The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) voted on Wednesday in favour of a resolution supporting Palestinian calls for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The resolution – supported by 80 percent of MESA’s participating members – called for an “academic boycott of Israeli institutions for their complicity in Israeli’s violations of human rights”, such as providing assistance to the Israeli military and intelligence establishments. The US non-profit academic society said in a statement following the vote that BDS was a “way to hold the [Israeli] government accountable fo…