BDS Movement
News about economic and academic attacks against the Jewish state
They raised concerns about the effect of the BDS endorsement on the “well-being of Jewish and Zionist students at Harvard, some of whom have already reported that they have become alienated from the newspaper on account of the inhospitable culture that prevails there.”
“Does the editorial board believe Israel even has a right to exist? Because, if so, that line is coincidentally missing,” says Natalie Kahn, a student journalist and the president of Harvard’s Hillel.
The resolution passed 10-6; it calls for boycotting Israeli academics and accuses Israel of “forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
It wrote: “Israel remains America’s favorite first amendment blindspot” and praised the Palestine Solidarity Committee for its “spirited activism.”
“The willingness of a major U.S. corporation to protest a nation whose ideals have long served as a symbol for democratic principles in the Middle East sets a dangerous precedent,” said Riley Moore.
Representatives invited by the school’s Center for Security, Race and Rights are coaching students and others on how to speak to police when advancing anti-Israel messages.
The documentation argues that such decrees recognize that “refusing to do business with people because of their connections to the Jewish state, rather than their individual conduct, can be a form of anti-Semitism.”
“It’s nonsense to suggest that a BDS proposal is separate from anti-Semitism,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center.
“From our vantage point, we are increasingly concerned that unbridled hatred of Israel is undermining the mission of the academy,” said the Academic Engagement Network.
According to the university’s interim president, anti-Semitic comments are unacceptable in any context, but the slurs used are protected by free speech and not a violation of school rules.
Within Our Lifetime handed out a map to participants with 10 specific addresses of Jewish and Zionist NGOs and foundations across the city.
“The endorsement will inevitably—and inequitably—discriminate against, exclude and isolate Israeli scholars by singling out the Israeli academy for boycott. The resolution’s assertion that the boycott ‘will not target individual students or scholars’ is untenable,” said Academic Engagement Network.
