The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) applauds and stands behind the November decision of the Associated Students of UC Irvine to urge the university to divest from Caterpillar, General Electric Company, Hewlett Packard, Raytheon, and other companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This unanimous vote was the first successful effort of student governments in the U.S. to pass a resolution to hold their college or university accountable for its complicity in Israel’s ongoing colonization and occupation of Palestinians and their land. The Associated Students of UC Irvine’s decision joins the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it honors the full rights of all Palestinians. Modeled after the boycott movement that was instrumental in bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa, BDS is a means for civil society to demand accountability where governments and international institutions have failed to.
IJAN is a network of Jews throughout the world who work towards justice and dignity for all, and in particular for the self-determination of peoples who have been victims of colonization. The settler colonial state of Israel has been ethnically cleansing colonized and displaced Palestinians from their homes and land since the early twentieth century, and the campaign continues with ferocity today, stripping the Palestinians of their human rights with the aid of companies like G4S, Caterpillar, General Electric, SodaStream and many others. IJAN stands by the student body’s decision to divest from these corporations and rejects any attempts to undermine its historic move, whether it be by the university or any outside organization that stands in the way of justice. UC Irvine has the opportunity to be a leader and a trailblazer in demanding accountability for the continuing dispossession of Palestinians perpetrated by Israel. We fully expect the university to comply with the expressed will of its student representative body and eagerly anticipate their divestment.
