Hampshire College in Massachusetts has become [1] the first North American university to divest from Israel:
Student activists at Hampshire College are hailing a divestment decision by the board of trustees that they say makes the college the first in the country to break financial ties with companies specifically because they do business with Israel. But the college strenuously denies the move was politically motivated.
In 1977, Hampshire College was the first college to divest from South Africa.
Alan Dershowitz threatens [2] a divestment campaign against Hampshire College. Is this the same thing as an academic boycott? If so, it's the same thing the pro-Israel groups were railing against a few weeks ago.
Links:
[1] http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/02/hamphire_colleg.html
[2] http://www.hsjp.org/2009/02/12/allen-dershowitz
[3] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/hampshire-college-divests-israel-dershowitz-threatens-boycott#comment-988464
[4] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/hampshire-college-divests-israel-dershowitz-threatens-boycott#comment-988589
[5] http://rabble.ca/print/babble/international-news-and-politics/hampshire-college-divests-israel-dershowitz-threatens-boycott#comment-988764
[6] http://rabble.ca/user
[7] http://rabble.ca/user/register
Hampshire is one of the most left-leaning and activist of the liberal arts colleges in the States, so it's not surprising to see it start there.
With a good chance that a neo-fascist government will be formed after the recent elections, I'd look for additional divestures to occur.
In other divestment news:
This House of God had about £2.5m invested in a company that manufactures one of Israel’s weapons of mass misery and destruction. After saying for years that they couldn’t see anything unethical about it, Church bosses finally agreed with the rest of us that Caterpillar’s D-9 bulldozer, which is used in the Holy Land for the ugly purpose of demolishing Palestinian homes, uprooting olive groves and destroying civilian infrastructure, is more like a vicious weapon in Israel’s hands than a civil engineering tool.
Caterpillar simply didn’t look good on the Church’s ethical investments list any more.
The wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes, and Caterpillar’s part in it, has been going on for a very long time. At the Jenin refugee camp in March/April 2002 Israel’s massive, armoured D-9 Caterpillar bulldozers - driven by army reservists - worked non-stop for three days and nights. More than 300 homes in the densely packed camp were flattened. The bulldozer drivers were instant heroes and showered with medals for valour.