After more than nine hours of debate, students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, rejected a resolution early Thursday morning that, had it passed, would have followed other student governments in the University of California system that already passed such a measure calling on the UC system to divest from companies doing business in Israel.
Still, it was a fairly close vote: The final tally was 10 votes in favor and 14 against.
StandWithUs and Students Supporting Israel applauded the result.
“We are incredibly proud of the students at UC Santa Barbara who defeated this campaign of hatred and propaganda for the sixth time in seven years,” said Max Samarov, a UCSB alum and the executive director of research and strategy at StandWithUs. “Resolutions like this one have only served to harm students and hinder efforts to bring Israelis and Palestinians together.”
“I am open to reading a neutral resolution,” said SSI co-president Rachel Greenberg. “Senate should criticize countries that commit human-rights violations without singling out a country: Israel.”
“The resolution continues to fail each year for the simple reason that BDS fails to acknowledge the nuanced and complex nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and aims to place blame solely on one entity in a multi-faceted issue,” she added. “I am incredibly proud that our elected senators listened to the voices of their constituents and said no to this hateful resolution.”
