BBC

Tuesday, 9 July, 2002, 10:41 GMT 11:41 UK

Students attack boycott of Israelis

The sacking of Israeli academics from two scholarly journals is "nothing short of racist", says the National Union of Students. Dr Miriam Schlesinger and Professor Gideon Toury were removed as contributors to linguistics journals - the Translator and Translation Studies Abstract - in a boycott on academic contacts with Israel.

To exclude people based on their nationality is abhorrent and nothing short of racism and should be universally condemned Daniel Rose, National Union of Students

The boycott, in response to Israeli military action in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was reported to have been extended to the magazine's contributors by Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (Umist).

But the move against Israeli academics has been condemned by the head of the student union's anti-racism campaign.

"To exclude people based on their nationality is abhorrent and nothing short of racism and should be universally condemned," said Daniel Rose.

International condemnation

The union said the action had "shocked and horrified" the student movement - and it said that individual academics could not be held accountable for the actions of their countries.

"To target individual academics for the actions of a government will lead to a complete loss of academic freedom of speech, irrespective of the issues.

"To target these two will eventually lead to a biased representation of the situation, therefore stifling debate and discussion at all levels," said the union's Michelle Codrington.

Umist has also distanced itself from Professor Baker's action - saying that the decision did not reflect university policy.

And it emphasised that the journals were run by Professor Baker - and were entirely separate from the university.

There has also been international condemnation of the sacking of the two Israeli academics.

Harvard University's Professor Stephen Greenblatt said the action against the academics was "intellectually and morally bankrupt".

"The pursuit of knowledge does not suddenly come to a halt at national borders."

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2002