Guess Who’s Valedictorian at Israel’s Top Medical School?
July 19, 2013

This year’s valedictorian at the Technion University, known as “the MIT
of Israel,” would likely displease those intent on framing Israel in the
most unflattering of terms, writes Diana Bletter for The Huffington Post.

That’s because the Valedictorian is an Islamic woman named Mais
Ali-Saleh who grew up in a small Arab village outside of Nazareth, in
Israel’s Galilee.

Ali-Selah not only disproves claims made by Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions movements, that Israel is an apartheid state and that its
academic institutions should be boycotted, but she put it best when she
said, “An academic boycott of Israel is a passive move, and it doesn’t
achieve any of its purported objectives.”

Ali-Selah’s success almost didn’t happen. After her first class at the
Technion, in Haifa, northern Israel, she was ready to call it quits.
Though she had studied Hebrew from elementary school through high
school, her grasp of the language was tenuous at best, having spoken
mostly Arabic while growing up.

However, she decided to persevere, and is currently doing an
Obstetrics/Gynecology residency at Carmel Hospital in Haifa. She decided
to take on the field, despite its demanding hours, because she knew that
many Arab women are more comfortable going to a female doctor rather
than a male.

On trips to Europe, Ali-Selah said that people she met were surprised to
learn that Israeli Arabs studied engineering and medicine in Israel, and
that they lived among Jews. She points to this lack of awareness as
helping to perpetuate the falsehood—strengthened by BDS and Boycotters
like Roger Waters — that Israel is an apartheid state –which denies a
fundamental truth: Arabs, and in particular Arab women, have more
freedom, liberties and academic opportunities in Israel than in any Arab
country.

Rather than an academic boycott – which negatively impacts researchers
who want to disseminate knowledge rather than restrict it – Ali-Selah
suggests a more active stance: encouraging academic life within the
Palestinian Authority, strengthening academic ties with Palestinian
universities, and planning joint research projects with Palestinian
scientists.

Furthermore, Ali-Selah says that those interested in advancing the cause
of peace in the Middle East should focus their energies on supporting
more of Israel’s success stories like her own, and pressuring Arab
countries to emulate Israel’s academic freedoms and democracy.

http://tinyurl.com/kp84pr7
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