Zach Feinstein ’18

The University of Michigan’s student government passed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions law (BDS) on Tuesday, Nov. 14. The University of Michigan Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) organization informed the student government that three Israeli companies, involved in business with the school, could possibly be in violation of Palestinian human rights.

The student government advocated for an investigation into the companies and proposed legislation calling for a suspension of all goods and services coming into Michigan from Israel. The proposed initiative has frustrated many active members of the Jewish community at Staples.

“I absolutely disagree with the initiative,” Abigail Genser ’18, president of the Israeli Culture Club, said. “BDS is set on delegitimizing the existence of Israel, and the advancement of their agenda is a threat to Jews.”

However, some students, such as Theo Koskoff ’18, believe that the BDS movement is “the best bet to end the occupation and apartheid regime in Israel and Palestine.”

“The movement is completely nonviolent, and it utilizes economic methods (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) to pressure companies and nations away from doing business with Israel in illegally occupied territories,” Koskoff said.

Uri Cattan ’18, co-president of the Israeli Culture Club, believes that the legislation is extremely important due to the large population of Jewish students at the university.
“I think that the student government let [the Jewish population] down,” he said. “BDS is anti-semitic in nature and the fact that it was legitimized by this vote is scary.”

Despite public opinion and previously failing to divest ten times since 2002, the legislation was passed. In fact, 23 members of the student government voted in favor of the anti-BDS legislation and 17 voted against the motion.

“I think this decision is less significant because the faculty is not going to act on it,” Genser said. “But it definitely shows the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment on campus which is really upsetting as someone who has always thought of Michigan in a positive light.”

SAFE claimed that companies like Hewlett-Packard, United Technologies and Boeing, who have ties with Israel, allegedly contributed to attacks on Palestinians.

The BDS vote has affected some Staples alumni who are currently attending the University of Michigan. Even students who are not Jewish are taking notice of the changes.

“It is obviously upsetting that the student leaders felt such a way to have our school divest from any business with Israel,” Caroline Cohen ’16, a current student at the University of Michigan, said. “A lot of my friends are members of the Jewish community and they were clearly upset by this vote.”