Dear Editor:
Thank you so much for the wonderful article that Leni Reiss wrote about Arizona BookPALS for your May edition of Arizona Jewish Life. I am honored that our literacy program is featured in such a meaningful publication. It is the first time I have seen your magazine and I love it. There are so many articles of interest. I will be a loyal reader from this time forward. If any of your readers want to volunteer, they can contact me at 602-750- 2923 or edean@bookpals.net.
Ellen Dean, Phoenix
Dear Editor:
In the 1930s, thousands of Jewish professors were kicked out of German universities because they were Jews. Shamefully, today in the United States, Jewish professors are threatened with being thrown out of scholarly conferences, prevented from publishing in scholarly journals and denied research or employment opportunities, simply because they are citizens of the Jewish state. More than 1,000 scholars on more than 300 U.S. college and university campuses have endorsed an academic boycott of Israel. The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is pure anti-Semitism masquerading in the cloak of academic legitimacy. It was established in response to a call by Palestinian organizations, including terrorist organizations Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to facilitate the elimination of Israel. The American Studies Association’s recent adoption of a resolution boycotting Israeli universities and scholars has been subjected to scathing criticism by several prominent academic associations – including more than 250 university presidents, hundreds of state and federal legislators, and virtually every mainstream Jewish organization. Still, too many professors continue to promote the boycott of Israeli professors, advance lies and distortions about Israel, and advocate the elimination of the Jewish state. Faculty members’ unbridled use of the university for promoting the boycott of Israel has had dangerous consequences:
• Corruption of the academic mission of the university: The political nature of the campaign to promote a boycott of Israel damages the educational endeavor that is at the heart of a university. When the focus is political advocacy, the quality of teaching and research is severely compromised.
• Creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students: Professors who promote campaigns to harm or dismantle Israel and who encourage students to do the same, contribute to the creation of a hostile environment for many Jewish students.
• Giving academic legitimacy to global campaigns to harm Israel: American colleges have become a critical front in the war being waged against the Jewish state. The language and imagery used to demonize Israel and portray it as worthy of destruction… (has) caused significant harm to Israel’s reputation.
The problem worsens with each campus-based boycott effort that goes unchallenged. Pressure must be brought from outside of the university. Information about faculty members who endorse BDS should be published and circulated widely. Then, students, prospective students, alumni, parents, donors and taxpayers should express outrage at the university’s collusion with an anti-Semitic campaign.
When the behavior violates state or Federal law, legal action may prove effective. Legislation that would withhold public monies from universities that engage in anti-Israel boycotts has been proposed in five states and in the U.S. Congress. Such legislation could go a long way towards curbing the behavior of academic boycotters. Boycotts of Israeli universities and scholars are the newest expressions of anti-Semitism. We must commit to fight on every campus where the anti-Semitic boycott rears its ugly head.
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, co-founder of AMCHA Initiative, a nonprofit organization that combats anti-Semitism on college campuses across the United States
