Large Academic Group Calls for Boycott Of Israel

Tuesday update:  The debate the 92nd Street Y was testy enough to start with, but right-wing John Podhoretz stormed off the stage after the talk turned to the boycott call (below).  Wild scene, described at length.

Monday: It's the American Studies Association and it's 5000 strong--and Larry Summers, naturally, has slammed them and called for a "counter-boycott." 

The statement cited “Israel’s violations of international law and U.N. resolutions; the documented impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian scholars and students; the extent to which Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights,” and other factors.

Boycott supporters concede that resolutions by professors’ groups are primarily symbolic, as long as no American college or university supports such an action. The boycott called on American schools and academic groups to ban collaboration with Israeli institutions, but individual Israeli scholars would still be able to attend conferences, lecture at American universities or do research with American colleagues, as long as they did not officially represent Israeli universities or the government.

Summers hit "the idea that of all the countries in the world that might be thought to have human rights abuses, that might be thought to have inappropriate foreign policies, that might be thought to be doing things wrong, the idea that there’s only one that is worthy of boycott, and that is Israel.”