New York State Legislature after Israel boycotters

The New York State Legislature could pass a bill, which would bar state financing for academic groups that have taken official action to boycott higher education institutions in Israel.

Of the two houses of the legislature, the State Senate has approved the bill and the State Assembly is about to vote on it.

The prospect of the bill’s approval came after members of the American Studies Association (ASA), an alliance of US professors, voted last month to endorse the group’s academic boycott of Israel. Sixty-six percent of voters endorsed the resolution supporting a call by Palestinians to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

The group said it would refuse formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions or with scholars who represent those institutions or the Israeli government until “Israel ceases to violate human rights and international law.”

The organization has, in response, been accused of bigotry in a protest letter by 134 members of the House of Representatives.

“We write in strong opposition to the American Studies Association’s (ASA) recent decision to boycott Israeli universities and academic institutions,” the House members wrote.
“To single out Israel, while leaving relationships with universities in autocratic and repressive countries intact, suggests…bigotry and bias” against Israel, the letter added.

Despite such a harsh response, some US news agencies described the bill as an apparent instance of violating academic freedoms.