A group of Italian professors and researchers are planning to boycott Israeli academic institutions, alleging "violations of international law and human rights".
Some 170 scholars from more than 50 Italian universities and research organizations have signed a pledge committing to the boycott. The signatories described themselves as "a solid critical block of scholars" who were "no longer willing to tolerate Israeli academic complicity with Israel's state violence".
"The utter lack of any serious condemnation on their part since the foundation of the State of Israel led to the initiative," the authors said in a statement.
The academics - who teach and work at prominent universities, including the University of Bologna, the University of Rome and the University of Milan - noted that they were part of a growing global trend of scholars taking a stand for Palestinian rights.
According to the petition, “Israeli universities collaborate on military research and development of weapons used by the Israeli army against the Palestinian population, providing undeniable support to the military occupation and colonization of Palestine.”
The goal of the petition is to stop any formal cooperation between academic bodies in Italy, such as Polytechnic of Milan, Polytechnic of Turin or Florence University, and Technion, which is Israel’s oldest university and one of its most respected academic institutions. Founded in 1912 because Jews were barred from technical studies in most countries around the world, Technion has since produced three Nobel Prize laureates and become a global pioneer in fields such as biotechnology, stem cells, space, computer science, nanotechnology, and energy.
