[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H7614-H7617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING THE DECISION BY THE UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO SUPPORT A BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMIA
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 467) condemning the decision by
the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a
boycott of Israeli academia, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 467
Whereas, on May 30, 2007, the leadership of the University
and College Union (UCU) of the United Kingdom voted in favor
of a motion to consider at the branch level a boycott of
Israeli faculty and academic institutions;
Whereas the UCU was created in 2006 out of a merger of the
Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National
Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
(NATFHE);
Whereas both AUT (in 2005) and NATFHE (in 2006) have passed
resolutions supporting a boycott of Israeli academics and
academic institutions;
Whereas, however, the AUT boycott resolution was overturned
after one month in a revote, and the NATFHE boycott
resolution was voided when the two organizations merged into
the UCU;
Whereas Britain's National Union of Journalists called for
a boycott of Israeli goods in April 2007;
Whereas the UCU boycott motion appears to have spawned
similar movements in Britain to boycott Israel economically
and culturally, and the country's largest labor union,
UNISON, said it would follow the union of university
instructors in weighing punitive measures against Israel;
Whereas these unions have a hypocritical double standard in
condemning Israel, a free and democratic state, while
completely ignoring gross human rights abuses occurring
throughout the Middle East and around the world;
Whereas Article 19, section 2, of the United Nations
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that,
``Everyone shall have the right to . . . receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,
either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or
through any other media of his choice'';
Whereas these and other attempts to stifle intellectual
freedom through the imposition of an academic boycott are
morally offensive and contrary to the values of freedom of
speech and freedom of inquiry;
Whereas American Nobel laureate Prof. Steven Weinberg
refused to participate in a British academic conference due
to the National Union of Journalist's boycott and stated that
he perceived ``a widespread anti-Israel and anti-Semitic
current in British opinion''; and
Whereas the senseless boycotting of Israeli academics
contributes to the demonization and attempted
delegitimization of the State of Israel: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the vote by the leadership of the University
and College Union of May 30, 2007, to consider at the branch
level a boycott of Israeli academics and academic
institutions;
(2) urges the international scholarly community, the
European Union, and individual governments, to reject, or
continue to oppose vigorously, calls for an academic boycott
of Israel;
(3) urges educators and governments throughout the world,
especially democratically-elected governments, to reaffirm
the importance of academic freedom;
(4) urges other unions and organizations to reject the
troubling and disturbing actions of the UCU leadership; and
(5) urges the general members of the UCU to reject the call
of the union's leadership to boycott Israel.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.
General Leave
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their
remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of
this resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me first express our great appreciation to our colleague from
Pennsylvania, Representative Patrick Murphy, for introducing this
important and timely measure.
Madam Speaker, on May 30, the University and College Union of the
United Kingdom voted to urge its membership to boycott Israeli faculty
in academic institutions, an extraordinary action by men and women of
letters in a free society and the belief in academic freedom.
Mr. Murphy's resolution today voices the extreme disapproval of the
United States Congress of the Union's shortsighted, simpleminded and
singularly
[[Page H7615]]
offensive action. What the University and College Union has done flies
in the face of the very values that define democracies and are critical
to their success, freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech, or freedom
to disagree.
If the University and College Union follows through with this
boycott, it will also spark numerous individual and institutional
boycotts against British academics and others who likewise have similar
values. An academic boycott is a blatant effort to stifle free thinking
and debate, the hallmarks of a democratic society. From any point of
view, it is wrong. Only in the most extreme moral exigencies would I
find the need to take such an action and for such an action to be
acceptable.
{time} 1815
In this particular instance, however, it seems outright wrong. By
singling out the conduct of Israel, which is a democratic and
pluralistic society surrounded by states with many charges of human
rights violations against them, the union's leadership has revealed its
true purpose, to demonize Israel. It is simply inexplicable how the
union has turned a blind eye to the world's worst violators of human
rights and targeted Israel only.
If anything, Israeli universities are one of the few places in the
world where one will find Jews and Arabs learning side by side. The
union's selective sympathy demonstrates a profound ignorance of
Israel's academic community and the threats that the country faces.
Having personally visited Israel and its academic institutions, I can
tell you that Jews and Arabs do study side by side, and the good news
is that they learn, and they learn from each other, and out of that
comes positive reaction to the conflicts of the region.
The events of this past month in the Gaza Strip in which Hamas lay
waste to the legitimate institutions of the Palestinian Authority in
Gaza further underscore the profound misjudgment of union leaders to
narrowly condemn Israel.
The University and College Union of the United Kingdom has thus far
chosen to ignore these developments and instead focused its wrath on
Israel's ongoing efforts to defend itself against Hamas and other
terrorists. If the union truly cared about helping Palestinians, it
would help nurture dialogue among Israeli and Palestinian academics and
come to the resolution that the two states must live side by side, and
Israel has a right to exist. It would support institutions that help to
develop, not stunt the educational sector for Israelis and
Palestinians. And most importantly, it would condemn Hamas and others
that repeatedly hijack and sabotage any possibility of a lasting two-
state solution to the conflict.
By blaming the victims for the terrorists' crimes, the union's
actions represent a bizarre inversion of the most fundamental
principles of human rights. People of conscience have no choice but to
speak out against this hypocrisy. In the face of terror and those who
are morally blind to it, we must stand up for the values we cherish:
openness, dialogue, democracy and freedom.
That is why Mr. Murphy's legislation is so important, and that is why
I call upon all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution
467, which condemns the decision by the leadership of the University
and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli
academia.
This is not the first time, Madam Speaker, that we have faced such a
challenge from the fringes of this academic establishment. In fact, on
May 29, 2006, the British National Association of Teachers in Further
and Higher Education falsely accused Israel and the Government of
Israel of practicing what they said was ``apartheid policies'' and
adopted a resolution to boycott the faculty of Israel and its academic
institutions that do not denounce these nonexistent policies.
A similar resolution in favor again of an academic boycott of Israel
was passed by the British Association of University Teachers, AUT, in
April 2005, and then rescinded 1 month later by a special council of
the AUT.
Fortunately, Madam Speaker, mainstream academics within the United
Kingdom and internationally rejected these tragic and derisive attempts
to undermine the principles of academic freedom and the free State of
Israel.
Make no mistake, Madam Speaker, Israel is the strongest ally of the
United States and a true democratic partner in the Middle East, one
which upholds the principles and values of academic freedoms.
The boycotting of Israeli academics only serves to demonize the State
of Israel. Moreover, the boycott of academic institutions from
democratic countries represents a dangerous assault on the principles
of academic freedom and open exchanges.
Representatives of the British Government, as well as many university
presidents, academic bodies and leading scholars in the United States
and Great Britain, have repeatedly spoken out against such campaigns.
I especially wish to highlight the strong voice of support from Donna
Shalala, the President of the University of Miami in my congressional
district, in favor of this resolution. Let us aid the efforts of these
distinguished scholars and officials by passing this critical
resolution before us tonight and demonstrating to the world that the
United States Congress believes in free minds and free countries.
Madam Speaker, I commend my distinguished colleagues and friends, Mr.
Murphy of Pennsylvania and Mr. Burton of Indiana, for introducing this
important resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, it gives me particular
pleasure to introduce and to yield 6 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from the Eighth District of Pennsylvania, Representative
Patrick J. Murphy, a member of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence and a veteran of the Iraq war. I believe this may be his
first legislative initiative, and we yield to him 6 minutes as we
congratulate him for his leadership.
Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the
gentlelady from Texas for her leadership on this issue and the
gentlelady from Florida.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to offer a resolution to let the world
know that this House stands opposed to anti-Semitism and reaffirms our
support for academic freedom. It is sad that in this day and age I
would have to offer such a resolution, but the actions of a misguided
group thousands of miles away have forced this body to act.
Madam Speaker, in May the leadership of the University and College
Union, or UCU, the main union representing 120,000 British college
teachers, called for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. As a
former professor myself at the United States Military Academy at West
Point, I know how wrong this action is from an academic and diplomatic
perspective.
This boycott will sever academic contacts and exchanges of personnel
between British and Israeli academic institutions, as well as have a
significant economic impact, given that the union enjoys significant
influence in Britain.
The reasons given by the leadership of the UCU for endorsing a
boycott consist of the same tired propaganda and inflammatory rhetoric
typically used by the enemies of Israel and do not deserve to be
repeated on the floor of this distinguished body. This call for a
boycott by the UCU is even more disturbing, given that Britain's
National Union of Journalists called for a similar boycott this past
April.
It should come as no surprise that these boycotts have drawn harsh
criticism. In a recent editorial entitled ``Malicious Boycotts,'' the
New York Times called them nonsense, writing, and I quote, ``Who would
respect the judgment of a scholar who selects or rejects colleagues on
political grounds? Who would trust the dispatches of a reporter who has
openly engaged against one side of a conflict? Critical thinking and
well thought-out criticism are intrinsic to good scholarship and good
journalism. These boycotts represent neither.''
The criticism, though, does not end there. Now former Prime Minister
[[Page H7616]]
Tony Blair has criticized the boycott saying, ``I hope very much that
decision is overturned because it does absolutely no good for the peace
process or for relations in that part of the world.''
Madam Speaker, the former Prime Minister is right. We need to build
dialogue and trust in the Middle East and we cannot do that without our
greatest ally there, the State of Israel. Israel is a stable democracy
that shares our values. This is rare in a region of the world where few
nations have democracy, rule of law and religious freedom.
As an Iraq war veteran, I know firsthand just how dangerous that part
of the world truly is. That's why when Israel comes under attack from
hatemongers, it's the American values that are also under such attack.
Today, by passing this bipartisan resolution, we're stating with one
voice that this Congress will stand up and defend our friend, the State
of Israel.
Specifically, my resolution condemns the decision by the UCU
leadership to boycott Israeli academia and urges the general membership
to reject the boycott. It also urges the academic community and
individual governments to reject any call for a boycott of Israel and
to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom.
Limiting academic exchange and shrinking the marketplace of ideas
only hinders our ability to bring peace to the Middle East and to help
solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I want to make sure that I thank some of
my distinguished colleagues who were instrumental in bringing this
resolution to the floor today; the chairman of the Subcommittee on
Europe, Robert Wexler; and the chairman and ranking member of the
Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos; and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. These
three distinguished Members have proven themselves to be leaders in
standing up for Israel, and I thank them for all their work in bringing
this resolution to the floor.
With that, Madam Speaker, I will conclude by urging swift passage of
this critical resolution.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time.
I'd like to congratulate the gentleman from Pennsylvania for this very
important resolution, and I yield back the balance of our time.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, let me add my appreciation
to Congressman Murphy for a powerful statement on the floor in
affirmation of the sense of responsibility involving academic freedom
and the important responsibility in opposition to anti-Semitism that
seems to plague this world on many occasions. Let me thank him for his
leadership, thank Mr. Burton and thank the ranking member and the
chairman of the full committee.
With that, I ask my colleagues, with great enthusiasm, to support
this resolution.
Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, Anti-Israel propaganda has reached a new
low, with a renewed campaign by a group of British academics to boycott
Israeli academics and universities.
Spearheaded by the British University and College Union, the
initiative calls on British academics to refrain from collaborating on
research with Israeli counterparts or working with journals published
by Israeli companies.
It is incumbent upon the United States to oppose this assault on
academic freedom and stand against efforts to isolate Israeli
institutions. While I am encouraged that there is little support for
this initiative beyond a vocal and extreme minority, it appears that
similar undertakings have been attempted by British unions representing
journalists and government workers.
I welcome the bold statements by the UK Education Minister and
university presidents across the United States condemning this
misguided crusade. Those who sincerely believe in the cause of peace
should encourage dialogue, cooperation, and the free exchange of ideas.
It is disappointing that the Palestinian trade unions promoting these
kinds of boycotts are more interested in promoting prejudice than in
building a future of coexistence.
With this resolution, let us raise our voices in solidarity with
Israel and reaffirm the fundamental values of academic freedom.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, academic freedom is one of the bedrocks of
a free society. This is known in the United Kingdom, just as it is
known in the United States and other democratic nations.
Among the nations with an open academic climate is the democratic
state of Israel. The views expressed on its campuses span the spectrum
from left to right and liberal to conservative. Its students are of all
ethnicities, speaking many different languages. But, on May 30, the
University and College Union of the United Kingdom voted to urge its
membership to consider boycotting Israeli faculty and academic
institutions. This deplorable action by men and women of letters runs
against the very tenets of free academic exploration. How can people of
learning expect to share the studies of the great questions of our time
if they are not speaking to one another?
Moreover, I fear that the reason behind this extraordinary step is
much more dark and ominous. I believe that underlying this attack on
Israel's academia is a not-so-well-veiled anti-Semitism. By singling
out the conduct of Israel, a democratic and pluralistic country
surrounded by a sea of dictatorships, the Union's leadership has taken
absurdity and hypocrisy to new heights.
The legislation on the floor of the House today voices Congress's
extreme disapproval of the Union's short-sighted, bigoted, and
offensive action. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 467 and tell
the nations of the world that academic societies are no places for
closed-minded, hate-filled efforts to stifle free exchange.
Ms. WASSERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 467,
condemning the appalling and frightful decision by the University and
College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israel
academia. I commend my colleague from Pennsylvania, Representative
Patrick Murphy, for his leadership in this critical issue.
The University and College Union of the United States made the
determination to boycott Israel based on a biased, ignorant, and
destructive targeting of the State of Israel, the only free and
democratic country in the Middle East.
The UCU's vote to freeze European funding for Israeli academic
institutions, as well as condemning ``the complicity of Israeli
academia in the occupation,'' is disgraceful. The Union's
discriminatory actions echo the anti-Semitic rhetoric that has
reverberated throughout history and alarmingly, as the UCU vote
attests, is still with us today.
Furthermore, the UCU boycott strips the principle of academic freedom
from one of the world's most established democracies, undermining the
academic dialogue and exchange of ideas that foster and sustain
intellectual pursuit. These senseless initiatives only defame the
reputation of British academics as they violate fundamental standards
of academic freedom by censuring the only country in the Middle East
where open scholarship and debate are not only allowed, but encouraged.
As a Member of Congress, serving a nation founded on the ideals of
democracy and freedom, I urge my fellow Members to support H.R. 467,
condemning the decision by the University and College Union of the
United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia.
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, I rise with serious concerns over this
legislation. Let me first state that I am personally not in favor of
the University and College Union of the United Kingdom boycott against
Israeli academia. I oppose all such refusals to engage and interact
even where strong disagreement exists. I believe such blockades, be
they against countries or academic groups, to be counterproductive. I
strongly encourage academic and cultural exchanges, as they are the
best way to foster international understanding and prevent wars.
My concerns are about this particular piece of legislation, however.
I simply do not understand why it is the business of the United States
Congress--particularly considering the many problems we have at home
and with U.S. policy abroad--to bring the weight of the U.S. government
down on an academic disagreement half a world away. Do we really
believe that the U.S. Government should be sticking its nose into a
dispute between British and Israeli academics? Is there no dispute in
no remote corner of the globe in which we don't feel the need to become
involved?
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) that the House suspend the
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 467, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on that I
demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will
be postponed.
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