Cambridge University students have condemned 60 academics who issued a statement criticising Israel.

The students said the professors were “misguided and myopic”, and called their statement “un-academic”.

“We condemn these academics for singling out Israel … which has been deemed by this group to be the only country in the world worth criticising,” the students said in an open letter with 61 signatories.

They were responding to staff across the university who had attacked Israel’s actions in Gaza and settlement building, as well as the “occupation of the West Bank and Gaza”.

The academics had demonstrated a “severe lack of nuance surrounding the complexity of the Arab-Israeli conflict”, according to third-year classics student Josh Goodman, who wrote the letter.

“We aim to show that by no means do all of the members of Cambridge University hold the stance expressed in the academics’ statement, and that there is strong support for Israel within our community,” he said.

But the academics pre-empted some of the students’ criticisms by stating that “it is Israel that singles itself out”. They also called for the blockade of Gaza to be lifted and for “an end to the persecution of critics of Israel within academia”.

The students' statement can be seen here: http://camisraelstatement.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/counter-statement-by-st...