Sir
I was delighted to see the Opinion article “Don't boycott Israel's scientists” (Nature 417, 1; 2002).
I do not pretend to be impartial: my father, his brother and sister survived the Shoah, but the entire rest of his family (more than 30 aunts, uncles and cousins) perished; I have spent each of my sabbaticals partly in Israel, have sponsored students and post-docs from Israel, and have binational science foundation grants.
I also serve on the Science Advisory Board of the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies, which attempts to simultaneously do good science and build bridges between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
I count Patrick Bateson as one of my friends and grieved to see him leading the UK scientists in the direction of a boycott.
Your Opinion article beautifully articulates the reasons for continuing to support Israeli science.
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Mangel, M. Efforts to build bridges in the Middle East. Nature 417, 222 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417222a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/417222a