Israeli academia facing 'explicit' boycotts by foreign universities
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Scientific journals are refusing to publish articles by Israeli researchers and peer-review articles submitted by Israelis.
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A protest in support of BDS policies against "Israel" in Melbourne, Australia. (Undated, Wikipedia Commons)
Israeli researchers have reported hundreds of cases of academic boycotts and difficulties in collaborating with foreign institutions in recent months, the Israeli Association of University Heads revealed in a new report on Tuesday.
The report mentioned that since October 2023, 200 complaints were filed to the association, and between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2024, an additional 300 complaints were submitted.
According to the report, there has been a significant decline in institutional cooperation with universities abroad. In Spain, for example, cooperation has nearly ceased, and major universities in the Netherlands and Belgium have announced the end of their academic cooperation with Israeli institutions.
Another issue highlighted was that books and scientific journals are refusing to publish articles by Israeli researchers, while researchers abroad are refusing to peer-review articles submitted by Israelis.
The trend is leading to a cut in funding from foreign research institutions with researchers abroad demanding their Israeli colleagues leave international research unions for fear of harming their own research grants.
The report detailed how there are numerous instances where faculty members and students have taken personal steps to boycott Israelis, explicitly expressing their intentions, driven by political considerations, mainly in protest of "Israel's" genocidal war on Gaza.
It further noted that academic protests against "Israel" during the initial months of the war on Gaza mainly consisted of student demonstrations. Now, however, the boycotts primarily stem from the institutions themselves and university faculty members, with most complaints submitted to the council relating to institutions in Europe and the United States.
The report also warned that academic boycotts of "Israel" may intensify with the potential return of US President Donald Trump to the White House with his policies encouraging bureaucratic changes in US higher education institutions, which emphasize maintaining institutional neutrality.
