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July 19, 2002/Av 10 5762, Vol. 54, No. 44
Firing of Israeli academics fuels boycott debate
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - For Bar-Ilan University senior lecturer Miriam Shlesinger, the entire "sad" affair began in April when a longtime colleague e-mailed her a plea to join a boycott of Israeli academics.
The surprising e-mail to Shlesinger, a professor of translation studies, came from her old friend, Mona Baker, at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in England.
The e-mail alerted her about an April embargo of cultural and scientific links with Israel that a few British academics had launched to pressure Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip following its incursions there.
But Shlesinger told Baker she couldn't back the boycott "because academic life should be separate from politics," Shlesinger told JTA this week.
The exchange led to an even more surprising event that touched off an international furor in academic circles over questions of blacklisting, intellectual freedom and anti-Israel motivations.
In June, Baker asked Shlesinger and Gideon Toury, a professor of translation studies at Tel Aviv University, to resign from the boards of two translation studies journals Baker publishes and edits.
The Cairo-born Baker, also a professor of translation studies, said she was acting in the spirit of the anti-Israel boycott.
Since her colleagues represented Israeli institutions, she could no longer work with them, Shlesinger said she was told.
When Shlesinger and Toury refused to step down, Baker fired them.
"It's sad because it's so counterproductive and futile," said Shlesinger, the daughter of Holocaust survivors whose son-in-law was killed in an ambush by Hamas gunmen.
The firings set off intense criticism, especially in the United States, where academics have largely lined up in support of Shlesinger and Toury and have questioned a series of attempts in Europe to isolate Israel and Israeli academics through boycotts.
Last week, the Association of Jewish Studies, based at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., denounced the removal of the Israelis and urged Baker to reinstate them.
"Political issues should not intrude on academic concerns and the intellectual pursuit of truth," said Aaron Katchen, executive director of the organization of Jewish Studies professionals.
Institute officials would not comment on the controversy, though they posted a statement on the school's Web site (www.umist.ac.uk), saying that "the Israeli academics should not have been removed" and that they were conducting "an internal inquiry" into the matter.
Since e-mailing its protest last week, Katchen said, his group has received "several dozen" responses from its 2,000 members against the firings.
Several commentators have said boycotts are not likely to help the peace process because they isolate the very people - liberal intellectuals and academics - who support peace initiatives.
Just what motivated Shle-singer's colleague and longtime friend remained unclear.
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