McGill professors committed to justice and equity strongly disagree with the Principal Suzanne Fortier’s official response on behalf of the Montreal university administration to the recent Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) motion in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and the subsequent on-line process which failed to ratify this vote.
Academics, including Noam Chomsky, respond to Suzanne Fortier’s misrepresentation of BDS following McGill University’s failure to ratify a student vote in favor of divestment.
The Freedom2Boycott in Virginia Coalition welcomes Monday’s unanimous decision of the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee to delay consideration of HB1282 until the 2017 legislative session, if at all. The bill would have wasted taxpayers money by requiring the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to spend valuable time and resources compiling information on boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns for Palestinian freedom and rights, and could have led to the development of an “enemies list” of potential government contractors to be blacklisted.
After it was reported that Milbank Tweed had withdrawn a million-dollar gift to Harvard Law School because it paid for pizza at a pro-Palestine event, legal faculty and students have published an open letter to the law school community deploring donor influence over free speech.
Roger Waters responds to Paul Bronfman’s threat to withdraw gifts from York University in Toronto over a mural showing Palestinian resistance by explaining that the Jewish community is shifting away from the “hatred” and “bigotry” expressed in Bronfman’s letter to the school
“Palestinians are divided into ID categories and limited in where they can live and travel, and by extension, limited in whom they can love,” the Institute for Middle East Understanding says in an infographic released on Valentine’s Day
David Fanning, the founder of the PBS documentary series Frontline, says that the charge that he stood in the way of the Michael Singh film “Valentino’s Ghost: Why We Hate Arabs” unfairly misrepresents his role in the matter
French courts have affirmed a law that makes it a misdemeanor to speak out in favor of boycotting Israeli goods. French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has pioneered progressive laws and has been called on to abrogate the legal memorandum in the matter. When she speaks at NYU on January 29, she should face questions on the issue.
In the first such step by a major church group, the $20-billion Pension and Health Benefits Fund of the United Methodist Church has declared the five largest Israeli banks off limits for investment and has divested from the two that it held in its portfolios.
An Israeli living in France returns home and reports tragically that people shut out knowledge of apartheid and meantime live in fear.