Africa’s top university nixes motion to boycott Israel
SAJBD: We are also encouraged that UCT academics have taken a stance against this BDS inspired resolution
By ILANIT CHERNICKProtesters call for the severing of diplomatic ties with Israel during a march in Cape Town, South Africa, May 15, 2018(photo credit: REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS)
Africa’s leading university, the University of Cape Town (UCT), has rescinded a motion for a full academic boycott of Israel.In a statement to The Jerusalem Post, South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) national director Wendy Kahn confirmed that the decision had been made at its senate meeting on Friday afternoon.She congratulated UCT on “the firm stance” it took against academic boycotts at the meeting.Kahn said the university has “sent a resounding message of their commitment to academic freedom.”In March, the university’s senate, which is predominantly made up of academics, initially voted in favor of a motion to academically boycott Israeli institutions.The decision was passed by a significant margin of 62 in favor, 43 against, and 10 abstentions. But the UCT Council, which governs the university, blocked the boycott motion until more information and clarification on the matter could be gathered. The motion was then sent back down to the senate.According to a university statement at the time, “the University of Cape Town Senate took a resolution in favor of a proposal for UCT to not enter into any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as other Israeli academic institutions enabling gross human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.”However, the university decided to “not adopt this resolution of the senate” in March because the council felt that there were “a number of issues required clarification.”This included a “full assessment of the sustainability impact of the senate resolution” and that “a more consultative process was necessary before the matter could be considered any further.”However, on Friday, following months of investigations by the senate into the ramifications of an academic boycott of Israel, a group of academics put forward a new motion to rescind the boycott motion during a senate meeting.
According to Kahn, 68% of the body decided against an academic boycott.She made it clear that the senate’s members “have loudly voiced their opposition to the three-year attempt to introduce an academic boycott against Israel.“Our belief is that this three-year obsession by a narrow group of UCT academics has attempted to hijack the university’s decision making forums for an extended time,” Kahn explained. “This agenda endeavored to dominate discussions at senate and council meetings taking the university’s focus away from key issues of concern to UCT and our country.”The SAJBD said it hopes, now that this “important decision has been taken, that the focus of the university will continue to the building and strengthening of this important South African tertiary institution.“We are also encouraged that UCT academics have taken a stance against this BDS-inspired resolution, which would have achieved little to contribute to peace building in the region, and have chosen rather to support engagement processes with a view to peace building,” she concluded, adding that the “UCT senate’s decision is a victory for academic freedom in our country and globally.”The South Africa Friends of Israel also welcomed the senate’s vote.On Twitter, the group said that, “the senate rejected the academic boycott with a 2/3 majority! Academic institutions have so much to gain from cooperation with world-leading institutions.”
