Dear President Bernie Machen,
As a student here at UF, I would like to let you know that it’s OK to be wrong. There is no shame in admitting a past mistake. And as our president and formal spokesman, it is time that you publicly apologize for comments you made in December 2013 when you spoke out against the American Studies Association’s call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. You spoke too soon — surely without fully realizing the ramifications of what you were saying. I’m sure that you simply did not understand the full extent of the war crimes Israel has carried out against Palestine; nor did you know that you would be marginalizing a large number of students who attend UF by speaking on their behalf without consulting them.
As you said in December, “I believe the entire University of Florida community holds academic freedom to be a cherished principle that advances the interests of society.” Well, Machen, you’re right. We do hold that to be a cherished principle. However, we hold it to be a principle that must be ensured for all people, and I know that now you must realize a boycott of Israeli institutions is necessary. Palestinians have their academic freedoms almost completely denied by Israeli institutions. Palestinian places of learning and dialogue are not safe: Universities have been bombed by the Israel Defense Forces, and scholars and students alike have been unjustly arrested, deported and, in many cases, even tortured and killed by Israeli forces. There is little to no mobility for Palestinian academics, as the apartheid system does not allow them to leave their places of residence without incredibly hard-to-come-by permits, and they are also not allowed to fly from the Tel Aviv airport.
As an academic and president of a university, which holds academic freedom to be such a central value, I am sure you must now understand why a boycott of Israeli institutions is necessary to ensure that Palestinians are granted basic human dignities. Israeli academic institutions and the Israeli military are intertwined. Israeli universities are highly militarized, and they create the culture of occupation and settler colonialism that you must stand against.
For example, military intelligence and training for the Shin Bet, the security service that is known for its torture techniques, is provided at University of Haifa and Hebrew University. Furthermore, the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University is partially built on illegally confiscated Palestinian land in occupied east Jerusalem. Israel has been found guilty of countless violations of international law. Machen, I have faith that you will stand on the side of justice and honor Palestinian civil society by condemning these affronts to human rights.
As I said, we all make mistakes. What you said in December against the cultural boycott was a mistake. At least now you have the opportunity to fix it. There is no doubt in my mind that any moral, rational being would stand on the side of Palestine after seeing the horrendous crimes against humanity that have been carried out by Israeli forces during Operation Protective Edge.
Since July 7, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed. According to the United Nations, more than 70 percent of those are civilians. I know you have a soul, Machen. I know you have a heart and can no longer help fund and support the monstrous military and occupation that can so ruthlessly massacre thousands of helpless Palestinian women, children and men. And I also know that you will stand by us, your students, in supporting a student referendum calling for divestment from the Israeli occupation. I believe in justice, and I believe that you do, too.
Farah Khan is the Vice President of External Affairs for the UF branch of Students for Justice in Palestine.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 8/26/2014 under the headline "An Open Letter to Machen: It’s OK to be wrong"]
