134 members of US Congress sign letter against academic boycott of Israel

Israel Hayom newspaper reported on Monday that 134 out of 435 members of Congress have signed a letter criticising the American Studies Association’s (ASA) decision last month to boycott Israel’s academic institutions.

The effort was spearheaded by Illinois Republican Peter Roskam, Florida Democrat Ted Deutch, Georgia Republican Doug Collins, and Illinois Democrat Brad Schneider. The letter, addressed to ASA President Curtis Marez, stated: “We write in strong opposition to the ASA’s recent decision to boycott Israeli universities and academic institutions… While ASA has every right to express its views on policies pursued by any nation or government, we believe that the decision to blacklist Israeli academic institutions for Israeli government policies with which ASA disagrees demonstrates a blatant disregard for academic freedom… to single out Israel, while leaving relationships with universities in autocratic and repressive countries intact, suggests thinly veiled bigotry and bias against the Jewish state.”

Last month, Israel’s former ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, published an article in Politico newspaper in which he called upon the US Congress to legislate a bill against any initiative to boycott Israel.