Gaza: why the academic boycott is legitimate

After the United States, student mobilizations are increasing in Europe and Switzerland, demanding a boycott of Israeli university institutions. This request is often misunderstood. The peaceful boycott aims to suspend relations with institutions suspected of being involved in human rights violations. It has been used by many organizations, often academic, for example against South African apartheid from 1965. In 2022, the umbrella organization of Swiss universities asked to examine and potentially suspend collaborations with Russian university institutions. European research funding institutions have taken the same approach.

“There are of course different forms and degrees of boycott.”

The demand for an academic boycott of Israeli universities is motivated by the humanitarian situation, suspicion of genocide characterized by the International Court of Justice, massive human rights violations and the horrifying number of civilian casualties in Gaza. There are of course different forms and degrees of boycott, hence the importance of transparency when a university exercises its duty of vigilance over its relations with other academic institutions, in Israel or elsewhere.

Some believe that the boycott would isolate Israeli colleagues, especially those who are critical of the policy pursued by the Israeli state in Gaza. In fact, the request to suspend academic relations does not target individuals but concerns institutional relations. The academic boycott does not prevent Israeli academics from participating in international meetings or collaborations with them, as long as neither the Israeli university nor the Israeli state can benefit from it or take advantage of it. However, collaborations with Israeli researchers promoting human rights violations against Palestinians should not be encouraged.

In the case that mobilizes our campuses today, the links between Israeli universities and the Israeli army are well documented (See Maya Wind, Towers of Ivory and Steel, Verso, 2024). Israeli universities participate in violence, from the development of military technologies to legal and ethical justifications for these attacks. It is therefore appropriate to question how Israeli universities contribute through their work to the violation of human rights. Do they guarantee freedom of expression and security to all of their students and academic communities today? We have tangible indications that this is not the case. The arrest and detention of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, in degrading and dangerous circumstances, and her suspension by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem illustrate pressure against academic critics of the Israeli government.

Not neutral

Calls for university boycotts are sometimes denounced as a form of politicization. Indeed, universities are not “neutral”: they are public and democratic institutions whose mission is to promote and guarantee our common values ​​such as respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights. Transparently examining collaborations with other universities, Israeli or Turkish, Russian, or Chinese, etc., therefore constitutes a fundamental requirement. The academic boycott can neither resolve the dramatic crisis in Gaza nor rebuild the destroyed Palestinian universities. However, it will send a signal that the international academic community is attentive, outraged and mobilized, and that our values ​​matter to us.

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