News Brief

Seven major Israeli universities are uniting to fight a major British trade union’s vote to consider a boycott of Israeli academics. The universities will launch an advertising campaign in the U.S. media, including The New York Times, to highlight the contributions of Israeli universities to society. For example, the ad will note that Ben-Gurion University of the Negev prevented millions in Africa and China from going blind or even dying by creating a biological control for mosquitoes and black flies that cause malaria and river blindness. The boycott, proposed by the University and College Union, would prohibit Israeli scholars from working at British universities, presenting their work at international conferences, engaging in cross-border research and publishing their research in scholarly journals.