International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom

The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom (IAB) was set up at Israel's Bar-Ilan University in response to a 2005 academic boycott vote by the UK-based Association of University Teachers (the AUT later merged into the University and College Union) which named Bar-Ilan as a supporter of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories for maintaining a regional branch in an illegal Israeli settlement. The AUT boycott was not compulsory and was passed to express solidarity with Palestinian academics who suffer from the effects of Israel's occupation. It was applauded by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). The IAB marketed itself as an organization with international concerns, but focused its efforts on boycotts against Israel, arguing that academic institutions should be exempt from boycotts. Shortly after the AUT rescinded its decision after a widespread anti-boycott pressure campaign by IAB and several other organizations, the IAB ceased its official operations.

Bar Ilan University President Moshe Kave has recently called for the firing of any faculty member that supports international boycott campaigns on Israeli academic institutions.

History

The Ariel University Center of Samaria was built in an illegal Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian territory

AUT Boycott of Bar-Ilan University

The IAB was launched in 2005 by chair Yosef Yeshurun, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, after a AUT vote to boycott Bar-Ilan University for it's direct involvement with Israel's occupation of Palestine was passed. The AUT vote also called for the boycott of Haifa University after a directed pressure campaign was launched against dissident staff member Professor Ilan Pappe for his political views and research into Israel's human rights abuses of Palestinians.

Bar-Ilan Links to Israel's Occupation of the OPT

Since 1982 the College of Judea and Samaria (now known as Ariel University Center of Samaria) operated as a regional branch of Bar-Ilan University from within an illegal settlement built on the West Bank. Yeshurun rejected the claim that Bar-Ilan was linked to the College which describes itself as a "Zionist institution" (it is still not officially accredited as a full University in Israel despite its name change). Almost immediately after the boycott call was issued the college began to pursue university accreditation which would make it independent from Bar-Ilan if granted. The decision to boycott Bar-Ilan was not compulsory and was intended as an expression of support for Palestinian academics who suffer as a result of Israel's occupation. In the case of Ariel University, it is directly involved with Israel's occupation because it builds and continues to develop itself on illegally occupied land. IAB representatives campaigned against the boycott, arguing that: "Academic boycotts represent selective political posturing which seems to reflect anti democratic and at times overt anti-national sentiments, both having no place in the academic community" Proponents of the boycott claimed that the IAB's claims were hypocritical, considering the fact that their direct involvement with the occupation also entails "selective posturing" and that academic freedom should be available to everyone. According to Amjad Barham, head of the council of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees:

Aside from a courageous few, the vast majority of Israeli academics have been resoundingly silent when our universities have been shut by military orders, our access to them obstructed by concrete walls and barriers, and thousands of our students and colleagues jailed for resisting an unjust and internationally condemned occupation. In the Israeli academy, business as usual grinds on everywhere, and academics, in a startling show of insensitivity to their Palestinian counterparts, demand their right to enjoy the benefits and privileges of academic freedom without shouldering any of the responsibilities that come with freedom.

The privileging of "academic freedom" above other, more basic, liberties flies in the face of the idea of universal human rights. How can the academic freedom of a sector of Israeli society be more important than the basic right to a free and dignified life for all Palestinians, academics included?

Other analysts argue that in addition to supporting elements of Israel's occupation, universities like Bar-Ilan put heavy emphasis on "special programmes for the security forces and centres for security studies, in which the focus is not on academic analysis of the security apparatus, but on finding academic justification for its activities."

After a widespread campaign led by the IAB, the AUT rescinded its decision to boycott Bar-Ilan University. The decision was applauded by the AIB. Israeli academic Ilan Pappe urged the AUT to reconsider its actions:

Two issues must not be obfuscated. The first is that many of those official Israeli and Zionist bodies demanding that the AUT rescind its early decision on the boycott openly justify and actively support the Occupation, some in an official capacity as an integral part of the Occupation itself. Secondly, and most importantly to my mind, should the AUT retract its principled and ethical policy of boycott, it will inadvertently send a message to all Israelis that the Occupation is legitimate and immune from any external pressure or condemnation.

Website

http://www.biu.ac.il/academic_freedom/4.htm

People

IAB Executive Committee

• Chair: Prof. Yosi Yeshurun, Pro Rector, Bar-Ilan University
• Prof. Eitan Gilboa, Bar-Ilan University
• Prof. Menachem Kellner, The University of Haifa
• Dr. Jonathan Rynhold, Bar-Ilan University
• Prof. Wendy Sandler, The University of Haifa
• Prof. Joshua Schwartz, Academic Coordinator, Bar-Ilan University
• Prof. Gerald Steinberg, Bar-Ilan University

Executive Director

• Ofir Frankel

Corresponding Academic Secretaries

• Dr. Ed Beck, President, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
• Mr. Ronnie Fraser, Chair, Academic Friends of Israel

Honorary Board

• Prof. Shlomo Avineri - Hebrew University
• Prof. Aharon Ben- Zeev - University of Haifa President
• Prof. Asa Kasher - Tel-Aviv University
• Prof. Moshe Kaveh - Bar Ilan University President
• Prof. Amos Oz - Ben Gurion University
• Prof. Amnon Rubinstein - Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
• Prof. A.B. Yehoshua -University of Haifa

Resources

The Case for Academic Boycott against Israel
Naomi Klein: "Enough. It's time for a boycott"