BOYCOTT THE BOYCOTTERS –    Sign the Petition!

As Israel and her supporters around the world gather to celebrate the 57th anniversary of this embattled but proud democracy, Israel continues to be a target of an unjust and unrelenting campaign to de-legitimize the Jewish State.

A group of Nazis hold hands on the steps of the University of Vienna, in an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the building. The action led to a day of student rioting which had to be suppressed by the police. Photo: National Archives, courtesy -USHMM Photo Archives/1938

Therefore, we are asking you to take two important actions:

First, join the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s "Boycott the Boycotters" campaign by signing this petition to Dr. Shimon Samuels , Director for International Liaison and co-chair of ARARE (Academic Response to Antisemitism and Racism in Europe, established in 1994 as the Center’s campus arm in Europe),  who will ensure that your voice, along with tens of thousands concerned citizens of the world, is heard and ultimately heeded. The Wiesenthal Center will also share your outrage with political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

And second, please make an urgent online donation to the Center to help support our work to expose and fight antisemitism everywhere.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has asked members of the United States Congress to take steps to help us ‘boycott the boycotters’, by seeing to it that no US-government funds are released to any institution or academic who have stained the values of fairness and free speech by supporting this racist campaign.

Just last week, in London, Dr. Samuels charged in a speech at the British Zionist Federation’s rally against the AUT boycott that "[the boycott] demeans academic credibility…and is part of a pattern of gag-order Mafia-style manipulation on campuses across Europe.  When professors resort to mob tactics, a strategy of counteraction must be planned…."

On behalf of the over 500 member professors of ARARE on campuses in 30 countries across Europe, Samuels "pledged to focus on retaking the initiative and rendering European academia free of boycott, discrimination or threat to any minority, ethnic, religious or national."

The academic boycott is the latest example of growing hostility towards the Jewish State in Europe. In March, a Jewish Member of Parliament called for economic sanctions against Israel, while an anti-Israel play about the late Rachel Corrie, who is being hailed as the heroine of the Palestinian struggle, has been compared to the Diary of Anne Frank by some theater critics. All this, against the backdrop of London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone who refuses to apologize for likening a Jewish reporter to a "concentration camp guard" and for labeling Israel’s Prime Minister a "war criminal who should be in prison not in office."

We must raise our voices in effective protest! Please join our campaign today and support our important work .

Follow this link to forward this message to your friends, family and colleagues.