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 Indi-
ana, 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) sub-
mitted 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 boy-
cott 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 ele-
ments of the international academic community to limit 
cultural and scientific collaboration between foreign uni-
versities and academics and their counterparts in Israel; 
Whereas Article 19, section 2, of the United Nations Cov-
enant on Civil and Political Rights states that, ‘‘Everyone 
shall have the right to . . . receive and impart informa-
tion 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 ex-
change provide an essential bridge between otherwise dis-
connected 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 economi-
cally and culturally, as the country’s largest labor union, 
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•HRES 467 IH 
UNISON, said it would follow the union of university in-
structors 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 cur-
rent in British opinion’’; and 
Whereas the senseless boycotting of Israeli academics contrib-
utes to the delegitimization and demonization of the 
State of Israel: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the vote by the University and 
College Union of May 30, 2007, to boycott Israeli 
academics and academic institutions; 
(2) urges the international scholarly commu-
nity, the European Union, and individual govern-
ments, to reject, or continue to reject, calls for an 
academic boycott of Israel and reaffirm their com-
mitment to academic freedom and cultural and sci-
entific international exchange; 
(3) urges governments and educators through-
out the world to reaffirm the importance of aca-
demic freedom and open dialogue and to condemn 
measures that would prevent the production, shar-
ing, and exchange of knowledge; 
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•HRES 467 IH 
(4) urges other unions and organizations to re-
ject the troubling and disturbing actions of the 
UCU; and 
(5) urges the general members of the UCU to 
reject the call of the union’s leadership to boycott 
Israel. 
Æ 
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