"The Irish government does not support any move to isolate Israel or Israeli institutions," a spokesperson for the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv told Anglo File.
"Our aim is always to come to a maximum possible inclusive dialogue. We want to find a true solution to the situation and closing off dialogue would be counterproductive."
Prominent members of the Irish community in Israel have also condemned the call as discriminatory.
"This was a narrow-minded and prejudiced statement," former Chief Rabbi of Ireland Dr. Isaac Cohen, who lives in Jerusalem, said.
"To boycott academics who are doing international work in Israel for the whole of society is an act of prejudice. The [signatories] are adopting current academic views in Europe, where anti-Semitism is growing at a rapid pace."
Last week the Irish Times published a letter in which 61 academics, including Prof. James Bowen, chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, called for a moratorium on European Union grants and contracts to Israeli academic institutions "until Israel abides by UN resolutions and ends the occupation of Palestinian territories."
"We feel it is time to heed the Palestinian call to take practical action to pressure Israel to comply with international law and basic human rights norm," the letter said.
"We urge our fellow academics to support this moratorium by refraining, where possible, from further joint collaborations with Israeli academic institutions."
Dublin-born Malcolm Gafson, chair of the Israel-Ireland Friendship League, was critical of the boycott call and said the 61 academics who signed the statement are not representative of the overall Irish sentiment.
"Like all boycotts, this one opposes international principles of academic freedom," Gafson said. "This letter was not put forth by an official academic body, as opposed to other calls in Europe," he noted.
"There are certain groups that are hard at work in Ireland putting out untruths [about Israel]. These are people who are looking for a chance to promote their anti-Israel and anti-Zionist message and other people with their latent anti-Semitism are jumping on the bandwagon." (Source: HAARETZ.COM)
Posted by proutist-universal on September 29, 2006 4:55 PM
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |