British Faculty Union Gears Up for Showdown Over Proposed Academic Boycott of Israel

Britain's largest union of university instructors, which convenes this weekend for its last annual meeting before merging with another faculty union, is expected to vote on Monday on two controversial resolutions related to Israel and the Palestinian conflict. Both resolutions have been widely criticized and are thought to be unlikely to succeed, and one calling for a boycott of Israeli academics who do not speak out against the Israeli government has prompted particular outrage.

Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, which refers to itself as Natfhe: the University and College Lecturers' Union, will be asked "to consider their own responsibility for ensuring equity and nondiscrimination in contacts with Israeli educational institutions or individuals, and to consider the appropriateness of a boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves" from certain policies of the Israeli government. The motion refers to "continuing Israeli apartheid policies" such as "construction of the exclusion wall and discriminatory educational practices."