[sndman]

Indeed, a "newer" democracy. New and shiny. Please do not pay attention to the Arabs in the Occupied Territories.

Israeli academia is one of the most important mouthpieces of the establishment and is used to enable Israel to present itself abroad as "the only democracy in the Middle East."

That is why there is an academic boycott. Israeli academic institution boycotts are an important component of the BDS movement. The boycott is necessary because there is a moral imperative to end the occupation and only outside pressure, like the pressure that was exerted on the apartheid regime in South Africa, can perhaps achieve this.