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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and U.K. Minister for Higher Education Bill Rammell arriving at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem last month to discuss a boycott of Israeli academic institutions proposed by a British union. (AP)
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Last update - 08:57 31/07/2007
More than 10,000 academics sign petition against U.K. boycott bid
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition denouncing attempts to mount an academic boycott against Israel. The petition was initiated in early June by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), an independent, faculty-driven, nonprofit group.

SPME says the signatories are academics from various countries who "all agree that singling out Israelis for an academic boycott is wrong."

"To show our solidarity with our Israeli academics in this matter, we, the undersigned, hereby declare ourselves to be Israeli academics for purposes of any academic boycott. We will regard ourselves as Israeli academics and decline to participate in any activity from which Israeli academics are excluded," the petition states.

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The petition is being signed electronically via the SPME Web site, where it was posted on June 4 to dispute the legitimacy of the British University and College Union's call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The union called for the boycott as a protest against Israel's policies in the West Bank.

The decision caused a storm and was followed by British government condemnations, while Jewish groups even broached the possibility of a counter-boycott. Just last week, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published two editorial pieces for and against. It drew a significant criticism for even raising the issue.

According to the SPME, all signatories are academics who declare their refusal to cooperate with any boycott of Israel. So far, 32 Nobel prize winners and 53 university heads have signed. Among them are the deans of Stanford, MIT, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Brandeis universities.

Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard, a well-known legal scholar, drafted the petition. He said in an official SPME announcement, "If the union goes ahead with this immoral petition, it will destroy British academia. We will isolate them from the rest of the world."

The SPME says that its "mission is to inform, motivate and encourage faculty to use their academic skills and disciplines on campus, in classrooms and in academic publications to develop effective responses to the ideological distortions, including anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist slanders, that poison debate and work against peace."

Related articles:
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  • FM to U.K. counterpart: Israel views boycott calls with severity
  • Joint task force to act against U.K. boycotts
  • U.K. minister says academic boycott is 'fundamentally wrong'
  • British union calls for Israel boycott
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      1.   Just some of the names for you anti-semetic boycotters 00:01  |  eat your hearts out 31/07/07
      2.   Kol HaKavod to alan Dershowitz and those who signed a petition 00:10  |  Yael G 31/07/07
      3.   Support Freedom, Without 00:11  |  Double Click 31/07/07
      4.   Boycott Jewish Medical academics and see how big a conference 00:12  |  KJJ 31/07/07
      5.   Academic boycott of South Africa was controversal too 00:25  |  Matt 31/07/07
      6.   Dershowitz rides again 00:25  |  Josh Goldman 31/07/07
      7.   Many Nobelists are Jewish / Unfair Reporting 00:26  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      8.   Jews Supporting Israel is not news 00:31  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      9.   UCU Gang shouldnt believe its like boycotting a few SA Afrikaners 00:43  |  ALAN 31/07/07
      10.   #5 Josh Goldman the Jerusalemite 00:45  |  Yonatan 31/07/07
      11.   #6 Jealous, Timothy? 00:47  |  Yonatan 31/07/07
      12.   Hey Timothy....you missed the point 00:47  |  Bill 31/07/07
      13.   Really, this is just another Mossad plot to block the boycotters. 00:49  |  british academic 31/07/07
      14.   #6: Timothy 00:51  |  Josh Korn 31/07/07
      15.   #6,7 Timothy 00:52  |  Reuben Jacobs 31/07/07
      16.   TIMOTHY: CRAWL BACK INTO YOUR HOLE 00:58  |  Brant 31/07/07
      17.   #6 Timothy 01:00  |  Sarah 31/07/07
      18.   #6, "many nobelists are Jewish" 01:01  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 31/07/07
      19.   and Timothy, one more thing 01:07  |  Reuben Jacobs 31/07/07
      20.   Timothy and sour grapes 01:09  |  ChanahS 31/07/07
      21.   To Timothy -- your colors are showing 01:09  |  Slibovitz 31/07/07
      22.   Timothy and one more thing 01:11  |  ChanahS 31/07/07
      23.   Timothy: You are right, Many Nobelists Are Jewish! So what?...... 01:15  |  Vittorio 31/07/07
      24.   Most Excellent Mr. Dershowitz 01:16  |  Michael 31/07/07
      25.   What do you expect? 01:17  |  Dovy 31/07/07
      26.   yaawwwnn!!!!! 10 thousand? that all? 01:24  |  Scholar 31/07/07
      27.   KJJ - Indian doctors are even a higher percentage! 01:25  |  Bru 31/07/07
      28.   awwwwwwwwwwww ..... 01:26  |  blip 31/07/07
      29.   #11 British Academic 01:35  |  David 31/07/07
      30.   Zionists WANT the boycott 01:37  |  justajew 31/07/07
      31.   Jesuits Expose Themselves 01:42  |  Yanatan 31/07/07
      32.   To Timothy From Baton Rouge 01:56  |  FOX 31/07/07
      33.   How many of the 10,000 are non-Jewish and non-American? 02:00  |  Michael 31/07/07
      34.   to 6 hamas kills students and vice versa 02:18  |  mb 31/07/07
      35.   to 6 they kill each other - what to do desarm hamas and fatah? 02:22  |  mb 31/07/07
      36.   to 6 - university opinions in fatahland.... 02:23  |  mb 31/07/07
      37.   # 12 & 13Why bother with losers like "Timothy" 02:25  |  Barry 31/07/07
      38.   "1` What is your point. , 02:30  |  Labhras 31/07/07
      39.   6.Josh - its you not Dershowitz who has a problem 02:32  |  S Judah 31/07/07
      40.   Jane (10) shows heart of the problem 02:38  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      41.   Don`t punish scholars for the work of murderers 02:42  |  Megnoon 31/07/07
      42.   Tosefta wants to know 02:42  |  Danite 31/07/07
      43.   Time for the big boys to play 02:44  |  ScotGuy 31/07/07
      44.   Brant (13) twisting words 02:46  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      45.   10,000 Apartheid apologists 02:55  |  V 31/07/07
      46.   yourturn 03:03  |  Daniel 31/07/07
      47.   Boycott bid is insensitive reaction to any one. 03:04  |  Dr. Julian Darwish 31/07/07
      48.   #6 BET YOU DIDNT KNOW 03:09  |  TOBIA 31/07/07
      49.   LABHRAS 41 03:16  |  Brant 31/07/07
      50.   44 ignorance is the problem 03:22  |  Daniel 31/07/07
      51.   Personal Attacks / Muslim Influence 03:26  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      52.   TIMOTHY: My Reply 03:27  |  Brant 31/07/07
      53.   It`s not political, it`s anti-semitic 03:30  |  Jon 31/07/07
      54.   29 bru 03:39  |  Glen 31/07/07
      55.   hypocrits, where were they when Palestinian people was and still 04:02  |  Moise 31/07/07
      56.   To #29 Bru - I guess Rector Prassad is an honorary Jew 04:21  |  Slibovitz 31/07/07
      57.   #1 Who is Whom ? 04:36  |  North American 31/07/07
      58.   "50" Daniel in mexico 04:43  |  Labhras 31/07/07
      59.   Jewish Power 04:46  |  Salviati 31/07/07
      60.   48 Timothy and petty racism 04:55  |  SG 31/07/07
      61.   Timothy and the Jews 05:07  |  SG 31/07/07
      62.   ignorance/prejudice 05:10  |  Dr J. 31/07/07
      63.   North American and Jewish question 05:15  |  SG 31/07/07
      64.   If the fact so many Nobel Prize winners are Jews is an issue.. 05:27  |  hmpierson 31/07/07
      65.   Who cares about boycott of elite by the elit 05:27  |  Hudvan 31/07/07
      66.   yosher koach alan dershowitz 05:29  |  david 31/07/07
      67.   Brain Power 05:32  |  dave 31/07/07
      68.   Jews in Mexico..Labhras? 05:41  |  Daniel 31/07/07
      69.   53 Brant - Lost Labhras Rat 05:46  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      70.   timothy 05:48  |  rico 31/07/07
      71.   North american 05:51  |  Lynn 31/07/07
      72.   timothy of Baton Rouge 05:55  |  Lynn 31/07/07
      73.   to Brant (56) : 05:56  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      74.   #51 Dr. Darwish 06:03  |  Lynn 31/07/07
      75.   # 56 Brant 06:09  |  Lynn 31/07/07
      76.   To so called "North American" 06:11  |  Bruce 31/07/07
      77.   Timothy 06:28  |  Dr J 31/07/07
      78.   Human Bias/Angry Israelis/Simple Test/New Approach 06:31  |  Timothy 31/07/07
      79.   Apartheid and its discontents 06:46  |  Tosefta 31/07/07
      80.   Bru #29 India and Israel are good Allies :) 06:46  |  KJJ 31/07/07
      81.   Reasonable parameters of a boycott