Illustrative Anti-Israel protestors, c. 2021. Photo: Matt Hrkac/Wikimedia Commons.

The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) of Case Western University will vote on a resolution endorsing the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement in early November.

The resolution, authored by USG student leaders, accuses Israel of being an apartheid state, unlawfully imprisoning minors, and assassinating dissidents, and demands that university president Eric Kaler divest from companies that do business with Israel “within two years.”

“Be it resolved by the Undergraduate Student Government, acting in full session that Case Western University examine its financial assets to identify its investments in companies that directly provide weaponry, security systems, prisons, or military support for the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories,” said a draft of the resolution obtained by The Algemeiner.

It also charged that the university is “culpable for the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

USG noted that if the resolution passes, it will join student governments at University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Stanford University, Oberlin College, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota in embracing BDS.

The BDS movement on campus has been described by Jewish and non-Jewish student leaders as antisemitic for singling Israel out for opprobrium and solely blaming it for the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“BDS is not a constructive solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and will do nothing except create a hostile environment for Jewish students on our campus at a time when antisemitism is sharply on the rise in America,” Case Western University USG assembly speaker Ethan Deemer told The Algemeiner on Friday. “Instead of divesting, we need to work together to invest in the Israeli and Palestinian people to help lift up both communities — instead of lifting up one community at the expense of the other.”

Calling the resolution “dangerous,” Deemer urged his USG colleagues to “show support for the Jewish community more than ever.”

Anti-Zionism is becoming one of the “core elements of collegiate life” in America, according to the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism’s annual report on anti-Israel activism on college campuses.

“Antisemitic vitriol directed at pro-Israel students is deeply unsettling and makes our colleges and universities feel less safe and secure for Jewish students,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in October. “University leaders must learn how to recognize and adequately respond to antisemitism whenever it arises, including when anti-Israel activities cross the line into antisemitic hatred.”