In April 2004, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) launched a campaign for an academic boycott of Israel as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. PACBI argues that Israeli academic institutions are complicit in perpetuating the Israeli occupation and therefore should be subject to boycott in order to advance BDS goals. Since then, proposals for academic boycotts of particular Israeli universities and academics have been made by academics and organizations in Palestine, the United States, the United Kingdom,Newman, David. "The academic boycott of Israel", Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2 (2), 45–56, 2008 and other countries. Supporters say the boycotts is intended to pressure Israel to change policies they describe are discriminatory towards the Palestinians.
The campaigns for academic boycott of Israel have led to fierce debate. Opponents argue that boycott advocates apply different standards to Israel than other countries, that the boycott is counterproductive, a collective punishment of Israeli academia, a tactic to threaten the existence of the State of Israel,Avnon, Dan. "BDS and Self-Righteous Moralists." Anti-Zionism on Campus, Pessin and Ben-Atar, Indiana UP, 2018, pp. 224-235. and also that the campaign is antisemitic.ADL Slams British Academic Boycott Policy , Anti-Defamation League, 26 May 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2008.Anthony Julius and Alan Dershowitz in The Times Online 13 June 2007 Support for academic boycotts of Israel has been more prevalent among faculty in the humanities and social sciences than in the sciences. Despite this debate, academic boycott measures have been undertaken around the world, with some support among academic associations and unions, but with little institutional success.
Worldwide In October 2014, 500 anthropologists endorsed an academic boycott of Israeli institutions seen as complicit in violations of Palestinians' rights. The signatories of the statement said, "as a community of scholars who study problems of power, oppression, and cultural hegemony, we have a moral responsibility to speak out and demand accountability from Israel and our own governments." Also in October 2014, 500 Middle East studies scholars and librarians issued a call for an academic boycott of Israel. According to the signatories, "world governments and mainstream media do not hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. We, however, as a community of scholars engaged with the Middle East, have a moral responsibility to do so."500 Mideast scholars call for academic embargo of Israeli institutions The Jerusalem Post, 3 October 2014 In Germany, the Bundestag’s 2019 resolution labelling the BDS campaign as antisemitic, though not legally binding, has had political and financial effects, with some associations losing public funding."Biographical Reflections on Academic Freedom—Part Two." Brill. 10 December 2024. 17 September 2025.
Following the Gaza war a number of universities have canceled or suspended collaborations with Israeli institutions. In 2024, the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil canceled an innovation summit with an Israeli university. A number of universities in Norway, Belgium, and Spain have also severed ties with Israeli institutions in 2025. The European Association of Social Anthropologists has announced that it will not collaborate with Israeli academic institutions and has encouraged its members to follow suit. The student exchange program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has also been terminated by the University of Amsterdam.
Reports published after the 2025 Gaza ceasefire indicate that academic restrictions and institutional distancing from Israeli universities have continued in several countries, with some universities and scholarly associations maintaining or expanding earlier suspensions of cooperation despite the reduction in active hostilities. Recent reports from 2025 and 2026 indicate an increase in academic boycott initiatives and related institutional measures involving Israeli universities across Europe and other Western countries. In 2025, a statement by the International Center for Urbanism (ICfU) at KU Leuven called for a full academic boycott of Israeli institutions, urging the suspension of future institutional collaborations and increased academic cooperation with Palestinian universities.
A 2026 report by the Association of University Heads in Israel (VERA) stated that efforts to exclude Israeli universities from international research frameworks had increased, including a reported 150 percent rise in attempts to remove Israel from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research program, with several such initiatives concentrated in European countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Another 2026 report by the Samuel Neaman Institute noted continued growth in BDS-related academic boycott activity since October 2023, including protests, boycott initiatives, and discussions within academic institutions, as well as signs of gradual institutionalization of such initiatives in parts of Europe and other Western countries.
In April 2026, pro-Palestinian activists occupied a Ghent University campus in Belgium, calling for a full academic boycott and the termination of remaining institutional collaborations with Israeli universities.
United Kingdom In reaction to the National Executive Council of the National Union of Students' BDS resolution on 2 June 2015, Prof. Leslie Wagner argued, "In reality, co-operation between Israeli and British universities and their academics has grown in recent years under the energetic leadership of outgoing UK ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould."Leslie Wagner "Much Ado About ... the Academic Boycott of Israel in the UK", Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 14 June 2015
The Guardian open letter, 2002 The idea of an academic boycott against Israel first emerged publicly in England on 6 April 2002 in an open letter to The Guardian initiated by Steven and Hilary Rose, professors in biology at the Open University and social policy at the University of Bradford respectively, who called for a moratorium on all cultural and research links with Israel.Andy Beckett and Ewen MacAskill, "British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace", The Guardian, 12 December 2002. Retrieved 16 September 2006. It read:
By July 2002, the open letter had gained over 700 signatories, including those of ten Israeli academics.Suzanne Goldenberg, Will Woodward, "Israeli boycott divides academics", The Guardian, 8 July 2002
In response to the open letter, Leonid Ryzhik, a senior professor in mathematics at the University of Chicago, led a rival web-based petition that condemned the original's "unjustly righteous tone" and warned that the boycott has a "broader risk of very disruptive repercussions for a wide range of international scientific and cultural contacts." The counter petition had gathered almost 1,000 signatories.
Mona Baker, Miriam Shlesinger and Gideon Toury
In early June 2002, Mona Baker, a professor of translation studies at the University of Manchester in England and a signatory of the 2002 open letter, removed two Israeli academics – Dr. Miriam Shlesinger of Bar-Ilan University which at the time had a regional branch in the Ariel settlement, a former chair of Amnesty International, Israel; and Professor Gideon Toury of Tel Aviv University – from the editorial boards of the journals Translator and Translation Studies Abstracts. Subsequently, Baker said that Translator will no longer publish any research by Israeli scholars and will refuse to sell books and journals to Israeli libraries.Mona Baker's double standard by Gideon Toury,Times Higher Education, 7 February 2003.
Association of University Teachers On 22 April 2005, the Council of Association of University Teachers (AUT) voted to boycott two Israeli universities: University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University. The motions to AUT Council were prompted by the call for a boycott from nearly 60 Palestinian academics and others. The AUT Council voted to boycott Bar-Ilan because it runs courses at colleges in the West Bank (referring to Ariel College) and "is thus directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". It boycotted Haifa because it was alleged that the university had wrongly disciplined Ilan Pappé for supporting a student who wrote about attacks on Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel. The University denied having disciplined the lecturer. Union members claimed that staff and students [of Israeli universities] who seek to research Israel's history in full are often "victimised".
The AUT's decision was immediately condemned by Jewish groups and many members of the AUT. Critics of the boycott within and outside the AUT noted that at the meeting at which the boycott motion was passed the leadership cut short the debate citing a lack of time. Specifically, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Union of Jewish Students accused the AUT of purposely holding the vote during Passover, when many Jewish members could not be present.
The presidents of Jerusalem-based al-Quds University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem issued a joint statement condemning the boycott effort as unproductive towards ending the "shared tragedy" but rather could prolong it:
One of the university presidents, Sari Nusseibeh of al-Quds University, continued: "If we are to look at Israeli society, it is within the academic community that we've had the most progressive pro-peace views and views that have come out in favor of seeing us as equals [...] If you want to punish any sector, this is the last one to approach." He acknowledges, however, that his view is a minority one among Palestinian academics."Palestinian university president comes out against boycott of Israeli academics" (AP, Haaretz) 18 June 2006"Palestinian academic opposes Israel boycott" AP, Ynetnews 18 June 2006
Zvi Ravner, Israel's deputy ambassador in London, noted, "[t]he last time that Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany."
The British National Postgraduate Committee also voted to oppose the boycott. Project officer Andre Oboler said that the boycott "runs contrary to our objective, which is to advance in the public interest the education of postgraduate students within the UK".Judy Siegel, "Leading UK group comes out against proposed academic boycott of Israel", The Jerusalem Post, 15 April 2005, 05.
In May 2005, the AUT voted to rescind its boycott of two Israeli universities. The reversal followed internal and external criticism that the boycott undermined academic freedom and peace efforts.Matthew Taylor, "Storm blows union off course: Can lecturers unite now the vote to isolate Israeli universities has been overturned?", The Guardian, 31 March 2005, 22.
National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education In May 2006, National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) passed a motion urging members to boycott Israeli academics who did not vocally speak out against their government. The resolution was dismissed by the AUT, with which NATFHE soon merged,"NATFHE motion on proposed boycott of Israeli academics – an AUT statement", Association of University Teachers, 30 May 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006. and subsequent boycott proposals at later union conferences were opposed by university leadership and did not advance beyond statements.
Criticism of the NATFHE A group of eight Nobel laureates denounced the policy before it was passed, suggesting that it would limit academic freedom.Steve Farrar, "Laureates denounce action against Israel" , The Times, 26 May 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
Brian Klug made this criticism of the NATFHE motion: