On January 9th 2016 a BDS sponsored anti-Israel resolution at the American Historical Association was overwhelmingly defeated. The resolution titled“Protecting the Right to Education in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” was harshly critical of Israeli actions in the occupied territories as these have affected Palestinian institutions of higher education. While not a call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions per se, the resolution was widely seen as laying the foundation for more intensive broader boycott efforts within the AHA in coming years, reflecting the BDS strategy of incremental takeovers of professional academic organizations. In sharp contrast to the recent vote at the American Anthropological Association, AHA members took seriously the fact that they were being asked to vote on political assertions for which there was very little actual evidence presented or debated within the association. Members were also concerned with whether highly politicized resolutions were in keeping with the professional mission of the AHA and whether passing such resolutions would stigmatize the AHA as it has the American Studies Association.
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