By Emily K. Alhadeff Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound
On April 15, as Jewish students were celebrating the first day of Passover, a resolution was introduced to the University of Washington student senate calling on the university to divest from corporations that do business with Israel.
Resolution 20-39 calls upon the UW to “examine its financial assets to identify its investments in companies that provide equipment or services used to directly maintain, support, or profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.”
This is one of the latest in a spate of resolutions from campuses around the country to divest from Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola Solutions, G4S, Elbit Systems, and Veolia. Organized by SUPER UW, Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights, R-20-39 calls for the UW “to instruct its investment managers to divest from those companies,” starting with Caterpillar as a first measure, and “to work with the Evergreen State College to implement the divestment resolution passed in 2010 as it pertains to the Evergreen State College Foundation holdings housed within the UW Consolidated Endowment Fund.”
In 2010, students at The Evergreen State College voted by 79 percent to divest from said corporations, but, according to SUPER UW, the measure cannot be acted upon until UW follows suit.
The resolution was presented by its sponsors on the senate floor May 6 — Israel’s Independence Day. After questions and answers, as protocol it was referred to the ASUW Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee for edits and further consideration. It will likely return to the floor for a vote in the coming weeks.
If it passes, what effect will R-20-39 have on the university?
“Very little,” said Rabbi Oren Hayon, Greenstein Family Executive Director of Hillel at the University of Washington. “The student senate does not control the decision-making about how the university invests its funds.”
However, a win would bring another victory to the global opposition movement that seeks to call Israel to task for what it sees as injustices against Palestinians.
According to ASUW president Michael Kutz, “It would signal to the University of Washington administration, Board of Regents, and community that students agree with the resolution as written and that students encourage the proposed actions.”
“The bigger worries are about what effect it will have on discourse about the Middle East on campus,” said Hayon, “and whether it will make UW a less attractive option for prospective Jewish students making decisions about where to go to college.”
The resolution is sponsored by Peter Brannan, a senior who runs on the Socialist slate, and co-sponsored by Black Student Union, MEChA, Third Wave Feminists, International Socialist Organization, D.A.S.A (Disability Advocacy Student Alliance), Disorientation UW, and Solidarity with UW Custodians.
In the days following the resolution’s introduction, a Facebook group, Huskies Against Divestment, formed and has collected nearly 1,000 votes of support as of press time. A petition on Change.org to protest the resolution in solidarity with the pro-Israel UW students has garnered over 600 signatures, and Rabbi Ron-Ami Meyers of Congregation Ezra Bessaroth sent the ASUW a letter with statistics on the conflict and a statement of cross-denominational Seattle solidarity with the pro-Israel students.
At the same time, the students have requested that the community at large not get involved. No students were willing to speak with JTNews. On Facebook, they state, “We believe the accusations in the resolution are misleading at best and false at worst. Instead of a one-sided resolution which privileges and promotes one side’s claims over the other, we should be working towards a solution that promotes the rights of both sides of the conflict.”
Leah Knopf, a Jewish graduate student studying social work, helped draft the resolution.
“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinians for BDS to pressure the Israeli government to comply with international law and human rights,” she said.
Knopf isn’t sure the resolution will pass, but even if it doesn’t, the conversations have been productive, she says.
“Whether it passes or not, I think it’s important people are talking about the struggle for equal rights,” she said. “It’s been an opportunity to have a conversation, which is really exciting.”
However, Hayon noted that the activity generated by R-20-39 and support for BDS on campus has made pro-Israel students uncomfortable.
“Many of them are uncomfortable because they recognize that BDS resolutions do nothing to promote peace, or to strengthen Palestinians’ and Israelis’ needs for security and self-determination,” he said. “Resolutions like these succeed only in dividing the student body and pushing the promise of a peaceful two-state solution farther outside the realm of possibility. For me, that’s the most disappointing and depressing aspect of these campaigns.”
I am a Jewish graduate student at the University of Washington, pursuing a Master of Public Health. I am involved in a number of Jewish communities in Seattle, including Hillel. I also support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and ends the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Rabbi Oren Hayon is quoted as saying that if R-20-39 passes, UW will be a less attractive option for prospective Jewish students. But as a Jewish student myself, attending a university that has publicly made a statement and passed a resolution for Palestinian human rights and social justice would be a HUGE draw for me – and there are many other Jewish students and prospective students who feel similarly.
Jewish organizations that employ censorship and exclusionary tactics to isolate, marginalize, and ignore Jews in their communities who have taken a stand against occupation and for Palestinian equal rights cannot purport to speak for all Jews, or all Jewish students.
Thank you SUPER for organizing this resolution!
I agree with Mariel Boyarsky; if supporters of Israel won’t push for removal of settlements and other violations of international law and basic morality, the field of ethical advocacy will be occupied by groups like BDS. It is up to progressive Jews to advocate for justice along with Israel’s right to exist.
Even J-Street cops out, saying “the BDS movement fails to explicitly to recognize Israel’s right to exist and it ignores or rejects Israel’s role as a national home for the Jewish people. …legitimate concerns are best addressed through urgent pursuit and implementation of a two-state resolution” (http://jstreet.org/blog/post/the-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-bds-movement_1)
I have looked at the BDS pages (http://www.bdsmovement.net/) and can find no statement or implication that Israel does NOT have the right to exist. (If any reader finds such, please post a citation to it.) The fact is, Israel’s immoral behavior has made the “two state solution” increasingly difficult and untenable.
There come times when immoral behavior by governments deserve to be condemned not only with words but with deeds. An economic boycott is a non-violent action intended to bring sufficient pressure on the bad actor to cause changes in policy and behavior. At this point in its history Israel’s government deserves no less. It risks its own existence as “a national home for the Jewish people” if it continues unchallenged on its current path.