The only reason there is an occupation is that Jordan, despite Israeli pleas, joined the war instigated by Nasser in 1967. Had the Jordanians not attacked Israel, there would be no occupation. Why don't the hypocrites in the UCU boycott the universities of China (because of Tibet and Darfur), Russia (because of Chechnya ), or Syria (because of Lebanon).

Beth Altman, Merion, Pennsylvania

In the year 1210 England evicted all Jews from the country, anti-Semitism has been rife, with a few exceptional moments, through all of the countries history. It can therefore be no surprise today that left-leaning academics, which by definition inhabit a world devoid of the rules and norms most of society lives by, would once again assert hatred for Israel and for Jews. Out of bigotry, ignorance and as a result of their mob-behavior, they castigate Israel and laud its sworn enemies under the guise of the Palestinian cause. A cause which began three years prior to Israelis existence as a result of the mass slaughter of Palestinians by Egyptians and Jordanians, Israel should be the model for all its neighbors; it has paved the way for them to follow along a proven path for health, welfare and quality of life for all, including in this the Arab minority within Israel.

B Wendell, Cape Cod, MA USA

A boycott of Israel is a boycott of academic freedom and intellectual honesty.

I am a retired teacher, a methodist preacher and sometime writer. I am not a Jew but I would not be ashamed if I was one.

G. I. Goodson, Birmingham, England

How ironic. The body of Israelis most left wing and opposed to the "occupation" is the body of Israeli academics. That those most in agreement with these Brit "academics" are the very people boycotted shows just how unacademic and bankrupt these Britain university faculty truly are. This is not only blind, deaf, and dumb Jew hate, it indicates a clear danger to university students in Britain - by this vote, many UK teachers have proven their incompetence.

Stuart, Michigan USA,

Anyone for this boycott of Israel is a hypocrite. Universities are a safe haven for freedom of speech and equal treatment which varies greatly outside the campus. If you want to boycott Israeli Universities because of their country's policies you might as well boycott every University in the world, because every country has messed up policies in one shape or another.

David, Owings Mills, Maryland

Boycott UK schools and universities. Let the hypocrites wallow in their collective self-righteousness.

Dave, New York, NY

we know what this is about, don't we? academics hide behind rhetoric
but it's nothing more than anti-semitism. that, and fear of muslim radicals.
in either case, it's disgraceful.

clubdittocom, highland, ca

I applaud you for your stand on this issue. ISrael has more human rights organizations per population that any country in the world! Despite having to be at war for over 60 years, it has struggled to uphold rights of Palestinians. You may not think it is perfect, but what country has a perfect human rights record in the midst of war? Did Britain when it faced the Nazis? The universities in Israel include a lot of Arab Palestinians, Druze, etc, that are not Jews. Some are Israeli citizens and some are not. But they are all looking for an education, and learning to get along in one of the most diverse societies on earth. Your unions are picking on the wrong people, surely.

Susan Behrend, Raleigh, NC , usa

A resounding cheer for this! The boycott is totally absurd, especially when seen in the context of countries that are seriously commiting abuses both of academic and intellectual freedom. There also many other countries in which abuses of human rights are outrageous. But this academic minority seems unconcerned with anything but a totally meanignless and counter-productive gesture.

Gerry Lewis, Lodon, England

Don't just boycott Israel, boycott their supporters, too.

Thomas Mc, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Mullens you are just wrong. And you couldn't be any wronger. You speak with the same cow's cud as every leftwinger raised on the belief that a secular, progressive, liberal democracy in one of the most politically, ethnically and religiously fraught regions of the world must be excoriated and compared to genocidal regimes.

What tosh.

Has Israel found itself trapped by perhaps unwise decisions it has made in its past? Undoubtably. Is Israel've very existence threatened by its neighbours and the movements they are prepared to support? Absolutely.

"Ethnic cleansing?" In a few short years Israel Jewish population will be a demographic minority. Show me the thriving Jewish communities in Iran or Syria.

I know you're deaf to all this but comments like this, left unchecked, will help the region sleepwalk into even further disaster.

Paul Carpenter, Leeds, UK

Slow but deliberate policy of what? Give me an example of another such "genocide" in which the population of the "victim" qintuples? What would you say if the Israelis actually decided to commit genocide and kill all the palestinians? I presume you wouldn't bat an eye because nothing had changed? Just another moral ignoramus who tossing around the word "genocide."

After rejecting a state three times (1937, 1948, 2000), and rejecting a full return of all land captured in 1967 in exchange for peace (right after the war ended)it should be clear who wants peace and who does not.

David, Washington, DC,

I applaud the editorial, but I don't like the comparison of Israel to the Soviet Union, South Africa or Zimbabwe. Israel is a democracy mid-wifed by Great Britain and sharing the British committment to freedom and liberty. The Palestinians, by and large, approve of terrorism against Israel, and elected a Hamas government to prosecute terror. Israel is not like the South Africa; it's like Great Britain trying to survive Soviet sponsored terror from the so-called "Irish" Republican Army. Fascists, whether adopting the "Irish" or "Islamic" label are still fascists, and the Times of London should be able to see beyond the label.

Nathan Wirtschafter, Rehovot, Israel

During the late Middle Ages, England was the first European country to expel the Jews en masse. Now, Britain--or at least its academics--seems bent on repeating and furthering that legacy by doing the equivalent to the Jewish state.

An academia that thought that the media ban on Gerry Adams was too onerous, now wants to ban the academics of an entire country. Why? Because having conquered territory in a defensive war they refuse to give it up without a promise of peace from those who would be receiving it. Maybe Scottish and Welsh academics should boycott English universities.

Thomas G. Mitchell, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

The boycott will not be dropped, nor will the issue end regardless of what happens with this union. The op ed and comments here signal the dangerous level of denial going on in the West regarding Israeli policies, which are no longer about occupation, itself a temporary condition, but annexation and permanent rule. We are right around the corner from Palestinians demanding equality within the state they are already in rather than freedom. And you people are worried about a boycott that at least shows that someone isn't sleeping. Amazing.

deborah , Wichita , USA

Go ahead and boycott Israeli scholars then see what happens to your research and development and scientific advances. Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you. England simply does not have sufficient brainpower at this point.

louise stoll, HILLSBORO, WV

I cannot believe British academics will support this. It is a few extremist fundamentalists in the Union - let's give this some time before condemning the academic world and see what they say.
It is ridiculous of course. Many Israeli academics hate what their government has done. Some countries on that basis could boycott UK academics on the grounds of the illegal and dreadful way this government has supported the war in Iraq which has set the world back years.

Olivia, Llanelli, Wales

If Richard Mullens were correct that Israel has a "deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide" perhaps he can explain why it has not blanket bombed the Gaza strip, much as this country did in Dresden, which would have been a much more efficient way of implementing such a policy.

Martin Stern, Salford, England

I wonder what the public and parliament reactions would be if the motion suggested cutting off ties with universities in communist China... or rogue-state Syria?

There is so much concern about Israel's admittedly hard-handed approach to governance.... but I never see European countries expressing much concern when the Israelis are threatened, bombed, or discrimnated against.

And why is it that academics so often cry out for free speech, the flow of ideas, and tolerance --- EXCEPT of course, for the views that are not in line with their own? (Gee, that seems kind of totalitarian when it's stated like that...)
Let's focus.... I mean come on... cutting ties with Israel's academics and universities? As if that's going to change governmental policy? (It's not like Europe has been resoundingly supportive of Israel and this is a huge change in policy or attitude...) An open dialog is a more effective change agent!

Jennifer Lasik, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

If Richard Mullens were correct that Israel has a "deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide" perhaps he can explain why it has not blanket bombed the Gaza strip, much as this country did in Dresden, which would have been a much more efficient way of implementing such a policy.

Martin Stern, Salford, England

The boycott stinks. It's onanistic gesture politics of the worst kind. Add to that the fact that it's tinged with racism (have the UCU imposed a boycott on any other countries?) and you have, what is fair to say, quite a bad idea.

Worse still, the sort of people who support it are Ian Marmite types - professors who teach post-colonial vegetable impact studies, and go on holiday in Norfolk.

Justin McClintock, London,

After having viewed the UCU web sites spurious one sided reasons for calling for a boycott, I can only come to the conclusion that instead of having their heads buried in books, these pseudo intellects have had theirs heads buried in a darker place .
Unceasingly Jews, and only Jews, have been blamed for every problem in the world, except in this era they substituted AIDS for the old myth about their causing the black plague .

B. Edelson, Westpark , Florida

If Richard Mullens were correct that Israel has a "deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide" perhaps he can explain why it has not blanket bombed the Gaza strip, much as this country did in Dresden, which would have been a much more efficient way of implementing such a policy.

Martin Stern, Salford, England

Sadly, in the cloistered world of PC acedeme the greatest monster in the world is the US and Israel, as its close ally is therefore singled out.

Let's overlook the cowardice in not choosing the US (too much goes on in US Universities for anyone to want to sever that particular chord). Let's also overlook the assorted barbaric regimes that apparently don't merit a boycott. While we're at it let's also turn a blind eye to absolutely everything else that's happening in the middle east which can't be pinned on Israel.

There. An act of moral and intellectual purity second to none.

Mike Routhorn, Weston, UK

Are these the same freedom loving academics that refuse to keep an eye open for extremist/rerrorist teaching being conducted in their institutions?
Methinks a whiff of hypocracy hangs in the air!

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

If you would believe the logic of the Times, you would go along with the notion that we should have supported Werner Von Braun.

The state of Israel's desire is to have all the land of the Palestinians for its own. Astonishingly, our government and press go along with this.

By putting pressure on influential Israeli academics and by threatening wider boycotts we have a chance to stay what is in essence a slow but deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

richard mullens, London, UK

Good article, but Finkelstein does not say that the boycott is MORALLY perverse because it reverses victim and aggressor. If the Arabs had not attacked Israel in 1967 - and the Jordanians opened the West bank front in the Six Day War, Israel would not be occupying the land in the first place.

Lyn, London, UK

A resounding cheer for this. The boycott is totally absurd and ignores countries in which abuses of academic and intellectual freedom are dominant. It also passes over countries where abuses of human rights are severe. This vocal minority is putting forward a programme which is pointless and counter-productive. It can lead nowhere of any value.

Gerry Lewis, Lodon, England

I with you 100%. I can't belive the arrogance of this Trade Union. No wonder the education system in this country is turning out ill-educated oafs by the 1000's if this is an example of intelligence of their teachers. The motion is insulting and unbecoming of so called educators and so called trade unionists. I hope the Israeli education establishment tells them where to stick their opinions.

Susan, Barry, S Wales

The boycott is the epitome of anti-intellectualism. Can the boycott! Remember who the anti-intellectuals are and never, never, never elect or appoint them to positions of authority. This is a disgrace.

J.O. Keener, Fairbanks, Alaska

The truth is that the UCU boycott attempt epitomizes our global state of mind from the left to the right from the UK academics to American talk radio. It's not about ideas or debate anymore, it's about flexing one's political muscle. It's not about real consensus building, it's about talking past one another. It's about PR and scoring points. It's about bashing your opponents over the head, whether it be Israel or the US. It's the blame game 24/7. It's about saying "non". The boycott today is not the exception to the rule, it is the rule.

Rob Gladstone, Houston, TX, USA