Brit boycott backlash

Guardian:

The prominent British lawyer Anthony Julius has teamed up with Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law school professor whose clients have included Claus von Bulow and the OJ Simpson defence team, to fight possible boycotts of Israeli universities by UK academics.

The pair are planning to publish a paper outlining their objections to a pro-boycott motion passed by British academics last month and Mr Dershowitz has threatened to "devastate and bankrupt" those he believes are acting against Israeli universities.

Members of the University and College Union passed a motion at their annual conference instructing leaders to circulate calls for a boycott of Israeli institutions to every UK campus for "information and discussion".

Yesterday Mr Julius, who has had a string of high-profile clients and is visiting professor at Birkbeck College, said the UCU's decision had sparked widespread anger. "People are pretty appalled at their stance, what they see are double standards when it comes to Israel," he said. "The majority of Jews find this repellent and many academics reject the pitiful arguments which have been put forward and which do not reflect well on the state of academic work in this country."

Mr Dershowitz, the prominent lawyer and Harvard law professor who is well known for the ferocity of his attacks on those he perceives as enemies of Israel, told the Guardian that if the boycott call is endorsed by the UCU branches there would be retribution, and that he had enlisted 100 lawyers to break the boycott.

"If the union goes ahead with this immoral petition, it will destroy British academia," Mr Dershowitz said. "We will isolate them from the rest of the world."

Yesterday supporters of an academic boycott said they were determined to press ahead with the campaign.

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There are many ridiculous aspects of this proposed boycott, but portraying the Palestinians as the victims is the most absurd. If they are victims of anything it is their own self destructive activity. While glorifying a death cult and human bombs these people are responsible for the travel restrictions that result from such attacks. Why would you want to share a class room with someone who might explode? Until the Palestinians take responsibility for their own circumstances and quit blaming it on the "occupation" or the Jews, they will continue to be a beggar society. Academics who feed that irresponsibility are doing the Palestinians no favor.