U.S. university presidents visit Israel to strengthen academic ties

Thank you Americans for this moral booster; just what Israel needs at this very moment as the British Academic blockade has ruffled Israel's feathers and made us feel so bad. Bless you!

The AJC organized this visit and if truth be known was a totally paid expense vacation for the "presidents", that is why they are not interested in Arab anything. Also if truth be known the "presidents" are more than likely zionist supporters to start with. If this visit to Israel was a sincere visit they should all want to visit the WB, Gaza and other Palestinian cities to see how they rate with their education. BUT since it was a zionist supported trip no such interest is available.

So Israel should be condemned and Israel should also be expected to maintain dignifid silence! errmm! just like Europe in 1930s? I can understand ppl criticizng Israel. I dont understand their expectations that Israel should also not respond. Israel should not respond to academics, it should not respond to rocket attacks, it should not respond to possible nuke threat? am i able to sum up what we want Israel to eventually do? i think the jobless leftists should maintain a dignified silence. Eternal dignified silence.

"I now have a new list of universities that I would never allow my children or grandchildren to attend." Isn't it a tad cynical to punish your children and your grandchildren for your own biases? I get email from ICAHD (why I'm not sure) and I found it very revealing that they, seemingly, have no intention of rebuilding the homes destroyed by intra-Palestinian fighting of the last few weeks. IIan Pappe is no great academic star. Additionally, who says that Btsellem is not getting visits? I hope you do not prevent your children and grandchildren from getting the best education possible. Punishing them hardly seems a decent way to voice your opposition to Israel.

"Of course, the very manner in which Israel reacts gives weight to the criticism to which Israel is replying in the first place. This is simply one of many instances where a dignified silence would serve Israels purpose better than engaging in a silly propaganda war." If Israel embraces a "dignified silence" then they yield the floor to those who, like yourself, spew endless venom at them. The idea that responding "gives weight to the criticism" is idiotic. If Israel did nothing, you would say that the silence "gives weight to the criticism". Better to do something and have the critics bellyache than to do nothing and have the same.

Sir Your rantings do not make sense or justofy your volification of Israel and its academia. If you will for once just look at the other side and realise how one sided you are. Palestinians themselves have noted how much of a better life they had before the first intifada and how they had all the ameneties they needed. True the occupation must end but that is exactly what 90% of Israelis want. Just get us the right people to negotiate with and it will happen

Instead of catering to foreign students, the Israeli Ministry of Education should invest in the Arab sector k-12 schools where the government invests less than 20% per Arab student than it does per a Jewish student. The direct result of such blatant discrimination is that 2 out of 3 Arab students don't pass the Bagrut (high school matriculation) test. And yes, I do wish those visiting university presidents would make an effort to meet with Arab educators and university students to hear about all the institutionalized discrimination that they face on a daily basis. Notice that the article states that these visiting university presidents "will meet Israeli academic leaders, military experts as well as Bedouin and Druze leaders." (1) Why would academics be interested in meeting military experts? (2) Who decided that they should meet Druze & bedouin leaders and not Arab leaders in general? If they are smart, they'll want to visit the 40 unrecognized villages www.assoc40.org

Not just slogan chanting while ignoring anything except the dictates of their ideologues. They know who their friends are.The graduates do not become rabid USA haters. Israeli universities have something to offer in return with world class cutting edge research.

There are certain people who post comments on Ha'aretz, such as Proud Pal Defender, who should really learn a little about Middle East history and the Arab-Israeli conflict before posting such rediculous and meaningless words which have little connection to reality.

You're right again, Natallie. Boycotts have a momentum all of their own, and the last thing their opponents should be doing is giving them publicity. I am interested in your idea of a Jello wrestling contest. Does this involve wrestling IN Jello, or trying to make something OUT of Jello? Giving them the job of making a Jello sculpture that looks like Olmert would work for me.

I now have a new list of universities that I would never allow my children or grandchildren to attend. That these Universties would visit this area and not visit with ICAHD ,Btsellem, Ilan Pappe, and other people and groups trying to tell the truth about apartheid is a disgrace to the concept of academic freedom. They should be ashamed.

yes, most or all Israeli universities indeed have overseas summer programs, but this is not helpful for student exchange - when students want to come for a whole semester or academic year. the only place they can manage with English is the Weizmann Institute where it is the official language. thus, Yuli Tamir is not trying to take credit for already existing programs, but to create real academic curricula in English - at least I hope she will go further than words.

what part of "freedom" and "democracy" don't these idiots understand? And they're not even running for office... Will the newbie at Wesleyan be next? And where's Leon Botstein? They should take a clue from their British colleagues and join their boycott!

Just to add to Robert Frosch' very pertinent comments above, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot conducts ALL courses and seminars in English. There are also very active summer school and guest student programs where students from around the world spend periods ranging from a few weeks to one year on the Weizmann campus. And before the 'learned' Education Minister rushes to take credit for these programs, we should bear in mind that government support for the Weizmann (and for all the universities) has been drastucally cut over the past years, and the above-mentioined programs continue to exist only due to private funding sources.

Higher Learning/Education-- I went to some of the best schools in my city--prior to going to a university & graduate school--consistently listed towards the top in the rankings. At No Time-- Was the goal of my learning/studies (HIGHER education)...to learn how to support a pariah country, that perverts the concepts of democracy & human decency...with the continual sabotage of peace; the thrill of occupation; extensive & egregious violations of international laws/conventions; extensive & egregious violations of human & civil rights; & just about any other principles you could name. If A Parent (An Authority/Guardian/Supposed Trusted Source Of Higher Learning)-- Taught their child to support what Israel does...we would say that parent was a bad parent (if not remove that child from the household)...because of the parent's bad example/perversion of the child. Yet These Universities (GUARDIANS Of Shaping Minds & Learning)-- Are doing just that! SHAME on them!

Israel and American Jewish groups have a long standing strategy of offering all expense paid VIP tours of Israel which are made available to those with whom Israel would wish to curry favor. This is an "acedemic volley" to return fire against the British academic boycott. This is supremely silly and plays to the Israeli paranoia in which every "attack" must be answered, even an attack from a few crusty British academics. Of course, the very manner in which Israel reacts gives weight to the criticism to which Israel is replying in the first place. This is simply one of many instances where a dignified silence would serve Israels purpose better than engaging in a silly propaganda war. Israel should arrange for the Israeli academics ro engage the British academics in a jello wrestling tournament. At least there would be some redeeming entertainment value in that.

All of Israel's universities have Overseas Schools in which the language of tuition is English and which offer language courses to facilitate the students' eventual participation in Hebrew language classes. There is thus no need to establish additional English-language programs for visiting students. They already exist. Perhaps our wonderful Minister of Education wants to take the credit for creating programmes that are already running. You'd have thought she'd know about them, since they've been around for decades, but perhaps she was too busy pursuing her political career to notice what was actually going on in her own university.