Academics call for boycott of Israeli universities

Italian academics have signed a petition calling for a boycott of Israeli universities due to their “notorious complicity” with the country’s “state violence”, reports The Times of Israel.

The petition, which was published on 27 January, is signed by 168 Italian academics from more than 50 institutions, including the universities of Rome, Turin and Florence, as well as the European University Institute. The campaign stresses its support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, calling the petition an act of solidarity.

In the statement accompanying the signatures, the campaign denounces “the utter lack of any serious condemnation” of government policy by the Israeli institutions since the creation of the state in 1948. The petition singles out the Technion, Israel’s Haifa-based institute of technology, which it claims “is involved more than any other university in the Israeli military-industrial complex”.
Full report on The Times of Israel site