In a significant move underscoring global academic resistance to Israel’s actions in Gaza, the International Sociological Association (ISA) has suspended the collective membership of the Israeli Sociological Society (ISS), citing its failure to condemn the ongoing genocide in Gaza, reported the Morocco World News.
In a statement released on July 1, the ISA reaffirmed its stance against the mass atrocities in Gaza, declaring that it maintains no institutional ties with Israeli public institutions. “As part of its public stance against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” the association stated, “we have no institutional relationships with Israeli public institutions.”
The ISA Executive Committee voiced deep disappointment at the ISS’s silence, noting, “We regret that the Israeli Sociological Society has not taken a clear position condemning the dramatic situation in Gaza.” Highlighting the urgency and severity of the crisis, the ISA confirmed that it had decided to suspend the ISS’s collective membership.
This suspension comes amidst growing outrage over the planned participation of Israeli academics in the Fifth World Forum of Sociology, set to take place from July 6 to 11 at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding component of the BDS National Committee, has been at the forefront of opposition. The group called upon academics worldwide to pressure the ISA into withdrawing invitations to Israeli academics representing institutions allegedly complicit in apartheid and colonial violence.
PACBI warned that if the ISA proceeds with hosting Israeli participants, it would amount to crossing the “Palestinian civil society picket line” and risk legitimizing “the world’s first livestreamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.”
The boycott movement asserts that Israeli scholars attending forums in Arab nations can only be perceived as state representatives, masking Israeli apartheid and normalising its presence in the region. It condemned Israeli universities for their direct links to Israel’s military operations and arms industry.
PACBI cited examples including:
Hebrew University: Built partly on confiscated Palestinian land, also hosting a military base for academic training.
Tel Aviv University: Home to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which developed the controversial “Dahiya Doctrine” of disproportionate force.
Ben-Gurion University: Hosts a Homeland Security Institute closely connected with military industries.
“Can sociologists claim to stand for justice while ignoring academic complicity in systemic injustice?” PACBI asked, pointing to the contradiction between the forum’s theme of justice and the presence of institutions accused of war crimes.
The campaign also highlighted a 2024 legal opinion from international law experts at the University of Antwerp, which declared that global institutions have not only a moral but also a legal obligation to sever ties with Israeli universities involved in violations of international law.
PACBI also criticized the Moroccan regime for facilitating Israeli academic normalization through military cooperation, arms trade, and joint exercises—often against the will of Moroccan students and civil society.
Calling on the ISA to withdraw invitations to Israeli institutions, PACBI laid out conditions including:
Recognition of Palestinian rights, including the right of return.
Forum presentations framed as resistance, not coexistence.
Land acknowledgements regarding Israeli institutions’ complicity.
Exclusion of participants involved in incitement or war crimes.
PACBI’s position is supported by several other academic bodies, including Global Sociologists for Palestine (GS4P), the Palestinian Sociological and Anthropological Association (PSAA), and the Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (MACBI). These groups have jointly called for a boycott of the upcoming ISA forum.
Since October 7, 2023, over 56,531 Palestinians have been killed and 133,642 wounded in Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, according to recent reports, intensifying global condemnation and calls for accountability.
