Fighting Back for Israel on Campus
By Julian Michanie, 2020–2021 CAMERA Fellow at Florida International University
As college students eventually return to campus, it’s important to note that even amidst a relentless COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Israel advocates have not diminished their attacks on pro-Israel advocates and Jewish students on campus.
One of their many tactics is to introduce resolutions inspired by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in student legislative bodies.
Recent developments at Columbia University stand out.
In late September, the student body voted on legislation that asked: “Should Columbia University divest its stocks, funds, and endowment from companies that profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s acts toward Palestinians that, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), fall under the United Nations International Convention of the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid?”
Although the referendum passed, it was not actionable, and the school’s president disavowed it soon thereafter.
Columbia University student groups are not the first or last to try to pass a BDS-inspired referendum; schools such as San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) have seen similar efforts during the past few months.
Click here to read the rest on the CAMERA on Campus blog
