Thousands of academics reject BDS movement in open letter
Thousands of faculty from across the world have co-signed a letter in opposition to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The open letter has been co-signed by almost 3,000 academics, including more than 50 Harvard University faculty and more than a dozen Columbia University faculty.
Thousands of faculty from across the world have co-signed a letter in opposition to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“Universities across the world are facing pressure – from students but also from faculty and staff – to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions over the war in Gaza,” the letter begins.
“We, the undersigned scholars who teach and research in diverse fields of study at campuses across the globe,” the letter continues, “are deeply opposed to these efforts to shun and isolate our Israeli academic colleagues, and to deny our students the educational opportunities of studying in Israel.”
“As for the ‘genocide’ charge, we believe it is completely unacceptable,” the letter outlines. “The death of civilians is a tragedy in this war, as in all others. But the unwanted and tragic death of Palestinian civilians during Israel’s targeting of legitimate military objectives in Gaza is not comparable to Hamas’s October 7 murder spree.”
The open letter has been co-signed by almost 3,000 academics, including more than 50 Harvard University faculty, more than a dozen Stanford University faculty, and more than a dozen Columbia University faculty.
The document has also been endorsed by nearly 20 faculty groups, including the DePaul Jewish Faculty and Staff Alliance, Faculty for Academic Freedom and Against Antisemitism, Faculty Against Antisemitism Movement, and the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group at UCLA.
Not all faculty, however, are opposed to the anti-Israel protesters and the BDS movement. Staff at universities across the country have established “Faculty for Justice in Palestine” groups, mirroring the anti-Israel “Students for Justice in Palestine” chapters that have become especially controversial since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
The pro-Israel faculty coalition noted in its letter that “nearly a hundred Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters have now formed with the explicit mission of implementing an academic boycott of Israel on their campuses.”
The Faculty for Justice in Palestine group at Princeton University, for instance, in a November open letter featured in The Daily Princetonian, condemned Israel’s counterattack against Hamas as an “Israeli siege” and “genocidal assault” on Gaza, and referred to what they called the “apartheid” in the West Bank.
At Harvard University, more than 65 faculty members created their own chapter in January, called Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University, Stanford University, and Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
