British university boycott

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4472169.stm -

what are your feelings on the proposed boycott of israeli students from british universities? do you feel it will acheive any sort of results? after having just watched a debate on the BBC between a bristol based philosophy teacher and the jewish lawyer Mr Dershowitz,basically it ended up turning load of rubbish claiming that the philosophy teacher was being anti semitic in his views and that israel is being perscuted and that Jewish students will now refuse to go to british universities as they see themelves as one with Israel.
Dershowitz also claimed anti semitism on the basis britain has not boycotted other nations who act in a similar way, however i feel (as did the philosophy teacher) that this is hardly relervant as something said in the defence of his countries actions.

so

1) Do you think anything positive will come of this?

2) Do you feel it is anti semitism or is the word being used as a tired excuse?

3)what do you feel would serve as a better sanction against Israeli actions/wuld they be justified?

4)will Britain failing to show the values it preaches by advcating the boycott?

 

1. Probably not, just further degrade international relations.
2. Its not anti-semitism as its a boycott on two Israeli universities,
3. This is hardly a major sanction against Israel,
4. Surely this is a perfect demonstration of these values, we wont tolerate racism and discrimination and are boycotting two universities that have shown themselves to be racist and discriminatory.

 

1) Nothing positive ever comes out of things like this.
2) Did they boycott South Africa? Are they boycotting some of the Muslim countries? If so, then it would be pretty hard to say it is anti-semitism. If not, maybe.
3) Education and the exchange of ideas would the last thing that should be boycotted. Pretty much anything else would be better.
4) What values is Britain preaching that relate to the topic?

 

Actually the National Union of Students gives itself a lot of credit for bringing about the ending of apartheid (probably more credit than it should)

 

I have never understood how semites can be consider to be anti semitic! It makes no sense to me.

Regards,

 

So did the AUT boycott anyone else? Not that I can find.

Also check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_boycotts_of_Israel. It is interesting that people would prefer to fire respected academics simply because they are Israelis.

 

Its just two universities with a history of discriminatory behaviour and academic censorship. Its not like every Israeli student in a UK university has been booted out.

And as the OP said, complaining that it hasn't been done to anyone else is not a valid defence of the two boycotted universities position.

 

and this story is two years old and as such is completely pointless, which explains why this is the first I have heard of it

 

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/...Israel_protests_British_academic_boycott_call

This is the story i was talking of but the BBC one is kinda relervant to it,sorry about that.

 

Oh right cool, well if the UCU puts it to a vote and the motion is passed by a majority then there can be little complaint. I've seen quotes saying that 'Universities to Israel are like the Springboks to South Africa', so this is part of an anti-apartheid style push against Israel. Its hardly surprising that Israel are complaining about it.

 

According to the wiki article, one was cited for being in the West Bank which must make them complicit in anti-palestinian acts. The other for disciplining a lecturer which the university claims it not only did not discipline for the reason cited but that it didn't discipline the person at all.

It should also be noted when the vote was taken. During Passover. Opponents argue that the express purpose was to exclude as many Jews from voting as possible.

As has been pointed out, the original article is two years old. The original effort was canceled due to a backlash. The latest attempt is aimed at all Israeli universities. Additionally, this is a backing of a Palestinian trade union.

 

"Supporting Palastine is anti-semitic" is the current affairs equivalent of "too deadly for teh street" - it's a joke and those who invoke it have lost by default.

 

The question would be who said that? Saying that "supporting Palestine is anti-semitic" is about as stupid as firing people because they live in Israel. Oh wait, enlightened academics did just that.

 

I've had that very argument used against me before as have most of the people who argue against the actions of Israel.

 

Well, they are way off base.

 

Well, that does it! I'm boycotting British Universities!


(Of course this would hold more weight if I had ever actually intended to attend a British University. )

 

I'm still confused on the anti-semitic thing.

Palestinians are descendants of Shem, as are the Jews. How can siding with one over the other be anti Semitic, when that are all Semites

Regards,

A confused Japhite

 

Yes, it's incorrect terminology.

 

God forbid he finds out that tissue is referred to as Kleenex.

 

Usage has nothing to do with the etymology of the word.

The term Semite refers broadly to speakers of a language group which includes both Arabs and Jews. However, the term antisemitism is specifically used in reference to attitudes held towards Jews. The word antisemitic (antisemitisch in German) was probably first used in 1860 by the Austrian Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider in the phrase "antisemitic prejudices" (German: "antisemitische Vorurteile"). Steinschneider used this phrase to characterize Ernest Renan's ideas about how "Semitic races" were inferior to "Aryan races." These pseudo-scientific theories concerning race, civilization, and "progress" had become quite widespread in Europe in the second half of the 19th century, especially as Prussian nationalistic historian Heinrich von Treitschke did much to promote this form of racism. In Treitschke's writings Semitic was synonymous with Jewish, in contrast to its usage by Renan and others.

German political agitator Wilhelm Marr coined the related German word Antisemitismus in his book "The Way to Victory of Germanicism over Judaism" in 1879. Marr used the phrase to mean hatred of Jews or Judenhass, and he used the new word antisemitism to make hatred of the Jews seem rational and sanctioned by scientific knowledge. Marr's book became very popular, and in the same year he founded the "League of Antisemites" ("Antisemiten-Liga"), the first German organization committed specifically to combatting the alleged threat to Germany posed by the Jews, and advocating their forced removal from the country.

So far as can be ascertained, the word was first widely printed in 1881, when Marr published "Zwanglose Antisemitische Hefte," and Wilhelm Scherer used the term "Antisemiten" in the January issue of "Neue Freie Presse". The related word semitism was coined around 1885. See also the coinage of the term "Palestinian" by Germans to refer to ethnic Jews, as distinct from the religion of Judaism.

Despite the use of the prefix "anti," the terms Semitic and anti-Semitic are not directly opposed to each other (unlike similar-seeming terms such as anti-American or anti-Hellenic). To avoid the confusion of the misnomer, many scholars on the subject (such as Emil Fackenheim) now favor the unhyphenated antisemitism[10] in order to emphasize that the word should be read as a single unified term, not as a meaningful root word-prefix combination.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism