Former education minister expresses concern over push for Israel boycott

​Lord Weir – a former member of Queen’s University Belfast’s governing body – said the boycott was especially questionable because many of its advocates are not “consistent”.

Instead, he argues, many other dire conflicts are not met with the same outrage and calls for BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions).

He cited Yemen, for example, where hundreds of thousands of people – largely children – have died in a nine-year ongoing civil war fuelled by Saudi Arabia, and also cited Iran.

“It seems with a lot of these people the only state that seems to draw their ire is Israel which I find deeply concerning,” he said.

Lord Weir was speaking after the News Letter examined a long-running campaign to enlist academics and teachers in a boycott of Israel, with renewed effort being made to grow the list in the wake of the recent Israel-Palestine carnage.

Lord Weir called the existence of such a boycott “both deeply disappointing and concerning”.

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• Former Queen's University governor questions why Israel is target of major academic boycott whilst dictatorial regimes and wars elsewhere evoke less response

He said: “At this time in which terrorism has been inflicted on Israel, to be trying to boycott Israel I think is deeply unhelpful.”