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Answers regarding the U.S. Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel
By Jim Fetzer (about the author)
For OpEdNews: Jim Fetzer - Writer Madison, WI (March 10, 2009) -- Today, I receive an inquiry about my support for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel because of its treatment of the Palestinians. Without identifying the author, who has a Harvard email address, I want to share the questions I was asked and the answers I provided. It is my opinion that, if we do not speak out about outrageous conduct--no matter how much we might, in other respects, admire those who perform such acts--we forfeit our right to membership in the moral community. Here are the questions I was asked and my replies. 
Dear Professor Fetzer:
I am a freelance writer trying to do a piece on the U.S. Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel, and I am trying to ask a couple of questions to as many signatories as possible. So as not to be disingenuous I will reveal up front that I oppose the Boycott, but I am trying to legitimately understand the opposing side and would love to be as well informed as possible in discussing the signatories' views. To that end, I would be exceedingly grateful if you would be willing to answer one or all of the questions below, either anonymously or on the record. While you may not agree with what will be the likely upshot of my article as written, I can promise that I will not take any answers you are kind enough to provide me out of context.
MY INITIAL RESPONSE:
1. Do you have concerns that unilaterally boycotting the academic institutions of an entire country will serve only to isolate Israeli thinkers who may agree with your position and, thus, render a peaceful solution to the Gaza situation even less likely?
I view this effort as one of a very small number of options available to US academicians to influence--to even the least degree!--public attitudes and perceptions of what I regard as the massive violation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. The Gaza Strip, for example, has become the world's largest concentration camp, where even the most basic rights--to food and to shelter, freedom of speech and freedom of travel--are denied to more than a million and a half human beings. This is an unconscionable situation that demands the condemnation of the oppressor and compassion for the oppressed.
2. Would you support an academic boycott of other countries guilty of human rights abuses and religious persecution? For example how do you feel about institutions like the U.S.-China Institute at USC or the China Law Center at Yale, which encourages cross-cultural sharing of research and ideas despite the abuses of the Chinese government?
It would depend upon the extent of the abuse and its affects on a population. If there are comparable violations of human rights by one nation upon those under its domination and control, I am unaware of it. This case appears to me to be the most oppressive, short of the slaughter taking place in Africa.
3. How would you respond to Alan Dershowitz's position, articulated in the context of the purported Hampshire College divestment, that unilateral boycotts of Israel alone fail the recognize the violence inflicted by the Palestinian side against Israeli innocents?
The capacity of the Palestinians to defend themselves is so limited relative to the ability of their Israeli oppressors to harm them--using weapons paid for by American taxpayers, no less!--that the comparison is not meaningful. We have fighter jets and heavy tanks, artillery and bombs vs. rocks and an occasional rocket, which may have symbolic significant but seldom inflict any real damage. I have long admired Profesor Dershowitz, but not on this occasion. Alan is on the wrong side--historically, legally, and morally.
Thanks so much for your willingness to read this far!
Best,
______________________
You may quote me by name. Thanks for contacting me. I appreciate it. Jim
MY SECOND RESPONSE:
A few further thoughts:
Americans assume profound moral obligations to insure that Israel is not betraying the trust the nation has placed in her by our massive influx of foreign aid, whereby we give it billions of dollars every year. It most certainly is not my expectation that those vast sums of money will be used to subjugate and dominate a captive population. US taxpayers are entitled to informed consent about the allocation of our largesse, which most certainly has not been occurring in relation to these acts.
Let me also observe that the political influence of AIPAC is so vast and pervasive that seemingly every prominent American politician wants to be seen as a "friend of Israel". The mass media is dominated by lop-sided reports of alleged threats to its safety, which seem to be more imaginary than real. And the assertion that Palestinians are acting as "terrorists" has a bitter irony, considering that many of the most prominent leaders in the history of Israel have frequently resorted to terrorism on its behalf.
I view the Israeli/Palestinian question as the transcendent human rights issue of our time. As I have observed in the past, when Jews start acting like Nazis, we are in trouble--and we are, big time! I have also recently remarked that, so far as I can see, the ultimate solution, from an Israeli point of view, would be to load them all aboard an enormous ship, take it out to sea and sink it! If Israel wants to take its place among the moral leaders of the world, then it must relinquish its stranglehold on another Semitic population and treat its members with respect just as they would like to be treated. Ultimately, I believe, a two-state solution is no more likely to succeed than did segregation here in the United States. I believe--and firmly hope!--that a one-state solution will eventually be embraced where Muslims and Jews, Arabs and Israelis can live together in peace and harmony, which appears to be the only moral and just solution.
www.d.umn.edu/~jfetzer/
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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