Engage was set up in response to the Association of University Teacher’s decision to take steps towards an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

There's just so many arguments against the boycott, my mind reels when I try to think of a concise way to explain why. The Engage site is not concise, but it pays to remember the information they present as the idea of boycotting Israel or Israelis becomes more prevalent.

An example:

This is the full text of the letter by David Hirsh, part of which was printed in the Guardian:

Sue Blackwell (letters, April 25) asks “how can any state be legitimate that is founded on ethnic cleansing?” The following states could equally be said to be rooted in ethnic cleansing: Britain; USA; Australia; Turkey; Czech Republic; Poland; Syria; Egypt; Croatia; Serbia; Germany. Can she think of a state that was not founded or consolidated on such a barbaric act?

I neither mean to minimise the horrors of Israel’s actions against the Palestinians, nor to normalise them. All ethnic cleansing constitutes a crime against humanity.

The vast majority of Israelis are descended from people who were, within living memory, ethnically cleansed from Europe or from states in the Middle East that Blackwell does not consider to be illegitimate. It is time to stop demonising Israel.