Welcome to TheAcademic Friends of Israel
The Academic Friends of Israel has been campaigning against the academic boycott of Israel since 2002. We are concerned about the increasing number of anti-Israel and anti–Semitic incidents on British Campuses as well as the anti-Israel policies of the UK’s education unions.
Our members may or may not support the policies of the Government of the State of Israel but are all agreed that Israel has the right to live in peace within secure borders. We are opposed to the “new” anti-Semitism, which is aimed at Israel, which often hides behind legitimate criticism of Israel.
The AFI Digest and latest news
Vol 11 No 1 - 16 February 2012
UCU elections for General Secretary
This month the University and College Union (UCU) membership will vote on who they want as their General Secretary for the next five years. The choice is between Sally Hunt, who has been in the post for the last five years and Mark Campbell, a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) led UCU Left faction on the national executive committee (NEC). For the majority of members, who to support will depend on who they think is likely to be the most effective on the two issues that matter, job security and pensions.
However for those members, who are unhappy with what some may consider to be the UCU’s obsession with Israel over the last five years, the choice is between ‘a rock and a hard place’.......
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Vol 10 No 7 - 21 December 2011
Israel advocacy and what messaging worksIn the wake of two very successful Israel advocacy events, The Big Tent For Israel conference in Manchester and the Zionist Federation skills conference in London this issue of the digest focuses on Israel advocacy.
Digest contents:
1. Israel advocacy and what messaging works
2. Israel advocacy and how Israel is connecting to the global 21st century agenda ‘beyond the conflict’
3. Israel advocacy: The Truth about the Refugees: Israel Palestinian Conflict (video)
4. Israel advocacy: The Reut Institute 2011: The Year we punched back on the assault on Israel's legitimacy
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Vol 10 No 6 - 21 September 2011
Trade unions reaffirm support for Israel boycott International trade union solidarity was in short supply in London last week when the annual TUC Congress, the umbrella body for the British trade union movement, called on all its affiliated unions to “review” their links with the Histadrut, the Israeli trade union organisation. Since review is coded language for boycott, by selecting Israel as the only country worthy of a boycott the TUC could be sailing very close to the wind when it comes to the widely accepted EUMC definition of antisemitsim........
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Vol 10 No 5 - 3 July 2011 ***As seen in the Sunday Times ***
Trade union threatened with legal action for harassment of Jewish members
University Lecturers Union “creates an offensive environment” for Jews
An academic has initiated legal proceedings against his own trade union, accusing them of being anti-Semitic and adopting policies that “violate his dignity”, “create a degrading, humiliating and offensive environment” and that harass its Jewish members.
Lawyers representing Ronnie Fraser, Director of the Academic Friends of Israel (AFI), have written to the University College Union (UCU), which represents more than 120,000 university lecturers and academics, telling them that it is in breach of the Equality Act. The letter says that after 11 years as a union member, Mr Fraser “has had enough” of the UCU’s anti-Semitic policies and with his options “limited to either resigning or suing, he has chosen to sue”..........
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Vol 10 No 4 -31 May 2011
The University and College Union (UCU), which represents more than 120,000 University staff, used its annual gathering in Harrogate over the Bank Holiday weekend to disassociate itself from EUMC working definition of antisemitism which is used by law enforcement agencies all over the world.
The UCU, the leading trade union partner of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, made this move in an attempt to redefine anti Semitism. They didn't just reject parts of the definition or propose changes to it instead they decided never to use it again whether educating members or dealing with internal complaints of antisemitism.
I was the only Jewish delegate at Congress who was willing to speak against the motion. The motion was carried overwhelmingly as only four people including myself voted against it. I spoke in complete silence with no reaction at all from the audience, this is what I said..........
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Essays by Ronnie Fraser
NEW - The British Trade Union Movement, Israel and Boycotts(2011)
· Over the past thirty years the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and member unions have regularly adopted resolutions containing anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian rhetoric. A whole generation of British left-wing trade union activists has been raised on a diet of conference motions whose only mention of Israel is in connection with its “brutality” and “oppression” of the Palestinian people. The current political position held by the leaders of Britain’s working class reflects a historical bias and amnesia concerning the state of Israel.
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Trade Union and Other Boycotts of Israel in Great Britain (2009)
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The Academic Boycott of Israel: A Review of the Five-Year UK Campaign to Defeat It (2008)
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