Historian Benny Morris disinvited by German university amid growing boycott of Israeli academia due to war

A lecture by Israeli historian Benny Morris, scheduled to take place this week at the University of Leipzig in Germany, was canceled, reflecting a growing trend in which Israeli academics are facing rejection on international campuses.

The cancellation, published last week in a statement by Leipzig professors Gert Pickel and Yemima Hadad, said that the prospect of Morris lecturing at the university had led to “understandable, but frightening in nature, protests from individual student groups,” resulting in the lecture's cancellation.

The professors further claimed that recent statements made by Morris could be considered “offensive and even racist.”

Following the cancellation of the event, the university rectorate argued that the cancellation was made “out of concern for the safety of guests” and that the university’s leadership had not been involved in the decision.

“The University management had no part in this decision. But it goes without saying that the freedom enjoyed by researchers and lecturers also extends to the right to make such decisions,” Rector Prof. Eva Inés Obergfell stated,“there will be an internal review of how the decision was made and what alternatives may have been available.”

Prof. Pickel admitted that the cancellation had not been the best course to take.

“Cancelling an event because of ‘security concerns’ is not good, it does not do justice to the idea of the university as a space for discourse. Having said that, we were genuinely concerned last week that Jewish members of the University community might be subjected to traumatizing experiences. We felt we had no other option, but we should have looked more closely at potential sources of support,” Pickel said.

Former Israeli diplomat Emmanuel Nahshon, who leads the Association of Israeli Universities task force for combating academic boycotts said that, while predictable, German universities have generally taken a strong stance against academic boycotts of Israel.

“This is just another part of the ongoing story of academic boycotts against Israel,” Nahshon said. “This decision was a bit surprising because Germany is among Israel’s staunchest allies in the academic world. Many university presidents in Germany have spoken out strongly against any calls for boycotts. But sometimes, you have cowardly professors who give in to the pressure of students to avoid fighting.”

Boycotts of Israeli academia have especially gained significant traction since 2004, when the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign made Israeli academic institutions a central target of its anti-Israel strategy. The situation has deteriorated considerably, however, since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel border communities with Gaza, which launched the current war.

During the first year of the war, the Association of Israeli Universities recorded more than 300 boycott activities worldwide, including 50 cases of barring academic publications, the cancellation or disruption of 30 lectures and dozens of collaborations and grants that were suspended.

Among universities, Belgian institutions accounted for more than 40 of the 300 recorded boycott activities.

According to Israel’s Innovation, Science and Technology Ministry, about 38% of Israeli research is conducted in cooperation with European academics.

“The problem is that boycotts have now come to be seen as legitimate in the academic world,” Nahshon said. “Until recently, universities placed high value on respecting diverse points of view and shunning politics. They would have been ashamed to take part in boycotts. But now, they have given in to radicals trying to suppress freedom.”

Academic boycotts of Israel are also becoming more prevalent in the United States.

In August, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reversed its decades-old stance against academic boycotts and now sees them as “legitimate.”

“Academic boycotts are not in themselves violations of academic freedom; rather, they can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education,” states the AAUP's new policy.