Last week, YNet reprinted an article by Aaron Klein, which purports to be about anti-Zionist positions held by Israeli academics, but is really only a summary of positions published on a single website — Israel Academia Monitor.
It’s quite possible that many of those quoted on this website are, indeed, anti-Zionist. But Klein’s article does absolutely nothing to investigate the website’s claims. He merely summarizes them.
And some of the site’s claims seem a bit hyperbolic.
The first red flag for me: “Some 20% to 25% of the humanities and social sciences staff in Israel’s universities and colleges have ‘expressed extreme anti-Zionist positions,’ according to Israel Academia Monitor.”
I won’t rule out this possibility, but it seems remarkably unlikely, considering that a large percentage of humanities and social science faculty would never have any reason to take public views on Israel (e.g. those who teach Spanish literature, American political theory, behavioral psychology).
It’s also notable that Klein’s article is reprinted from WorldNetDaily, a popular but far-right leaning, news site. Again, I don’t have enough information to comment on Israel Academia Monitor, but Klein’s article does little to critically fill in the story.
A strange article for Ynet to reprint.
