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[Excerpt:]

"This analysis was based on a careful examination of the speakers and their topics, which reveals that this conference ‘aims to explore a one-state, binational solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the imposition of which would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish state. The conference will include a number of speakers who are recognizable for their roles as organizers and outspoken proponents of ‘Israel apartheid week’ and the Israel boycott movement.’ This sort of criticism is not an attack on academic freedom — far from it. Such analysis highlights the very absence of the free exchange in a marketplace of ideas, which is the indispensable foundation for academic freedom. The extremely complex history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and multiple dimensions of peace efforts contrast starkly with the narrowly constricted ideologies reflected in the conference’s list of 44 speakers. Had the event’s 11 sponsors — six from York, four from Queen’s University plus a government-funded research framework — exercised due diligence, they would have found that many of the speakers are virulent anti-Israeli activists, with little or no connection to academic research on this subject."