Murphy Resolution on Israel Passes

From the inbox:

Today, the House of Representatives passed Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy’s (D-8th District) resolution that repudiates the University and College Union (UCU) of the United Kingdom for their boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This was Rep. Murphy’s first resolution to receive a vote on the floor of the House and it received unanimous bipartisan support. The bill – H.Res 467 – was passed out of the Foreign Affairs Committee late last month, clearing a key hurdle in its path toward a vote on the House floor. Murphy’s legislation condemns the UCU and urges governments and educators throughout the world to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom and open dialogue. The resolution also urges the general members of the UCU to reject the call of the union’s leadership to boycott Israel both economically and culturally. In a similar move recently, the Association of University Teachers and National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education passed resolutions in 2005 and 2006 supporting a boycott of Israeli academia. Those two unions later merged and formed the UCU. Britain ’s National Union of Journalists called for a boycott of Israeli goods earlier this year. The resolution passed the House unanimously by a margin of 414 to 0.