Raphael Cohen-Almagor looks at the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign to boycott Israeli academics and ban Israel tout court. He argues that there is no justification for any academic organisation to do this. Any such decision would be unjust, unfair, and counterproductive.
BDS is a Palestinian-led movement of unions, academic associations and churches across the world. Its aim is to end international support for 'Israel's oppression of Palestinians' and to pressure Israel to comply with international law. The model it follows is the battle against apartheid in South Africa. (...) However, the comparisons between Israel and South Africa are misleading, and conflate the situation in the West Bank with that in Israel as a whole. Boycotting Israeli academics would not solve the refugee problem, as the BDS claims.
Raphael Cohen-Almagor's research profile
