Kevin Jon Heller explains his abstention from the U.K. scholars' academic boycott of Israel, here.
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It is particularly revealing that the Halbertal protesters claim that their actions were consistent with, if not required by, the BDS academic boycott. After all, we keep hearing that the academic boycott targets institutions, not individuals, but Halbertal was (as best I can tell) speaking solely in an individual capacity.
Of course, the "institutions/individuals" distinction, to the extent it is one at all, is one primarily honored in the breach. Halbertal is not the first person to be targeted as an individual Israeli, he won't be the last, and in no cases will the broader BDS campaign exhibit any effort to actually enforce the principle (which seems to exist solely as a rhetorical device to ward off claims that it is engaged in pure national origin discrimination).
It is particularly revealing that the Halbertal protesters claim that their actions were consistent with, if not required by, the BDS academic boycott. After all, we keep hearing that the academic boycott targets institutions, not individuals, but Halbertal was (as best I can tell) speaking solely in an individual capacity.
Of course, the "institutions/individuals" distinction, to the extent it is one at all, is one primarily honored in the breach. Halbertal is not the first person to be targeted as an individual Israeli, he won't be the last, and in no cases will the broader BDS campaign exhibit any effort to actually enforce the principle (which seems to exist solely as a rhetorical device to ward off claims that it is engaged in pure national origin discrimination).
Posted by: David Schraub | November 08, 2015 at 07:29 PM