Boycotting Israel Academic Institutions is destructive of any Middle
East Peace dialogue. Tom Hickey's article is defensive of his own
boycotting stance in contrast to Michael Baum's healing approach to
resolving the different opinions that are held in Israel. Hickey is strong
on opinion but weak on facts. He should go to Israel with an open mind and
talk to some of the people he criticizes. He teaches philosophy, no doubt
from a very comfortable armchair, but he should test his prejudices
against reality, and not accept the mantra of those who spew hatred of
Israel and have no interest in creating civil human relationships in a
democratic society. Hickey has no right to declare that his actions are
not anti-Semitic when I as a Jew, with experience of work in the Ministry
of Health in Israel claim that he is. It is the victim, not the
perpetrator, who should be allowed to say whether he has been racially
abused. Hickey says he is not against individual Israel academics but
others in his camp (Mona Baker) have already shown this to be untrue by
sacking 2 Israeli Academics for no good reason other than they happened to
be Israeli. I hope that reason not prejudice will prevail in this debate.
The medical profession should follow the recent example set by Journalists
and overturn the destructive attempts to undermine the promotion of
dialogue that are being fuelled by Hickey and his co-conspirators
Competing interests:
Jewish; Zionist; Worked in Israel;Past Member of BMJ Management Committee.
Rapid Response:
Little Boys Boycott - Adults Talk
Boycotting Israel Academic Institutions is destructive of any Middle
East Peace dialogue. Tom Hickey's article is defensive of his own
boycotting stance in contrast to Michael Baum's healing approach to
resolving the different opinions that are held in Israel. Hickey is strong
on opinion but weak on facts. He should go to Israel with an open mind and
talk to some of the people he criticizes. He teaches philosophy, no doubt
from a very comfortable armchair, but he should test his prejudices
against reality, and not accept the mantra of those who spew hatred of
Israel and have no interest in creating civil human relationships in a
democratic society. Hickey has no right to declare that his actions are
not anti-Semitic when I as a Jew, with experience of work in the Ministry
of Health in Israel claim that he is. It is the victim, not the
perpetrator, who should be allowed to say whether he has been racially
abused. Hickey says he is not against individual Israel academics but
others in his camp (Mona Baker) have already shown this to be untrue by
sacking 2 Israeli Academics for no good reason other than they happened to
be Israeli. I hope that reason not prejudice will prevail in this debate.
The medical profession should follow the recent example set by Journalists
and overturn the destructive attempts to undermine the promotion of
dialogue that are being fuelled by Hickey and his co-conspirators
Competing interests:
Jewish; Zionist; Worked in Israel;Past Member of BMJ Management Committee.
Competing interests: No competing interests