H. Res. 467 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

July 11, 2007. 

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 univer-
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sity 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; 
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(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. 

Attest: 

Clerk.