On Passover Eve, UK and US Campuses Hit with Anti-Israel Resolutions

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JNS.org

On the eve of Passover this week, anti-Israel activists took advantage of the absence of Jewish students on campuses in the U.S. and the U.K. by passing BDS resolutions at Tufts University in Massachusetts and England’s Bath University.

The anti-Israel motions at both universities were initiated silently on the eve of the Jewish holiday in hopes of catching pro-Israel students off guard.

Tamir Oren, director of public affairs for the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs in the U.K., worked to prevent the BDS resolution from passing at the British university. Among the 17,000 students at the school, approximately 600 voted on the resolution—343 against and 249 in favor.

“These successes show that when pro-Israel students mobilize, they can educate sensible, fair-minded people and prevail against BDS misinformation and propaganda,” Oren said.

The resolution at Tufts University was introduced by members of the stridently anti-Israel organization Students for Justice in Palestine and called for the school to divest from four companies with business ties to Israel.

The BDS motion—proposed April 6 and brought to a vote on the eve of Passover—was approved by the Tufts Community Union Senate.

The American Jewish Committee’s New England director, Robert Leikind called the resolution and its timing “a betrayal of the values that have made American campuses a model for the world and a sad day for Tufts University.”

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