Condemning the decision by the leadership of the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 467) condemning the decision by the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me first express our great appreciation to our colleague from Pennsylvania, Representative Patrick Murphy, for introducing this important and timely measure.

Madam Speaker, on May 30, the University and College Union of the United Kingdom voted to urge its membership to boycott Israeli faculty in academic institutions, an extraordinary action by men and women of letters in a free society and the belief in academic freedom.

Mr. Murphy's resolution today voices the extreme disapproval of the United States Congress of the Union's shortsighted, simpleminded and singularly

offensive action. What the University and College Union has done flies in the face of the very values that define democracies and are critical to their success, freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech, or freedom to disagree.

If the University and College Union follows through with this boycott, it will also spark numerous individual and institutional boycotts against British academics and others who likewise have similar values. An academic boycott is a blatant effort to stifle free thinking and debate, the hallmarks of a democratic society. From any point of view, it is wrong. Only in the most extreme moral exigencies would I find the need to take such an action and for such an action to be acceptable.

In this particular instance, however, it seems outright wrong. By singling out the conduct of Israel, which is a democratic and pluralistic society surrounded by states with many charges of human rights violations against them, the union's leadership has revealed its true purpose, to demonize Israel. It is simply inexplicable how the union has turned a blind eye to the world's worst violators of human rights and targeted Israel only.

If anything, Israeli universities are one of the few places in the world where one will find Jews and Arabs learning side by side. The union's selective sympathy demonstrates a profound ignorance of Israel's academic community and the threats that the country faces.

Having personally visited Israel and its academic institutions, I can tell you that Jews and Arabs do study side by side, and the good news is that they learn, and they learn from each other, and out of that comes positive reaction to the conflicts of the region.

The events of this past month in the Gaza Strip in which Hamas lay waste to the legitimate institutions of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza further underscore the profound misjudgment of union leaders to narrowly condemn Israel.

The University and College Union of the United Kingdom has thus far chosen to ignore these developments and instead focused its wrath on Israel's ongoing efforts to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorists. If the union truly cared about helping Palestinians, it would help nurture dialogue among Israeli and Palestinian academics and come to the resolution that the two states must live side by side, and Israel has a right to exist. It would support institutions that help to develop, not stunt the educational sector for Israelis and Palestinians. And most importantly, it would condemn Hamas and others that repeatedly hijack and sabotage any possibility of a lasting two- state solution to the conflict.

By blaming the victims for the terrorists' crimes, the union's actions represent a bizarre inversion of the most fundamental principles of human rights. People of conscience have no choice but to speak out against this hypocrisy. In the face of terror and those who are morally blind to it, we must stand up for the values we cherish: openness, dialogue, democracy and freedom.

That is why Mr. Murphy's legislation is so important, and that is why I call upon all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, it gives me particular pleasure to introduce and to yield 6 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from the Eighth District of Pennsylvania, Representative Patrick J. Murphy, a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a veteran of the Iraq war. I believe this may be his first legislative initiative, and we yield to him 6 minutes as we congratulate him for his leadership.

Madam Speaker, let me add my appreciation to Congressman Murphy for a powerful statement on the floor in affirmation of the sense of responsibility involving academic freedom and the important responsibility in opposition to anti-Semitism that seems to plague this world on many occasions. Let me thank him for his leadership, thank Mr. Burton and thank the ranking member and the chairman of the full committee.

With that, I ask my colleagues, with great enthusiasm, to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlelady from Texas for her leadership on this issue and the gentlelady from Florida.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to offer a resolution to let the world know that this House stands opposed to anti-Semitism and reaffirms our support for academic freedom. It is sad that in this day and age I would have to offer such a resolution, but the actions of a misguided group thousands of miles away have forced this body to act.

Madam Speaker, in May the leadership of the University and College Union, or UCU, the main union representing 120,000 British college teachers, called for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. As a former professor myself at the United States Military Academy at West Point, I know how wrong this action is from an academic and diplomatic perspective.

This boycott will sever academic contacts and exchanges of personnel between British and Israeli academic institutions, as well as have a significant economic impact, given that the union enjoys significant influence in Britain.

The reasons given by the leadership of the UCU for endorsing a boycott consist of the same tired propaganda and inflammatory rhetoric typically used by the enemies of Israel and do not deserve to be repeated on the floor of this distinguished body. This call for a boycott by the UCU is even more disturbing, given that Britain's National Union of Journalists called for a similar boycott this past April.

It should come as no surprise that these boycotts have drawn harsh criticism. In a recent editorial entitled ``Malicious Boycotts,'' the New York Times called them nonsense, writing, and I quote, ``Who would respect the judgment of a scholar who selects or rejects colleagues on political grounds? Who would trust the dispatches of a reporter who has openly engaged against one side of a conflict? Critical thinking and well thought-out criticism are intrinsic to good scholarship and good journalism. These boycotts represent neither.''

The criticism, though, does not end there. Now former Prime Minister

Tony Blair has criticized the boycott saying, ``I hope very much that decision is overturned because it does absolutely no good for the peace process or for relations in that part of the world.''

Madam Speaker, the former Prime Minister is right. We need to build dialogue and trust in the Middle East and we cannot do that without our greatest ally there, the State of Israel. Israel is a stable democracy that shares our values. This is rare in a region of the world where few nations have democracy, rule of law and religious freedom.

As an Iraq war veteran, I know firsthand just how dangerous that part of the world truly is. That's why when Israel comes under attack from hatemongers, it's the American values that are also under such attack. Today, by passing this bipartisan resolution, we're stating with one voice that this Congress will stand up and defend our friend, the State of Israel.

Specifically, my resolution condemns the decision by the UCU leadership to boycott Israeli academia and urges the general membership to reject the boycott. It also urges the academic community and individual governments to reject any call for a boycott of Israel and to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom.

Limiting academic exchange and shrinking the marketplace of ideas only hinders our ability to bring peace to the Middle East and to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I want to make sure that I thank some of my distinguished colleagues who were instrumental in bringing this resolution to the floor today; the chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Robert Wexler; and the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos; and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. These three distinguished Members have proven themselves to be leaders in standing up for Israel, and I thank them for all their work in bringing this resolution to the floor.

With that, Madam Speaker, I will conclude by urging swift passage of this critical resolution.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 467, which condemns the decision by the leadership of the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia.

This is not the first time, Madam Speaker, that we have faced such a challenge from the fringes of this academic establishment. In fact, on May 29, 2006, the British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education falsely accused Israel and the Government of Israel of practicing what they said was ``apartheid policies'' and adopted a resolution to boycott the faculty of Israel and its academic institutions that do not denounce these nonexistent policies.

A similar resolution in favor again of an academic boycott of Israel was passed by the British Association of University Teachers, AUT, in April 2005, and then rescinded 1 month later by a special council of the AUT.

Fortunately, Madam Speaker, mainstream academics within the United Kingdom and internationally rejected these tragic and derisive attempts to undermine the principles of academic freedom and the free State of Israel.

Make no mistake, Madam Speaker, Israel is the strongest ally of the United States and a true democratic partner in the Middle East, one which upholds the principles and values of academic freedoms.

The boycotting of Israeli academics only serves to demonize the State of Israel. Moreover, the boycott of academic institutions from democratic countries represents a dangerous assault on the principles of academic freedom and open exchanges.

Representatives of the British Government, as well as many university presidents, academic bodies and leading scholars in the United States and Great Britain, have repeatedly spoken out against such campaigns.

I especially wish to highlight the strong voice of support from Donna Shalala, the President of the University of Miami in my congressional district, in favor of this resolution. Let us aid the efforts of these distinguished scholars and officials by passing this critical resolution before us tonight and demonstrating to the world that the United States Congress believes in free minds and free countries.

Madam Speaker, I commend my distinguished colleagues and friends, Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania and Mr. Burton of Indiana, for introducing this important resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I'd like to congratulate the gentleman from Pennsylvania for this very important resolution, and I yield back the balance of our time.

Madam Speaker, academic freedom is one of the bedrocks of a free society. This is known in the United Kingdom, just as it is known in the United States and other democratic nations.

Among the nations with an open academic climate is the democratic state of Israel. The views expressed on its campuses span the spectrum from left to right and liberal to conservative. Its students are of all ethnicities, speaking many different languages. But, on May 30, the University and College Union of the United Kingdom voted to urge its membership to consider boycotting Israeli faculty and academic institutions. This deplorable action by men and women of letters runs against the very tenets of free academic exploration. How can people of learning expect to share the studies of the great questions of our time if they are not speaking to one another?

Moreover, I fear that the reason behind this extraordinary step is much more dark and ominous. I believe that underlying this attack on Israel's academia is a not-so-well-veiled anti-Semitism. By singling out the conduct of Israel, a democratic and pluralistic country surrounded by a sea of dictatorships, the Union's leadership has taken absurdity and hypocrisy to new heights.

The legislation on the floor of the House today voices Congress's extreme disapproval of the Union's short-sighted, bigoted, and offensive action. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 467 and tell the nations of the world that academic societies are no places for closed-minded, hate-filled efforts to stifle free exchange.

Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 467, condemning the decision by the University and College Union of the United Kingdom to support a boycott of Israeli academia. It appears that this boycott reflects the views of only a small minority of this esteemed union. This small minority is tarnishing the reputation of a union whose membership includes professors of some of the most historic and enlightened academic institutions in the world. This boycott unfairly targets Israeli academics; it is both biased and destructive and should be opposed.

Academic and cultural exchange is a critical bridge between societies and cultures that have no other means of interacting with each other. Free exchange of ideas has been shown to be a very positive force in bringing people together to overcome their differences. Universities should not be conduits for espousing ethnically, religiously, or racially biased political ideologies. Throughout history universities have been bastions of progressive thinking and cross cultural collaboration and they should remain unfettered by such base and thoughtless ideas as bigotry.

I would like to join with others to support this resolution urging government and educators throughout the world to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom and open dialogue and to condemn measures that would prevent the sharing and exchange of knowledge.