Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Hogwarts Joins Israel Boycott?

Another famous institution has jumped on the Israel academic boycott bandwagon. A little place known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry announced that it would “cancel summer student exchange programmes it has in place with several Israeli magical institutes, and withdraw from a Quidditch tournament arranged by the Israeli Tourism Ministry due to be held at Eilat by the Red Sea next Spring.”

At least, that’s what was reported by the Pan-Arabia Enquirer — essentially The Onion of the Middle East.

Merlin’s beard, what a relief! Imagine having to part with all that Harry Potter memorabilia (yes, we know about the Gryffindor scarf hidden in the back of your closet).

Funny as the idea of Minerva McGonagall issuing a statement “in solidarity with sorcerers, scholars and students of magic deprived of their academic freedom in the Occupied Territories”, and citing “Israel’s violation of international law and UN resolutions and its impact on young Palestinian witches and wizards,” what really makes this article worth reading are the comments:

—”As a parent who sends his children to Sweet Valley High, I welcome the decision by Hogwarts in joining our school in protesting this human rights violation.”

—”This is an outrage! Surely we should respect wizardly independence! There’s no reason witchcraft should suffer as a result of any government’s actions. It’s absurd to expect them to have all their broomsticks and cauldrons through the tunnels with Egypt.”

Others didn’t quite get the joke. Muggles… am I right?

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.