JNF responds to boycott call with plan

NEW YORK– Jewish National Fund (JNF) is denouncing the decision by the American Studies Association to boycott Israel’s academic and research institutions by encouraging people to take action. Items include a letter writing campaign to the president of the ASA and university deans and faculty members, tweets to the ASA (“End the @AmerStudiesAssn boycott of academic institutions in #Israel! #academicfreedom”), and spreading the Positively Israel message of Israel’s contributions to the world by bringing a Positively Israel event to campus, helping to bring academics to Israel on JNF’s Faculty Fellowship to Israel Mission, or funding a participant to go on JNF’s Caravan for Democracy Mission to Israel so that they can see the real Israel for themselves.

“The goal of the executive committee of the American Studies Association is the destruction of the State of Israel,” said Scott Gendell, JNF vice president, Community and Congregational Relations. “From China to Syria to Iran and more, academic and political freedoms are non-existent, but it is Israel that is attacked and singled out. There is a melding of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agendas that is clear to any free-thinking person. Now is the time to stand up on college campuses and let our voices be heard.”