JVP Academic Council calls on the ASA to uphold ISA suspension of Israeli Sociological Society

4 September 2025

TO:
ASA President Dr. Shelley J. Correll
President-Elect Dr. Alford A. Young, Jr.
Immediate Past President Dr. Adia Harvey Wingfield
Vice President Dr. Victor Ray
Vice President-Elect Dr. Jessica Calarco
Immediate Past Vice President Dr. Allison J. Pugh
Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Laurel Westbrook
Dr. Amy L. Best
Dr. Patricia Fernandez-Kelly
Dr. Jessica Halliday Hardie
Dr. Katy M. Pinto
Dr. Jennifer Randles
Dr. Rashawn Ray
Dr. Wendy D. Roth
Dr. Christina Alicia Sue
Dr. Natasha Warikoo
Dr. Frederick F. Wherry
Dr. Earl Wright II
Dr. Hajar Yazdiha
Executive Director Dr. Heather M. Washington

Dear President Correll and members of the ASA Council:

The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council calls upon the American Sociological Association to uphold the recent decision of the Executive Council of the International Sociological Association (ISA) to suspend the collective membership of the Israeli Sociological Society (ISS) from the ISA. In December 2025, during the ISA Council of National Associations meeting in Pune, India, national sociological associations will vote on whether to uphold the ISA Executive Committee’s decision to suspend the ISS. We affirm the call of Sociologists for Palestine (S4P) to the ASA Council to vote to uphold the ISA Executive Committee’s decision, or to send an affirmative vote in absentia.

We applaud the ISA’s assertion that no regular academic exchange can take place without a condemnation of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Professional organizations are under an obligation to boycott those associations, such as the ISS, that refuse to name and oppose crimes against humanity and the genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.  

A boycott of the Israeli Sociological Society holds that institution responsible for silence and complicity; it does not target Jews. Instead, it calls attention to the failure of this organization to hold its own state responsible for the crimes against humanity it commits, including the killing of more than 60,000 Palestinians, the current practice of strategic starvation, and constant and forcible displacement of Palestinians from their homes. The ISS maintains committees that regularly work in coordination with the Israeli army, has never supported young Israelis who refuse to serve on principle or soldiers who vacate their post in protest against the grotesque violence waged in their name. The ISS has not challenged the membership of those who work at universities based in settlements, although those institutions are built on illegally seized land.

We ask the American Sociological Association to heed the Palestinian call and the demands of Sociologists for Palestine to boycott Israeli universities and the ISS on the grounds that they have historically and consistently played a key role in implementing the occupation and current apartheid structure in Palestine, and that they have failed to cut collaborative ties with the Israeli state as it actively engages in genocide. Without a clear condemnation of the occupation and the genocide, the Israeli Sociological Society announces its complicity with crimes against humanity and systemic racism. It is therefore just that we all hold them accountable for failing humanity at this time in history, and exclude them from participation until they muster the courage to condemn the State of Israel for its actions and to demand the end of the violence and injustice that has rightly aroused the moral horror of the world.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Jonah Rubin, on behalf of the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace 

The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.  We defend employment rights, academic freedom, and rights of association within higher education