The University of California-Irvine (UCI) student government is set to vote on a resolution to divest the university from the state of Israel.
On Tuesday night, UCI student senators are expected to pass a “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” resolution against the state of Israel. According to a copy of the resolution obtained by The Daily Wire, students want the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel and redirect that money to UCI students “who do not have their basic needs addressed.”
Companies listed include Lockheed Martin, United Tech, Boeing, G.E., HP, Caterpillar, Ford, Hyundai, Cemex, Raytheon, 3M, Northrop Grumman, Perrigo Company, Atlas Copco, and BlackRock. The resolution condemns these companies for selling products to Israel, though it also included Hyundai for using Israeli technology to create a cellular connection for their “internet-linked vehicles.”
The resolution begins by acknowledging the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses, though it proceeded to call Israel an “apartheid state” that has been murderous in nature since its inception.
“Israel has terrorized, displaced, and killed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from its founding,” the legislation reads. “Israel continues to follow the methods of terror from its founding until the present day.”
Students have dubbed Israel an “apartheid state” in the resolution because of “its similarities to the South African apartheid.”
In the resolution, students also blamed Israel for problems within the Gaza Strip. Not once did the resolution mention the presence of the elected terrorist organization, Hamas, and the role it has played in the Gaza area.
“Nearly 2 million people living in Gaza have not been able to leave the Gaza strip since 2007 … civilians consistently lose access to resources and are bombed repeatedly by the Israeli military,” the resolution reads.
Students are ultimately calling on the university to “never invest in corporations found to be contributing to the human rights violations of any persons in the future.” However, the resolution makes no calls for the university to divest from China, which is actively committing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims.
UCI and the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) are the only University of California campuses that do not have legislation to divest from Israel. In 2019, UCSB’s student government shot down a similarly-worded divestment resolution.
Anti-Israel resolutions have passed the UCI student senate in the past. In 2012, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization introduced a divestment resolution which passed. In 2020, the student senate repealed the resolution.
SJP is sponsoring the current resolution following its resurgence to campus life. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, in 2016, SJP protesters at UCI disrupted a pro-Israel event by chanting anti-Israel slurs and attempting to break down doors to get into the event. The university Chancellor, Howard Gillman, condemned the incident and said that SJP had “crossed the line of civility.”
The group was placed on disciplinary probation for two academic terms following ongoing disruptions and aggressive protests. It recently revived on UCI’s campus and has stacked the student senate with anti-Israel activists.
The resolution is expected to pass by a large margin.
The University of California-Irvine did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
