Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace


Educational Resources

Campus Issues

There are many specific issues that have come up most often on within the polarization political atmosphere of American University campuses where pro- and anti-Israel forces square off against each other. The articles below reflect some ideas about the specific issues of Academic Boycotts, Divestment campaigns, and the controversy around Daniel Pipes's Campus-Watch website.

  1. Academic Boycotts
    1. Against the Israeli Academic Boycott
      By Neve Gordon, The Nation, February 3, 2003
      Gordon cogently argues that the academic boycotts against Israeli universities only serve to undermine academic freedom in Israel and weaken those opposing the Occupation.
      [read more]

    2. Leading Oxford scientists condemn academic boycotts targeting Israel
      By Richard Allen Greene, JTA, January 20, 2003
      Several leading British academics argue that academic boycotts that target all Israelis - regardless of their political views - are racist and should be opposed.
      [read more]

  2. Divestment Campaigns -
    1. Campus Hypocrisy
      By Thomas Friedman, New York Times, October 16, 2003
      Friedman criticizes the anti-Israel forces on campuses for pushing divestment and the pro-Israel forces for defending everything that the Israeli government does (including settlement expansion). He suggests the need for an alternative to the polarized political debate about Israel that exists on most university campuses.
      [read more]

  3. Campus-Watch debate on Campus
    1. Ad condemning anti-Semitism on Campuses Misses the Point
      By Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth University JTA, October 14, 2002
      Susannah Heschel, a member of the Brit Tzedek Advisory Committee, writes that the real threat facing many faculty members on campus comes not from anti-Israel activists, but rather from Israeli right-wingers attempting to intimidate any Jewish faculty member who publicly opposes the policies of the Sharon government. She cites Daniel Pipes' Campus Watch as a major example of this problem.
      [read more]