Poor timing; flawed logic

There is considerable irony in the fact that now of all times, while Qassam rockets are raining down on Sderot schools and on Sapir College, not only does Britain's University and College Union (UCU) not find it appropriate to express its support for Israeli students forced to endure incessant life-threatening attacks – but it has also chosen this particular time to announce its call for a boycott of Israel's academic institutions.

The use of an academic boycott as a weapon is fundamentally offensive, because it strips the academy of one of its most unique traits – freedom of thought and the freedom to choose academic partnerships. The freedom to work with any researcher at any time in the aim of expanding common knowledge is one of the basic principles of academic work. When an academic does not select a partner according to research interests but according to political identity, he strips himself of the academic robe and becomes a politician whose stances outweigh curiosity.

Academic institutions driven by political objectives not only demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of academic meaning but also social and historical ignorance. The chances of an academic boycott changing Israel's policies - or any other country for that matter - are negligible. The risk that such a boycott would adversely affect the "proponents of openness and dialogue" are far greater.

A "successful" boycott isolates and weakens those who the boycott is supposed to encourage; a failed boycott sparks anger and emboldens those it aims to weaken.

In light of the above, the current boycott will inevitably fail. As in previous cases, I have no doubt that the British government, as well as the best of British universities will not adhere to the principles stipulated by the boycott.

Israel's academic institutions are strong enough to deal with the boycott. All that will remain of it in the future will be further evidence of the extent of foolhardiness embodied in a one-sided view and in the inability of those who are supposed to be open-minded to do what's right with the freedom their status grants them.

Yuli Tamir is Israel's education minister