(JTA) — Members of the American Studies Association gathered last year for their annual meeting and a vociferous debate on the wisdom of initiating an academic boycott of Israel. One year later, the debate is over and the boycott resolution has long since passed – but the aftereffects are still being felt. Attendees at this year’s…
The Israeli firm SodaStream, which has been a target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, is closing its West Bank factory — and anti-Israel activists claimed credit for forcing the move. The company, which makes home soft drink machines, made the announcement about its Maale Adumim facility on Wednesday. It also said that its…
A student group at the City University of New York failed to advance a resolution to boycott Israeli academics and divest from Israeli companies. Thirty-one members of the Doctoral Students’ Council at CUNY voted in favor of the resolution on Friday — eight votes short of the amount required for the required majority. Twenty-five members…
More than 1,350 academics from universities and colleges from around the world have signed a petition opposing faculty or student boycotts of Israel. The online petition of the Faculty for Academic Freedom was posted on Oct. 5. “We, the undersigned academics, vigorously support free speech and free debate but we oppose faculty or student boycotts…
Judith Butler speaks at the inaugural Open Hillel conference in Boston/Photo by Gili Getz/Open Hillel (JTA) — Four rabbis are engaged in an animated debate about Jewish law. Three of them agree, but the dissenter is adamant that he’s got it right. He cries out: “A sign, God, I beg You, a sign!” It begins to…
Woolworths of South Africa said it may take the BDS lobby to court for threatening its staff and customers. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has held more than 40 protests at Woolworths stores throughout the country in recent weeks. “Our employees, of all faiths and cultures, are telling us that they are feeling increasingly…
More than 350 anthropologists from around the world have endorsed a boycott of Israel and its academic institutions. The statement was posted on Oct. 1 on the website jadaliyya.com with 231 signatories and a call for others to add their names to the list. On Friday, the list had reached 360 names. “As a community…
Twenty four percent of Jewish-Israeli consumers are boycotting Arab businesses in the wake of the summer’s Gaza conflict, according to an Israeli business daily. The 24 percent is down from the 29 percent who said t hey were boycotting Arab-owned businesses during the 50-day-long Operation Protective Edge, and down significantly from the 47 percent who…
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