‘A Dark Day for Higher Education’: American Anthropological Association Endorses BDS after Referendum

The organization said Israeli institutions will be barred from being listed in the organization’s “published materials,” advertising in its publications, attending the AAA graduate school fair, participating in AAA conferences, and republishing and reprinting AAA written works from its journals.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) overwhelmingly voted to approve a resolution calling for a full academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

Just 37 percent of AAA’s approximately 10,000 members participated in the referendum on the resolution via electronic ballet, with 71 percent voting in favor of the resolution and 29 percent voting against it. In announcing the results the organization said Israeli institutions will be barred from being listed in the organization’s “published materials,” advertising in its publications, attending the AAA graduate school fair, participating in AAA conferences, and republishing and reprinting AAA written works from its journals.

“This is a dark day for higher education and, far worse even, a truly dangerous day for all students, especially Jews,” AMCHA Initiative executive director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin said in a statement. “Make no mistake about it, contrary to what proponents would like you to believe, the biggest victims of academic [boycott, divestment, sanctions movements] are not the Israeli institutions targeted by the AAA resolution but students on US campuses.”

Miriam Elman, executive director of AEN, said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner, “Throughout the voting period, supporters of the resolution continued to push the absurd claim that its application is limited to ‘institutions’ — as if it’s possible to boycott universities and colleges without harming the actual people who work and study in them. In fact, as we all know, there are many ways that individuals will be negatively impacted.”

With the resolution’s approval, AAA, established in 1902 and based in Arlington, Virginia, is the first major academic professional association to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement since the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) did in 2022. It has considered boycotting Israeli universities before, but the idea was rejected in Nov. 2015, when a measure similar to this year’s was defeated by razor thin margin of 39 votes, with 4,807 votes cast.

“This was indeed a contentious issue, and our differences may have sparked fierce debate, but we have made a collective decision and it is now our duty to forge ahead, united in our commitment to advancing scholarly knowledge, finding solutions to human and social problems, and serving as a guardian of human rights,” AAA president Ramona Pérez said in a statement announcing the results of the vote.

An overwhelming majority of Middle East scholars support boycotting Israel, according to a survey published in Nov. 2022, which shows that only nine percent of 500 responding experts from the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and the American Political Science Association (APSA) would “oppose all boycotts of Israel.” 91 percent “support at least some boycotts.” 36 percent also favor “some boycotts” but not against Israeli universities.

Launched in 2005, the BDS campaign opposes Zionism — a movement supporting the Jewish people’s right to self-determination — and rejects Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish nation-state. It seeks to isolate the country comprehensively with economic, political, and cultural boycotts. Official guidelines issued for the campaign’s academic boycott state that “projects with all Israeli academic institutions should come to an end,” and delineate specific restrictions that adherents should abide by — for instance, denying letters of recommendation to students who seek to study in Israel.