Academic group votes down motion opposing Israel boycott

The American Anthropological Association rejected a proposed resolution that would oppose the academic boycott of Israel.

The association, an organization of 12,000 scholars and practitioners, voted on the motion Friday at its annual business meeting, which had 700 attendees. Fifty-two participants voted for the resolution.

Of the 24 members who spoke during debate on the motion, three-quarters opposed the resolution, arguing that it was an attempt to shut down discussion of the issue, according to a statement issued Monday from Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.

In recent months, over 1,000 anthropologists have signed a boycott pledge against Israel protesting what the Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions called in a statement a protest against “Israel’s ongoing, systematic, and widespread violations of Palestinian academic freedom and human rights.”

The vote comes a year after the American Studies Association approved a motion endorsing the academic boycott of Israel.