Pensée 3: Free Speech and the Question of Israel: A British Perspective

Extract

As a member of the British academic community—an international relations professor who is deeply involved in Middle Eastern studies—I find it distressing that some of the most dismal aspects of the American academic environment are coming our way. Nowhere is this trend more pronounced than on the question of Israel. That country is, of course, no stranger to controversy, but the attack on the right of academics to criticize Israel is a relatively recent and a highly disturbing phenomenon.