‘US Congress should quell anti-Israeli bid’

December 21st, 2013

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

A former Israeli ambassador to the United States says Congress should take action to quell a movement to boycott Israel academically or more organizations could follow suit.

In an opinion article published by Politico Magazine on Friday, Michael Oren argued that in the wake of the American Studies Association’s (ASA) decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions, the movement should be fought back or more groups could follow its lead.

“Laws could be passed withholding federal or state funding from any academic program that knowingly blacklisted Israeli scholars or institutions or cooperated with associations that did,” said Oren.

“While an organization like ASA might prefer punishing Israel to receiving government funds, other academic bodies—including universities—most likely will not. At the very least, lawmakers on the local and national level can go on record expressing their unequivocal opposition to such boycotts,” he added.

The 5,000-member association announced on December 16 that it would endorse and participate in a boycott of Israeli universities and academic institutions to protest Tel Aviv’s treatment of Palestinians.

Since then, another academic society, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, has declared its support for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin has termed the ASA as a “radical leftist group” and stated that Israeli officials were striving hard to discourage other American groups from following the association’s lead.

The Israeli regime denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education.

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

Israeli officials have recently announced plans to build thousands of more illegal settler units on Palestinian territory, despite the opposition of the United Nations and the international community.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.

CAH/HN

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/21/341122/israel-academic-boycott-must-be-quelled/