Pro-Israel Students at Arizona State Face Harassment After BDS Pulled From Vote
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by Shiryn Ghermezian / JNS.org
Arizona State University. Photo: Flickr.
JNS.org – Pro-Israel students at Arizona State University are facing harassment after a BDS resolution sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine was removed by the student government.
SJP co-sponsored a resolution supporting the BDS movement that was slated to be presented to the Undergraduate Student Government Senate on Tuesday, which fell on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. It accused the Israeli economy of being “built on and currently complicit with colonization, exclusion and apartheid,” and called on the university to end its working relationships with Israeli manufacturers and institutions.
On Monday night, SJP said in a statement that the resolution would not be introduced at the senate meeting the next day. The group complained that senate president Katherine Hostal “knew about this resolution for weeks, and promised an opportunity to be heard and express interest in doing something for the Palestinian community at ASU, which she denied last minute.”
SJP said students who support the resolution “don’t approve of ASU’s collaboration with these actions committed by the Israeli government” and accused Students Supporting Israel (SSI) of “spreading misinformation, gaslighting their audience and not addressing the concerns of our BDS resolution.”
It also noted that “SSI released a statement claiming that we decided to do this on a Jewish holiday, which is false,” saying the resolution was meant to be presented two weeks ago.
SSI chapter president Koral Zaarur clarified in an email that while the resolution being presented on Yom Hazikaron “was harmful and suppressive to Jewish voices,” it never claimed that SJP intentionally proposed the legislation on Israel’s Memorial Day.
Zaarur said since then, members of the school’s Jewish community have been harassed by those who “subscribe to anti-Israel rhetoric and are involved with this resolution.”
SJP has not announced if it will attempt to reintroduce the resolution. In November 2019, anti-Israel activists tried to pass a similar resolution at ASU but failed.
