ISA suspends Israeli branch as boycott urged for Morocco's forum
In a statement issued on 29 June, the association said it was taking "a public stance against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza" and that it no longer maintains institutional ties with Israeli public bodies.
The decision follows mounting pressure from academic and civil society organisations, including the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), Global Sociologists for Palestine, and the Moroccan branch of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)
Still, at least three Israeli scholars unaffiliated with the suspended society remain scheduled to speak at the Fifth ISA Forum, which will take place from 6 to 11 July at Mohammed V University in Rabat.
"This decision is not sufficient", a spokesperson for BDS Morocco, told The New Arab.
"The association has not explicitly confirmed that the academics representing Israeli universities support the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people; it has not vetted whether they were involved in crimes or violations against Palestinians."
The Moroccan pro-Palestine group also stressed that ISI has failed to adopt a clear policy recognising Indigenous land rights in settler-colonial contexts, including Palestine, nor has it acknowledged the role Israeli universities play in these crimes.
Meanwhile, PACBI welcomed the suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society as "necessary yet extremely late," noting it came more than 20 months into Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The group reiterated its call for a full academic boycott of the Rabat event.
"This does not prevent the Forum from causing harm to the struggle for Palestinian rights and to the Arab fight against normalisation," PACBI said in a statement on 30 June.
The campaign group accused Israeli higher education institutions of long-standing complicity in planning and justifying Israel's occupation and apartheid policies, noting their close ties to the military and security apparatus.
For example, the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus "is partly built on land illegally expropriated from Palestinian owners in occupied Jerusalem and hosts a military base offering academic training to Israeli soldiers," said the group in its initial boycott call on 24 June.
The boycott petition, signed by 232 scholars from Morocco and around the world, accuses ISA of placing "the oppressor and the oppressed on the same platform" and denounces scheduled presentations that they say promote colonial narratives and obscure war crimes.
PACBI and its allies have called on ISA to bar any Israeli academic affiliated with institutions deemed complicit in the occupation, unless they publicly denounce Israeli policies and express support for Palestinian rights under international law.
ISA, while acknowledging the criticism, defended its position in a statement, saying it remains committed to academic freedom.
"Our goal is to provide a platform where sociologists, regardless of nationality or political position, can engage in open and critical dialogue," it added.
With travel and logistics already in motion for many participants, PACBI has urged those attending the forum to boycott any panel featuring Israeli scholars unless those speakers explicitly denounce Israel's actions in Gaza and affirm support for Palestinian rights.
The forum's theme, "Knowing Justice in the Anthropocene," has also drawn criticism from signatories, who say the inclusion of Israeli voices contradicts the ethical and political aims of the event.
While the suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society marks a rare disciplinary step among international academic organisations, PACBI says it's only a start.
"ISA can do better. Its members can make it more ethical," said PACBI in its last press release.