What bugs some American academics that they feel a need to single out Israel -- and only Israel -- for an academic boycott? Members of the American Studies Association (ASA), which represents professors of U.S. history and culture, have voted for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Previously, the Association for Asian American Studies joined the anti-Israel boycott. Granted that both these groups are fairly small compared to the much larger American Association of University Professors, which opposes the boycott as a blow to academic freedom. Even so, what animates even a small minority of American profs to designate Israeli academic institutions as verboten territory -- beyond the pale? The New York Times, in a front page article by Richard Perez-Pena and Jodi Rudoren in the Dec. 17 edition, presumes to offer a couple of clues. ASA members voted for a boycott, they write, "to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians," -- but without citing any specific maltreatment. The...(Read Full Post)