Undermining Academic Freedom and the Path to Peace

Israel is one of the United States strongest allies in the Middle East. The British National Association of Teachers in Furtherance of Higher Education’s (NATFHE) resolution is highly objectionable in the face of the shared democratic history of the U.S., England, and Israel. Such boycotts undermine academic freedom and open exchange and completely disregard the courageous strides towards peace that Israel has made, including the difficult Gaza withdrawal and recognition of a two-state solution. Congressman Pence and I, in the strongest terms, want to prevent further attack of Israel via its academia institutions and we object to any comparison to that of an apartheid regime. This latest movement by NATFHE furthers existing tensions already present between Israelis and Palestinians. NATFHE’s resolution will do nothing but intensify and continue discriminatory measures within the academic world in which the traditional open dialogue between colleagues has been compromised.