(via IMRA) It seems that parts of this story and this one were somewhat premature. The bowing, scraping and Israel bashing of Prof. Yiftachel has not yet been deemed worthy to gain him acceptance into the good graces of Political Geography. (My previous remarks on these stories are here and here.)
The Guardian had an awful lot of details on this agreement that, it now reports, never materialized. And then there's this kicker:Professor Yiftachel, as we reported, has consistently opposed the academic boycott, . . .
Well, that's not exactly what they reported. What they reported wasEven Oren Yiftachel, for all his difficulties with Political Geography, agrees that academia cannot and should not function in a vaccuum. Yet that does not mean he has become a convert to the academic boycott of Israel. His objections are not just personal or philosophical, but tactical. Recently, he went to America with a Palestinian colleague to speak about Israel. "In all our lectures, we would talk about roadblocks, terrorists, a colonial situation. Everyone in the crowd would ask about whether the boycott was anti-semitic."
Tactical. Right. He opposes the boycott because it requires him to answer uncomfortable questions about anti-Semitism. As it should.
