Oxford Scholars Betray Their Vocation To Vilify Israel | RealClearPolitics
Judging by their Oct. 20 Open Letter on the Humanitarian Crisis in Israel, many Oxford University scholars failed to acquire the moral and intellectual virtues that yield reliable scholarship and impart liberal education. The 45 Oxford academics who signed the letter grandly addressed it To the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, United Kingdom. Invoking their authority as scholars of political science, political philosophy, ethics, history, geography, law and the Middle East but omitting any relevant experience they might possess in diplomacy and national security the Oxford scholars urged Britain s political leaders to call for an immediate cessation to Israel s morally disastrous attack on Gaza, and for Israel to allow the free passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in addition to continuing to call on Hamas to release the Israeli hostages.
One would think that eminent academics would bring to an intervention in complex affairs of state the care, precision, and thoughtfulness that are the scholar s stock-in-trade. Yet, while evincing a sanctimonious certitude that their moral and political conclusions and policy prescriptions are above reproach, the Oxford scholars managed to pack into their letter s three paragraphs several gross intellectual transgressions including crude distortion, unsupported allegation, and suppression or ignorance of crucial context.
The Oxford scholars, for example, presented dubious legal pronouncements as indisputable judgments. While acknowledging that Hamas Oct. 7 attack was a horrific and morally abhorrent act of mass terrorism, and recognizing Israel s right to take defensive measures against Hamas, the letter writers decreed that this right does not extend to or justify Israel s current onslaught on the civilian population of Gaza. Yet the letter s signatories do not provide a shred of evidence to support the scurrilous accusation that Israel targets civilian populations, as opposed to causing unintended and unavoidable harm in the pursuit of legitimate military objectives, which is permitted by the international laws of war. To vindicate their accusation, it would have been necessary for the Oxford scholars to apply the relevant legal principles to the realities on the ground in Israel and Gaza. However, they don t consider the character of a proportional response to an enemy that has declared its determination to eliminate Israel; affirmed its readiness to employ all means and methods
Peter Berkowitz.