A group of South African Jews have written an open letter urging the UCT Senate to enforce an academic boycott of Israeli universities. On March 15th, the UCT senate took a ground-breaking decision refusing to “enter into any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as other Israeli academic institutions enabling gross human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
However, this group of Jewish activists say opponents of this resolution have used “backdoor fearmongering about the withdrawal of private funding to cripple the institution”. Among the signatories is former minister Ronnie Kasrils, scholar Raymond Suttner and political commentator Steven Friedman. About 65 Jewish people from across the spectrum are in support of the letter.
“As South African Jews, we want to encourage the UCT Senate to preserve this resolution and safeguard the university’s academic freedom and autonomy.
The specific universities targeted by this resolution are not open, welcoming, progressive institutions that promote academic freedom.
They are discriminatory and hostile spaces for Palestinians. These universities also have close ties to Israel’s military and security services, supporting the expanded militarisation of the occupied territories. Since such universities are complicit in Israel’s human rights abuses and the violation of international law, we believe that UCT is under an obligation to refuse ties with those institutions.
Like Judith Butler, many Jewish academics in Israel and the diaspora have adopted and supported the Palestinian call for an academic boycott. These academics are joined by rapidly growing numbers of Jews in South Africa and globally who support an academic boycott, including ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’, an American organisation with close to 100 000 members, the Israeli organisation ‘Boycott from Within,’ as well as Jewish organisations in Europe, Britain, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa.
Much like the boycott of institutions during apartheid South Africa, the call for an academic boycott and the UCT senate resolution has, in principle, rejected any targeting of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender or religion) or their opinion. Rather, the resolution is aimed at institutions that function under the official governance of the Israeli State and that are complicit in the occupation and its human rights abuses. It is the actions of the institutions that are at stake, not who they claim to represent.
Some have argued that ‘if UCT were to adopt an academic boycott then Jewish donors will pull their funding.’ Besides detracting from the ethical issues at stake, we find this argument to be in itself antisemitic. For hundreds of years, antisemitic propaganda has accused a secret Jewish cabal of using their wealth to manipulate and control political institutions. Peddling this trope as a fear tactic against UCT’s important resolution is a dangerous use of the same imagery.
For Jews, of both secular and religious traditions, we assert that it is our moral and ethical duty to hold Israel accountable for its unjust treatment of Palestinians. This issue is of central concern to us because the State of Israel claims to speak in our name. As South African Jews, we cannot sit by idly while the Israeli government commits similar atrocities to the former South African apartheid regime. We affirm that the academic boycott of Israeli universities which are enabling gross human rights violations is an internationally recognised non-violent strategy to put an end to the occupation, and we urge the UCT Senate to preserve their momentous resolution.”
Signed:
Mitchel Joffe Hunter
Maya Schkolne, Jared Sacks
Benjamin Fogel
Ronnie Kasrils
Raymond Suttner
Jon Fish Hodgson
Jeremy Phillips
Timothy Fish Hodgson
Robert Krause
Philip Krause
Steven Friedman
Rina King
Koni Benson
Laura Phillips
Noam Lubinsky
Batia Efrat
William Efrat
Linda Efrat
Roshan Dadoo
Aaron Jacobs
Anthony Fish Hodgson
Daniel Linde
Judy Favish
Kelly-Jo Bluen
Kira Schlesinger
David Joffe-Hunter
Rebecca Swartz
Tara Weinberg
Meghan Finn
Tess Peacock
Alison Swartz
Sophie J Hunter
Emma Daitz
Georgia Saacks
Roslyn Fish
Aidan Mosselson
Louise Oppenheim
Benjamin Bradlow
Anna Selmeczi
Ethan Jacobs
Allan Kolski Horwitz
Shereen Usdin
Talya Lubinsky
Heidi Grunebaum
Sarah Donde
Kathy Barolsky
Megan Furniss
Jordan Pieters
Jake Maisel
Stephen Jacobs
Nathan Nadler-Nir
Joseph Sidley
David Bruce
Melanie Judge
Merle Favis
Neil Coleman
Zandi Sherman
Monique Michal Marks
Jon-Marc Seimon
Tony Fluxman
Paul Jeffrey Hendler
Jeff Rudin
Edward Wethli
Jarah Fluxman
Vanessa Barolsky
Janet Shapiro
Max Ozinsky
Suzanne Hotz
Linda Cooper