News » October 12, 2009

Should Neve Gordon Be Punished?

An Israeli professor’s support for the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) movement sparks controversy.

By Ralph Seliger

Neve Gordon, professor of politics at Israel's Ben-Gurion University.

Gordon's bold and very public call for an international boycott against Israel has triggered a degree of pushback from Israelis and others.

On August 20, in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Neve Gordon, an Israeli professor of politics at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba (and a contributor to In These Times), announced his support for the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement (BDS) as “the only way that Israel can be saved from itself,” by forcing an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories beyond the pre-June 1967 borders of Israel.

Unlike some in this movement, Dr. Gordon is a firm advocate of separate states for Israel and the Palestinians, believing that a single state encompassing both peoples is a recipe for ongoing conflict and the domination of one people by the other. When asked in 2003 about the possibility of a one-state solution, I witnessed Gordon spread his arms wide while saying, “We are living in a one-state solution.”

Gordon’s bold and very public call for an international boycott against Israel has triggered a degree of pushback from Israelis and others.

On August 27, Prof. Virginia Aksan, president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, wrote an appeal to Dr. Rivka Carmi, president of Ben-Gurion University, protesting the university’s alleged effort to dismiss Dr. Gordon from his dual roles as a senior lecturer of politics and as chair of BGU’s department of government and politics.

On September 2, The Jewish Forward reported that the American Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev—a U.S.-based organization that raises funds for BGU—had called for “disciplinary action” against the outspoken lecturer. The American organization expressed alarm at evidence of damage to its fundraising efforts for the university. BGU President Carmi is quoted as saying that the university is “considering options,” but denied that his tenured teaching position would be revoked; she also confirmed this denial in an email to In These Times.

Faye Bittker, BGU’s director of public and media relations, said in an e-mail to In These Times:

The university … NEVER EVER threatened him with dismissal … as a tenured faculty member, his job is protected by law. … However, the University feels that a call for a boycott is not an issue of freedom of speech. [I]t is the equivalent of screaming fire in a crowded theater as an academic boycott undercuts every single value that the University stands for, and were such a boycott to succeed, it would cause great damage to both the University and to the State of Israel.

Moreover, the University feels strongly that if Neve really believes in such a boycott, he cannot fulfill his responsibilities as the chairman of the department … and as such should resign. Common sense says that someone who believes in the boycott will find it hard to advance the interests of the different research centers in his department… How can he help faculty members plan international conferences or otherwise encourage students and researchers to apply for international grants and fellowships?

The Forward reports that Isaac Nevo, a senior lecturer in philosophy at BGU, organized a letter signed by 48 faculty that demanded Gordon not be sanctioned for his views. And a Hebrew University law professor, Alon Harel, initiated a petition signed by 180 academics from all over Israel, similarly opposed to punishing Gordon. Interestingly, both Nevo and Harel oppose BDS.

Nevo expressed his belief that Gordon’s department chairmanship is “not covered by academic freedom,” and suggested that Gordon “may consider” resigning from his administrative position. But Gordon told The Forward that he sees his stepping down now as an impossibility because it would be regarded as punishment for his views. Nevertheless, he has admitted to “a contradiction” in performing his duties as chair since he now views visits by foreign academics to Israel as “extremely problematic” unless their visit helps highlight what he sees as the injustices of the Israeli occupation.

Gordon has not responded to queries from this writer.

This is a slightly longer version of the article that appeared in the November 2009 issue.

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• Reader Comments

  While Mr. Gordon has not yet responded to this writer regarding the firestorm generated by his “bold and public call” for BDS, a piece by Gideon Levy in Haaretz has done an excellent job of it. 

  The quote that stands out is:

  “The height of ludicrousness was achieved by the President of Ben-Gurion University, Prof. Rivka Carmi.  She was appalled by the article published by a member of her faculty, fearing it could affect the university’s donations from American Jews.  Here, then, is a new criterion for good citizenship and morality: the harm it wreaks to our schnorring.  It’s also a new gauge for academic and civic freedom of expression: If something miffs the donors from Beverly Hills or Miami Beach, then we must not speak it aloud.  Quiet - people donating.”

  The full piece is here:

  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1110514.html

  I’m still not sure where this article was going, or what action against Mr. Gordon it supported or opposed (even the article’s title implies that there might actually be an affirmative answer to the question).  Further, quoting only Carmi, Bittker and Nevo, to the exclusion of the many others who fully support Mr. Gordon on the issue of “academic freedom,” was disconcerting at best.

  Mr. Gordon deserves the full and unqualified support of ITT and all progressives for having the courage to speak the truth to power.

  Posted by Imran on Oct 12, 2009 at 8:01 PM

  Louis Frankenthaler said on http://rabbibrian.wordpress.com/

  There seems to be an effort, that is similar to some of the activities taking place in the US, such as campus watch etc, where the intent is to create what can be called a chilling effect on critique of Israeli policy often under the guise of a demand for ‘balance’ in discourse in which it is cynically claimed that academia, for instance, is under the rule of some sort of radical anti-Israel, anti-American regime. It is designed to make people think twice about speaking freely. For example look at the way Neve Gordon has been attacked instead of critically examining and discussing his points and the process that brought him to advocating his new position regarding BDS the self appointed guardians/”friends” of Israel set out to attack the speaker in a shallow and intellectually bankrupt manner. Many of us, on the “radical” left have undergone changes in positions, some nuanced, some dramatic but largely born out of disappointment and an understanding that there seems to be no real desire on the part of Israel to bring an end to the Occupation and an environment in which 2 real democratic states can exist.

  I suspect After 42 years of the Occupation, in which communities of Occupation, “academic” institutions of Occupation, a commerce of Occupation, etc., has been built and seems to have gained an unacceptable permanence we need to act differently against it, non-violently as always but differently.

  Of course Neve Gordon’s opponents should write, speak and be heard with no buts about it. At the same time we need to consistently and vigorously make it clear that our efforts are for human rights and justice for the marginalized the abjected Other, which Israel has created out of the Palestinian people… Similarly we may also want to ask those who say that our work is “anti-Israel” or “anti-Semitic”,what is that they are for or against? Some may claim that they are against the Occupation yet their actions and writings may actually support it. Some may claim that they want to ‘expose and discuss’ NGOs who “falsely” claim to be human rights organizations. But what is it that they advocate, implicitly or explicitly? To me it is clear… they want to teflon coat the Occupation, immunize Israel to critique and thus directly or not continue the Occupation and the other human rights abuses.

  Posted by louisfjer on Oct 19, 2009 at 6:06 PM

  Its not a punishable fence that he has punished .I think should not be punished for it .

  
  Absolute Acai Berry

  Posted by victorsawer on Oct 31, 2009 at 6:54 AM

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