UK RESEARCH FUNDERS TO IGNORE ISRAEL BOYCOTT

UK Research Funders to Disregard Israel Boycott - Debbie Andalo
Research councils in the UK said Thursday they would still allow collaboration on projects with Israeli institutions despite the decision by the university lecturers' union to back calls for an academic boycott. Research Councils UK, the umbrella organization for the seven councils, which between them hold the purse strings for £2.8bn of funding, said: "We would not stop any collaboration unless it was government policy." Israeli universities have an enviable reputation for research, especially in science, and the influential Royal Society - the independent academy which promotes natural and applied science - reaffirmed its opposition Thursday to blanket academic boycotts.

Labour MP Denis MacShane, who chaired the all-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism, said: "The motion will do nothing to help Palestinian students who are keen to study in the relative oasis of Israeli universities and will exacerbate the position of Jewish students in the UK who already feel harassed, intimidated and uncomfortable on campus." (Guardian-UK)

See also U.S. Research Foundation Blocks New Grants for Britons - Hagit Klaiman (Ynet News)
An American research foundation announced on Thursday that following the decision of the British University and College Union (UCU) to consider launching an academic boycott of Israel it has cancelled its plans to open a grant application process for UK researchers.

The $150 million Goldhirsh foundation supports scientists around the world in the quest for a cure for brain cancer funds research.

In a letter to British academic institutions, foundation leader Elizabeth Goldhirsh writes: " As a director of a $150 million foundation that supports scientists around the world in the quest for a cure for brain cancer, I am profoundly disappointed in your union's decision to boycott Israel today.

"This action represents a severe setback for academic freedom and open discourse. Moreover, the decision to single out and demonize Israel above and beyond all other countries - remaining silent over Russia's brutal occupation in Chechnya, for example, or China's ongoing oppression of Tibet - is, at best, troubling. At worst, it points to a far more sinister and tragic motivation.

"Equally disturbing is to do so at a time when Israel's civilians are facing near-daily missile attacks from Gaza and her partner for negotiations is an organization that dispatches suicide bombers and refuses to recognize the Jewish State's right to exist.

"Given this decision, I am deeply saddened to say that while my foundation had been considering opening up our scientific grant process to British researchers we will no longer be able to do so. I urge you to work against this boycott and restore learning's highest ideal of fairness free of prejudice to British academia."

Meanwhile [Israel's] Immigrant Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim has suggested that Jewish donors supporting academic institutions in the United Kingdom freeze their donations following the boycott proposal.