Boycotters' bias

Two Israelis from Haifa University have been offered posts at British institutions. No whisper of boycott about the appointment of Rafi Almagor, a Zionist taking a politics post at Hull University. But Ilan Pappe's appointment to a chair of history at Exeter University was greeted "with outrage" by the Union of Jewish Students.

Michael Harris, president of Manchester University Jewish Students, is quoted in The Jewish Telegraph as saying Pappe's appointment was indicative of the current wave of anti-Zionism spreading across university campuses. He expressed worry that a man of such bias and anti-Zionism had been appointed: "A lot of responsibility comes with teaching history - and I don't feel it's right that they have chosen him."

Pappé, oddly perhaps, is on record as accepting a boycott of himself as an Israeli, but to face a boycott by Jews who detect anti-Zionism in his historical research must be odder still.

Irene Bruegel.
Jews for Justice for Palestinians
London South Bank University