Irish college to host conference on academic boycott of Israel

Trinity College Dublin is known for its strong ties to the Jewish state and its struggle against the BDS movement, but has agreed to host the conference on campus grounds nonetheless.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: APRIL 12, 2017 11:52
MEMBERS OF Students for a Just Palestine protest a scheduled lecture by Ambassador to Ireland Ze’ev Boker at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
MEMBERS OF Students for a Just Palestine protest a scheduled lecture by Ambassador to Ireland Ze’ev Boker at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Trinity College Dublin is slated to hold a conference in September in which academics will call for an active ban on Israel in the name of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, according to the Jewish Chronicle this week.
The event, which is expected to take place in the Irish capital on September 12, is organized by a group named 'Academics for Palestine' and will feature academics who will speak in favor of boycotting educational institutions in the Jewish state.
A website promoting the conference offers several strong statements in support of an academic shunning of Israel, such as: "Across the world, academics and students have responded to the Palestinian call for boycott by refusing to cooperate with Israeli higher education institutions on grounds of conscience."
The slated anti-Israel event has drawn criticism, particularly due to Trinity College's strong, decades-long ties to Israel and to Judaism, which were expressed recently when the university's student union voted twice against the introduction of a BDS policy, with the last vote determined by a "significant majority" just last week.
A spokesperson for the college told the Jewish Chronicle that any decision on the boycott of Israel would be made by the university's board and not by its student union.