Eve Garrard, perhaps the most trenchant and incisive critic of the academic boycott I’ve encountered, has resigned from the University and College Union (UCU).

In a letter to Sally Hunt, General Secretary of that sordid body, Eve writes:

The UCU’s obsessional determination to ostracise and punish Israel, and its persistent indifference to the concerns and fears of its Jewish members, have created an atmosphere within the Union which is hostile both to its Jewish members and to its non-Jewish members who support the existence of the Jewish state, and do not believe that it is the sole locus of blame for the problems of the Middle East. I understand that some Jews will want to remain in the Union and try to reform it from within, and I wish them well in this project. But I, like many others, can no longer bear the shame and embarrassment of belonging to an institution which is willing to discriminate against Jews, and whose readiness to do so is supported by leading members of its Executive Committee. Some of these members were elected on an explicitly anti-boycott platform, but nonetheless went on to support this latest attempt to boycott Israel. That includes, to her shame, the President of the Union, Linda Newman; and also, to your shame, the General Secretary, yourself. This Union is no longer a fit place for those who think that Jews have the same rights of self-determination, self-defence, and national identity as other peoples do, and I hereby resign from it.

Read the rest on Normblog.

On Engage, David Hirsh, while sympathizing with Eve, makes a powerful case to the anti-boycott movement for staying inside the UCU. He also urges the union to adopt measures which, if its leadership has any sense left, will be embraced:

The UCU should act quickly to stop Jews and antiracists feeling that they are being driven out of their own union. UCU should:

1 commission research to find out how many resignations there have been which are connected to the boycott campaign .

2 launch a serious investigation into institutional antisemitism in the union.

3 stop supporting and hosting the campaign to exclude Israelis from the global academic community.

Whether inside or outside the UCU, this fight will go on until this boycott is defeated, along with the rotten politics which drive it.