UC Irvine Student Government Repeals 2012 BDS Resolution

Hat tip Jewish Journal and Amcha Initiative

The UC Irvine Student Government has repealed a BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) resolution against Israel that had been passed in 2012. That is a positive development.

https://jewishjournal.com/news/california/314179/uci-student-senate-repeals-bds-resolution/

While this is a welcome development, it should not be assumed that anti-Semitism on the campus and intimidation of Jewish students only began in 2012. As a former part-time teacher at UCI, I saw it first hand beginning around 2006-and it had been going on prior to that. As I have written many times, I have attended the speaking events of the Muslim Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine. I have heard the words and seen the offensive caricatures of Jews. I have been present when they disrupted pro-Israel events on campus.

As to the efforts of Jewish students to dialogue with these Brown Shirts, I consider efforts at dialogue a waste of time and a sign of weakness in the eyes of the other side. Rest assured, a new BDS resolution will be coming soon to UCI and the same old process-as well as the intimidation will begin anew. Yes, the resolutions are symbolic because universities-including UCI- routinely ignore them. But the symbolic aspect still matters.

Students should ask themselves why the Israel-Palestinian conflict is so important to campus life. Not that students shouldn't care about international issues, but isn't it a little strange that this has become such a hot-button topic on campuses across the country? Why are there no boycotts and protests against Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and all the other dictatorships in the Middle East? Why Israel, which happens to be the only democracy in the region.

It's a complicated issue, but ultimately, it comes down not to who owns the land. It's really about religion. Why do you think Muslim nations all support the Palestinian cause, at least publicly? Why do Muslim students on US campuses, who come from a variety of national backgrounds across the world, uniformly support the Palestinians?

It's about religion. It's because the Muslims in the Middle East cannot stomach the idea of a Jewish state in its midst. They want the Jews gone from the Middle East. In fact, they also want the Christians gone as recent events have shown. It's about religion.