On Wednesday last week, the Illinois Student Government (ISG) Senate passed a resolution that asked the University, among other things, to divest from “companies that contribute directly…to severe human right violations…”; and to divest “…from its own police force”. The list of “pariah” businesses consists of five companies, four of which are guilty for their association with Israel. The decision was opposed by many Jewish students during the debate; student Senator Nathan Edelman read a thoughtful declaration of principles clearly explaining the reason for their opposition. It was criticized  by the University Chancellor and Provost, by Illini Chabad (see letter) and by Illini Hillel (see letter).  We thank the University for its statement.

A common ploy in electoral politics is to bring up to vote resolutions that bind together unrelated topics. One cannot support one topic while rejecting the other.  The student resolution is a perfect example of this strategy: It links together four totally unrelated topics: Police violence in U-C, from 2009 to our day; abuses in US prisons; global warming; and weapon and security equipment sales to “criminal” countries, with Israel in the lead.

The resolution had a clear goal: advancing the agenda of the BDS movement.  I am not surprised when Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) push for disinvestment in Israel. But I am surprised by the intellectual dishonesty of tying together opposition to Israel, opposition to police violence, concern about global warming and concern about the state of US prisons. This forces students to either support all four causes or reject all of them. 

ISG decisions, even when not vetoed, are non-binding. As is the case on many campuses, ISG represents the more engaged and vocal students on campus, not the broad majority. Nevertheless, these repeated attempts to associate Zionism with any cause reviled by progressive students are tiresome and are hurting Jewish students on Campus. The Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation stands in solidarity with the Jewish students on campus. Peace in the Middle East can only come from a dialogue between Jews and Palestinians, not from rejection and demonization and not from a denial of the rights of both the Jewish people and the Palestinian people for self-determination.

Marc Snir, Board President, CU Jewish Federation