These occupations have lasted
for centuries.
The moral indifference by British academics to these continued
barbarous occupations and to the denial of self-determination for
Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish is clearly as unforgivable as the
failure of some academics in apartheid South Africa to speak out
against abuses there.
Moreover, England itself is a racist apartheid society. Not only the
Welsh, but Muslims, Blacks, and Asians suffer from discrimination and
disadvantage inside Britain, as do people with normal senses of humor
or human tastes in food. The wages of these minorities are lower than
those of white Englishmen and they face discrimination in housing.
British universities have failed to redress these inequalities.
If divestment from South Africa was justified, it is all the more so
in this case. In fact, 27 British professors have endorsed our calls
for imposing an international boycott of their own universities. These
courageous, heroic souls must be supported.
We have sat in silence for much too long. The time has come. Please
join us in calling for an open-ended boycott of British academics and
universities until all these cases of occupation are ended.

Israeli Professors for Justice and Peace Steven Plaut, Chairperson

For more information, go to Pacbi.com


2. http://isracampus.org.il/third%20level%20pages/BGU%20-%20Dershowitz%20says%20Neve%20Gordon%20Fifth-Rate%20Pseudo-Academic.htm

Harvard Prof. Alan Dershowitz denounces BGU's Neve Gordon (Dept of
Political Science) as a Fifth-Rate Pseudo-Academic and Traitor,
Compares him with Holocaust Denier
Special Isracampus Report
29/4/2012
On April 27, 2012 the Right-leaning daily Makor Rishon ran an
extensive in-depth interview with the legendary professor of law Alan
Dershowitz. The interview covers two full newspaper pages in the "law
supplement" of the weekend edition of the paper. In the interview,
Dershowitz is asked about and speaks freely about a wide number of
subjects, from Israel's own Supreme Court, to the Obama Presidency, to
the Goldstone Commission, to the so-called "BDS or
Boycott-Divest–Sanctions movement, which he considers to be
anti-Semitic. He denounces J Street as an anti-Israel propaganda
group.
But Dershowitz fires his most devastating ammunition in the interview
against three anti-Semitic Israelis. They are Neve Gordon from Ben
Gurion "University," Ilan Pappe, once at the University of Haifa but
today a full-time Israel Basher in Britain at the University of
Exeter, and the demented Holocaust Denier, ex-Israeli sax player Gilad
Atzmon.
In the interview, Dershowitz is asked about a comment of his cited
last year in Globes in which he said that some of the worst enemies of
Israel are themselves Israelis. Dershowitz responds by saying that not
only are these anti-Israel Israelis among Israel's worst enemies, but
also they are among Israel's most dangerous enemies. He then says that
he has in mind (in this order) Neve Gordon, Ilan Pappe and Gilad
Atzmon. In spite of the fact that the last two have emigrated from
Israel, Dershowitz says that these three and people like them are
"People who wrap themselves in the Israeli flag only for the purpose
of burning it. The only time these people claim to be Israelis at all
is when they wish to wave this as a certificate to legitimize their
own malicious and unreasonable attacks against Israel." While
insisting that criticism in and of itself is something positive,
Dershowitz says that these people are not "critics" but rather are
seeking the demonization and delegitimization of all of Israel in the
most hypocritical manner.
Dershowitz is then asked about the ulterior motive of these people. He
replies: "Most anti-Israel Israelis are fifth rate academics incapable
of finding themselves professionally or academically in Israel. Hence
they try to find themselves positions in Europe, even though they
generally are also too inferior to get work there. But they believe if
they market themselves as anti-Israel Israelis, the novelty will boost
their standing and they just might find jobs. I realize this may sound
like I have a personal grudge against them, but in fact this is the
simple truth."
It is notable that Dershowitz lumps Neve Gordon (and Pappe) together
with Gilad Azmon, an open Holocaust Denier as well as someone who has
called for burning down synagogues (see
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/26/1068563/-Faux-Progressive-Holocaust-Denier-Gilad-Atzmon-Tours-U-S-
and
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-13/news/30626127_1_semitic-jews-students).
Neve Gordon of course cannot play the saxophone.

To complain, contact:
Ben Gurion University:
Rivka Carmi, President
P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel,
rcarmi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
and president@bgu.ac.il
Tel: 972-8-6461211/9
Fax: 972-8-6472991

Zvi HaCohen, Rector
P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel
rector@bgu.ac.il
and cohen@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
Tel: 972-8-6596801
Fax: 972-8-6596802

Other officers listed here: http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/Eng/Units/management/
University "Friends of" Offices outside Israel are listed here:
http://web.bgu.ac.il/Eng/Units/associates/WorldwideAssociatesOffices





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