40 Columbia
University Professors Sign Petition to Boycott Israel
by Deborah Danan 3 Mar 2016
TEL AVIV – Forty Columbia
University faculty members have signed
a petition in favor of divestment from companies related to Israel, the Columbia Spectator reported.
The petition, which was signed on Monday – the first day
of so-called Israel Apartheid Week, urged the Ivy League college to “divest
from corporations that supply, perpetuate, and profit from a system that has
subjugated the Palestinian people.”
According to the petition, the signatories “stand with
Columbia University Apartheid Divest [CUAD], Columbia Students for Justice in
Palestine as well as with Jewish Voice for Peace in calling upon the University
to take a moral stance against Israel’s violence in all its forms.”
In February, CUAD demanded that Columbia divest from
eight specific corporations “that profit from the State of Israel’s ongoing
system of settler colonialism, military occupation, and apartheid law” as part
of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The signatories include Rashid Khalidi, a history and Middle Eastern studies professor who is a longtime critic of
Israel and supporter of the BDS movement; Joseph Massad, a professor of modern
Arab politics and intellectual history who views Zionism as a racist and
colonialist movement, and Nadia Abu El-Haj, an anthropology professor whose
research has been criticized for containing unfounded claims. El-Haj authored
a book that accuses Israel of manipulating archaeological findings to
legitimize its existence, JTA reported.
“As both scholars and community members, we are
professionally, intellectually, and morally invested in our University. We deem
it our duty to hold our institution accountable for the ethical implications of
its own actions, notably its financial investments and their implications
around the world,” the petition said. “In particular, we take issue with our
financial involvements in institutions associated with the State of Israel’s
military occupation of Palestinian lands, continued violations of Palestinian
human rights, systematic destruction of life and property, inhumane segregation
and systemic forms of discrimination.”
Middle Eastern South Asian and Africa studies, or MESAAS,
English and comparative literature, and anthropology were the departments with
the most signatories.
“I fully support every effort to put pressure on the
Israeli government to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands,” said
Partha Chatterjee, an anthropology and MESAAS professor, adding that Israel’s
security regime “virtually amounts to apartheid.”
English professor Bruce Robbins compared CUAD’s campaign
to anti-apartheid efforts in the 1970s and ’80s pushing for divestment from South Africa.
“I have also seen what it’s like for Palestinians on the
West Bank to live under the occupation,” Robbins said. “Once you’ve seen that,
and you are offered a form of non-violent protest that is also endorsed by
Palestinian civil society, it seems like a no-brainer.”
Dirk Salomons, a senior lecturer at Columbia’s School of
International and Public Affairs, told the Spectator, “I’ve always had a
feeling as a Jew that a Jewish state should rise slightly above the lack of
morality of its neighbors. It pains me to see how a country which I love and
which I have visited many times can be so blind to the needs of its neighbors.”
Columbia University
Jonathan S.
Lavine is a trustee at Columbia
University, and was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America,
the American Constitution Society, the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the
Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), and the Human
Rights First.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, Jonathan
Soros’s father, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone, a supporter for America
Coming Together, and William D.
Zabel was his divorce lawyer.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the Harlem Children's Zone, the New America Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Climate Reality Project, the Millennium
Promise, the Aspen Institute (think tank), for the International Rescue Committee, the Committee for Economic Development, the
Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Human Rights First.
Faye Wattleton was
the president of the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America, and is a trustee at Columbia University.
Eric H. Holder Jr.
was a board member for the American
Constitution Society, an intern at the NAACP
Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and a trustee at Columbia University.
Michael I. Sovern
is a director emeritus at
the NAACP Legal Defense &
Educational Fund, and was a president emeritus for Columbia University.
Mark E. Kingdon
is a trustee at the Harlem Children's
Zone, and a trustee at Columbia
University.
Richard E. Witten
is a trustee at the Harlem Children's
Zone, and was a trustee at Columbia
University.
Michael M. Crow
is a director at the New America
Foundation, and was an executive vice provost for Columbia University.
Jonathan Soros is
George Soros’s son, a director at
the New America Foundation, and a senior
fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.
Alan Brinkley is
a governor at
the Roosevelt Institute, and a professor
at Columbia University.
Ted
Van Dyk is a governor at the Roosevelt
Institute, and was a VP for Columbia
University.
Frederica P.
Perera is a trustee at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and a professor at Columbia University.
Joseph E.
Stiglitz was a director at the Climate
Reality Project, and is a professor at Columbia
University.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
is a director at the Millennium Promise,
and a professor at Columbia University.
Jimmy
Carter was an honorary co-chairman for the Millennium Promise, and is a member of The Elders.
Nelson Mandela was
the founder & honorary elder for The
Elders, and the president of South
Africa.
Patrick H.
Gaspard is a U.S. ambassador for South
Africa, was a national field director for America Coming Together, a White House political director for the Barack Obama administration, and attended
Columbia University.
Stephen Friedman
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and was a chairman for Columbia
University.
George E. Rupp is
an overseer; former president & CEO for the International Rescue Committee, was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
the president of Columbia University.
Lee C. Bollinger
is a trustee at the Committee for
Economic Development, and the president of Columbia University.
Robert Legvold is
a professor emeritus at Columbia
University, was a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the
United States
in war)
Joan
E. Spero was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a trustee at Columbia University.
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Kenneth M.
Pollack is a senior fellow at the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, and was a senior fellow, Middle East policy
for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Bruce Riedel is a
senior fellow at the Saban Center for
Middle East Policy, and a
senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Haim
Saban is a benefactor at
the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, an honorary trustee at
the Brookings Institution (think tank), a friend of Shimon Peres, and was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Jonathan S.
Lavine was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and is a trustee at Columbia University.
Shimon Peres is a
friend of Haim Saban, and was the president
of Israel.
Sidley Austin
LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.
R. Eden Martin is
counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
James D. Zirin is
a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and was a director at the Human Rights
First.
Mark A. Angelson
was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, and a director at the
Human Rights First.
William D. Zabel
is the chair for the Human Rights First,
and was George Soros’s divorce
lawyer.
Louis Henkin was a
director at the Human Rights First,
and a professor at Columbia University.
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