Dr Amjad Barham is president of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) and here in the London Guardian argues why Palestinians are calling for a boycott of Israeli universities: It is well documented that Israeli academic institutions are deeply complicit in Israel’s colonial and racist policies against the Palestinian people.…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
How to recruit more terrorists
A former US interrogator in Iraq rebukes Dick Cheney for his recent torture speech:
Race hatred in the heart of Israeli “democracy”
An important Haaretz editorial that requires little comment: The endorsing of a bill criminalizing anyone who marks the Palestinians’ Nakba Day on Israel’s Independence Day, making it punishable by three years in prison, is a hasty and dangerous act. The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved a private member’s bill by Yisrael Beiteinu MK Alex Miller,…
Israel’s the wrong place at the wrong time
Following yesterday’s story in the Fairfax press about an upcoming visit to Israel by the Australian political and media elite, this letter appears today in the Sydney Morning Herald: In agreeing to lead a privately organised delegation of politicians, business people and academics to Israel, Julia Gillard’s political timing seems to have deserted her (“Gillard…
Killing Arabs in the name of Judaism
The London Times writes about the growing radicalism of the IDF: During the Gaza war this year, Schmuel Kaufman, a military rabbi from a West Bank settlement, used to stride between the Israeli soldiers’ tents and urge them to fight what he deemed an “obligatory war” ordained by ancient scripture. “It’s a holy war to…
Shoddy behaviour will catch up with you
This news is welcome in a nation such as China where web repression is deep: A Chinese academic has successfully sued an internet company for closing his website after he posted articles on subjects including corruption and environmental issues. Hu Xingdou, professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he hoped his case…
Iraq certainly ruined the concept just a bit
What is the true meaning of humanitarian intervention? And why is the global community so hopeless at stopping violence against citizens in states?
What form of censorship will come next?
The ever-growing rise of fascism in the Israeli state. And just the latest example: Today was the start of the 2nd Palestine Festival of Literature, slated to open at the Palestinian National Theater in East Jerusalem. The festival began as a call from Edward Said, to “reaffirm the power of culture over the culture of…
You can have your say about which rights and responsibilities matter
Want to be involved in Australia’s current debate over a possible human rights charter? Get online.
Beyond time to wield the massive stick
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Saturday: Settlements are not the reason that the peace process is failing, they were never an obstacle, not at any stage. Even when Israel pulled out of [Palestinian] territory, the terror continued. Even when we uprooted [Jewish] communities, we got ‘Hamastan.’ That is why I propose that…