The proposed British boycott of Israeli academics has the worthy aim of ending the occupation of the West Bank. But either because it is so poorly thought-out, or is so ill-motivated, it will have the opposite effect.
Boycott is an old story for Israelis. The Arab League has been shunning the country for nearly 60 years. Its economic boycott has partly unravelled, but some members still refuse all contacts. Israel is excluded from middle east and Asian regional sports (that’s why it plays football and other sports in the European zone). Egypt and Jordan have formal peace treaties with Israel—but “anti-normalisation” practices determine that only some academics will work with Israelis.
Israel has, of course, survived, and is thriving. But the majority of its people have had the mindset of resistance imprinted on them. They accept that they live in a hostile world. Underpinning this attitude are centuries of antisemitic persecution and, of course, the Holocaust.
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