The University of Cape Town’s Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies will be hosting an international conference alongside University College London on the topic “Jews in South Africa: New Directions in Research” later this month. Astonishingly, the convenors have chosen to place a leading proponent of the Israeli academic boycott at UCT, who is also a member of the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as a speaker on one of the panels.
The session “Jewish History in SA Public Life” will include panellist Mitchel Hunter, who, according to the programme, is listed as an academic from the University of the Western Cape. In reality, Mitchel Hunter is a BDS activist and vocal supporter of the Israeli academic boycott movement. For a number of years, the BDS movement has run a vicious campaign to exclude Israeli academics and academia from UCT. Mitchel Hunter is a spokesperson for SA Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP), a BDS front organisation that has publicly campaigned for an Israeli academic boycott at UCT amongst its other shameful actions.
If Mitchel Hunter got his way, and an Israeli academic boycott were to be adopted at UCT, the Kaplan Centre would be unable to fulfil its mandate as a centre for Jewish Studies, nor host this very international conference where Israelis are participating. We are thus puzzled as to why the Kaplan Centre would deem it appropriate to legitimise radical individuals with extremist positions that harm UCT and the pursuit of academic freedom.
Placing a well-known BDS activist at an academic conference undermines the credibility of the conference and the important discussions set to take place. An urgent explanation is required as to why a community institution is being used to legitimise individuals who hold extremist and harmful positions to the Jewish Community. We therefore call the Kaplan Centre to:
- Provide an explanation as to why a leading proponent of academic boycotts against the Jewish State at UCT is being legitimised by the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies;
- Provide an undertaking as to what measures the Centre will be taking to protect the rights of Israeli and more broadly Zionist academics at the conference;
- State unequivocally its support for academic freedom and Israeli academics, including a statement at the start of the panel itself.
Moreover, we call on all members of the UCT community who care about the future of academic freedom to fill out a form at https://forms.gle/b9rxE35mcufsegSV7 which will be passed on to the Director.
Regards
David Kaplan on behalf of Concerned Citizens for Academic Freedom at UCT
Supporting Documents:
PSF Demands for an Academic Boycott at UCT :