University of Cape Town Blocks Israeli Academic Boycott Resolution

The University of Cape Town’s Council blocked a resolution from the university’s senate on March 30 that would have boycotted all Israeli academic institutions.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the resolution stated that the university would “not enter into any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as other Israeli academic institutions enabling gross human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The university senate had passed the resolution earlier in the week with 62 in favor, 43 against, and 10 abstentions.

The university council sent it back to the senate, stating that the resolution needed a “more consultative process.”

Zvi Ziegler, professor emeritus of the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and head of the Inter-University Forum to Combat Academic Boycotts, told Haaretz, “Both in the U.S. and Europe, the opinion prevails that an academic boycott is not legitimate. The BDS movement is losing momentum in the academy, with most of its attempts failing.”