UK architects call for Israel boycott

In line with recent calls by British journalists, academics and doctors to boycott Israel, British architects signed a petition which accuses Israel of oppressing the Palestinians and accuses Israeli architects of complicity in "unjust action" against Palestinians in the West Bank, by designing settlements constructed therein after the Six Day War of 1967.

The petition was initiated by a group calling itself Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP), and many top British architects were convinced to sign the document.
A spokesperson for the group published a statement in which he asked “the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) to meet their professional obligations to declare their opposition to this inhuman occupation," referring to Israeli military rule in the West Bank.
 
Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias and one sidedness has often been cited by observers as prevalent in the British media and academic world, and last week Jewish American physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Steven Weinberg cancelled a speaking engagement at a London university, citing the exact same reasons. The petition was harshly criticized by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and its chief executive Jon Benjamin said: "What they are saying is that they have a certain view and that Israeli architects must publicly declare that to be their position as well."