Haaretz is worried about a move to boycott Israel in the U.S., initiated by 15 professors. The first time this kind of thing has originated in the U.S., not Europe. Haaretz gives about 15 inches to the story, and challenges the organizer that Gaza is like Iraq and did you boycott the U.S.? Yes, Gaza is like Iraq. That's why it's criminal. The boycott initiative is special too because the organizer talks about the lobby! Excerpts:
mostly from California, but is, "currently expanding to create a
network that embraces the United States as a whole," according to David
Lloyd, a professor of English at the University of Southern California
who responded on behalf of the group to a Haaretz query. "The
initiative was in the first place impelled by Israel's latest brutal
assault on Gaza and by our determination to say enough is enough."
"The response has been remarkable given the extraordinary hold that
lobbying organizations like AIPAC exert over U.S. politics and over the
U.S. media, and in particular given the campaign of intimidation that
has been leveled at academics who dare to criticize Israel's policies,"
Lloyd wrote in an e-mail to Haaretz Monday. "Within a short weekend
since the posting of the press release, more than 80 academics from all
over the country have endorsed the action and the numbers continue to
grow."
Asked if the group would accept the endorsement of Hamas
supporters, Lloyd said, "We have no a priori policy with regard to the
membership or affiliation of supporters of the boycott so long as they
are in accord with the main aims stated in the press release."
He argued that, "on several occasions Hamas has sought direct
negotiations with Israel, a pursuit that constitutes de facto
recognition of Israel, and has openly discussed abandoning its call for
the destruction of the state of Israel conditional on reciprocal
guarantees from Israel."
Lloyd wrote that to the best of his knowledge, all supporters of
the anti-Israel boycott were also opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Asked if logic wouldn't dictate that he and his colleagues boycott
themselves, he responded, "Self-boycott is a difficult concept to
realize. But speaking for myself, I would have supported and honored
such a boycott had it been proposed by my colleagues overseas."
