BICOM

The UK’s Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, yesterday received an honorary doctorate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

The award was given to Gould partly in recognition of his efforts to promote joint academic and research initiatives between Britain and Israel. It was a theme that Gould emphasised during his acceptance speech yesterday at the university’s Beer Sheva campus, noting that the British Embassy in Israel launched seven major research programmes between the two countries in 2012. Gould said, “My government has stood firm by this mission, in part because of the knowledge that universities in Israel are places where the measure that counts is excellence, not agreement.”

He also underlined the UK government’s opposition to initiatives in the academic world to boycott Israel, saying,” Everything we do is an expression of our values… Like our rejection of academic boycotts, because we believe that boycotts divide people and reduce understanding, when what we need is to bring people together.”  Gould emphasised “Our mission, of building scientific and academic links between our nations,” although it “is deeply unwelcome to some, who would rather go down the route of boycott than engagement.”

Gould accepted his honorary doctorate yesterday alongside fellow recipients, author Meir Shalev, choreographer and artistic director to the Israel Ballet Berta Yampolsky, educator Adina Bar Shalom who is the daughter of Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and eminent quantum physicist Yakir Aharonov.