The Hypocrisy of Joseph Massad
A boycott electronically signed by Columbia University’s Joseph Massad includes the following call to action:
This boycott entails a pledge not to support or participate in any conference, cooperative research, grant writing or grant evaluation, or other supportive activities, such as academic exchanges or visits, held at or involving Israeli universities and other state institutions. … Meanwhile, we encourage dialogue with people (internationally and in Israel) who demonstrate readiness to participate in realizing these objectives.
This is the same Joseph Massad, one assumes, who bellows about “McCarthyism” (mentioned 3 times on his Web page), “Witch-hunts” (mentioned 9 times) and “academic freedom” (mentioned 23 times) to all who would listen.
So on one hand, Massad feels comfortable crying “McCarthyism” and “academic freedom” to protect himself from being held accountable for his intimidations and distortions; and on the other, he finds it appropriate to call for a McCarthyite political litmus test before granting academic freedom to Israeli academics.
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