A campaign to prevent lecturers' union Natfhe agreeing a fresh academic boycott of Israel was under way this week as a senior British professor came under fire for refusing to work with an Israeli journal.
Natfhe is set to debate a motion that calls on members to engage in a private boycott of Israeli "institutions and individuals" in protest at their Government's policies towards the Palestinians.
This new, more subtle form of boycott, which relies on personal discretion, is more likely to be agreed by the union. This is because it avoids the pitfalls of an official union boycott of named institutions. The Association of University Teachers tried an official boycott but was forced to drop the policy last year amid an outcry over academic freedom. But anti-boycott campaigners, who have launched a petition and letter writing campaign against the Natfhe motion, claimed this week that a "silent boycott" was already well under way.
They cited Richard Seaford, head of classics at Exeter University, who this month refused to review a book by an Israeli academic, S. M. Schaps, for an Israeli journal, Scripta Classica Israelica , in protest at what he described as "slow-motion ethnic cleansing" by the Israeli Government. He was not available for comment this week.
The journal's editorial board wrote a reply to Professor Seaford, copied to The Times Higher , supporting academic freedom and adding: "The fact that an organised boycott is directed only against Israelis strongly suggests that the stance you share is not governed by purely moral considerations."
The Natfhe motion, from the union's South East Region, notes "continuing Israeli apartheid policies, including construction of the exclusion wall, and discriminatory educational practices". It "invites members to consider... the appropriateness of a boycott of those who do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies."
The International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, set up to oppose boycotts, condemned the motion, and argued it should be dropped from the agenda.
The UK-based Academic Friends of Israel and the "Engage" network of academics set up to oppose "Left and Liberal anti-Semitism" is also campaigning vigorously against the motion.
Next week: David Cesarani on the boycott and double standards in academe