The Student Union of the National University of Ireland-Galway is holding a referendum on an academic boycott of Israel and its academic institutions!

A group calling itself Academics for Palestine has been inciting Irish academics both in Ireland and around the world to engage in a boycott of Israel and its academic institutions. Last week 130 academics in Ireland signed up to boycott Israel.

The Student Union has thus far refused to engage with the Zionist community!

It is absurd for Irish academics to engage in a boycott of the only country in the region where academia and political expression are totally free.

It is sinister to single out the only Jewish country in the world for demonization.

The claim that Israel is an apartheid state is a blatant lie.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the turbulent Middle East. It is the only country in the region with freedom of speech, politics, press, the rule of law, freedom of religion for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and the only country supporting women’s rights and protection of LGBT communities.

In contrast, treatment of Christians in other Middle Eastern countries as well as in Hamas-run Gaza and territories under the administration of the Palestinian Authority ranges from persecution to murder. Christians are fleeing Muslim lands in record numbers.

“I would sacrifice my life for the State of Israel and all of its citizens,” stated IDF Commander Monaliza Abdo, a Christian Israeli-Arab from Haifa who volunteered to serve and protect her country and rose through the ranks to become an officer.

 

In 2013 Muslim cardiologist Dr. Aziz Darawshe became director of the emergency department at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem and chairman of the Israel Society for Urgent Medicine. Mais Ali-Saleh, a Muslim woman, graduated top of the class and served as valedictorian at The Technion in Haifa – Israel’s version of M.I.T. – and is now an obstetrician-gynecologist at Carmel Medical Center.  These are just two examples of success achieved by Israeli Arabs in a state that offers equal opportunity to all its citizens.

Consider the irony of academics – of all people – engaging in boycotts when it is precisely the academic spirit of dialogue and free inquiry that leads to mutual understanding and respect.

DEFEND ISRAEL! DEFEND ACADEMIC FREEDOM!

Singling out the Jewish state for criticism has been recognized as the new anti-Semitism!

United with Israel urges you to email NUI Galway President Dr. James J. Browne (president@nuigalway.ie) and NUI Galway Student Union President Sean Kearns (su.president@nuigalway.ie). Tell them in no uncertain terms that a boycott of Israeli academic institutions is anti-Semitic and unacceptable!

Defend Israel! Defend academic freedom!

Date: Feb. 23, 2014