The Loyola University logo. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The student government at Chicago’s Loyola University passed an Israel divestment resolution on Tuesday night.

Student governments at Arizona State University and the University of Michigan, meanwhile, tabled Israel divestment resolutions indefinitely on Tuesday, according to the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs.

The Loyola resolution, which passed 26-0 with two abstentions, urges the university administration “to withdraw investments from eight corporations complicit in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, including Caterpillar, SodaStream, Veolia, and Hewlett-Packard,” according to the anti-Israel website “Sixteen Minutes to Palestine.” A video posted on Facebook by the group “Chicago Divests” shows the passage of the divestment resolution to the applause of the students.

Brett Cohen, a Loyola University alumnus and National Campus Program Director with StandWithUs, told JNS.org that the divestment resolution was introduced suddenly “using undemocratic tactics and no debate or opposition.”

“Students for Justice in Palestine introduced the bill without warning at the meeting, precisely to prevent debate. The BDS movement often relies on these unseemly political maneuvers to force through their agenda, which shows that they are afraid to debate this issue on its merits,” he said.

Cohen added, “The student government was hoodwinked by a movement which is openly against coexistence and a two state solution, and seeks the destruction of Israel.”