Public Comment

When Will the University of California Stop Funding War Crimes Against Palestinian Civilians?

Tuesday April 27, 2010 - 11:21:00 AM

When will the University of California stop funding war crimes against Palestinian civilians and the occupation of Palestinian land? How much longer will grieving mothers have to wait for justice? 

 

Zinad Samouni is still waiting. She is a 35-year-old Palestinian mother of eight who lost 48 of her family members in Israel's assault on Gaza in January 2009, including her four-year-old son Ahmed. 

 

"The soldiers came early on the morning of Sunday January 4th. [My husband] Atiyeh went to the door with his hands raised holding his ID but they shot him in the doorway," said Zinad. "I shouted 'children, children' in Hebrew but they started shooting," said Zinad's nephew Faraj. 

 

After the massacre, Israeli soldiers left messages for the dead Samounis on the walls of a neighbor's house. The graffiti read: "Arabs need 2 die," "Arabs are pieces of shit," and "1 is DOWN 999,999 TO GO." 

 

Palestine,Gaza,Israel,War Crimes 

 

Israel's attack on civilians was a "deliberate policy" designed to inflict "humiliation and dehumanization of the Palestinian population," according to a United Nations report

 

On April 28th, UC Berkeley's student senate will cast a final vote on a divestment bill that targets Israel's war crimes and occupation. Fourteen votes out of 20 are needed to override the student president's veto of the bill. Last time, 13 voted yes. 

 

Five Nobel peace laureats, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have endorsed the bill. 

 

The student senators who did not vote yes the last time the divestment bill came up for review expressed uncertainty about whether Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Why is it that every independent organization that has investigated has asserted that Israel committed war crimes? Is it credible to believe that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the U.N. are all lying? Why did numerous Rabbis endorse the Goldstone Report's findings

 

Israel's defenders on this campus want to kill the bill because they can't stand legitimate criticism of Israel. The Israel lobbying group AIPAC and its allies have instructed students to create dramatic displays of emotion and claim to feel marginalized. AIPAC has announced plans to "take over [UC Berkeley's] student government" to ensure that it never criticizes Israel for any reason. 

 

What is the student senate's responsibility: to protect the human lives that are stolen by UC-funded war crimes, or to insulate Israel's defenders from the uncomfortable feelings that arise when the truth is told? 

 

Why did the Israeli Prime Minister's sister-in-law, Ofra Ben-Artzi, join numerous prominent Jews and Israelis in endorsing the divestment bill? Is it credible to believe she would have done so if the bill somehow undermined Israeli identity or criticized Israel unfairly? 

 

Some of the student senators who didn't vote yes have expressed that if today were 1960, they would support a divestment bill related to Jim Crow segregation, because it was clearly a situation of oppression. How many more Palestinian civilians must die at the hands of UC-funded bombs before student senators see this oppression? Or will senators forever sit on their hands because of the tears and emotional outbursts of the defenders of Israel, who cry about their supposed feelings of marginalization even as the UC-backed Israeli military deals out death and destruction to school children

 

The divestment bill only targets corporations with clear ties to Israel's war crimes and illegal occupation, such as United Technologies and General Electric. It does not call for divestment from Israel, as Israel's defenders have falsely claimed (including the supposedly liberal, but apparently dishonest, J Street). It sensibly does not take any stance on the final status issues in the Israel/Palestine conflict, such as negotiations over borders. The only thing it does is to send a message to the UC Board of Regents, an undemocratic and unelected oligarchy, to stop funding illegal activities that harm Palestinian civilians. This bill would also establish a committee to investigate other possible examples of UC-funded war crimes. Many of the UC Regents have personally profited from the military-industrial complex. It's doubtful they'll listen to students - they rarely do - but it is our moral obligation to speak out. 

 

The Palestinian militant group Hamas also committed war crimes, albeit on a smaller scale than Israel's. Fortunately, U.S. law prohibits investments that support Hamas. Thus it is unnecessary to include Hamas in the divestment call. 

 

Israel's defenders point out that the divestment bill does not mention any other human rights violations. But no one said that Berkeley's South Africa Apartheid divestment bill must include Columbia's human rights violations, for example. Each human rights violation is unique, and those who want to target other violations should write and promote such a bill. They will need to establish how University funding contributes to those violations, which requires months of careful research. 

 

Senators, how do you think it feels for us students to know that our tuition dollars are paying to kill our friends, family members, and colleagues in Gaza? Israel should not be entitled to special treatment and a free pass to commit war crimes just because it promotes itself as a Jewish state and certain defenders of Israel can't bring themselves to see the reality of war crimes. 

 

A vote in favor of the divestment bill is a small cry for common sense and ethics in UC investments, and removes the current UC bias toward funding Israel's military. Any other vote will continue the status quo of this University funding yet more war crimes against Palestinian civilians. A yes vote will finally begin the process of justice for Zinad Samouni's 48 dead family members. 

 

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BREAKING NEWS - UC San Diego students have introduced a similar bill aimed at removing UC's bias toward funding Israel's military actions, also to be considered for approval on April 28th. 

 

 

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TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Write a personal, heartfelt letter to UC Berkeley and UC San Diego Student Senators and ask them to be brave and do the right thing and vote yes. 

 

Email your letter to UC Berkeley's senators at senate{at}asuc{dot}org. Info on the April 28 Berkeley vote's location here

 

Also please send your letter to all the UC San Diego Senators

 

And sign a petition in support of UC San Diego's bill. Info on UCSD's vote on the 28th here. 

 

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About the author: 

Matthew A. Taylor is a Jewish UC Berkeley Peace and Conflict Studies student on leave. He is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, and author of a published paper entitled The Road to Nonviolent Coexistence in Israel/Palestine

 

Crossposted to Daily Kos.