Justice for Palestine Caucus Message
The Justice for Palestine Caucus is sharing information with CSA members regarding the 2026 Resolution for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions within the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the subsequent call by Sociologists for Palestine (S4P) to boycott the 2026 ASA Annual Meeting.
Background: The 2026 Resolution for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions was signed by 428 ASA members, far exceeding the 3% of the membership required by the bylaws to put a resolution to a membership vote. Despite this, ASA President Shelley Correll and Executive Director Heather Washington decided not to honour the democratic membership vote on the resolution and refused to put the resolution on the ballot. In response, Sociologists for Palestine (S4P) have rightly called for a boycott of the 2026 Annual Meeting. Since the boycott was announced, more than 700 ASA members have pledged to participate, and Jewish Voice for Peace has publicly endorsed the call.
The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is a non-violent form of resistance to the Israeli state’s persistent denial of Palestinian freedom and equality. It is supported with near unanimity by Palestinian civil society: over 170 organizations, including academic associations, launched the call for BDS in 2005. The boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions holds them responsible for their failure to resist and cease collaboration with Israeli state policies of apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. It demands accountability for their multifaceted involvement in Israel’s violations of human rights and crimes against humanity. In its Code of Ethics, the ASA professes to uphold values such as “Respect for People’s Rights, Dignity, and Diversity”; “Social Responsibility”; and “Human Rights.” As a member-driven organization, ASA should allow its members to debate and vote in accordance with those noble values by joining the global BDS movement.
Israeli universities play a central role in furthering Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide. They do so by placing expertise in the service of the Israeli state, producing military and surveillance technologies, tightening linkages with weapons manufacturers and the Israeli army, weaponizing academic research to legitimize Palestinian dispossession, and creating legal frameworks to justify war crimes. Far from being bastions of free speech, they systematically suppress and punish critical voices, including student protests. In addition, Israeli universities discriminate against their own students and faculty who are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, limiting or prohibiting rights of speech and assembly on campus.
The 2026 Resolution for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions, signed by over 700 sociologists, follows the traditions of scholars and academics, and sociologists in particular, standing against injustice. This tradition includes many examples from the history of the American Sociological Association, which now calls into question its long-standing principles. In 1987, the ASA Council voted to divest from South African companies during apartheid and as well as to divest from companies that were primarily defense-related, discriminatory towards women and minorities, and/or anti-labor. In 2003, ASA members voted on a resolution calling for an immediate end to the invasion of Iraq. In 2013, the ASA filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage. In 2022, the ASA condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Justice for Palestine Caucus concurs with S4P’s assessment that the ASA Executive Council’s repression of the vote on the proposed resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions is hypocritical and emblematic of the “Palestine exception,” and the subcommittee supports the call to boycott the 2026 Annual Meeting.
If ASA is to rise to this challenge to act in accord with principles of justice and equality, then it is clear that the members will have to push their organization to live up to its own ideals.
As a result, Sociologists for Palestine (S4P) is asking sociologists to support the boycotting of the 2026 conference in the following ways: (1) boycott the American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting in New York; (2) refuse to reserve hotel rooms in the official ASA hotel block (3) develop alternative forms of meeting, support junior scholars with networking and professionalization opportunities.
Please review the S4P ASA Boycott FAQ for more resources.
Learn more about the CSA Justice for Palestine Caucus