At their weekly meeting Tuesday, Central Student Government voted 34 to 13 to reject a resolution that would have called on the University of Michigan to divest its investments in several companies that allegedly commit human rights violations against Palestinians.I found this argument against Israel interesting:
The resolution, which was brought to the assembly by student organization Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, initially considered a range of companies, but was limited during the meeting to only Boeing, G4S, Hewlett-Packard and United 130 Technologies. This is the 10th attempt since 2002 to pass a resolution to divest at the University, including in 2014 and 2015, following in the path of similar resolutions at many other schools around the country. The vote this year was less close than it has been in recent years.
University alum Devin Jones, who said he was a Palestinian citizen, told the story of his mother and grandfather, born in the same house on the same street, but facing drastically different political climates in their lifetimes.If he describes himself as Palestinian, how does his mother becoming an Israeli citizen (with equal rights to Jews) strip him of his identity?
“But she was born in a different state… We were not indigenous to our own land because we were on the wrong side of a battle, a battle that wasn’t our fault,” Jones said. “Basically, we were stripped of our Palestinian identities and forced to become Israeli citizens.”
If he lives in the US, does that mean that he has voluntarily stripped himself of Palestinian identity?
The anti-Israel arguments get dumber every year, which may be why the divestment movement has been weakening year after year.
(h/t Dan)