A sizeable number of Irish academics have pledged their support of an academic boycott of Israel until it complies with international law over its obligations to the Palestinian people.
The pledge, organised by the group Academics for Palestine and signed by 138 academics based in Ireland states that the signatories “pledge not to engage in any professional association with Israeli academic, research and state institutions and with those representing these institutions, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
The action was welcomed by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which called it “another addition to the growing critical mass against Israeli apartheid”, while the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, based in the Occupied Territories, said it was “further evidence that the people of Ireland, who keenly understand the cruelty of colonialism from their own history… are again standing on the right side of history.”
Meanwhile, Israeli academic and renowned historian Ilan Pappe, now based in Exeter University, also issued a statement in support.
“The recent pledge by Irish academics to boycott Israeli academic institutions is yet another landmark in the growing international refusal to allow Israel to continue its oppressive policies against the Palestinians,” he said.
“History would judge each of those who bravely stood alongside the Palestinians in their just struggle for peace and justice as playing a crucial role in ending yet another evil chapter in human history.”
