Israel Boycott

K.C. Johnson nicely sums up why I don't think there should be an academic boycott of Israel:

"But perhaps they're onto something, and we should extend the practice. Germany has been very critical of the Iraq war, so maybe German faculty unions should resolve to boycott British academics. But Germany, of course, has long mistreated its Turkish minority--surely justifying a call to boycott German professors coming from Turkey. And Turkish treatment of its Kurdish minority would be more than enough reason for a human-rights friendly regime to pass a resolution boycotting Turkish scholars.

"Eventually, we'll be left with the scholars of only the nation that has practiced a foreign policy closest to perfect (I nominate Finland) being boycott-free. The center of international intellectual exchange can shift to Helsinki, the only place on the planet where academics from all countries know they could travel without possibility of a boycott."