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BDS at universities in the United States has becoming a hot topic. Over the last week, the University of California at Riverside’s (UCR) student council successfully voted in a resolution to divest from Israel at a vote held on March 6th; Stanford University student council failed to vote for divestment; and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) held a discussion and a vote is slated for next week.
The success of the vote at UCR and the following debate at USCD has led politicians in California to take note, and disappointingly, weigh in against divestment.
In an interview with Electronic Intifada, Shadi Matar and Amal Ali of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) discuss their successful campaign, which won 11-5 in their student senate vote. Matar recommended getting involved in a divestment campaign regardless of the campus’s political leaning, be it Zionist or split, the idea being just to get a conversation started that held the potential to get more people involved.
Although the University itself has not divested from the highest level, the students are in talks with the chancellor of UCR to take the issue further.
Critics of Israeli policy and sympathizers with...