A Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) protest against Israel in Melbourne, Australia, on June 5, 2010. Credit: Mohamed Ouda via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Committee of University Heads in Israel on Tuesday announced the establishment of a forum to fight academic boycotts of Israel.

“This type of boycott is a dangerous process that is contrary to the spirit of research,” said committee chairman and Hebrew University of Jerusalem President Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson, Israel Hayom reported.

The forum will examine and map out the boycott phenomenon, and plans to work with other countries to minimize the damage boycotts cause.

“This is a growing phenomenon with the sole goal of harming Israel,” Ben-Sasson said.

Professor Zvi Ziegler of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and chairman of Israel’s Inter-University Senate has been named to head the forum.

“We see the importance of information about cases of discrimination against Israeli researchers, including [academic] articles being rejected for illegitimate reasons,” he said.