CLAIRE BERLINSKI HAS A QUESTION:

I’m just writing an article about this boycott issue and a question occurred to me; maybe you’d know the answer or you’d know someone who does: The scientific cooperation accords in question were established by treaties between the EU and Israel shortly after the signing of the Oslo Accords. Would unilaterally abrogating these treaties not constitute some kind of breach of international law? How big a deal is it, legally speaking, to tear up an international scientific cooperation agreement? I mean, a treaty is a treaty, right?

I don’t know the legal status of those agreements — though I feel sure that the United States would be criticized for “unilateralism” and “contempt for international law” if we broke them somehow. I do know, though, that UNESCO is criticizing this effort, which surely puts it beyond the pale.