Testimonials

In Their Own Voices:
Anthropologists Speak about Academic Boycott

Videos were recorded in 2016, as part of the previous effort to defeat an AAA academic boycott resolution.

  • "As anthropologists, we're trained to pay attention to the human effects of institutional processes. Indeed, that's our stock-in-trade. Boycotting an institution means, by definition, boycotting the individuals who work for that institution. Such a boycott would turn our colleagues into non-persons, as far as our social universe is concerned. What sense does this make as a way to engage with our scholarly colleagues, and how would it possibly further the cause of Palestinian rights? By tarring a group of scholars with the same brush, we also essentialize people by reference their nationality. Surely, that's a move that we anthropologists have been at the forefront of opposing in so many important contexts."

    Dr. Alma Gottlieb, Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • "What I do find completely unacceptable is the attempts to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. The strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel “doesn’t fit with the idea of the two-state solution. It doesn’t recognize that Israelis are a very textured community. Among them, there are many who are pro-peace and there are many who are partners [of peace-seeking Palestinians]. And if we treat them all as one, and if we sanction them all as one, and if we treat an extremist the same way as a peace-seeking individual, we drive those who want peace into the same camp as the others. We disempower them. We empower the extreme voices. We empower the voices that say that Palestinians are not interested in a two-state solution."

    Ghaith al-Omari, Senior Fellow, The Washington Institute

  • "Israeli anthropologists, anthropology departments, and universities are our natural allies because they are on the forefront of the struggle for social justice and democracy. If we believe in those causes, now is precisely the moment to support them."

    Geoffrey E. Braswell, UC San Diego

  • "If we are to look at Israeli society, it is within the academic community that we've had the most progressive pro-peace views and views that have come out in favor of seeing us as equals… If you want to punish any sector, this is the last one to approach."

    Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, Former President of Al-Quds University

  • "Boycotting Israeli universities paves the way to blocking the educational goals of American students. Several humanities professors in the US have already refused to write recommendation letters for semester programs in Israel...personal politics should not be injected into the work of mentoring students. Professors should not use their geopolitical views to stifle their students’ intellectual growth."

    Paul Brodwin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

  • "I'm against the boycott in general.... We need more dialogue with the other. That's why I believe that you should not have a general boycott against Israel, or a boycott against Israeli universities. If you want to boycott anyone, target those universities that are calling for occupation or are supporting the continuation of the occupation...don't target those Israelis and those universities and those institutions which actually are your partner."

    Dr. Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, Political Scientist and Peace Activist

  • President of Achva Academic College and Professor of Social Work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev

    Over the last decades, tremendous progress has been made in facilitating access to higher education, with special emphasis on the Israeli Arab population. The percentage of Arab students in higher education institutions in the last decade increased significantly; it should be noted that we are witnessing major enrollment among Arab students in colleges and universities across the country. Boycott will affect the process of change that has occurred in Israeli academia. Based on my experience in the last several years, the academic institutions in Israel promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in the academic programs and the institution’s environment, which promotes a sense of belonging among all students, including the Arabs. Calling for Boycott may cause harm to the steady progress that has been made. 

    Academic institutions in Israel speak on behalf of marginalized communities, ethnic and religious people, including Arab people; if you don’t give them the opportunity to speak up on behalf of these groups, their voices will not be heard; scholars from academia act as social agents for change to show the clear picture of the people they are serving, criticizing the government policies and law, we must leave a space for these voices to be heard.  In the current crisis in Israel, we are witnessing the Universities' professors, students, and staff leading the demonstration against the change in the justice system that the government is leading. One more time, these voices need to be heard; please do not stop them. In my opinion, the academic boycott would not do justice and block the care voices from academia.

    In addition to our missions as scholars to raise the unheard voices and advocate for minorities, we are contributing to the body of knowledge that we are sharing in conferences and publications; boycott will impact this process as well. Because through our academic work, we are sharing with you the truth and the reality of minorities people, their economic, social, psychological, educational situation, our research is our weapon; boycott works against what I have mentioned above.  

    Please say no to the boycott and do not stop us from doing our job.

    Do no harm and vote NO.