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