IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 467 

Condemning the decision by the University and College Union of the United 

Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 6, 2007 

Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. 

WEXLER, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. 

WEINER, Mr. KIRK, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. LEWIS of 

Georgia, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. 

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. SERRANO, 

Mr. SIRES, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, and Mr. BACA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the decision by the University and College 

Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of 

Israeli academia. 

Whereas on May 30, 2007, the University and College Union 

of the United Kingdom voted in favor of a motion to boycott 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 

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•HRES 467 IH 

Education (NATFHE). Both AUT (in 2005) and 

NATFHE (in 2006) have passed resolutions supporting 

a boycott of Israeli academics and academic institutions; 

Whereas Britain’s National Union of Journalists called for a 

boycott of Israeli goods in April 2007; 

Whereas these unions have a hypocritical double standard in 

condemning Israel, a free and democratic state, while 

completely ignoring gross human rights abuses occurring 

around the world in nations such as Sudan, Zimbabwe, 

Iran, and Venezuela; 

Whereas a totally unjustified campaign is underway by elements of the international academic community to limit 

cultural and scientific collaboration between foreign universities and academics and their counterparts in Israel; 

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 any other attempts to stifle intellectual 

freedom through the imposition of an academic boycott 

are counterproductive since research and academic exchange provide an essential bridge between otherwise disconnected cultures and countries; 

Whereas such boycotts represent a dangerous assault on the 

principles of academic freedom and open exchange; 

Whereas the UCU boycott motion appears to have spawned 

similar movements in Britain to boycott Israel economically and culturally, as the country’s largest labor union, 

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UNISON, said it would follow the union of university instructors in weighing punitive measures against Israel; 

Whereas Nobel laureate Prof. Steven Weinberg, who refused 

to participate in a British academic conference due to the 

National Union of Journalist’s boycott, 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 delegitimization and demonization of the 

State of Israel: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the vote by the University and 

3 College Union of May 30, 2007, to boycott Israeli 

4 academics and academic institutions; 

5 (2) urges the international scholarly commu6 nity, the European Union, and individual govern7 ments, to reject, or continue to reject, calls for an 

8 academic boycott of Israel and reaffirm their com9 mitment to academic freedom and cultural and sci10 entific international exchange; 

11 (3) urges governments and educators through12 out the world to reaffirm the importance of aca13 demic freedom and open dialogue and to condemn 

14 measures that would prevent the production, shar15 ing, and exchange of knowledge; 

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1 (4) urges other unions and organizations to re2 ject the troubling and disturbing actions of the 

3 UCU; and 

4 (5) urges the general members of the UCU to 

5 reject the call of the union’s leadership to boycott 

6 Israel. 

Æ 

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