Academics complain of covert boycott of higher education

Israel is experiencing a “dormant boycott” by academics, Council of University Heads President Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson said recently, addressing a Knesset education committee meeting on academic boycotts, reports The Jerusalem Post.

“Universities are not boycotting and major researchers are here on the scene, but there is a phenomenon of a ‘dormant boycott’,” he said, and called on the government to budget funds to bring international researchers and students to Israel to increase cooperation with academia from around the world.

“Every one of us, in his work, finds that colleagues react in a variety of ways toward Israel. Some will cooperate with me on research, but will not come to visit or to conferences in Israel,” added Professor Dan Oron of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities. “The world has a problem with academic institutions over the Green Line. We don’t feel a boycott, but there is still no doubt that there are sparks of one,” he said.
Full report on The Jerusalem Post site