March 5, 2016
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), has condemned a petition signed by forty Columbia University professors urging their institution to divest from companies that “supply, perpetuate, and profit from a system that has subjugated the Palestinian people.” According to the petition, the signatories “stand with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine as well as with Jewish Voice for Peace in calling upon the University to take a moral stance against Israel’s violence in all its forms.”
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, issued the following statement:
“Here we go again. These forty Columbia University professors who have signed this morally bankrupt petition have shamefully chosen to affiliate themselves with a campaign that seeks to punish and isolate Israel through boycotts and other discriminatory tactics. Quite clearly, the anti-Semitic aim of the BDS movement is to tar the name of Israel— the only democracy in the Middle-East where open debate is encouraged and permitted— and to ultimately destroy the Jewish state. Since these academics are not advocating a boycott of any other country, this petition illustrates the patently double standard Israel is repeatedly and unfairly subjected to. This proposed boycott aids and abets in the spreading of hatred and will only hinder the chances of a true and lasting resolution between the parties. I also note that the petition was released to mark the first day of Israel Apartheid Week. This loaded and inflammatory term has been continuously used by Israel’s detractors and enemies to delegitimize the Jewish state and to argue that it promotes vile racial policies similar to those promulgated by the former apartheid government in South Africa. Israel has accepted a two-state solution and self-determination for the Palestinians, and has pursued this outcome through bilateral negotiations, withdrawals and peace treaties. Such actions clearly undermine any accusations that Israel’s objective is to rule over the Palestinian population indefinitely, or persecute and racially segregate Palestinians. I would remind the forty professors of the words of Justice Richard Goldstone who has maintained that accusing Israel of apartheid “is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations.” Moreover, the European Union has labelled comparisons between Israel and the former regime in South Africa to be an expression and manifestation of modern anti-Semitism because the equation seeks to undermine Israel’s right to exist. We call on people of good conscience and on scholarly institutions around the world to courageously speak out and fight against this inflammatory and distorted move.”
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272 5677
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