Nadia Abu El-Haj, mondoweiss.net
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Excerpt:In a recent column in Ha’aretz.com, the Israeli anthropologist Dan Rabinowitz argues against the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) . ...
[W]ithout naming it as such, Rabinowitz—following in the footsteps of many a critic of BDS [see]—raises the specter of anti-Semitism in his op-ed. ...
What about universities? Is it really true that they cannot, must not, and do not take “institutional positions on political issues?” Is it really true that Israeli universities “are overwhelmingly in favor of dialogue and compromise?” Israeli universities take political positions that support the status quo all the time. Sometimes taking political positions involves making declarations of support: Rabinowitz’s own university released a statement on July 24, 2014 in support of “all the security forces who are working to restore quiet and security to Israel,” that is, the armed forces fighting the Gaza war. More often, taking a political position is structural in form: building universities on confiscated Palestinian land; developing weapons systems with the Israeli military; formulating the Dahiya doctrine, used in Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2014, that calls for the use of disproportionate force to destroy civilian property and infrastructure; providing financial and academic support for Israeli soldiers (the vast majority of Palestinians in Israel do not serve); giving course credit for classes in hasbara, that is, learning social media strategies designed to justify Israeli policies under the guise of “public diplomacy;” and more routinely, discriminating against Palestinian students in their midst. ...
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