Two sides of the story

Today the Guardian did something very rare in a newspaper – it published two articles about the same issue, each giving a different opinion.

Ronnie Kasrils and Victoria Brittain wrote an article entitled ‘Both Palestinians and Israelis will benefit from a boycott’. This was the usual anti-Israeli diatribe, with liberal references to South African apartheid. The article by David Newman and Benjamin Pogrund, on the other hand (‘A boycott will only strengthen the Israeli right’), is a well-considered argument that, while acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, quite rightly points out the flaws in the way the AUT are attempting to deal with it. It is comforting to know that not every academic who chooses to write about this issue has been swept up in the tide of blind prejudice that seems to have affected some of our most well-respected academics.