Across the United States, Jewish university students are fearful. Anti-Israel students, professors and staff members have rallied many times shouting slogans and calls that can be considered overtly antisemitic. One of the many ways anti-Israel groups on American college campuses are spreading anti-Jewish hatred is known as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS). The overarching goal of BDS is to promote an academic, economic and cultural boycott of the only democratic state in the Middle East and its supporters, of which the majority are Jews. It is a repugnant, nonsensical and downright dangerous movement founded by antisemites who, in practice, seek the destruction of Israel.
On Tuesday, April 16, a BDS resolution will be presented to the Binghamton University Student Association’s (SA) Congressional Representatives. This is the first step for BDS policy implementation on our campus. Campus groups spearheading the push for BDS adoption are the BU chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), The Yiddish Bund of Binghamton and the BU chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, who are among other prominent campus groups sponsoring the legislation. As a concerned Jewish student, I feel as though it is my duty to voice my opinion.
The cause to boycott Israeli economy, companies and academic institutions solidified in 2005 with the founding of the current Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement by Omar Barghouti and Ramy Shaat. Israel, its adherents argue, has not sufficiently met their demands and now must face up to their choices. It claims that the Jewish state subjects the Palestinian people to, “settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation.” Since the escalation of the conflict in October of 2023, the movement has joined the call with other anti-Israel groups and has charged Israel with genocide. All of these charges are a libelous mischaracterization of Israel and its policies. The Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel spans over 3,000 years, and there has been archeological evidence found to support this. Israel provides great opportunities to all of its citizens, no matter their religious affiliation or ethnicity. Legally speaking, all Israelis are equal citizens under the law. A report by the U.S. State Department in 2001 says “the Declaration of Independence describes the country as a ‘Jewish state,’ but also provides for full social and political equality regardless of religious affiliation.” Furthermore, the genocide claim levied against Israel has not been supported by a number of world leaders. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin affirmed that there is no evidence that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza at a Senate Armed Services Committee on April 9.
A notable aspect of BDS is its repeated support for Hamas, the terrorist organization who perpetrated the Oct. 7, 2023 attack against Israel in which 1,163 people were raped, assaulted and murdered. The movement, in a since-deleted post to their official website, called the Hamas attack “heroic” and “reasonable.” The sickening support of Hamas by BDS sheds light on what the movement truly stands for, namely, the destruction of Jewish lives. A report released by Israel in 2019 found that there are links between BDS and Hamas militants.
BDS-aligned policies hurt Palestinians economically. In the second quarter of 2014, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released data that showed that 85,200 Palestinians worked in Israel and 24,200 worked in Israeli settlements, a majority of these jobs being in construction. Any blanket boycott of Israeli goods and services will certainly punish Palestinians who work at Israeli firms.
Pro-BDS legislation also disrupts academic infrastructure and research programs utilized by Palestinian professors and students. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, a notable Palestinian professor who formerly taught at Al-Quds University, voiced his opposition to BDS back in 2014 (19). He declared, “I’m against the boycott in general. We need more dialogue with each other.” Dajani asserts that those wishing to boycott can do so by targeting the universities who are, “calling for occupation.” The Palestinian academic also argues that anti-Israel activists should not, “target those Israelis and those universities and those institutions which actually are your partner.” BDS policies call for the complete termination of all academic institutions supporting Israel.
American universities who have entertained and/or enacted forms of BDS are among the schools with the highest rates of antisemitism, which has skyrocketed in recent months. At Harvard University, the gem of American higher education, an antisemitic cartoon was posted to Instagram by the Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine on February 19. The image portrayed Jews as puppet masters, playing into the trope that Jews secretly control the world. The following month, Harvard Law School passed an academic BDS resolution.
Fellow Ivy League school, Columbia University, is also in the midst of antisemitic wave after the Columbia College Student Council passed a BDS referendum in early March. On April 17, the House Education and Workforce Committee will hold a hearing featuring Columbia President Minouche Shafik during which she will respond to the pervasive Jew-hatred permeating across the storied campus. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC 5th District), who heads the Committee, stated that, “some of the worst cases of antisemitic assaults, harassment and vandalism on campus have occurred at Columbia University.” Only time will tell what President Shafik’s response to rabid antisemitism on her campus will be.
The precedence is clear, working toward the implementation of BDS policies directly correlates with a sharp increase of Jew-hatred on American campuses. I implore the SA’s Congressional Representatives to reject this dangerous piece of legislation this upcoming Tuesday just like the over 5,800 individuals, as of publication, who have signed a petition against the implementation at our school. BU should retain its image as an elite and fair school, and not submit to a sinister movement fueled by hatred.
Aviad Levy is a guest columnist and a senior majoring in political science.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.