On Tuesday, the 10,000-member American Anthropological Association will announce the results of a vote on its proposed boycott of Israeli academic institutions. If the preliminary vote is any indication, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. It will pass overwhelmingly, condemning Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and targeting every institution of higher learning in the country. That action, I believe, is misguided, counterproductive, and sure to damage both the association and the Palestinian cause. It also puts at risk any network of scholars by inviting similar future reprisals. Yes, I can see the emotional appeal of a boycott, but I am convinced by Israeli colleagues, students, and friends, as well as by my own experience in that country, that the boycott will harm the very people it is intended to help and embolden those whose hardline policies the AAA disdains. Beyond all this, the boycott itself is irreparably flawed and discredited by the historical and contemporary context that produced it.

June 6, 2016 ・ From Chronicle of Higher Education