The Stanford University student senate passed an Israel divestment resolution 10-4. Photo: Twitter.

JNS.org – The student senate at Stanford University passed an Israel divestment resolution on Tuesday, 10-4 with one abstention, in a re-vote on a measure that had been defeated last week.

The resolution, put forward by the student group Stanford Out Of Occupied Palestine, calls for the university trustees to divest from companies that “violate international humanitarian law by: maintaining illegal infrastructure of the Israeli occupation… facilitating Israel and Egypt’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians… [and] facilitating state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian or Palestinian Authority security forces.”

One Feb. 11, the Stanford student senate struck down the resolution in a highly contentious debate that was attended by more than 400 students. At the time, the measure narrowly failed to gain the necessary two-thirds support it needed to pass. The motion to re-vote was initiated by student senate chairperson Ana Ordonez, who said she was unable to focus during the first vote because much of her energy was spent maintaining the highly contentious atmosphere.

“Now that the noise has subsided, I know that I voted incorrectly,” Ordoñez said, the Stanford Daily reported.

Ordonez, who said she was brought to tears during her closing remarks on Feb. 11, changed her vote from abstaining to voting in favor of the divestment resolution.

For the second vote, an amendment to the resolution claimed that the measure was not connected to the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and that the bill “affirms both Palestinian and Israeli right to life, security, and self-determination.”